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| Guayaquil, Ecuador |
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| Discussing Ecuador's qualification for the
World Cup in Japan and Korea made instant friends |
In Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city with a population
of around five million, about 65% of the population lives in the massive
slums stretching from the north to the south of the city's limits.
At the same time, in exclusive communities in which the ratio of gates
and walls to residents is very high, live the 10% of the population
at the other end of the disproportionate economic scale. A Peace Boat
tour first drove through the latter, on the way to the former, for
a tour to see how the majority of people in the city live. Other tours
visited the ecologically important Santay Island or had a music exchange
with students at the music school where guitar maestro and Peace Boat
guest Ryuhei Kobayashi teaches, or played soccer with university students.
While the tours and participants rambled about the city, two tours
from the Galapagos Islands returned, participants' faces reflecting
a peculiar glow. |
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| Usually the best part of these tours are the kids |
The tour to visit regular people in Guayaquil took us to a community called La Trinitaria, bordering a large river. The community we saw was possibly the most economically disparaging place Peace Boat participants have visited, especially in light of the potential wealth of the country held by relatively few people. We talked to a fisherman weaving a net, whose house was built on poles next to the river. He was worried because all houses within 50 meters of the river bank would soon be demolished to build a road, and there was no alternative place to live or relocation assistance.Should this have been a wealthy neighborhood, no doubt the road would be built around the residents, not on top of them.For these people, this is a standard example of daily life. |
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After walking around the neighborhood, we settled down for a delicious local-style lunch, making us all a bit sleepy for the moment. The day was just beginning though, and down the road in a little community square we met hundreds of local residents, mostly kids, who were preparing various projects and diversions which we would share in for the next few hours. We planted trees in the tree-less square, painted a mural, played soccer, knitted nets and whatever else the hundreds of kids could think of until we could barley stand anymore. One thing that the Peace Boat cultural-exchange courses are well-known for is that by the end, if you can still walk, it means you didn't play hard enough. |
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| The completed mural, the bright colors stood out in an environment with otherwise little color to catch the eye |
The end of the day brought us to the busses and out of the neighborhood as the evening fell. Talking with the director of PMT, the impact of this visit by 100 or so Peace Boat participants to the neighborhood is very deep. This time, and in a previous trip, one of the first things the local kids notice is simply that people are talking in a different way - and the challenge of communicating together presents a great new experience. Preparing for our visit, the lunches, the T-shirts we received from PMT and organizing the day was good practice experience for local youth who have been taking classes in micro-management, business and other related subjects. But for the neighborhood as a whole, the visit helped instill a sense of value as a place and people worth visiting and getting to know, an experience and sense of value that is lacking in everyday life. |
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| Traveling with Peace Boat, we are able to see many cargo ships up close as we often visit countries with out ocean liner passenger terminals. This one was parked behind us |
One participant remarked that to visit such a place and meet the local people has a much deeper impact than seeing pictures and reading articles back in Japan, making for a personal experience that inspires thought and interest not possible otherwise. For some it was hard to see people, especially the children, malnourished and living in such difficult conditions even though we were told by many that La Trinitaria was not so bad off compared to other slums in the area. Though not sure if the impact would reach everyone on the tour, still for most it was an enjoyable and very important experience. With that, all participants piled back onboard Peace Boat and departed for our next destination, Easter Island.
Text and photos by Stacy Hughes
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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