posted 16 May 2012 in Ecuador

Meet the Community Technicians: (3) Gonzálo Criollo

Name: Gonzálo Criollo

Age: 36

Nationality: Cofán

Community: Dureno

Role: Senior community technician

Gonzálo Criollo is the son of renowned Cofán shaman Rufino Criollo, and brother of Cofán musicians Silverio and Claus Criollo. Culture and arts run in his family, but Gonzalo has chosen another path: working with his hands. As a senior technician, Gonzálo brings tremendous support to ClearWater. He is strong, dedicated and a perfectionist. Seeing Gonzálo at work is like seeing 2 men at work. He is a rising leader. He is the only technician to have received formal training in construction and has worked in several community projects to date. Today, Gonzálo also works with the community’s potable water system which he manages from his home.

“I want to give my people what we need, so I’m always looking for ways to support my family and community”

Gonzálo is very concerned about the future of Cofán shamanism, a tradition that runs strong through the Criollo lineage. Gonzalo still remembers the Cofán stories told by the elders and is always present during Yagé drinking ceremonies. But Gonzálo fears that this central part of Cofán culture is disappearing with his generation. Every year, Gonzálo, Rufino and other Cofán shamans travel to Colombia to participate in seminars to share the art of shamanism with others in an attempt to keep the traditions alive.

*About the bios: These bios were transcribed and written by Adrian Schwartz: Adrian Schwartz is the ClearWater field assistant who is working closely with the community techncians to document their great work. Adrian is French Ecuadorian and is currently studying anthropology and mapping in the United States.

Learn more about the project: www.giveclearwater.org

Tagged: ClearWater

posted 15 May 2012 in Ecuador

Meet the Community Technicians: (2) Teófilo Mendúa

Name: Teófilo Mendúa

Age: 43

Nationality: Cofán

Community: Dureno

Role: Senior community technician

Meet Teófilo Mendúa, one of the senior Cofán technicians in the ClearWater project. Like many of his Cofán neighbors, Teófilo moved to Ecuador from Colombia. In the Cofán community of Dureno, Teófilo has found a more tranquil landscape where he has been able to raise a family of 10. Teófilo is the proud father of several children, including 2 college graduates and a young baby named Elvis. He is a family man and probably one of the nicest and calmest beings on earth. His patience and wisdom makes him a perfect teacher for the younger technicians working on the ClearWater project.

“The other indigenous nationalities need to learn, because they need clean water too”

Teófilo is extremely skilled with his hands. In addition to his construction skills, Teófilo has also proved to be one of the most skilled artisans amongst the Cofán. Today, he is one of the few Cofán who still remembers how to make crowns, spears, daggers and blowguns like his ancestors. But making and selling crafts is becoming a dying tradition for the Cofán and craftsmen like Teófilo are disappearing. In the future, Teófilo hopes to pass this art to his children.

Learn more about the project: www.giveclearwater.org

Tagged: ClearWater

posted 11 May 2012 in Ecuador

Meet the Community Technicians: (1) Armando Piaguaje

Name: Armando Piaguaje

Age: 41

Nationality: Secoya

Community: San Pablo

Role: Secoya Project Coordinator

Armando Piaguaje is the project coordinator of the Secoya community of San Pablo. Known for his strong communication and interpersonal skills, Armando has already worked on several projects for his community. Born in Peru, Armando moved to Ecuador at the age of 4 with his father and mother. They were amongst the first families to populate San Pablo. By the time he was 15, Armando was already living on his own. Today, at 41, he lives with his wife and children on the southern shore of the Aguarico River, a 5 minute boat ride from the center of San Pablo. A month into the project, Armando has proved to be a very reliable coordinator, diligently working with technicians, beneficiary families and working through the complex logistics that characterize this project.

“I am aware of my community, and I’m here to ensure that everything goes well with this project”

Like most Secoya people, Armando makes a living on agriculture. For years, Armando has dedicated his work to sustainable small scale logging of exotic woods, which provides a modest income for him and his family. In recent years, Armando has witnessed the decimation of his forest through an increase in illegal logging activities and the expansion of African palm monocultures and is a shining example of someone working hard to protect his territory and people.

Learn more about the project: www.giveclearwater.org

Tagged: ClearWater

posted 7 May 2012 in Ecuador

Purchasing materials for the Secoya community of San Pablo

Weeks after the completion of 51 systems in the Cofán community of Dureno, The ClearWater project is now continuing with efforts to bring clean water to the remaining communities affected by oil contamination in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon. San Pablo de Catëtsiaya is the largest community of the Secoya nationality of Ecuador and the next community to lead this project.

