Green Thumb?

This gardening stuff has really taken off. Since the beginning of the school year John and I have been to 11 schools and still need to visit four or five more. One school actually already had plans to work with a group of University students from Latacunga, but asked us to “manage” the project. Its amazing to think that last year I grew my first crops and now I´ve been bumped up to a management position. Another 10 months and I´ll probably own my own farm.


Some of the schools had even organized formal work days, or Mingas for all the Parents to come and help. The mingas are pretty common down here, but when they set one up for you, it means they´re serious. Two of the schools we visited for the first time were kind of funny. They were both near some tourist destinations, so I think they were used to gringos being around, but not communicating with them. The whole time we were working, they parent´s kept assuming that we didn´t speak Spanish. They even would talk about us in front of us, thinking that we couldn´t understand. In another town they asked where I lived. When I told them that I lived in La Libertad, they were amazed. “Really? In the pueblo?”, one guy asked. I think that made me seem a little more credible in their eyes because I didn´t live in the city.


Other than the gardening, I was busy the last week finishing up our grant proposal. I turned it in to my boss, but honestly I hope we don´t get it. The thing is that no matter how hard I try to explain to the ladies, I don´t think they understand the risks and work involved in the project. The proposal is for constructing 13 chicken houses. The women would then be responsible for buying the chicks, feed, and other supplies. I figure that should run to about $500 in the first two months. Then we´ll start selling the birds and recouping the money. There was another small chicken project in my town recently, and about 40% of the birds died due to poor care. I told the ladies who had the birds a few things they needed to change, but the didn´t listen. My worry is that once the ladies have the cash, they´ll just do there own thing, a lot of the birds will die, and then they´ll stop the project because they lost all their money. I had to turn the proposal in though, because they ladies kept hounding me. I´ll have a meeting soon with my boss where I can explain my doubts. Maybe we can try to get the project´s scope decreased.


Notes:
The election we had down here over the weekend went off without a hitch. The new constitution was approved overwhelmingly and they are going to start changing the laws in the next couple weeks. We’ll see how things go, but either way it is kind of crazy to live in a country while they are changing the rules you have to live by.


Also, I just liked this picture of some of the kids in my town