Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Wildfires Plague Ecuador

I have never been happier to see the rains come. Disregarding etiquette and discomfort to my neighbours, I cheered loudly, thanked God and walked a little in the rain to celebrate the relief. It has been very dry here. There has not been a drop of rain for months and Ecuadorians have taken to looking into the skies daily for a sign of darkening clouds.

The summer of 2012 brought devastation to Ecuador with fires double the average for the period in the South American country.  Thousands of hectares of forest have been burned since a series of fires started in the province of Pichincha, according to the country's Ministry of Environment.
So far, forest fires have killed five people and left 73 injured, consuming hectares of woodland, scrubland as well as crops. In all it was reported that there have been more than 3000 wildfires since June 1, when a period of drought set in.

A police chopper on duty
EstherWambui/Photos
Military chopper on fire-dousing duty
EstherWambui/Photos
The most affected provinces were Pichincha [where I live], Azuay, Bolivar, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi and Tungurahua.
The Ecuadorian armed forces deployed aircraft; helicopters and planes, as well as soldiers, to fight the fires. Even neighbouring countries including Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica have sent in crews to help extinguish the flames.

EstherWambui/Photos
EstherWambui/Photos
EstherWambui/Photos
Although most people living in the Suburbs have not been directly affected by these fires, the constant smell of burning wood and billowing smoke from all directions has been hard to ignore. I have been constantly also reminded of the fire by the frequent sounds of helicopters flying above my place. I happen to live by the valleys’ only reservoir, where helicopters came by the minutes to collect water.

Ecuador’s topography, which is mostly hilly and mountainous, made it very difficult to quickly douse the flames and evidence of the fire is everywhere you go. Hopefully, with the rains, new vegetation will cover the blackened hills and forests and clean the reminders of a painful summer.


Link to Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTvFoLGI-U

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Ecuador Summer 2012 Wild fires

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTvFoLGI-U

Ecuador is experiencing devastating forest fires. According to news reports and anti-disaster officials, there have been 3069 forest fires since June 1, when a period of drought set in. The fires have wiped out 17,484 hectares of woods and scrubland high in the Andes as well as 142 hectares of crops, while another 31 hectares of crops were affected but not completely destroyed.


At this reservoir in Cumbaya, Quito, water bombers fill up for their seemingly unending task.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Kenya; a world leader for mobile money - World Bank

I am sharing this article as it aligns with my thoughts; that the best change in developing countries originates from within.


How Kenya became a world leader for mobile money

Submitted by Wolfgang Fengler on Mon, 2012-07-16 14:37
What if anyone owning a cell-phone, whether rich or poor, also had access to financial services with the ability to save and send money safely, no matter where they are located? This is not science fiction; in fact it is already happening in Kenya, which has become the world’s market leader in mobile money.
Today, Kenya has more cell-phone subscriptions than adult citizens and more than 80 percent of those with a cell phone also use “mobile money” (or “M-PESA” which is very different from “mobile banking” as Michael Joseph–the former Safaricom CEO, and the man behind that revolution—can explain passionately!).

Internet access is also increasing rapidly, even though many are complaining about poor service by some operators. Within the next two years, Kenya could become one of the most connected, and modern economies in the developing world, and a unique case among the world’s poorer countries, that have an average annual income of below US$ 1000 per capita (see figure).
Figure - A Kenyan revolution: more phones than adults