In the next few weeks, 17 Secoya beneficiary families will be receiving their own rainwater catchment units – that process is already underway. This past week, Emergildo (the project coordinator) and Armando (Secoya coordinator) traveled to multiple cities to purchase tools and materials needed for the construction of these units.

Watch this video below to learn more about this process:

Depending on the quantity of materials needed, the purchasing of materials generally takes a minimum of a week. Finding the right tools and the right materials can be challenging at times, since many of the components of the rainwater catchment units are specialized items. For example, the “Plocher Quartz”, a filtering material for the units is exclusively available from a specialized German vendor in Ecuador.

Many other components are subject to availability and weather conditions: this is the case of wood and the fine sand used in the construction of every unit. First able, logging is rightfully monitored by the Ecuadorian ministry of the environment, and can only be extracted at certain times and in certain quantities. This is why we had to purchase this material in small increments. Secondly, the delivery of fine sand can also be complicated by rainy conditions. It is important to note that this filtering material can only be loaded and delivered dry.

Yet, most of the tools and materials are easy to get. Tools for example were purchased in the city of Lago Agrio. Two weeks ago, Emergildo and the technicians met at the hardware store to buy several tools including shovels, power drills, nails, and saws. The exotic woods including chuncho and manzano were purchased in the city of Coca. The largest components, the tanks came from the city of Ambato, a whole day ride away from Lago Agrio. Finally, the quartz, plastic tubing, wood oil and roofing materials came from nation’s capital of Quito.

The purchasing and delivering of materials takes a lot of coordination and thus depends on the participation of a number of people: coordinators, technicians, and drivers amongst others. Emergildo and Armando made sure that all items were purchased in time and safely delivered. At the moment, they are both coordinating the implementation of 17 systems in San Pablo. Almost all materials have been gathered and 5 units are already under construction.

Tagged: ClearWater

posted 12 April 2012 in Cambodia

The Power of Play

For as long as I can remember, my Dad has taught me to “never let your schooling get in the way of your education”. As a young student, I never really believed him. Sorry Dad, but its true. I didn’t know how to reconcile my parent’s encouragement for good grades with a lesson that I thought taught the idea that school wasn’t important. As years have gone by, I’ve now come to embrace this axiom as if it were my own. I have had a long and successful career as a student and the lessons taught to me in classes were certainly invaluable, but when compared to the lessons that life has taught me outside the classroom, it is hard to say which holds more weight.

Today, in living color, I witnessed my father’s reasoning come to life. I spent the morning teaching in Samuth’s class, introducing myself and allowing each child the opportunity to introduce themselves to me using a basic question and answer format taught at the beginning of the class. Although the lesson content was simpler than the children are used to,I think it is an important first step in relationship building and also allowing them the chance to become familiar with my accent. I have learned from the teachers here that repetition of lessons is a very key component to their teaching style, so the very simple lesson lasted the full hour before the morning break.

During the break, as I was leaving the classroom, two young girls approached me, eager for my attention but too shy to initiate. Using the day’s lesson, I began to speak with them and soon, our conversation expanded beyond what I’d taught in class. I continued to write words on the board as we spoke, so they could learn to associate my pronunciation with the spelling of words they were already familiar with.

As more children returned to the classroom, forfeiting their break to spend time with me, a game began…

TRAS:
Ten chopsticks are spread randomly on the ground. The first round, the player throws a rock (or a small round fruit) into the air and picks up one stick before catching the rock again. The player does this for each stick until all 10 have been picked up. Once the player has succeeded in picking up the sticks one by one, they then have to pick up in twos, threes, fours….tens, all while the rock is in the air on successive throws. If the rock drops or the player fails to pick up the correct number of sticks, their turn is lost and passed on to the next player.

The children were eager to include me in their game and delighted by my inability to perform even the simplest of hand-eye coordination. It is pretty humbling when you are so terrible at something that children take pity on you and insist that you cheat. When I finally succeeded in picking up one stick before I caught the flying rock again, cheers erupted. I was officially part of the game. The children gave up their break to continue to learn from me and without realizing it, taught me more about community than any textbook every could. In the span of those 30 minutes, most of which time was spent playing, those children surely learned more from me than in an entire week’s worth of lessons. So, as it turns out, my Dad was right all along. Don’t let your schooling get in the way of your education.

Kate Istead has been a GO volunteers for the past month in Cambodia. You can learn more about her travels at http://www.thenextchapterstartstoday.blogspot.com/