Friday, October 2, 2009

Work, Protests, and Martha Stewart

If I thought time was moving fast the first 3 months in Ecuador, then this last month has passed at warp speed!

I began work at the Special Education school 3 weeks ago. They were short staffed so I agreed to take on my own classroom with about 7 of the students with most severe needs. I was so incredibly happy to get the opportunity to work with students that society may have deemed "incapable". I thought this would be my big chance to make a difference in their lives and to prove to the school and parents that with a little faith and support, every child can succeed. I was given a room that needs a lot of attention (cleaning, painting, organizing) and the teachers came up with a few supplies for me to begin teaching. Although the list of needs far outweighed the list of what I had, I saw the potential and got right to work.

It only took a few days to realize the things I need to be working on with this institution were not my 7 individual students, but all of the students, the teachers, the parents, and the administration. Also, volunteers are not supposed to take the place of an employee and I realized that being a teacher was not exactly my role as a volunteer. I´m stuck between a rock and a hard place because I enjoy working daily with my students and having the independence of my own classroom, but I feel like I am not reaching my potential to support sustainable development with this institution. So, I had a meeting with the staff where it was decided that I would teach a few more weeks until they could hire a new teacher and then I would make a work plan for the next few months. There are so many projects and charlas I would like to work on but the ideas for progress need to come from the people, not me. It will be easier to get help and support if the idea is something the school desires, not just the gringa. So I have made a list of things I am capable of doing (school garden, sex education, school for parents, newspaper, etc.) and am meeting with the staff this week to make a plan. It´s exciting to think that I could have my cake and eat it too by figuring out how to work with the students AND the organization.

As far as national news goes, the second day of classes, Ecuador announced a national teachers strike. The staff at my school held a meeting during recess to discuss the strike and I was left in charge of the 30 students. Sounds easy, right? Well, imagine 30 rowdy kids just fresh out of summer break, and a young foreign girl who can barely speak Spanish. Not a good combination. Luckily, the staff saw me struggling to control the students and ended their meeting. Since then, only one of the 7 teachers/staff is participating in the "paro" or strike.

Speaking of strikes, Monday the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon, or CONFENIAE, began a paro. While the rest of the country started to negotiate and discuss solutions, the province I live in, Morona Santiago, continued the strike. Peace Corps has a wise policy prohibiting volunteers from discussing or participating in politics so I don´t have much else to say about this subject. But if you want more information you can read about the protests here: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/02/ecuador.violence/index.html and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/01/AR2009100102175.html.

Aside from than the national protests, I am safe in Macas and continuing to live a normal daily life within the calm city. I´ve been learning a few things in the kitchen with the "Martha Stewarts", Lila and Pamela. I am making more and more Ecuadorian friends and connections and getting to love my host family as if they were my own. They heard the Peace Corps is coming in a month to approve apartments and they immediately installed cable TV and hot water (WOW!). No need to persuade me, I plan on staying with my host family for a while, so these new conveniences are just a bonus! Another bonus: I got seasons of US shows from a friend and can now watch Arrested Development, The Office, 30 Rock, Weeds, Psych, True Blood, and many more anytime I´d like! Talk about a stress reliever!

I miss all of you an incredible amount and as always I appreciate your love and support.
Nicolette

1 comment:

  1. Hey Nico!
    I know this post is from more than a month ago, but I just got to it now! And I just wanted to say that I am very proud of you for figuring out how to structure your role in the best way, and for speaking up with your colleagues at the school! I am sure you've made even more progress by now :) Anyway, keep up the awesome work, and I'll definitely be following along and rooting for you!
    Take care,
    - Lava

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