Chester's year in Ecuador: It was worth the wait

Buenas Tardes Friends, Family, and most importantly Donors,

Some quick house keeping items. Dana got my splatter painting back. Don't ask me how. Also, we recently had the first round of PD introduction interviews posted on the daily life blog (openhandsdirtyfeet.blogspot.com) and I encourage you to watch it. I'm featured.

I am writing this post from my very own room. I've been moved in almost two days now. It is absolutely incredible; easily the best room in the house. An entire side of my room is closet space. Closet space, much like furniture, is a rare commodity in rooms here. Seth was also nice enough to leave one of those hanging shoe sorters, which works great for holding my t-shirts and long sleeve shirts. Now granted, I only have two suitcases worth of stuff, but everything fits in my closet with a full third totally empty, which is weird for me to think about. I also got a nightstand with three drawers, a wobbly bookshelf (probably my favorite piece of furniture), a plastic chair, and a bed. Sizewise, its the biggest single we have (read: all our rooms are normally singles except for the one double). Locationwise, my room is on the second floor on the back of the house, which means its about as quiet a room as you can get in this house. I am actually right above Krysta's room, which is where I was sleeping originally. How is the view? Funny you should ask. I have a great view into the hammock room, so I can get a fair amount of light in my room if I remember to pull back the curtain. I also have a great view across the hammock room into the office window. I'll probably keep the curtains closed a lot. However, the only way I can see the actual outside world is by pulling back both my curtain and the curtain in the office window and looking across the entire house (which is doable, if far away). I'm really happy with my diggs, it was definately worth the 6 week wait to get to move in. I will say though, it was weird living out of suitcases so long that unpacking I rediscovered stuff I had forgotten I brought with me. All I have left to do is figure out how to hang up the few things I have for my walls (read: Vanderbilt flag, Ecuador flag, aplacastry) and I'm considering buying a plant.

Qué mas? Kids camp has been going well. Tomorrow is the last day, and I think we are about ready for it to end. But we have 17 kids and haven't had any major problems (although one of our 4 year olds really likes to wander off). It seems that they have really enjoyed the different things we did. I'm not sure if I mentioned it last time, But Lori, the international director (read: my boss's boss) was here last week, but she was, and it was actually great having her around. We hiked a waterfall as a group two weekends ago and sat around working on grad school applications last weekend (well, at least I did). We also ate at the Mexican restaurant in downtown Quito. This is an interesting place. The food isn't great, but I understand I'm spoiled coming from Texas, the Tex-Mex capital of the world. However, the atmosphere is great; it is on the second story outside on a patio overlooking the Mariscal and it is owned by a guy who used to star in Mexican telenovelas. He has pictures of himself all over the restaurant.

We had a purse (and the keys within) "go home" with someone else earlier this week, so I spent a lot of this afternoon overseeing getting our locks changed (it would be very easy for anyone to locate the house with the gringos). It was interesting. I have never changed a lock in the states, but I'm pretty sure I have seen it done before. You go to Lowes, buy a kit in a box, and basically drop it in the hole in the door, right? Well here, you hire a blacksmith, who saws the locking mechanisms off the doors. Then, you take the whole locking mechanism to the only locksmith in town, and tell him that you want to change (cambinar) the locks. About an hour and a half later, the blacksmith will bring the newly changed locks back. That is going to set you back $11.75. Then, the blacksmith is going to spend about an hour WELDING the locks back onto the doors. He will have you check to make sure it works 20 or so times, then connect the electric switch so you can buzz people in the front, and then charge you $42.

After all this, I needed to both make 13 copies of each key and ask for the old internal lock. Back at the locksmith, I learned (and I think this is really interesting) since all we wanted was to change the lock, all he did was open it up and change the order of the pins. Crazy. Its like things can be re-used here. 26 keys cost $22.75. And that is how I spent my afternoon.

I guess the other big thing to report today is the progress Erik and I had with Microfinance. We send out meeting summaries of every meeting we have, and I wrote the summary for this one. I'm going to...borrow heavily...from the meeting minutes:

Name: Chester Polson
Date: 27/08/09
Participants: Chester Polson (MPI); Erik Swanson (MPI); Fabian Gualotuna (EPV); Wilson (EPV)

Meeting Summary: Bibi called at 10:08 am to say that EPV wanted to have an emergency meeting about funding for Capacitación. We had agreed at our last meeting that Manna would be willing to fund capacity training up to $1000, as long as we got receipts and EPV split the cost of any training program with us. We had, however, expected to sign a contract.

Wilson and Fabian told us (and Bibi) that the reason this was so last minute was because they just learned about the classes. They wanted to get us to fund half the cost of the classes, like we had verbally agreed to. There are two different classes from two different organizations. Both will focus administrative and management training, like salaries and regulations. One, through Mundo Laboral www.mundolaboral-ec.com, was found through the paper. The other, through Mi Fundación, was sent to them electrinically. Mundo Laboral costs $180, Mi Fundación costs $97 plus IVA. MPI will pay around $150 for both classes.

Erik and I carefully looked over the information they gave us on both programs, and while were much more pleased with the one from Mi Fundación, both looked legitimate. We approved the courses and said Manna would be willing to pay for half of these classes, making it clear that 1) this would count towards the $1000, 2) we would have to sign an actual contract soon, and 3) we would get receipts. While there was a bit of a grimace when we said it would count towards the $1000, all terms were readily acceptable sin problemas. Afterward, we said that we would like to work more closely with them in their office, not to monitor them but to strengthen the relationship between the two organizations and also hopefully aid EPV. They were accepting of this as well, explaining how they strive for transparency with their workers, clients, and other foundations. They seem cautiously willing to let us work with them in their office. They also again stressed how they are a part of the community, supporting the liga deportivos at both Fajardo and Rumiloma.

Next Steps:
- Write up contract between MPI and EPV concerning the $1000 gift for training.
- Plan a check up to see how effective they thought this round of classes was.
- Begin to try working more closely with EPV to strengthen our relationship.
- Research/encourage the classes from Swiss Credit.

Observations: Erik and I are much more optimistic about the training that is going to come from Mi Fundación than we are about the training from Mundo Laboral. Mi Fundación looks very professional and should cover topics relevant to better managing the coop. The Mundo Laboral, on the other hand, was found by an ad in the paper. However, EPV seems sincere in their request, and Mundo looks legitimate enough. Also, since EPV is in charge of finding the classes they want, we saw no reason to veto the specific class. We thought it would be a show of good faith that we trust their judgment. It was also pleasing to see how accepting EPV seemed to be of the idea of us working in their office. However, Erik and I both agree that we need to find some way for them to trust us more on a personal level. No ideas, other than more exposure, currently come to mind.

So there is the latest. I have some pictures at this point. The one at the top of the blog is a picture of a nice sunset in the old city in downtown Quito. The ones at the end of this post are my sweet new diggs. As always, questions and comments are appreciated and will be addressed (unless I have forgotten to address someone's question or comment, in which case I'll TRY to answer whatever you post).

Chao,

Chet

Song of the blog: "Lovesong," by Sara Bareilles