If I were in Michigan...

This "winter" is the first time in my life in which, between November and February, I have not gone sledding, ice skating, skiing, or at least trudge through the snow to clean off a car or catch the bus.  I suppose that for many people in my home state, that would be a dream come true, but I find that I really miss having the four seasons.

In youth group on Saturday, the pastor read from Ecclesiastes 3 where it says that, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." (NIV)  In the most common Spanish version of the text (Reina-Valera), the language talks about a "time" and an "hour" with no reference to seasons.  As I reflected on the difference, it made sense that in my native language and my home state, seasons would have much more significance than in a city like Quito where the weather could be described as a perpetual spring (or autumn).

Having seasons--for planting, for growing, for harvesting, and for resting--helps me understand at a deeper level the importance of doing everything in its correct season.  At a subconscious level, I mark the advance of time with the changing of the seasons.  In school, the coming of spring meant searching for a summer job and finishing up the school year.  The first snow fall signaled that Christmas was right around the corner, with 1st semester exams, the holiday season, and all the festivities at the end of the year.  Here in the perpetual spring of Quito (with 3 seasons sometimes packed into one day), that urgency that comes when one knows that the world is changing and one must prepare for the change...it just doesn't exist.  I often found myself returning home in a t-shirt in January asking myself whether it was September or March, only to realize that it was really the dead of winter in my home state.  Thus, it is the date--the change from February to March--that makes me look at my goals and accomplishments and plan for the next 31 days.  And at a different level, I continue to look to Michigan, checking the weather and looking at pictures from the recent ice storm, to remember the change of seasons and the fact that there is "a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens...

And if I were in Michigan, by the way, I would have had a snow/ice day or two.  So for those who are wishing the snow would end, remember that there is a time for everything, that spring will come, and try to enjoy the winter (whatever it may entail) while it lasts.

For the fun of it, here are some pictures (compliments of my padres) of what I would have seen in Michigan last week...

The beauty of an ice storm

up to an inch of ice covering some surfaces

With the beauty comes destruction...lots of broken branches (and downed power lines)

Evergreens laden with the weight of the ice

Ecuador Apologetics

This past weekend I met up briefly with some visitors from my hometown, and they asked, like so many other North Americans (and Ecuadorians) if I like Ecuador and why.  In my quick response that ensued, I explained a couple of the attractive things about the country, but that response did not come near doing justice to this wonderful country.  So here is a long overdue explanation of the things that make this country unique and a defense of why everyone should come visit Ecuador at some point in life (hint, hint :P ).  Oh, and the list is in no particular order... 

Mountains and Volcanoes: Located in the Andes mountain range, Ecuador is home to over 25 volcanoes, of which some are both active and snow-covered.  The slope of Volcano Cayambe is the only place on earth where snow remains on the equator all year long.    

Highest point on Earth: Everyone knows that Mount Everest is the highest point above sea level, but not many people know that the Chimborazo Volcano (in Ecuador, of course) is the point farthest from the center of planet Earth.  So, if you really want to do some amazing mountain climbing, come to Ecuador, get a guide, and climb an Ecuadorian mountain called Chimborazo.   

  Indigenous culture: In the midst of the hustle and bustle of any major city, there are women selling crafts, snacks, and fruit in the same clothing that their ancestors have worn for hundreds of years.  The indigenous culture is not only apparent in the colorful woven clothes and crafts sold around town, but it has also crept into the everyday vocabulary of the average Ecuadorian.  Words from Kichwa, like guagua (baby), aychichi (it’s cold), and ñaño (brother) have replaced their Spanish counterparts as the most common in everyday usage.  While it was confusing at first to hear words that do not exist in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, I love that Ecuador has its own language interwoven with the official Spanish that is taught in the schools.  And there still are many indigenous communities in which Kichwa is more common than Spanish. 

    

3 seasons per day:  I’m not sure this is something I love about Ecuador, but it definitely makes the city where I live unique.  In Quito (and not in the jungle or coast), it’s not uncommon to have cool fall temperatures in the morning, a blazing sun at midday, a hard spring rain in the afternoon, and fog at nightfall.  It makes planning clothing for the day a bit difficult when one must plan for all the extremes at once, but it has taught me to carry an umbrella and sunglasses at all times, whether the sky is completely overcast or there isn’t a cloud visible on the horizon.  Basically, the only thing predictable about the weather is its unpredictableness.  Oh, and this is true all year long—there are only slight variations between “winter” and “summer” in Quito. 

