The Diarrhea Dialogues

For those of you brave enough to read this it should be a pleasure. I guess I should mention that diarrhea is a really common conversation topic down here. While dissension is rampant right now in the midst of a heated debate over a new constitution, diarrhea is perhaps the greatest uniting principle in this city. I know of no other aspect of life, in this barrio at least, which is more commonly understood. Casa Victoria has met this phenomenon head on in the past two weeks. Anita came down with some very unfriendly amoebas and was bed-ridden for two days until she was able to go to the hospital and receive some heavy-duty medicines. Jon then came down with a cold and a subsequent diarrhea stint as Anita came back around to full health. Char is working on week two of a lingering sore throat and he has had a couple of diarrhea cameos in that time. I had one day of stomach awkwardness that included several ventures to the toilet as well. Meanwhile the Ecuadorian housemates are healthier and happier than ever. They must think we are a weak country with all the illnesses and ailments that we bring up each day. Suffice it to say we are taking on everything that this country has to to offer the digestive system and we are paying the price at times. But this is a very small part of what has been happening here, let me share the good stuff too...

Movie Night - Last Friday night we gave an open invitation to the neighbors to join us for a free presentation of Life is Beautiful. We cleared out the dining room and set up the projector screen and chairs for the film. The expectation was that between 5 and 20 people would show up. In a matter of ten minutes we had 30+ neighbors (mainly kids) packed into the room as we had to turn away all other comers. The movie was great and we had an intermission for free popcorn and soda for all the viewers. After the movie Javier (a housemate) gave a small address about the movie's theme and about our mission at Casa Victoria. The event was a huge success...and the floor was a huge mess afterward but we felt good about providing at the very least some shelter and safety for the kids who were certainly headed for no good otherwise.

The Mago - The following day we hosted a little magic show for all the willing children in the neighborhood. Due to some miscommunication not many kids were informed and the crowd was small. Once again food was provided and the show happened to coincide with the largest rainstorm that I have seen thus far in Quito. Everyone enjoyed the show and especially the fact that we stayed dry through the storm. El Mago has been invited back and assured of a larger audience for his next show here at the house.

Club de Ninos - Every Wednesday we have a "Club de Ninos¨ and a ¨Club de Madres¨ so that basically each of them can have a break from the other. It is supposed to be just an hour but it always runs a little long and usually for the kids it includes some drawing and a video. It always ends with Char and I chasing the kids around the hallway. It turns into absolute bedlam for about twenty minutes at the end of the club and we can hardly push the kids out of the door when it is time to go. It is a great release for the kids and it is a rare time for the madres to have with peers in order to share thoughts-complaints-celebrations-questions or to just talk about life. Wednesday afternoons the house is completely full and running at its best.

Clases de Ingles - Tuesday and Thursday afternoon Charlie and I become profesores for an hour as we teach English to the housemates and several faithful madres from the neighborhood. For many of them not even a word of English is familiar, or if one is they have no idea how to pronounce it correctly. We are starting from total scratch with the class and we are still reviewing the very basics now 5 classes into the ¨semester¨. Charlie and I have a hard time keeping it together when someone tries to pronounce ¨which¨ but it comes out bitch. The rest of the room doesn't get it but we have a pretty good laugh anyways.

Visita Vecinos - Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days when we are scheduled to go out a "meet the neighbors". Many of the neighbors are coldly uninterested about meeting the house and about us, but if for nothing else they at least get to learn why there are gringos walking around the neighborhood during the days. For a good lesser number of them they love meeting us a sharing every complaint they have about the neighborhood and its other residents. Because we are a foundation they feel it is our job to deal all the municipal problems like the trash piles, the urine "problem", and the noise polution. By urine "problem" of course I mean the entire city smells like urine. This is probably due to the fact that men will urinate anywhere and any time throughout the day without the slightest bit of shame. So naturally as a foundation we have to find the solutions to these things. Believe me, we would love to solve all of these problems. We do, at times, encounter a nice neighbor who supports the fact that we are trying to help the neigborhood. These are the neighbors that we can wave at as we leave the house and they will return a warm greeting. It is these people who make it feel like home here in Quito.

In between all of these activities we continue to explore Quito and to get to know the locals. We are teaching them how to throw a frisbee, how to be on time, how to mop a floor, and how to speak english. They are teaching us spanish, how to deal with the community, and how to undrestand their culture. We are not far from being here one month and we have so much more to see and experience. Plus we have some travels upcoming...