Into the Rabbit Hole...

For those of you who don't know, I going to provide a little back ground to what was going on before I came to Ecuador.

A former student of UNCG proposed some sort of relationship between a community in Ecuador she had visited called Azama and the university. I saw it as a an opportunity and it settled the fact that I would choose Ecuador for this semester's destination.

I did as much research as I could Stateside and dsicovered that a woman from New York had set up a foundation in order to build a school and clinic in the village of Azama. The project was completed in 2005 but by the end of 2006, after less than a year in operation, both the school and the clinic were clsoed. Something had happened between the donor and the locals. I tried to dig deeper but couldn't get very far. Not only had operations at the facilities ceased, but all foreign and volunteer involvement in Azama had stopped. To me, it seemed like a great opportunity. I had studied and practiced politics and diplomacy and now have a background in public health and medicine as well. It seemed to be a bridge-building exercise more than anything.

I was put in touch with a local man and Anna Taft (director of the Tandana Foundation, www.tandanafoundation.com). Anna was the one who set me up with the homestay. Her organization brings volunteers to towns near Otavalo to help with medicine and education.

When I spoke with the man three weeks ago, he talked about the donor lady and how she became dictatorial and overly demanding, and as a result, was expelled from Azama. The principal and head of the community, Margot, was supposedly very concerned with the community´s well-being and now operated the school independently of any foreign involvement. The man also explained how thye clinic sat empty because outside groups of any sort had been kicked out. There were no kind words spoken of the original donor, and supposedly she still maintained a house in the region.

So now the story continues. Paul and I went biking to find Azama.

It wasn't very easy to find (because it was actually called La Esperanza de Azama) but we knew when we had reached our goal. Here we were in a town of a few hundred people, miles from any city, and there are these out of place unbelievably gorgeous buildings.

Before preceding any further, we saw two white people coming out of the hacienda (which looked to be part of this complex) and walking towards another building. They actually noticed us and approached us, just as curious as to why we were there as we were to why they were there. After introductions, they explained that they were here volunteer teaching for a few months and living with the principal, Margot.

Paul and I feigned ignorance of the situtaion and asked what was going on in the other school attached to the clinic. The girl simply said, ¨Oh yeah, a donor built that place and then bailed on the whole project.¨

We explored further to get a better feel for the place. It was unbelievable.

The dental clinic had an x-ray machine just sitting there. The clinic had two examination rooms and a waiting room.

The rooms were still fully stocked with medical supplies.

The school was immaculate, boasting several fully furnished and supplied, including a new computer.

I was in absolute shock, and there was indeed evidence that it had been derelict for a while (a Christmas tree, furniture strewn about, etc.).

After taking dozens of photos to document the scene, we excitedly got back on the bike path, but not for long.

There was a tienda (corner store) about 200 feet up the road and we were thirsty and hungry for a snack. We got chatting with the owner and started asking some simple questions about the clinic and school.

The conversation transformed into something serious very quickly. It seems that this woman had very strong opinions about the situation. She started to explain how terrible this Margot lady was. She told us that this donor lady from New York had abandoned the project only after Margot was caught stealing tuition money, lying, and hiring only her family members to work in the clinic. Margot, in essence, ran the American away and stole her house. Not only that, but the school was not serving the whole community since Margot took charge. It only admitted her friends and family for a fee.

You can just imagine Paul and I listening to this. And to top it all off, this woman´s son was receiving a scholarship from Bonnie (donor lady) for college, along with a dozen more students. Bonnie was also building a new school in a nearby community and would be back down in March to help supervise it.

For everyone´s sake, I will save the continuation of this investigation for another blog. The tale is epic and I am revelling in finding the ´truth,´ or at least getting all sides.

Until we Delve Deeper,
Kent