 

 Cevichochos, popcorn for lunch, and biscochos:  Each country has its own unique culinary contributions to world cusine, and three of my favorites from Ecuador are listed above.  I already mentioned cevichochos in a previous post, and I continue to enjoy that delicious snack any chance I get.  Popcorn and corn in general, are quite common in the local diet.  In fact, there are over a dozen types of corn used in Ecuador.  Since I have always enjoyed popcorn as a snack, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s not just a snack for the movie theatre here.  It’s commonly used as part of a normal lunch or dinner.  Biscochos are light, crisp, rectangular biscuits that famously come from the city of Cayambe.  Although they are not so easy to find in Quito, a biscocho is the perfect accompaniment to a cup of Joe.

The Galapagos: Need I say more?  Although I have yet to visit the islands, they have some of the most unique flora and fauna on earth, and are perhaps the most famous part of the country.

So there’s a short list for this week, and you can be sure that it will continue (with the addition of pictures) in the weeks and months to come.

Starting Again

On my bus rides from Cumbayá up to Quito, I've recently been memorizing a poem by Rudyard Kipling entitled, "If." It is written as advice from father to son on how to have "the Earth and everything in it" and to "be a man," but even more than that, it teaches what it means to have true strength of character. There is one part of the poem that reminds me of a businessperson with whom I have been working. The poem says,

"If you can...watch the things you've given your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch--and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss."

This mark of character is one that I have seen in Luis, a dinnerware salesman who spends each day riding the buses of Quito from one hotel to the next restaurant to another military establishment. All the while, he is carrying with him catalogues of plates and cups and buffet food warmers. From what my coworker told me, this was not where Luis was a couple years ago. Of course, he had to start in the same way long before, but over the years he had built a large business with major clients including the best 5-star hotels in Quito and international chain restaurants as well. The business was going well until family issues led Luis to give up his business. Without his management, the business failed, and not only did Luis have nothing, but the person to whom he gave the business also lost everything.

And so Luis started again at his beginning. He still had his contacts at those hotel and restaurants even if he had lost his working capital and the warehouse he had filled with inventories of dinnerware and other merchandise. Luis began reestablishing his business little by little first with one small client and then with a few major hotels. Without a car, it takes time for Luis to reach the businesses, and when they ask him to bring physical samples of plates or water pitchers, he loads up his wares in an old black suitcase. But he is persistent, and during a recent visit, he told me that he has regained clients among the international chain restaurants. He now represents a linens manufacturer and a laundry service, offering their products and services to each hotel he visits. Through diversification, persistence, and strength of character, Luis is slowly rebuilding his business from the beginning. And something else--he was not the one who told me about his loss. His focus is on doing his best in his present work and achieving his goals for the future.

While we like to hear the stories of continual progress and business growth, the hard fact is that each business and each person faces trials at one time or another.  Being able to pick up the pieces and start over and succeed show the strength of character of a business owner and the power to endure of a business.

Competiton in Yatzaputzan

Clouds come in over patchwork fields in Yatzaputzan

My coworker Edwin and I recently went to Ambato, the fourth largest city in Ecuador.  And then we caught a bus to a community up in the mountains above Ambato where the cold wind blows clouds across the dirt road and a girl from Michigan expects snow to start falling from the gray sky at any moment.  This little community has nothing more than an old blue sign along the country road that reads "Yatzaputzan" to demark the wood houses and dirt road that form a community, but years ago someone from this area contacted PCD (Partners for Christian Development) about training in agriculture.  Eventually they started a savings and loan program, a bakery, and a cheese factory.  The last of these three was the motive for our visit to the community.  To help with start the cheese factory, PCD gave a loan for the sanitary registry and the initial milk purchases.  With the loan, PCD also made a long-term commitment to the development of that factory and the surrounding community.

Community members at the cheese factory

At its start, the cheese factory met a large need in Yatzaputzan, Tamboloma, and surrounding communities of the indigenous Kichwa people.  With many dairy cattle on the mountains, the farmers of the community had no other option but to sell their milk at the market price to buyers from outside the community.  By starting a cheese factory, the farmers continued to sell their milk at that price, but they got back the whey, which could be used to feed their livestock.  At the same time, the cheese factory added value to the milk by producing a white cheese and yogurt that were then sold for higher prices in Ambato.  With the proceeds, the community association was able to support the needs of its members while also providing work for four people.

