Providing Houseing in Ecuador
Another example of how people even during recessions find time to help others who need it more
Frank Anderson, sales associate, and Matthew Erny, GRI , broker-sales associate from RE/MAX House Values 4 of Hackettstown, recently returned from Ecuador where they spent the week of June 20 -28 building houses for the poor.
Anderson, Erny and 19 volunteers from the Delaware Presbyterian Church in Knowlton Township, and the Pluckemin and Basking Ridge Presbyterian churches, built 15 houses with the Hogar De Cristo Organization in Guayaquil, Ecuador, South America. Similar to Habitat for Humanity, Hogar De Cristo is a non-profit social organization started in Guayaquil by Jesuit priests in 1971, to assist the poorest of the poor.
In addition to paying their own travel and boarding expenses, Anderson and Erny personally collected over $18,000 in donations used to subsidize the homes they built.
Local contributors to their building efforts include: The Young/Green Foundation of Blairstown; Realtor colleagues from RE/MAX House Values of Hackettstown; RE/MAX of New Jersey; teachers and staff of Blairstown Elementary School; Daniel and Elaine Erny of Frelinghuysen Township; Wells Fargo Mortgage, and Dean and Donna Kasturas; as well as, many other generous contributors to their mission trip. Additionally, RE/MAX New Jersey donated T-shirts, toys and other items for the children of Guayaquil.
“Without the generous donations from our family and friends, the beneficiaries of these homes would be living in a ramshackle shanty, or on the streets,” said Anderson, “On every trip I have made to Guayaquil, I am inspired by the friendliness and warmth shown by these people who are living in such extreme poverty, each and every day”.
Since many Guayaquil residents cannot afford the full price of a home, the Hogar de Cristo organization manages a “social fund” supported by donations like those collected by Anderson and Erny. The approximate cost to the new homeowner is $580 (U.S.). One hundred percent of all donated funds go directly to the Hogar De Cristo Organization – there are no administrative costs.
The dedicated volunteers, many of whom have made this trip before, including visits by Anderson (three) and his cousin, Joanne Hamilton (five), build modular homes constructed of prefabricated bamboo and wood with tin for the roof. The design and native materials have been used locally for centuries and are designed to hold up well in the humid equatorial climate. The size of each home is approximately 20 feet by 20 feet and, due to flooding problems; the homes are constructed on stilts. There is no water supply or sanitation provided.
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Historical Places Ecuador
Ecuador has many places for visitors to explore and learn from of the culture in this country. In the heart of the historic quarter of Quito is the . It was one of the first settlements founded in South America by Spanish conquistadors, the city planned in 1535. Around the square visitors can see the city’s colonial architecture showing the Spanish baroque style of the 16th Century, and is surrounded by the most important buildings of this period including the Cathedral at the south of the square, Government Palace in the west, City Hall, built 1952, in the east and the Archbishop’s Palace in the north.
Plaza de la Independencia
The Convento de la Concepcion was founded 13 January 1577 under the Order of San Francisco and was the first in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. A fire caused serious damage to its architectural and artistic treasures, the original splendour lost. Today the nuns sell what they make at the roadside, such as Aloe Vera shampoo and other natural products. They were also known for making the clothes for the effigies of baby Jesus during the Christmas period. Visitors are welcome only so far into the convent but its worth a visit.
Casa de Benalcazar can be found in the heart of the historical centre and is listed as one of the city’s National Heritage sites. It was constructed during the 18th Century, built on the site where Sebastian de Benalcazar had lived two centuries before. Today it houses the Institute Ecuadoriano de Culture Hispanica which also holds a historical library.
La Basilica del Voto Nacional
La Basilica del Voto Nacional
is an imposing church with gargoyles representing the national fauna. It is neo-gothis in style, built on a steep hill in the centre of the city a few blocks away from the Plaza de la Independencia to the northwest of the old city. La Basilica was started at the end of the 19th Century but was not finished until the 20th. The building was built with stone from the Pichinche quarries and in its lateral vaults can be found huge altar pieces. It is an imposing building with its Gothic rose windows and stained glass windows depicting Bible scenes. Its tower is the highest in Ecuador and can be seen from several points around the city. At night it is illuminated, like a beacon with bright green and blue lights and can be seen anywhere in the city.
The Government Palace was built between the 18th and early 19th Centuries by Baron Hector de Carondelet. Visitors are welcomed inside the main area, and once inside can see Spanish / Moorish architecture including an impressive 1966 mural by Guayasamin of Orellana discovering the Amazon on February 12 1542. The third floor is used as the President’s private quarters where he lives along with his family. The building has many corridors and reception rooms and official occasions are held here. Visitors can only enter the ground floor.
The Cathedral dates from the 16th Century and inside visitors will have the pleasure of seeing a collection of art, including works by Caspicara and Manuel Samaniego. The building is lit up at night. Both the Cathedral and the Government Palace were scenes of shocking murders. In 1875 President Garcia Moreno was murdered by machete and in 1877 the Bishop of Quito was poisoned during a Good Friday Mass.
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Ecuador To Receive $480 Million FLAR Loan On Monday
Ecuador will receive next Monday a $480 million loan from the Latin America Reserve Fund, or FLAR, to finance public projects, the Central Bank said Wednesday.
The contract for the credit was signed Wednesday in Bogota by Ecuador Finance Minister Maria Elsa Viteri, Central Bank general manager Karina Saenz and FLAR officials.
