Sandy...I think they liked the books.

A picture is worth a lot of words.
I received this picture from Janneke that she took before she had to leave.

Katitawa School Gets Electricity....Thanks to Arizona State University.

While surfing the web a few days ago, I ran across a post on the ASU website telling of the solar pannels that were installed at the Katitawa School in 2003. This is where our foundation, Sumak Kausay Yachay,is providing the teachers for the English clases here in Salasaca. For the rest of the story plaese go to our new Katitawa School site.

It Can Be Dangerous To Vote Against Something Without Knowing What It Is Your Voting For.

For months now I have been pondering the question: Why is the socialist model of government becoming so popular in Latin America? Many reasons have popped in and out of my mind and I have been trying to put my thoughts into words....But the words kept eluding me. A few days ago, I stumbled across an article written by Carlos Alberto Montaner titled, Neofascism intent on destroying democracy. In this essay Montaner outlined how Europe fell into the Neofascism trap after World War One and a few things that Latin America has in common today, and I quote "frustration in the face of the persistent poverty among a substantial part of society, disorder and state inefficiency, the lack of opportunities and generalized corruption". These were the words I was looking for. So simple and so true. These un-faced problems create the breding ground for socialistic ideas that open the door to future fascism.

In my opinion, you cannot call the victory in Ecuador by Rafeal Correa in November, a mandate by the people who were agreeing with his ideas for change. For the reasons quoted above the people were and are frustrated. They voted against something, and for a change, and for the most part, I don't believe they had any idea what that change would be or where it would take them. Most people I have met, have no interest in politics and only vote because it is mandatory.

So....who is to blame for the sorry state of affairs that set the stage for the Correa win in November? In my opinion, it is the past governments from the federal down to the city, and the big corporations who control the economy, but don´t give enough back to help develop the future work force. In my opinion, these two groups are the root cause of the social dissatisfaction that we experience today. They failed to pay attention to the basic needs of the people. And when you think about it, the solutions are fairly simple, if the problems are attacked before the people reach that point where they no longer have hope or faith in their government.

I don't believe we necessarily need to hit bottom before we are jolted back to reality. There seems to be a tendency with our new president to take us on the same path as Venezuela. If we are smart we need to learn the truth of where Hugo Chavez has taken his country in the past eight years before we follow blindly down the same road. This knowledge could be our best defense against the best laid plans of our new president.