I have a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore

For news of the Braun Family in Ecuador, you'll need to contact someone else. I'm on the other side of the world in Basra, preparing to conduct orientation training for Save's newly hired staff.

The program I helped start up in 2003 closed in 2006 because of the difficult security situation. Now Basra is calmer (it's all relative) and we're off again, launching programs focused on children's education and their protection from harm.

Here I am dressed to go by car (in the back seat, of course) to the "supermarket" to buy some food for the week. We women live in a house adjacent to the office building/men's quarters. It's all in one relatively small compound, and since I'm headed to bed, I'm in "lock down" in a "safe room" on a "safe floor" in a "safe house." You should see the number of bolts we have to close before going to bed - it's a work-out. Don't I look safe in my little room?



-Spee

Ecuador Then and Now

Hard to believe, but I've been coming to Ecuador every 2 to 4 years ever since I married Jens. That's 9 times in the past 24 years. Here are some "then and now" observations.

1. The Ecuadorian roads are hugely improved. As you drive the main routes between towns and cities, you no longer have to fear that a big pothole will suddenly loom in front of you with little chance for you to dodge it. The drivers are a bit less insane. The government is working hard through a public ad campaign to get drivers to slow down, not pass on curves, not drive drunk, and put their children in the back seat. As we neared the coast, one sign said, "La playa no se va a ningun lado - no corras!" which means, "The beach isn't going anywhere - slow down!" The sign in the photo below says, translated into English, "Daddy, keep me safe, don't speed!!!"


2. The latest global initiatives to improve the world are seen here in various manifestations. These include programs that are successfully increasing life expectancy, reducing maternal mortality, and increasing literacy rates. They also are reflected in the fact that some Ecuadorians are getting into organic food, permaculture, green construction, and natural birth. Natalie is participating actively in the latter as a trainee at a clinic that specializes in water births. Here she is in her doula uniform.

The government has a big "buy local" campaign going. Here is a photo of the many "primero Ecuador" billboards they have put up. "When you travel, first Ecuador." Other billboards promote locally produced food and locally made clothing.

3. Two decades ago, Helen and Gene still sent us lists of what to bring from the U.S. - items that could not be found in Ecuador at all or for a reasonable price. Now we send them lists of what to bring from Ecuador to the U.S. In Quito you can buy anything. The mall we pass through to walk from our home to Helen and Gene's, the Quicentro, is expanding (see construction signs on the left-hand side of the photo) and has a lot of business, despite the presence of two other big shopping centers/malls within 3 blocks of this one.

Caleb thought these modified names of chain stores was hilarious:

4. On a less cheerful note, the coast is much more built up. The small, quiet fishing villages of the past are hard to find. As reported in our last blog post, we went to stay at Atacames, pictured below.

Then we went on a long day trip on bad roads to Mompiche and discovered a taste of the past in that sleepy village. Here's the extent of the village:
The men are still mostly fishing for a living.
The main fun in the late afternoon is co-ed soccer on the beach (not pictured) and other play, such as that of these four boys on an old surfboard.
5. Family relationships continue one generation after the next. Gene and Helen knew well the great-grandparents of Edison, our godchild, who is a Cayambi Indian. Over time, the members of this family have gotten more and more educated and their economic circumstances have steadily improved. Each generation grows taller, because of better nutrition, while they speak more Spanish and less Quechua. Edison dresses like a teenager almost anywhere in the world and learns much of the same material in school that Caleb is learning. Here's a picture of Edison and some of his family. From left to right: Edison's cousin Sally, Edison, me, Sally's mom Elena, Edison's mom Fanny (they're sisters), Gene, Segundo (Edison's grandfather), and Caleb.

Now here's something that hasn't changed: Fanny served us a wonderful traditional meal of guinea pig, potatoes, salad, and fresh juice. Caleb is getting good at eating guinea pig, which is a real skill !!


-Spee

Beach Trip and, Alas, No World Cup Trip

Caleb asked that we go to the Pacific coast for his 15th birthday, which we celebrated last Friday. Some friends kindly lent us their apartment near the coastal town of Atacames, and off we went for the long weekend, joined by our 13-year-old godson Edison. We had fabulous views heading down to sea level, like this one. Can you spot the cattle?

