Ecuadorian Census

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

My roommate, Tina, wrote this and I wanted to share it with you:
Hello Friends and Family,




After five years in Ecuador I tend to think that few things will continue to amaze me about the differences in cultures. And then the time to census the population arrives. I know the US just completed their census, so you all will have good comparison data. I am listing them here for you to read and share with others in shock and reflection.



• The crucial and sensitve census data is placed in the hands of high school students.

• It is scheduled to take place on November 28th during the hours of 7 am to 5 pm. (The entire country will be censo-ed at this time.)

• High school students will go door to door interviewing people through a 6 page survey.

• NO ONE is to leave their houses during this time.

• There will be NO transportation during the scheduled hours. This includes air, bus, or taxi.

• NO store, shopping center or other businesses will be open that day.

• Ley Seca, the law prohibiting any alcohol consumption, will be in place 36 hours before and 12 hours after the census. (Jr ust in case your prior consumption or plans for future consumption may affect your census responses.)



Some census questions and available responses:

1. Where do you dispose of your trash?

a. Street collectors

b. Throw it down a ravine

c. Bury it

d. Put it in a river, the ocean or a lake

e. Burn it



2. What are your house walls constructed out of?

a. Cement block

b. Wood

c. Bamboo

d. Straw or grass

e. Found Materials



What is your house roof constructed out of?

a. cement

b. asbestos

c.metal

d. palm, straw or leaves

e. tile

f. no roof



3. What kind of toileting facilities do you have?

a. in door toilet

b. shared toilet in the building

c. latrine

d. no toilet



4. Where is your toilet waste disposed?

a. public sanitation system

b. septic system

c. directly to a river, ocean or lake

d. ravine

e. buried



These are just to name a few of the interesting topics selected to survey Ecuadorian citizens and residents. What I find the most interesting are the options available as likely behaviors. Sometimes I forget, being surrounded by the upper echelon of citizens, that I live in a country where latrines and grass walls are plausible options. It definately causes a person to stop and think about how blessed they are. Interestingly, there are also over 15 indigenous tribes listed that you can select under Indigenous Ethnicities. Mind you, these are groups of people whose cultures and traditions are alive and well. What a diverse and impoverished country I live in!



Hope all is well and that you have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

Tina Marie

Who Are "My" People?

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Who Are "My" People?

by Angela Boddie on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 6:25pm

Wanderlust is a beautiful thing, but sometimes being a "misfit" leaves you falling in between the cracks of the continents. A heart that skips a beat from the smell of jet fuel may struggle to find an equilibrium when forced to stay in one place for a long period of time, doing the same thing over and over and over again. The ecstasy of a new place or a re-visit to an old love may give way to reverse "culture shock" and leave the traveler grasping for her (his) place in the world; this blue-and-green-ball that has little pieces of her heart seperated by vast distances. Someone called it the "pitfalls of cosmopolitanism;" Tony Cohen calls it "Displacement as arrival; flight as sanctuary.”

I found this today randomly in the bookstore and it summed up my recent musings:

"Who Are My People?"

"I went into the church where the congregation
Worshiped my God. Were they my people?
I felt no kinship to them as they knelt there.
My people? Where are they?
I went into the land where I was born,
Where men spoke my language...
I was a stranger there.
"My people," my soul cried. "Who are my people?"

Last night in the rain I met an old man
Who spoke a language I do not speak,
Which marked him as one who does not know my God.
With apologetic smile he offered me
The shelter of his patched umbrella.
I met his eyes... and then I knew..."
~ Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni

I LOVE this ... I saw the man on the right twice, always singing and roller-blading... here he waves at the kilted bagpipe player as he rolls across the intersection (TORONTO 4/09)