¡Tia!
24 September 2005 (Saturday) – Quito, Ecuador
I walked down to the Casa de La Cultura which housed the Museo Nacional and had a thoroughly fascinating time there. I was terribly impressed with the quality of the displays in this museum. It truly had a very rich collection of archaeological artefacts from all the various ethnic groups that had lived in Ecuador. All explanations were also provided in English. This museum is definitely recommended.
I have gotten in touch with a group of Singaporeans who are living here in Quito. They are part of the Generation ACTS Club, doing volunteer social projects with orphans and the underprivilegeds. Some of them have been here for more than 2 years now. They do these projects at their own expense and in their free time, of course. But meanwhile, to earn money for their own living, they give English lessons. I arranged to meet with them in the afternoon in front of my hostel.
I was introduced to Joshua, Hannah, Sharon and Gerard. Gosh, Sharon recognised me because we had taken some Spanish lessons together some years back in Singapore. This is how small Singapore is.
We walked to an orphanage nearby. Normally, on Saturdays, they give free English lessons to these orphans. When they arrived, some of the children ran over and hugged them in delight. I was regarded with a lot of curiosity and the children brazenly asked me for my name, where I come from, etc… One girl just hugged me tightly, refusing to let go.
Today, it looked like they would not be having English lessons as they were all busy making boards to be cut into jigsaw puzzles for an ice-cream company. For every 1000 they make, they earn US$8. We decided to plunge in and help the kids out with the pasting of the stickers on the cardboards. I was introduced around, and I was surprised at how precocious some of the children were. I guess, Joshua and gang had already established their relationships and trust here with them, so it made things much easier for me as they accepted me readily as yet another tia chinita (Chinese aunt).
Throughout the cheap-labour exploitation, the children were calling out ‘¡Tia!’ (Aunt!) or ‘¡Tio!’ at us to tell us stories and relate certain ‘bad things’ the others had done. There was a girl who looked about 14 or 15, and she was feeding a baby. She had been quarrelling with another girl and they were throwing spiteful remarks at each other now. Dear dear, she is practically still a child, and yet, she is now responsible for another child. It is so sad to see so many single teenage mothers here.
Maribel was a serious-looking 8-year-old girl working hard in the corner. She was not even curious about me. She simply called out to me when she spotted me, “¡Tia! Puede ayudarme, ¿por favor?” (Aunt! Can you help me please?) Then, she proceeded seriously and explicitly to explain to me how to go about with the pasting. I then helped her with the pasting to meet her quota.
Gosh, children will be children! One minute they were talking, the next, they were fighting. It was also quite obvious to see who were the trouble-makers, the ‘Indian chief’, the one that everyone else enjoys bullying. I helped manage a short quarrel for a moment between 2 girls and consoled another whose head was hurt when a girl carried a table into the room. It was already a handful for me.
I truly admire what Joshua and gang are doing here. It is absolutely altruistic of them to quit their jobs, leave their family and country and come to this far-away land to work on these meaningful social projects. Teaching English here was just a by-the-way job because they need money to eat and pay the rent. They are truly compassionate and selfless people.
By evening, they took me to a Chinese restaurant which they claimed served true-blue Chinese food. Wow, very good food indeed!!!! They had surely hunted around. They invited me to their apartment to take a look. But when we got there, they suddenly asked if I wanted to just come over and crash at their place for the rest of my stay here in Quito.
Wow, that was a great idea! That was wonderfully kind of them! Although the hostel I was staying was not too expensive, there is a huge black dog there that hates me and charges at me every time I return home and frankly, I am not too keen on that place. I checked out and moved to their apartment right away.
Tags: 07) Crossing Ecuador Line, Quito
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