Wed, 13 Jan 2010

Education in the heights of the Andes. Dream journey to Latin America / Part 2

Ruth Zbinden was a teacher in a Swiss Waldorf School who recently retired. Now she is fulfilling her dream: last year she sailed to South America on a cargo ship with the intention of travelling for a least a year. One of the things she wanted to do was teach in an Indian village school. Now she has finally arrived at her goal, a small school in Ecuador, where she has volunteered to work for Cielo Azul, a small relief organization which has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. The organisation works for the rights of the indigenous population.

OTAVALO (NNA). For two months now, I have been active in a school again – and under quite different conditions to the ones at home!

I am working in a small village surrounded by mountains, some of them four thousand metres high, quite a way from the town of Otavalo. My journey to school on a Monday morning means an hour and a half’s ride in a truck, across more potholes than roads. That’s if I’m lucky! After heavy rain, the road often becomes flooded. It takes a lot longer to reach the school by foot.

The school is situated at a height of two thousand four hundred meters and looks very simple. We would describe it as two store rooms without any comforts. Yet one thing that it does have is a marvellous view of mountains, cornfields and a few huts.

In Motilon Chupa, one teacher and seventeen children are waiting for me. We share the tasks. For these students, even Spanish is a foreign language.

I am always pleased to see the joy that these emotionally healthy children with their sense of nature have in their education. Unfortunately, in terms of physical health, things are not so good. The blame for this can be laid at the feet of an inadequate diet as well as a lack of hygiene. There is often a shortage of running water. Yet there are still many bright children here at the end of the world!

At the moment, the team staying in Otavalo comprises 16 people, more young than old. Our job consists of the following: to support the teacher and to help in the teaching of English as a foreign language. This is a requirement if the children want to go to the “Colegio” when they have finished their sixth year of school. This paves the way to a higher education. On the weekends, courses take place for the volunteers to be taught an understanding of the local culture and teaching methodology. The teachers are also regularly examined by a team from the Cielo Azul organisation.

The people who inhabit the area surrounding Otavalo are skilled craftsmen and good businessmen to the great profit of tourism to the area. The indigenous people, the descendents of the Incas who inhabited the highlands, live on the proceeds of agriculture and craft work, especially the processing of wool and cotton. These colourful works are famous around the world. Nevertheless, this section of the population still has very little say in the economy and politics of the country.

Apart from the whites and the mestizos, the indigenous peoples form one of the three population groups of the country.

For children from Indian families the path to a good education is substantially more difficult than for children from other groups. The structure of the school system in Ecuador is undergoing a great deal of development, especially in the larger conurbations. Yet it is still underdeveloped and sometimes neglected in the Indian villages. The situation for the teachers is very difficult. Low pay forces them to seek additional ways to earn a living. Thus there is little time and little motivation for preparing lessons.

The indigenous Indians live strongly within their mythology and the rituals and traditions that it comprises. They are closely connected to nature and to the rhythms of the seasons. They hold the life of people, animals and plants in great respect. They dress in so-called national garb. Neither men nor women cut their black hair, but rather they braid it carefully and skilfully. It is seen as connecting the sun’s rays with the earth. Their language is Quechua, the original language of the native Ecuadorians, related to no other languages we know of.

When I look at these people, I observe that they seem to have a certain “human wisdom”, one might say anthroposophy, deep inside their being.

It is the main aim of the volunteers from Monte Azul that the indigenous peoples should be encouraged on the one hand to cultivate and maintain their cultural heritage, but also, on the other hand, are motivated to go to college so that they have more of a say in the economics and the politics of the country. It cannot be right that the actual owners of the land have little or no voice!

My life here is very simple, but also instructive. Yet because of the corruption which touches every corner of the country, life can sometimes also be very difficult. However, such corruption is sometimes also the result of pure need.

Is my help merely a small drop in the ocean? Yes, I believe it is, but I am not alone here. Lots of people are also here to help, each creating their own drop, and many drops can certainly lead to great things. It is good to experience this after years of comfortable living – from a South American perspective – as a Swiss Waldorf teacher.

END/NNA/rzb/cva

Link: www.cieloazul.ch

Report-Nr.: 100113-02EN Date: 13 January 2010

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