La Charla Constitucional

While morning Quito meetings can often seem slightly intimidating, this morning I rode the bus into town containing only excitement. Instead of reviewing the appropriate Spanish vocab in my head, pondering the superior amount of work experience possessed by the people on the other side of the gathering, and wondering about the quantity of people that would be at the meeting, today I could relax knowing that I would only be listening. After several meetings at Quito's prominent Fundación Esquel, Mark and I were invited to a charla (chat) at the organization's headquarters concerning the issue of economic modernization in Ecuador's proposed Constitution.

One of the great parts about working in a capital city in a developing country is the accessibility of top public figures. In contrast to bomb-sniffing dogs and dark-suited Secret Service agents to which we have become so accustomed stateside, one of Ecuador's most prominent politicians simply strolled into the small room before the start of the discussion. On the (far) left sat Alberto Acosta, the former head of the Asamblea Constituyente, whose name has been tossed around as a probable candidate in Ecuador's next presidential election (whenever that may be.) Acosta recently resigned his post as the head of the body in charge of designing the new Constitution after deciding the process was being overly rushed.

Luckily for those of us who were not experts on the new Constitution, Acosta spent a great deal of time discussing its broader social goals. From naming approximately 15 basic human rights (including the right to a job) to discussing the perils of privatization in light of Ecuador's grave 2000 financial crisis to the wide range of free government services, the proposed Constitution's socialist agenda was strikingly clear in Acosta's comments. A less-seasoned politician, Andres Vallejo, spoke next in the debate and illustrated his blunt reservations about the Constitution. His biggest complaints included concern for an inflated government bureacracy, failure in the proper application of its wide-ranging goals, and fear of the immense governmental centralization that it would provide.

Leaving the meeting, I started thinking about the vast contrast between the Ecuadorian politicians, their substantial political goals, and the common Ecuadorians with which we work. As a temporary resident in a foreign country, it surely isn't my place to influence voters' opinions about the proposed Constitution. However, it is goal-worthy to make sure an informed and politically-engaged electorate exists. Sitting down back at home this afternoon, I began to think of ways to achieve this goal before the Constitutional Referendum in late September, so with any luck maybe we'll be able to craft such a program by then.

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A Conocoto

It's been just over two weeks since we moved into the Manna House in Conocoto and about as long since my last blog entry. So far, everything's been great in the Manna-land that is our house in Conocoto. Between the proximity of our community programs and getting to know everyone better to the simpler pleasures of cooking for overselves and ever-present (usually) internet access, our first two weeks in the house have been good ones. We have been able to enjoy the breath-taking views and serenity of the valley without forgoing Quito's nearby excitement.


Most of our time these past two weeks has been occupied by running a summer camp with one of our community partners, Aliñambi. The organization has been one of our closest partners in the community where we work, and it is very succesful at providing cheap education and healthcare services to the locale of San Fransisco. The five new PDs, along with two of our Ecuadorian friends working in child education, all worked together to host a two-week summer camp. We targeted children ages 5-12, teaching English, math, art, baking, recycling, sports, geography and dental hygiene over the course of the camp.


I started every day by teaching an English class to the oldest group of students and it definitely served as a crash course in teaching for me. I was continually amazed at how smart and willing to learn the students were, yet forever confronted by the difficulty of fighting the early-teenage "too cool for school" attitude of my students. After English class, my mornings were occupied with helping out with the various art, sports, and math classes (and attempting to maintain the short attention span of the always energy-packed kids), while two days I taught dental hygiene and geography classes.

The camp culminated with a field trip to the small amusement park at the base of the mountain overlooking Quito, which was highly anticipated by the children. As the bus entered Quito, many of the kids stared awestruck at the city with wide-eyes. It was at this point that all of the "profes" realized that this was the first trip to Quito for many of the students, even though the sprawling city sits only 20 minutes away from their small semi-rural community. While it's sometimes easy to take traveling for granted, kids always seem to find a way to put things into perspective and reinvigorate your reasons for working in a country like Ecuador.

Bienvenidos a Quito

Well here it is, my long-awaited first blog entry. I've been meaning to set this up for a while now, but have had limited internet access since arriving in Quito. The past 3 weeks, I've been living with a great Ecuadorian family complete with 2 college-age kids and a perrito named Tinto. By the way, I everyone's OK with Spanglish because that's pretty much the closet I get to English down here, it's so much more divertido.

Our first several weeks have been filled with an excellent mix of one-on-one Spanish language instruction, Manna Project (MPI) orientation, and of course, the local tourist activities. We have toured the centro historico, climbed the local basilica, explored local museums, hiked the nearest mountain overlooking the sprawling city of Quito, and gone mountain-biking (luckily downhill most of the way) through the Andes (and a temporary rain-formed lake on the trail...oops.)

The group of new Program Directors (PDs) is an eclectic mix of personalities, and I think we're going to have a great year. Of the 5 new PDs, Jocelyn Lancaster, Eliah McCallah, Holly Ward, Serena Zhou, and I, represented are 4 colleges, a multitude of interests and skills, and converging goals. Dividing our time between after-school help, a health program, English and art classes, and a micro-finance initiative, we should accomplish success in a variety of different fields this year.

On Friday, our group is moving out the official Manna residence in Conocoto, Ecuador. The pueblo is a twenty minute bus ride from Quito in the Valle de los Chillos. We are all very excited to move out to the Manna house, living and working together at a close distance to our program sites. While I have enjoyed Quito, I am particularly ready for the move. The first week we were here, I was robbed in the middle of the day by 2 ladrones. In the process lost a bunch of cash, 2 credit cards, my driver's license, and everything else in my wallet. Although it was very much a sobering experience, on the bright-side I very quickly gained some good ole-fashioned Quito street smarts. Since that incident, I rarely walk alone in the city, am always aware of my surroundings, and am very careful about what valuables I'm carrying. Yes, it is an adjustment from the States, but it just takes some getting used to.



On a brighter note, in general it has been a great experience living in the seat of the nation of Ecuador. The capital city of Quito houses Ecuador's own Casa Blanca, sits between towering green mountains, and enjoys a year-round temperate climate of about 75 degrees (and is very sunny during the summer months.) Another great part of the homestays and living in the capital city is being able to witness Ecuador's political scene up-close instead of reading the occasional page-long Economist article. Ecuador traditionally has been a country of (peaceful) political turmoil, averaging a new constitution every 10 years and, in recent years, a new president every 2 years. Because Ecuador's current leftist president, Rafael Correa, has brought more political stability to the country, the people have been more than happy to give him an incredible amount of power. As a result, he has disbanded the Congress and appointed a Constitutional Assembly to draft a new Constitution, which dominates the news here in a way similar to the presidential race in the U.S. The Constitution will face a popular referendum in September, deciding its fate. Needless to say, it will be a pretty interesting time to be in the country. And it makes U.S. politics look pretty tame , right?


That's about it for now, I hope everyone state-side is doing well. Hopefully I'll be able to update my blog more frequently once we move into the internet-filled Manna house Friday. If anyone wants to subscribe to my blog via email, just send me an email at dunc@mannaproject.org. Hasta pronto!