Straining cheese in green netting and placing it in molds

In the past year, though, things have changed dramatically.  Where they once was a monopoly on the purchase of milk, the cheese factory now has to compete with the a large dairy company that set up an outpost for purchasing milk in the same community.  Buying milk at a higher price, the dairy company has convinced many farmers to switch their loyalty, but the milk company does not give back to the community like the cheese factory did.  Two employees at the cheese factory had to find other work, and neither whey nor funds are returning to the community as they once did.  The cheese factory is at an important juncture in which it must adapt to the demands of market competition, and PCD is committed to supporting it in this venture.  Maybe it will mean the community's savings and loan program will need to lend to farmers to buy more cows and sell more milk to the cheese factory, and maybe it means selling the cheese directly in Ambato to raise income and be able to pay higher prices to the milk farmers.  whatever route the cheese factory takes, PCD will continue to walk alongside them and give support and advice.

Factory where cheese is produced on ground floor

Like the story of any business, this story is not over, and there are many uncertainties about what the next chapter might hold.  As the cheese factory meets challenges, PCD has committed to playing an active role in the story of meeting and overcoming those challenges.

Biking the Chaquiñan

Over the past month, I’ve developed a new favorite Saturday morning activity.  A few minutes from my house there is a 20 kilometer bike trail called “The Chaquinan” that leads from Cumbayá (the suburb where I live) to Puembo (a rural community that produces strawberries and other fruit to sell in Quito).  I originally began biking the trail in order to train for a triathlon that is planned for April, but I keep biking each Saturday in part because I love the amazing scenery along the trail.  After spending the week on buses and in office buildings and walking between skyscrapers in the capital city, it is refreshing to coast down a dirt trail along the side of a canyon and see a crashing river ribbon its way along the bottom of the canyon.  It reminds me of a quote from Gerald Blidstein, who once said, “Man must live the rhythms of nature, despite his obvious ability and duty to circumvent them; he must live the rhythms of the countryside despite the city in which he dwells.”  So much of my time is in a sterile environment, and I don’t know exactly where the food I eat comes from, but riding through the countryside where some of my food is probably produced brings me closer to the “rhythms of the countryside” and awes me time and again with the beauty of God’s creation.

Although pictures can never do justice to the beauty of God’s handiwork, here are a few photos to give you a glimpse of where I spend my Saturday mornings.

At the start of the trail in Cumbayá.

The trail weaves down one side of the canyon...

  ...crosses the river...

...and climbs the other side.

There are some tunnels carved into the side of the canyon.

And in Puembo the trail rides along fields.

Two hours later, I return to Cumbayá, exhausted but content.

Training in Las Mercedes

Last month my coworker, Edwin, went to a rural farming community called Las Mercedes to give the first 4 of 12 sessions on business basics.  Back in July, I visited this community with two North American businessmen to spend time with a current loan recipient and consider the proposal to hold business training classes in Las Mercedes.  Obviously, that proposal was approved, and the following is a summary of the report Edwin wrote on his time in Las Mercedes.

On January 19 through 21, the Las Mercedes training class began with the introduction to PCD-Ecuador (Partners for Christian Development) and the introduction of each of the participants.  There were 20 participants, including 10 women, who represented businesses such as livestock and agriculture, auto mechanics, convenience stores, rice processing, cheese production, and commerce.  Each participant owns a business that provides for the owner's family and meets the needs of others in the community.

During sessions on topics such as "Planning Biblical Goals" and "The Executive Summary," participants formed groups of 4-5 people to work on activities and later share with the whole group their ideas and comments on the topics they discussed.

Outside of the training classes, there was a visit to the cheese factory owned by Freddy.  He has 6 years of experience and processes 6 kg (13.25 lbs) of cheese each day from locally-produced milk.  In the future, he hopes to increase the technology of his cheese production process.

 There also was a visit to the community's recycling project.  Initiated in June with the help of a Peace Corp volunteer, the project ensures that the community remains clean, prevents the contamination of the river, and brings in funds from the sale of recycled materials.

PCD-Ecuador has a long history of working in agriculture and farming with the community of Las Mercedes through partner organizations, and it's exciting to now be able to offer business training as well in this community.