Source: World Bank calculations based on Communication Commission of Kenya
While the telecom revolution is not unique to Kenya, mobile money is. There are approximately 60 million mobile money users in the world, which means that almost one in three is a Kenyan. Half of all mobile money transactions are taking place in Kenya where annual transfers are now around US$ 10 billon.
The emerging social and economic impact has been remarkable. Businesses can operate more effectively: shop-owners don’t need to carry a lot of cash, or to stand in long queues at Banks to transfer money to suppliers. Urban dwellers no longer need to make overnight trips to their rural homes to pay their children’s school fees (or give money to relatives). Women have been empowered because their husbands have a harder time taking their money away. Even macroeconomic policy has become easier because the Central Bank has a better handle on the money in circulation, as mobile money helped to move cash from the mattresses to the market.
The success of mobile money in Kenya should be a source of national pride: it gives the country a global profile, which is only matched by the successes of its long-distance runners.
But Kenya’s global leadership in this area is also puzzling. Even Hillary Clinton wondered why this “brilliant innovation” is not available in the USA. How come mobile money has not yet taken off in other countries, especially those where money transfers from urban to rural areas are enormous even by Kenyan standards? If it is so beneficial to customers and operators, why have they not sought to replicate Kenya’s success, given that replication is so much easier than innovation?
There are three main reasons why mobile money took off in Kenya, while facing challenges in other countries (even though the India, Philippines, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda have started to catch up).
First, Kenya’s regulators enabled the mobile money take-off. The Central Bank in particular played a very progressive role and allowed “regulation to follow innovation”, while reassuring the market of its oversight. The regulator agreed that mobile money agents needed only limited requirements to enter the business, as they were not providing banking services, while the operator behaved as if it was regulated and periodically reported financial and usage data as Banks do.
Second, the strategy of the omnipresent operator – Safaricom – was also important. In 2007, the company already had more than 50 percent market share. Its strong position and national presence helped it to reach scale. But when replicating mobile money in other countries, such dominance by a single operator is not a precondition for mobile money to take off: many alternative models can also lead to success such as “third-party platforms” into which operators connect to. Even more important was the company’s business philosophy to “build a brand rather than make quick return”. Indeed, it took some three years until M-PESA generated a net-profit. However, it created indirect benefits from the beginning because in Kenya’s increasingly competitive market, mobile money boosted loyalty and attracted new customers to its core business of voice and SMS.

Third, Safaricom’s management understood that the success of M-PESA was ultimately about people management, not technology. Many innovations fail because management focuses exclusively on designing and launching a product, and assume that technology will take care of itself afterwards. The opposite is true. You need people to run machines and the interactions you get after product launch can generate even better products. The true secret of M-PESA’s success is the management of the agent network, which grew from 300 initially to almost 30,000 today.

There is no doubt that mobile money will soon go global, especially if countries consider the lessons from Kenya. In the whole world, there are still more than two billion people who have cell-phones but no Bank account: for these, mobile money is an extremely attractive proposition.
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Note: This article draws on a forthcoming paper titled “Scaling-up through disruptive business models - The inside story of mobile money in Kenya” (by Pauline Vaughn, Wolfgang Fengler and Michael Joseph) which will be published by Brookings as part of a book project on “Scaling up for development impact”.
Source: http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/how-kenya-became-a-world-leader-for-mobile-money

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Racism the Latino Way

Is there racism; are Ecuadorians racist? I’ve been asked this question numerous times. I didn’t address this question yet as I thought I should first understand the country and its people deeper - looks can be deceiving. I can quote a number of reports and research papers that show people of Afrodescent [Afro Ecuadorians] and Indigenous groups face some form of discrimination or other. Historically these two groups have generally had little if any share of economic opportunities compared to the mainstream Eurodescent population.   Ecuadorians from these groups are the only ones who will admit that racism exists in their country. Now I can say and anecdotally illustrate that racism is widespread in Ecuador.  It appears that racism and classism play off each other, feeding on racial stereotypes.

At the beginning of this year, I found myself taking the same course with another Canadian. We got talking and started sharing about our experiences here. He has lived in Ecuador for five years and is fluent in Spanish. One day, our discussion led to skin colour. Then Terry leans to me and says, “Do you want to hear an unpleasant story about skin, as in skin colour?" I am always eager for a story so I told him to leave no detail out.
Terry, like lots of other people I know here has been robbed. Not once but twice, plus two attempts. One of the ‘successful’ robberies involved a large sharp knife. He told me the saddest part was being robbed in front of a military complex, where guards with sub-machine guns watched and did nothing. This is nothing new – generally, Ecuadorians don’t intervene or care to interrupt a robbery [I had to rant about that]. He told me that he was so pissed off he asked them why they didn’t help him and they had nothing to say. But they did lend him their phone to call the police.

After the police arrived, he went through the normal routine of recounting what happened and since it was still light outside, they decided to take him in their car and drive around the neighbourhood in the hope that he might identify his attackers. Eventually, they saw a guy just walking down the street and they stopped and asked Terry if that was the culprit. To which Terry answered no. This happened two more times and by this time, my friend was so mad he asked to be let off the vehicle right there. He had soon realised that the two policemen didn’t care for his description of the muggers. For those three stops, it had been when they saw black guys. My friend swears the police didn’t misunderstand him. He had sufficiently and clearly described the guys as Mestizos.
But between me and him, we wondered whether that was a common thing or they were just doing that for his benefit. Terry is what Ecuadorians call a ‘gringo’ and Ecuadorians are aware that racial profiling happens in North America, where they also believe racism lives.

