So it´s easy to write a bunch of posts on here about all the exciting and good things about Ecuador, but that’s really only a small percentage of the reality of this country.
The truth of Ecuador is that a large portion of the population still lives in severe poverty conditions. Although Ecuador has made major strides for improvement in education and economics in recent years, as well as political stability, it still has a very long way to go.
The combination of severe inflation, nine presidents in a little over a decade, high poverty levels, lack of organization, and corruption has left Ecuador in a bit of a mess. When it comes down to it Ecuador is still suffering the consequences for events and practices that are left over from the Conquistador period of history in the 1500´s. For example it is estimated that around 50% of the population is living on land or property to which they have no legal title. Many of these people have lived in the same place for over 50 years with no documentation.
This causes severe complications when it comes to taxation as well as other legal issues. This is largely due to the robbery of indigenous lands by the Spanish, leaving many of the Indians with no land titles. Also many historians believe that it has become part of the cultural tradition to just acquire any land that is not being productively used as your own.
Sooo… although I am living in a paradise land (that resembles more of Miami than Ecuador) in the bubble of Guayaquil known as Samborondon, these areas are very rare in Ecuador. It is easy to see my pictures of all the tourist places where we have traveled and the restaurants where we have eaten and to ignore the less pleasant parts of the country, such as the towns we pass through on the way to laying in the sun on the beach.
It is easy to buy a delicious piece of pan de yucca from the vendor walking through the bus for 25 cents and to not stop for a second to think about the story behind this man. It is easy to forget that if this man doesn’t sell enough not only will he lose the money he spent on ingredients to make the food but he will have nothing to bring home to his family at the end of the day.
So I dedicate this blog to showing the real Ecuador.
Here is a closer look at reality.
· 45% of wealth is held by 5% of population
· Under/Subemployment is around 63% (such as the pan de yucca on the bus)
· 70% of Ecuador is living BELOW the poverty line
o What is the poverty line? By Ecuadorian standards the poverty line is $1 a day for each person in the family!!! That means almost 70% of the population doesn’t even make $1 a day!!!
· For Children under 5
o 30% suffer from chronic malnutrition
o 20% suffer from severe chronic malnutrition
· the average number of years of schooling as 6.7, this number is even lower among minority populations
· There is one of the largest gaps in the world in income between the rich and the poor
Most of the country consists of either country living or ramshackle huts surrounding large cities like Guayaquil. In all of the big cities the streets are filled with old men selling small glasses of Coke for ten cents. Even worse there are kids ranging from 3 and up running around selling individual packets of gum, shining shoes, selling scarfs, etc.
There are typically short old people looking sad and missing teeth begging around all major markets. They come up and stand behind you and stare at you with their hands out while mumbling their story under their breath until you give them change. Every public bus consists of at least one person playing music and begging for money or simply giving a speech in hope to receive some sort of compensation. The towns near major high ways set up food stands to cook cheap traditional snacks such as empanadas and secos and wait on the road until a bus is passing. They then jump on the bus with their baskets of food and sell whatever they can before climbing off at the next available stop and grabbing a bus back.
I think one of the most up close and personal moments I had so far with the poverty issue was downtown near the beginning of my trip when we were waiting to receive our visa cards. It was past lunch time and most everyone was hungry. Being Americans their mouths automatically started watering when they saw the tantalizingly tempting Golden Arches of the oh so familiar McDonalds soaring up above the city skyline. One of my friends rushed over to the buy a McChicken and came back to eat it on the side of the road. The second he unwrapped the sandwich a four year old girl dressed in rags with a dirty face stopped her rounds of selling gum and just stared at the sandwich. By the time he was two bites in the girl was sitting at his feet and staring up at him with these huge sad eyes. Of course the chicken sandwich immediately lost any level of satisfaction and he surrendered his lunch over to the little girl who scarfed it down almost whole. You always hear about hunger but sometimes you don’t realize what it means for someone to actually not have food until you see that look in their eyes.
No comments:
Post a Comment