> Special Sections > Making a Difference in Ecuador > Living in another world
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Living in another world
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Erin Duffy poses with a student while handing out school supplies she bought for the students with money donated from local residents. Reminder submitted photo
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By Erin Duffy
Correspondent
ECUADOR First of all we would like to thank everyone who has made donations to help our school here in Tonsupa, Ecuador. In looking into the possibility of building a new school, we recently came across the information that there is already a plan in place for a new school; all that is missing are funds and a start date. Hopefully with the donations we have received, we will be able to get this plan rolling!
Although I gave you a pretty detailed idea of what life is like here in Tonsupa, Ecuador in my first article, I have since realized that there are many basic lifestyle differences that I did not mention. Family structure here is very different than our "typical" family in the States. Birth control here is pretty much non-existent. Most of the families in our school range from six - 12 children. One family currently has six kids attending our school, three that have completed primary school and three more in a local nursery. It is very common for a mother and her oldest daughter(s) to be pregnant at the same time since first pregnancies usually happen between ages 14 - 17. A fellow volunteer that works in the Atacames Medical Center has seen several expectant mothers even younger.
Along with pregnancy usually comes marriage. Those middle school and high school romances that we usually forget about in our early adult years, turn into life partners since there is a child involved.
As parents, the teens here really have no option but to work to support their child. As the grandparents already have a full house of their own to support, there is no extra to give to the new addition to the family. Many teens sell ice cream, work in construction, or set up markets with fruits and vegetables to support their family. Others work with their machetes cutting grass or trees, working day to day. A typical daily earning here is about $15, with no labor laws protecting the citizens. As you can imagine, this does not leave much room to save money for the future. The lifestyle is day to day. The people here work all day to get their pay and buy food for dinner that night. Quite often people hire someone to do a job here, and the worker gets paid long after the job is completed, if ever. As the people here get more established, many open up their own shops or work with a friend or family members. The main streets here are lined with shops of all kinds, welders, bike repairs, mechanics, fruit markets, tiny convenience stores, etc.
Most houses themselves here are basic to say the least. They fit as many kids as possible into the same bed (at least two to three, four if they are small,) and all share one room. Sometimes there is just one room, and the bedroom also serves as the kitchen. In any case, there are certainly no living rooms, dining rooms, offices, etc.
Since the majority of the homes have no running water, each family has a supply of 12 bottles which they bring to the closest water supply and lug home for that days food, dishes, laundry and bathing. Taylor and I do not drink the tap water here (as it is not recommended), but of course the families here cannot afford the extra expense of bottled water.
When was the last time you cleaned out your refrigerator or freezer? That never happens here as there is very rarely more than one or two days supply of food in the house. There are no large grocery stores with huge selections to chose from, instead small markets (fruit, vegetable, fish and meat) everywhere with people selling what they have for the day. Small convenient stores supply the other necessities such as milk, flour, oil, and butter to the community.
With 12 sets of clothes to be washed, land and sometimes animals to tend to and a house to clean, the children here are expected to carry out tough household chores from a very young age. Our four-year-old host sister always offers to help us wash our clothes, and she does a better job than we do!
In the little free time they do have, the children here play soccer with any type of ball they can get their hands on, roll old tires with sticks, or run around together with little parental supervision.
As you can imagine, cars here are few and far between. Public transportation is utilized by just about everyone. Often times the kids are sent to pick things for dinner because under age 12 or so the bus fare is half price. Bikes are seen as luxury since they save bus fare, so people will try just about anything to repair broken down, old bikes.
Since the lifestyle here is always lived day to day, there is not much thought of the future, for children and adults alike. Most children in the States have dreams of what they want to be from the time they are five. We did an exercise with our seventh grade class and asked them what they wanted to be doing when they were 18, 25 and 35.
It took them a while to come up with any of the answers, and once they did, many of them revolved around their families and what they need ("I want to be a lawyer to help my parents", or "I want to work on the family farm so my mom and dad can rest").
Well, hopefully next time you hear from me we will have some plans ready to roll with the school. Thanks again for all the support we have received from so many of you back home!
Duffy, an East Longmeadow resident, is a volunteer in Ecuador with United Planet. From home her family and friends are constantly raising funds to improve the quality of life for the children in Duffy's school. Her column will appear monthly in The Reminder throughout the remainder of her volunteer work.
For more information or to donate, call Marilyn Duffy at 525-7669.
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> Special Sections > Making a Difference in Ecuador > Living in another world
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