The Central Bank said in a press release that the loan will be received on Monday in one disbursement.
The loan has a three-year maturity and carries an annual interest rate of Libor plus four points.
The FLAR is a fund established by six Latin American governments for balance of payments support to its member states.
The $480 loan is part of a package of $1.5 billion from multilateral lenders that Ecuador is seeking to cover the fiscal deficit for 2009
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Obama decision puts Ecuador on notice – US groups
President Barack Obama has put Ecuador on notice that it could lose valuable U.S. trade benefits unless the Andean country improves its treatment of foreign investors, U.S. business groups said on Wednesday.
Although Obama decided on Tuesday to extend Ecuador’s trade benefits for six months, the concerns raised in a report he sent to Congress suggests the preferences may not be extended again, said Myron Brilliant, vice president for international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“We welcome the increased -scrutiny of Ecuador’s eligibility going forward,” Brilliant said in a statement.
The Emergency Committee for American Trade, which lobbies on behalf of U.S. multinational firms, said Obama’s report reflected “the negative experiences of many U.S. companies that have operated in Ecuador over time.”
Without mentioning any company by name, Obama noted concerns about two outstanding investment disputes involving U.S. companies in Ecuador.
One appeared to refer to a case brought by 30,000 Ecuadorean plaintiffs against Chevron Corp (CVX.N), which bought Texaco in 2001.
The plaintiffs say Texaco polluted the jungle and damaged their health by dumping billions of gallons of contaminated water over more than two decades before leaving in the early 1990s.
“The company argues that the Ecuadorian government bears legal responsibility for any damage under the terms (of) a release agreement,” Obama noted in his report.
“The government contests that argument. Concerns have been raised that statements by top Ecuadorian officials in favor of the plaintiffs have politicized the proceedings. The U.S. government has encouraged Ecuadorian government officials to refrain from commenting on ongoing judicial cases,” Obama said.
Ecuador and other Andean nations have long had U.S. duty-free access for most of their goods under a drug fighting program that dates to 1991.
Last year, Congress extended the benefits for Colombia and Peru through Dec. 31, but set a mid-year review of Bolivia and Ecuador’s eligibility due to mounting complaints about the deteriorating treatment of U.S. investors.
Not long after that renewal, former President George W. Bush suspended Bolivia from the program, citing its poor cooperation in the U.S. war on drugs.
Obama upheld Bush’s decision on Bolivia in his report to Congress, but decided to renew Ecuador’s benefits through the end of the year.
Senator Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said on Wednesday he would closely watch Ecuador and Bolivia’s behavior over the next six months in deciding whether to support renewed benefits in 2010.
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Networking Pays Finding Professional Work Abroad
The job offer was what I’d always wanted: an opportunity to help the poorest of the poor and to be well compensated while working in a beautiful colonial city nestled in the temperate Andes of Ecuador. The process leading to the job offer was challenging.
I had applied for countless international development positions and learned to count myself lucky if I even received a rejection letter. Because nothing came of the long-distance job search, my wife and I decided to go to Ecuador, travel, study Spanish, and try to find work that would allow us to stay past the three-month tourist card limit. We knew we could teach English if we were not able to find jobs in our professional fields.
We chose Ecuador because it’s less expensive than most South American countries and we were traveling on savings. Ecuador is also a beautiful and varied country, culturally and artistically interesting. And Spanish is one of the most useful languages to bring back to the U.S.
I was surprised at the volume of information on Ecuador available on the Internet. I made a number of e-mail acquaintances in the months before our departure, including a web designer (www.ExploringEcuador.com), a Peace Corps volunteer, and a distributor of arts and crafts.
One of the first places we visited in Quito was the South American Explorers Club. From it’s volunteer board and folders I found information on a number of development organizations in Ecuador, most based in Quito. After preparing my speech in Spanish, I started calling organizations and explaining our situation to the director: “We plan to live in Ecuador for several years and are interested in working with your organization as volunteers or in another capacity.” I always tried to set up informational interviews to talk in person. Over a period of about two months I met with over 24 organizations, talked by telephone with another six organizations, and mailed resumes to about 10 more.
In our first week in Quito we used our Spanish lessons to translate our resumes into Spanish curriculum vitaes on our laptop computers. (We printed them out at one of the many cybercafes.) We also brought copies of our transcripts and reference letters. I found the interviews more productive when the interviewer had read my resume.
About half the interviews were in English and half in Spanish. I always left both my resume and my wife’s, and I always asked who else this person would recommend I contact.
Several people recommended CARE International, an international development agency. This proved to be the most difficult meeting to arrange, but ultimately the most rewarding. Not only was I offered a recycling management position in Cuenca–helping to improve the lives of the women who sort through the garbage and pick out recyclables to sell–but the opportunity to house-sit for the assistant director until the job came through.
After we moved to Cuenca, my wife found work as the academic coordinator for the Ecuadorian-American Cultural Center. A week later she received an e-mail from Pan American Univ., an elite university in Cuenca, looking for a professor to teach psychology in English. This too was the result of networking. We had dropped off our CVs and resumes twice and Kathleen had talked to the president, another American, by phone several times.
We both found professional positions–in Kathleen’s case, two positions–and none of them were advertised in the conventional manner we take for granted in the U.S. It paid to be persistent and never miss an opportunity to network.
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