The other times have to do with me:
I had some friends visit me from Canada; one is of Latin American descent while the other friend is Caucasian, blond hair blue eyes. They left the ‘urbanizacion’ [gated community] by taxi and decided to walk back. I hadn’t anticipated that and so the guards were not forewarned to expect them. The sad part is that while they walked in together, the guards only stopped and enquired about my Latino friend while they let the Caucasian one go through with a shouted greeting.  

Then recently, the ‘urbanizacion’ changed security companies. It’s a big community so of course I didn’t expect the guards to recognize all the residents yet.  As I walked outside the gate they stopped and questioned me. Afterwards, I hang around to see how many other people they stopped. None. This made me so furious I gave them a piece of my mind [in very broken Spanish]. But as we talked, it occured to me that they are just not used to and don't expect black people to be living in such communities.
But, that’s Ecuador for you, where people look at you and treat you differently, but attitudes change as soon as they realise I am an ‘extranjero’ [a foreigner], and not from Columbia or Cuba, where most foreign black people originate. They treat you differently when they realize you haven’t grown up in the system and you could be their equal or more in education, career, exposure, etc.

So, racism and discrimination are rife here; and classicism through prejudice is used to treat people differently.  This is no Kenya [where the determining discrimination factor is tribal]. It’s not Canada or South Africa either, where racism exits but shows up differently.  The fact is, like all these places, the victims of racism and discrimination are poor and have been poor for a very long time. Black people are assumed to be uneducated, and the only place they’re expected to shine is in ‘futbol’.  But, there is a bit of hope as the government, starting with the ministry of foreign affairs is catching up on affirmative action for the underprivileged groups.

This short 2009 report by Aljazeera illustrates the issue of racism against Afro Ecuadorians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AE27JSZIJw

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Easter in Quito – No place for Easter bunny or eggs

Pictures by Essie & M Futkowski. 
Easter and Semana Santa is a good time to be here as it is packed with religious, cultural and art events. Unlike Christmas which I found a tad bit too bland, the Holy week is far more emphasized and the best time to experience an elaborate outward expression of the Christian faith and Catholicism, imbued with elements of Andean culture. Semana Santa, my second in Ecuador, begins on Palm Sunday with the blessing of the palms and ends on Easter Sunday with a solemn mass of the Lord’s Resurrection.


The statue of Black Jesus
Cucuruchos march on
A penitent adorned with barbed wire
Women penitents take part in the
procession

The heavy chains
 The highlight of the week is el Jesus Gran Poder [the Almighty Jesus] Procession on Good Friday. Although a Christian, this was for me a very different and moving experience. The Quito procession is the second largest Good Friday procession in the world, second only to Seville, Spain. Here I saw Ecuadorians physically manifest Christianity. I saw and felt an almost tangible faith on the faces of young and old, men and women who whole-heartedly embrace their faith.

As it does each year, the procession began and ended at the San Francisco Cathedral with thousands of citizens dressed in distinctive purple costumes, some, cucuruchos, wearing conical pointed hats. A band led the procession and several other bands throughout the procession played sombre music, mourning Christ’s passion.  Faithfuls gathered and walked, majority in bare feet. Robed and masked men, women and children carrying religious artifacts [crosses, candles, rosaries, pictures of Jesus, etc.], walked the four mile route.

One of the designated Christs caries a
giant cross - he occasionally needs help.
Among the penitents walked tens of designated “Christs” carrying such huge wooden crosses that they ocassionally needed help from others especially to walk uphill. Some people walked with their children, who seemed all too eager to take up the tradition.  Spectator family members and friends stood by the sidelines, occasionally shouting an encouraging word or passing a chilled bottle of water to the penitents. Smaller groups of women, whose costumes included a veiled face, marched in the procession as well.   

As part of the costume, these legions of faithful penitents carrried thick ropes around their necks, some carried smaller crosses and crucifixes, some wore barbed wire around their torsos, while others dragged heavy chains tied to their ankles. Some walkers carried signs asking [praying] for mercy and I saw a number of people on wheelchairs.

Yes, that's unshaved cactus. Ouch.
Two prominent guests of the day are greeted with cheer and praise. The famous statue of Black Jesus which resides in La Compania [the all gold interior Cathedral] and the statue of the virgin [I have to confirm the name], which were carried in the procession.

Including children in the celebrations
is one way to ensure the tradition
lives on. 
It’s also business time during the procession. Vendors walk up and down the streets shouting; “paraguas, caramellos, dulces, agua potable,…” above the music and loud speaker notices, trying to sell their wares - umbrellas, sweets, sugared corn treats, chips, fruit, bottled beverages and even plastic stools for people who can’t stand for long periods.