We also had fabulous views from the 3rd floor apartment at the beach.
Here Spee and Natalie are drying off by the pool, while Jens is looking up at Caleb the photographer.
We had fun in the water. Here Caleb is emerging from successfully body-surfing in, while Jens is still cruising.
We had fun on the beach as well. Here Jens is digging for the crab that made a hole he spotted, while Edison and Caleb look on.
We had beautiful views on the way home on Monday. We took a new route - newly constructed and new to us - whereby first we drove north along the Ecuadorian coast and then headed inland (east) to the city of Ibarra along a new route not too far south of the Colombian border. Because it's a new road and the road cuts (cliffs, bluffs) haven't yet settled, there were many stones and even mini-landslides that had landed on the road, which made the driving even more tricky than usual. But the valley heading up to Ibarra was absolutely gorgeous. The scenery was stunning for over an hour.

Also on the road were many sticks that had been recently dropped by sugar cane trucks heading up to the highlands in front of us. We stopped and picked up one big stick, then used our pocket knives to make short pieces on which we happily munched for a while.


The other big news is that Ecuador has tried valiantly to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Soccer Tournament. On Saturday afternoon, we joined everyone else in the country to watch Ecuador play Uruguay in the second-to-last qualifying match. They just had to win it and they would likely be selected for the World Cup. How sad it was when Ecuador lost right at the very end of the game 2-1. On the other hand, we had a good night's sleep because the fans went to bed early.

This evening was the final qualifying match, with Ecuador playing Chile, which had already qualified and had nothing to lose. Did they then let Ecuador win, giving them the opportunity to play in the World Cup next year? No, they sent Ecuador to defeat 1-0 and it's a very quiet night here in Quito. Here are Caleb and Natalie's new friend Sam (Lewis & Clark college student who stayed on post-study abroad last spring) modeling their Ecuador national team t-shirts. Tonight after the game, they went to the local park and played some soccer with Caleb's new soccer ball, while Natalie attended an online class for Goddard. College attendance sure looks different these days, doesn't it?


-Spee

Scrapes and Such

Natalie has begun getting trained to work as a doula at a maternity clinic outside of Quito, Clinica La Primavera, which promotes humanized birth and gives mothers the option of giving birth in a tub of water. She's learning the role doulas play in that clinic, the location of supplies and other items, the clinic's procedures, and so on. She's hoping that once she's familiar with everything, she'll get to be the primary doula on some births. She seems excited to be in the world of birth again.

Natalie has driven the 20-25 minutes to the clinic and back twice now and already had a scrape with a taxi that took some of the paint off the side of our car (and kept going). It's nothing serious but it's annoying.

Here I am driving that car, the Hyundai Atso. I'm not sure why Natalie took this picture, but I am reminded of one meaning of the acronym ATSO: Ability to Survive and Operate.

Of more concern has been Helen's health. She was full of energy and doing very well last week, but again fell into a period of weakness this week. Her primary physician today detected cardiac arrhythmia and sent her to a cardiologist, who now has her under observation at the Hospital Metropolitano. She is not happy at all with having to hang out there, but is hopeful that a better understanding of the source of weakness will result in treatment that addresses the problem.

Earlier this week, we had a wonderful reunion with Jens's old buddy Steve Contag (on the left) and his wife Patricia (on the right), who live in Baltimore, MD.



-Spee

Weekend Activities

Jens is back and has reported that this weekend's Alternatives to Violence Advanced Workshop (AVP) went well. He observed all kinds of interesting cultural nuances among Ecuadorians from the Sierra (mountain region) vs. Ecuadorians from the Coast. For one thing, the folks from the Coast are much warmer, joke a lot, and touch a lot more than the folks from the Sierra. The rest of us will have an opportunity to observe this ourselves when we head to the beach this Friday for a long weekend.

Yesterday when we were without Jens and had only a short time to do an outing because we slept in, we went up the Panecillo, which was fun. We drove up, which means we didn't test our lungs and legs, but we didn't get mugged either - one of the chronic threats in that part of town.

The Panecillo is a hill in the middle of the Quito valley. It used to mark the southern end of the city, but now is quite centrally located. On top of it is an interesting statue, which was put up in 1975. The angel is standing on some strange snake/crocodile/dog creature on top of the world.

The view gave us all a reminder of the different landmarks Quito has. Here we are looking northward.

Today, we were more ambitious. We left at 10:30 a.m. for Cerro Ungüi, which is at the southern end of that huge mass that is Pinchincha Mountain. Ungüi is a mountain in its own right, in my opinion (and that of my legs, this evening), regardless of its name being "cerro," which means hill. We found the trailhead despite the distraction of hundreds (thousands?) of people who were celebrating the Fiesta of St. Francis right at the saddle in the road where our trailhead was. This picture shows only the crowd on the west side of the saddle.

