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I received a notice last night via email from blogspot.com stating that I had over 500 readers!

Kidding. More like 5. Ha. No worries. Sigo escribiendo…

The school week has drawn to an end, and overall it was a pretty good one, as I hinted at in my last posting. Today I started my new Friday post at the colegio (high school). However, it wasn’t a regular day because this weekend there are the fiestas in a nearby town, Patate, and there is a big parade that twenty five of the high school students are dancing in (a traditional folkloric dance of Ecuador, I might add) – and today was the dress rehearsal. So instead of teaching, I helped to hand out outfits for the dancers (I will have to post pictures after the parade…the get-ups are adorable…a spin off of the traditional Ecuadorian dress).

The only downfall of this week has to do with my efforts to fundraise for the elementary school in order to start a library. As I have mentioned before, the school has about 180 students, grades one through seven, but is lacking in resources. There is no money in the budget for arts and crafts supplies or for physical education necessities (not even a soccer ball or jump rope). Furthermore, and this is the part that bothers me the most, there is no library in the school (nor in the community as a whole), so the students only occasionally read for classes and leisure reading is nonexistent. For this reason I see a library as the perfect addition to the school – and as an outlet for students who don’t really have any common space within the school, and certainly not one where they would be invited to relax and read a book (or two, or three).

I sat down with the school director on Wednesday and presented the library idea and some of my fundraising ideas and he seemed thrilled. He was already set to show me the extra room that he though would be a great space and so on. However, the following day, the same director, who lovingly calls me “Megita,” pulled me into his office to inform me the professors had talked and think it would be better to get the school a projector. Now let me say that not one teacher knows how to correctly use a computer or any other technical device. He said that with such a projector they could do many more activities in the classroom and so on. As I was sitting in his office I could picture the projector being used for the teachers to watch movies projected onto the wall…certainly not something I see benefiting the students to a large extent, or to any extent at all. I was nonchalant during this encounter because I was a little taken aback. I felt like I (and my USA connections) was/were being advantage of.

When I returned to my house later in the evening Isabel informed me that Don Galo (the director) had just told her to tell me that they also could use a computer and that she should encourage me to get one for the school. “UM HELLO, IT’S NOT LIKE I AM A MONEY TREE you idiota” was only one of the things I considered telling the director. However, I decided I would let myself cool down and kindly tell him the following week how I feel and why I think the library would be the most beneficial for the students.

I feel like this is a situation that often arises for extranjeros (foreigners) in developing countries such as Ecuador. The people in the given community realize they have a chance to get somethings that they want (lap tops, projectors, etc.) out of an individual with connections to money and lower U.S. prices on such items and so they in a way use or take advantage of the extranjeros, whether they mean to or not. It frustrates me because I feel very loved and accepted by the community, so to feel taken advantage of puts me in a difficult position…there is a fine line between giving the community something it needs and having resources taken advantage of.

Enough of that drama…I am looking forward to the weekend and heading to Patate for the fiestas and dances. Not to mention I am going horseback riding with a student later this afternoon. Lindo Ecuador!