Home again, home again, and my volunteer experience with UBECI

(I wrote this last Wednesday. I’ve now been home for 9 days, having gotten back on August 11th.)

So, here I am, sitting in the Bogotá airport, waiting for my flight home. I has a bit of a stressful time in the Quito airport when I couldn’t access the funds in my bank account. You have to pay an exit fee to leave Ecuador by air, and it seemed I was $5 short of the $40 fee. I had a $5 that had a small piece ripped out of the corner, but had tried to use it on two previous occasions and it hadn’t been accepted. So I was getting really upset. But then someone told me my bill would be accepted, and sure enough, it was. However, I’d exchanged all my Colombian Pesos for US dollars in order to pay my exit fee, and so I didn’t have any money for food during my 10 hour layover in Bogotá. I was glad there was food even on my 11 p.m flight. Before I got on that flight, though, I had a bit of  trouble because I forgot I’d gone through security in Bogota and told them I hadn’t and also because I lost my bag tag and boarding pass stub from my connecting flight from Quito. I was quite concerned about the bag tag matter since I had $500 worth of Esthela’s family’s jewelry in that suitcase! But I ended up being able to get on the plane and I found my luggage without difficulty at the end of the flight.

Now I’m back in Toronto. There are so many things I’m enjoying about being home that I didn’t miss while I was away but really am appreciating now.  For my next post, I think I’ll write about some differences between Ecuador and Canada, things I miss now and other things I’m really glad to have come back to.

Anyway, my trip started off slowly, but then  it picked up speed, and now I can hardly believe it’s over!

For the last 3 weeks of my trip, I was volunteering with UBECI in the mornings. We’d go to a different market every day and do a program for the children who work there. Well, not all of the children, just those whose parents had agreed to send their children to our program for an hour and a half.

All the volunteers would meet at the UBECI office, which was in the south of Quito. Most of the other volunteers lived close to the office with a host family arranged by UBECI, or in the UBECI volunteer house, but I had to travel a fair ways by trolebus from the north of Quito to the south. This, and even more so my characteristic poor time management skills, resulted in me missing one morning of volunteering, and part of another one. As well as being late a few other times. Augh!

The markets program, which I was involved with, was run by Ecuadorian staff named Danny, Johanna, and Susana. A changing roster of volunteers would  help the children wash their hands and faces, read to them or turn a skipping rope for them during the first part of the program, and would later help lead songs, and finally help the children do an activity such as colouring in pictures of people from different in typical attire from different regions of Ecuador, or drawing their family.

One week, the theme was the rights of the child. The activity involved colouring a sheet that had drawings of two families on it. Danny explained that the happy, united family was the ideal one, and the separated, angry one wasn’t, that children had the right to a united, happy family. I talked with Danny about this later, wondering whether this wouldn’t be unfair and unhelpful to children whose parents were divorced  or otherwise didn’t fit the ideal being put forth. Danny explained that many children in the markets, while not having a traditional nuclear family, considered their stepfathers or other males in their close families to be their fathers. I really liked the idea of discussing the rights of the child, but I wasn’t convinced that telling children they had the right to a united family (in the sense of their parents being together) was a good idea. The right to be loved and respected, absolutely. But sometimes staying together isn’t in everyone’s best interests, and I think that should be made clear.

The children in the markets are really different from most of the children I’ve worked with in Canada, and even from the children in my upper-middle-class  host family in Quito.  The children who work in the markets, well, the girls who have younger siblings, anyway, are very responsible and dedicated to looking after their siblings. They very rarely squabble, if at all.  And the younger siblings look to their elder siblings for protection and care rather than fighting with them. Fighting with one’s siblings seems foreign to their mindset. It is a luxury they can ill afford. They must focus on ensuring the well-being of their siblings rather than on having fun. But when the children have a chance to act like kids, when they come to our program, most of them are as exuberant, silly, and unguarded as any Canadian child.  But I wish they had the opportunity to act like children every day, instead of for two hours once a week with UBECI. According to Danny, only about half of the children in the program are enrolled in school. Many parents believe their children would be better served by working in the markets and continuing to learn the trade of their vendor parents than by going to school and spending many hours away from the markets, away from their responsibility to help their parents sell their wares.

Some of the children are immaculately dressed and groomed,  and a number of girls sport intricate braided hairdos. Other children are in dirty clothing and have messy hair. Some of the children are bursting with enthusiasm and affection, but others of them wear guarded or even listless expressions and are very wary. I want to really reflect on what I can take from this experience and apply it as I work with children in Canada.

At the Recreo market site. I can’t remember the name of the girl in my lap, to my chagrin. There were so many children and I only got to see them a maximum of 3 times so I ended up forgetting a lot of names, even though I tried hard to remember them.

At Sangolqui, a town a little ways outside of Quito that we went to on Thursdays. It took a long time to get to this site.

At an indoor site where the afternoon Sangolqui program was run

More photos from the Recreo market site, on my last Wednesday with UBECI.

At the Guamani market site, which we went to on Fridays.

There were beautiful views of various mountains from the Guamani site.  However, the Guamani market was the least favourite site of many volunteers because of the many dead fish and livestock hanging from hooks that were in plain sight (and sometimes smell)

Washing hands and faces.

Jumping rope. I really got a workout in terms of practicing my Spanish counting when I was turning the rope!

Receiving hugs from all the children after Danny announced that it was my last day with them, and told them to ‘dale un abrazo’. I was prepared this time – the day before, I had been sitting down with a child in my lap when Danny gave the directive to hug me. I got swamped with hugs and almost couldn’t breathe for a while. The little girl in my lap got bumped or otherwise discombobulated and started to cry. This time, however, I made sure I was standing up. I found myself losing my balance at times but ended up remaining on my feet.

I was affected by the poverty of the children, but not as much as I was expecting. This troubles me a little. On the other hand, it was a relief not to be an emotional wreck at the end of each morning that I volunteered. I do remember being pretty disconcerted when a boy seemed flabbergasted that I had been able to afford to go on a plane. I had explained that it was my last day with them, that I was going back to my country, Canada, soon.  After the realization that I could afford to fly, the children started to ask me how much money I had. Fortunately for me, I didn’t know. I was a little annoyed that I was the only volunteer that had gained this wealthy status in the children’s eyes. But perhaps it was better that they didn’t know that all of the volunteers had flown here from their home countries, that we were from a distinctly different economic category from them. The important thing was for them to know that they were truly valued and loved by the volunteers.

Wow. What a gift it was to work with these children. Even though I don’t remember nearly all of their names, they’ve had a definite impact on me. And I hope I’ll be able to see them the next time I go back to Ecuador.

Ya me voy.

Advertisement