Such religiosity may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But for me, this outward expression of deep faith was a very humbling experience, as it totally centred on Jesus Christ as the pure reason for Easter. I also liked seeing uniformed policemen proudly take part in such a religious procession. Guess it’s not a big deal in a country that is 95% Catholic and most people wonder what if anything at all, the Easter bunny has to do with this special and holy week.
 
It’s time for some fenesca, the Ecuadorian Easter soup.
** Fanesca is a special Ecuadorian soup served only during the week leading up to Easter. It is an elaborate, rich soup made with 12 different beans and grains (to represent the 12 disciples). Salt cod (cooked in milk) provides the protein, since this soup is consumed during Lent, when many Latin American Catholics abstain from eating meat. It's usually served with fried plantains, hard boiled eggs and empanadas (floating in the soup or on the side)**.










































Thursday, January 5, 2012

Fiesta de Año Viejo & Feliz Año Nuevo

In early December, around the same time nativity scenes start appearing, stores also stock rows upon rows of dolls and effigies. These range from tiny to life-size, made to represent famous and infamous people, political figures, folkloric characters and disliked people including foreign leaders.  


Masks
Courtesy:Ecuadoratyourservice.com
All this is in preparation for the Fiesta de Año Viejo, which has as much to do with the passing of the old year as the ushering in of the new one. I’m always looking forward to any holiday in Ecuador, as they have traditions and customs unlike anything in my life, both in Kenyan or in Canada. So as the year drew to a close, I couldn’t wait to experience it all.


Masks
Courtesy fotografiadelecuador.com
As I am learning along the way, Ecuadorians are as superstitious as they are religious, and they incorporate these believes in all their traditions, and the Fiesta de Año Viejo is no exception.

1). Año Viejo
While some people buy the ready-made dummies, most others actually create their effigies which they stuff with old clothes [ideally from each member of the family], saw dust, dry grass, newspapers and firecrackers. The assumption is that these effigies trap all the bad things from that year. These dummies are then beaten [people take turns] and then burnt before midnight to ensure those bad things are gone and will never happen again.  We sat close to our effigy to ensure it burned completely or else, as I was told, all the problems and bad things that were troubling you in the year would return to bother you in the New Year.

2). Jumping over the fire 12 times
The other tradition I took part in was the jumping over the fire.  This is how it works. Before midnight, you build a huge fire [not the effigy fire], and every person jumps over the fire for every month to bring good fortune/luck.  The problem with this one is depending on how many people there are the fire gets pretty big and very few if any can make the jump up to the 12th month. I didn’t make the jump past the 4th month.

3). Gifts to the fire
In this tradition, Ecuadorians throw coins to the fire for financial luck in the New Year or food stuffs like rice or flour to wish for abundance of food.

4). Coloured Panties
My friend Elizabeth first told me about this one in early December, and in preparation we set off to the city to buy some coloured panties but ended up with shoes instead. For New Year’s Eve, women wear coloured panties to bring good luck in the New Year. While red brings love, yellow is supposed to bring wealth – I will make sure to stock me some yellow underwear in future.

5). 12 grapes





My 12 grapes, and a piece of
chocolate I sneaked in.


I actually knew of this tradition from a Mexican friend in Toronto. Twelve grapes has its heritage in Spanish culture so it is widely practiced across Latin and South America. This is done at the dinner table so I found more people who said this was their preferred way to usher in the New Year, and I have to say it’s something I have decided to incorporate in my New Year celebrations from now on, substituting grapes with other locally available fruits. For every wish per month, Ecuadorians eat a grape [i.e. January find a job, February fall in love, March lose some weight, etc.]
6). Widow of the Old Year
This one is left to the children, although some adults though rarely do take part. My classmate Jorge explained this to me and said as a boy he played the widow. Neighbourhood children especially boys come together and select one to dress up as a grieving widow.  Then they set up barriers to stop cars and ask for money for the widow whom they refer to as the “oldie”. In the meantime, the widow plays up the part, weeping that their loved one has died and they have been left without money.

You have to give some money for the barrier to be released and the kids are happy with just a few cents. The barriers are expected at this time of the year and locals warn you to have lots of change while driving around. This tradition brings lots of fun for the children and people willingly play along, and the kids take home lots of change.

So tell me, which of these festivity most appeals to you?

Note. Año means year, Viejo-old, nuevo-new.