Anyway, Caleb and Natalie encouraged me enough that all 3 of us made it to the top, which was just over 12,000 feet above sea level (we started at about 10,000 feet). The views from the Ungüi trail and mountaintop were fabulous - of the city of Quito on the east, of the picturesque valley with the village of Lloa on the right, and of the ever-changing mountains and light above us on the huge mass that is Pichincha Mountain.

Quito to the east:

The valley with Lloa to the west:


Pichincha above:
It was steep sometimes:

We made it to the top!

Now we're all very tired and wishing we had a nice bathtub to soak in. But we're happy.

-Spee

Now that's development!

The countryside is so beautiful and the city much less so, that we try to go out on excursions each weekend. This quebrada is on the way to Papallacta.
Last week, I asked Helen and Gene where we could get a Quito phone book. Gene told me I could find one of the telephone company's (Anditel's) offices at the corner of Avenida Amazonas and Avenida Gaspar de Villaroel. He warned me though, recounting how last time he'd gone to ask for one, he had been required to show his Ecuadorian I.D. card and an Anditel phone bill proving he was a customer before being given the phone book. Seeing as I don't have an Ecuadorian I.D. card and we've not yet received a phone bill, I decided to try anyway. For one thing, the office was located at just the right distance from home for a good walk, so I headed out on Friday after work.

I entered the front doors of Anditel and surveyed the lobby. It had booths around two sides of the room with employees attending to customers or seemingly twiddling their thumbs, and in the middle it had the usual rows of chairs for the public waiting their turn. Then I spotted a big pile of telephone books on my right. It looked like I could just take one and leave, but after Gene's story, I thought I should ask permission. No way was I going to wait in line (well, actually, in chairs), so I approached the nearest booth where the employee seemed idle and asked if I could take a phone book. Sure, he said. I could hardly believe my luck, as I went out the door with the thick book under my arm. The bonus was the extra exercise I got lugging the thing home.

When I told Gene about the ease with which I got a phone book, he said, "Now that's development!" Gone are the days when the telephone company couldn't afford to hand out the phone books for free. Gone are the days when many people would cut up the pages and use them as their long-term supply of toilet paper. (However, people still bring phone books to soccer games and shred them for confetti right there on the spot.)

This left me thinking about development. Gene and Helen have worked in various ways to improve the lives of the Ecuadorians for over 50 years and much of their work might have been seen as in search of development. I've worked in my career for 25 years and usually call it "international relief and development." More recently, I've changed from using vocabulary such as "progress" and "development" to "improvements in the well-being of people, especially women and children." I won't go on and bore you with my analysis here, but I would like to share with you some signs of development in Ecuador - some of them improving people's well-being and some of them perhaps not.

We went last weekend to visit an amazing farm, where a young woman with her partner and her father have turned their 170 acres of her great-grandparents' huge hacienda into a large organic farm. They provide much of the goods for the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organization to which Helen and Gene belong and from which they receive a weekly basket of fresh farm produce. The young woman offered to give her community supporters a tour and we signed up.
You can find out more on Natalie's blog. Here's Caleb making friends with 2 cute piglets that ambled over while we were admiring the "chicken tractors" that are moved every day across the field.

Here's another view of the chicken tractors, which were sharing the field with llamas and alpacas.
So that's one kind of development, but many people still believe the better kind of development is large-scale export enterprises, like the flower farms that are prominent in Ecuador and ship millions of flowers to the U.S. every year. You know them by their huge greenhouses and often tight security systems. Here's a picture of one across the quebrada from the organic farm. Click on the photo for a closer view.

Here I'm holding a big $3.00 bouquet of flowers bought on our little street at the local flower shop, where big roses are 25 cents each and smaller ones are 10 for $1.00.
Here's another sign of development: Ecuador has had a huge increase in the number of vehicles on its roads since I first came 24 years ago. Gas is cheap because of Ecuador's large petroleum supply. Another sign is that women are working at gas stations (no self-service allowed in this country).

People have cars, malls in which to shop, and jobs on flower farms (among the pesticides). These signs of development aren't important to me. Instead, I'm thrilled to see how much more education each generation is getting, how much better the houses are for healthy living, how many parents are choosing to have fewer children and then are able to follow through with that choice, and how people in general have a higher quality of life and are living longer. Not that there isn't more to do, but we should celebrate how far we've come.

-Spee