Sunday, July 30, 2006
Learning about Community
Contributed by Lynn Gitlow:
Note: This is only a small part of the trouble Lynn and Dennis went through coming to Ecuador.
Well we are the high maintenance couple. We missed our plane ( we won´t talk about why Delta Airlines is in chapter 11 ) and came to Quito a day late. We expected that we would be on our own to meet up with the group which had already left for Ambato. Our first introduction to the CITTI community was a van waiting for us at the airport- then off to a hotel in Quito where a TAXI was waiting for us to take us to meet up with the group. We arrived at dinner and Bridgett ran down the street to meet us with open arms and then when we got into the restaurant we were welcomed by our CITTI community- It has just gotten better since then. So that is our nuclear community.
We then came to Huambalo to see the group with whom we are to collaborate. The sense of community in this rural town is astonishing. First we are greeted with handshakes and hugs every morning ( what a nice cultural gesture) then all through the day you see a rural community pulling together to get the every day things of life done. The group is in a temporary space because its location is being used as a volcano shelter. Everyone including parents, teachers, therapists, brothers and sisters, and even the head of the FSD Foundation pull together to get things done. Lunch, for example, is cooked and served by any one who is around. Like today the chicken could not be cooked at the school so one of the parents cooked it at her house and others brought it to the school for lunch. "Not in my job description" doesn't seem to be culturally relevant at this location. Another example is the ramp which is being built CITTI group members and family work side by side. We hope to carry this sense of community home and infuse it into our lives at home and work.
Lynn and Dennis
