Day 48: Check out new fundraising tool!

Check out a new way to make donations, and please consider helping out by donating or even constructing your own fundraising page linked to the Camarones Community Coalition (it's free, quick, and a super easy way to help out in fundraising efforts!)

Donate online to Construction of a Community Center at Razoo

Here's the QR code that can also be scanned on a smartphone and linked to this fundraiser, how cool!

Update from Madison, WI community center discussion on 4-2-12:

There were about 30 people in attendance and there was a wealth of ideas on things people want/need from a neighborhood center.  A few of the main points in response to the question "What are 3 things that you and your family need/want from a neighborhood center?":

• Free meeting space
• Quality after school programming
• Close to the populations being served
• Help with housing/employment and other training services
• Safe place
• Access to food
• Open on weekends, evenings, vacation periods
• Self-governed
• Open access/ more activities for all ages
• Cooking/kitchen space
• Conflict resolution training
• Parenting support/child care
• Cross-cultural events
• Access to community garden 
• Green space / open area for youth and adults to use
• Source of information on various services and programming for all ages

Overall, this meeting re-energized me about all of the similar discussions that will be continued down in Ecuador for construction of the community center and planning for future programming in the area.  The idea of "self-governance" that came up at this meeting really hit home, as I think that is one of the things that can really make or break the success of these initiatives, and one of the things I think is so important.  I am happy I was able to go to this meeting to see how many of the ideas were the same to the ones at the other meeting I attended on the west-side of Madison, but also how there were minor differences unique to the community needs on the south-west side of Madison.  Again, hitting home the importance of talking to and actually working with the population being served.

As always, feel free to comment below, or email me with questions, comments, or ideas!

Day 37: We now have official tax-exempt status!!

Today has been a great day already!  I was able to talk on the phone to Paco, the President of Camarones, and I am gearing up to head back down to Ecuador for some on-the-ground planning with the community.  I am also still working on organizing a few more fundraising events with the help of friends here in the US, and I am continuing to raise money for construction of the community center, as well as future programming and initiatives in the community.


AND, I received our official determination letter from the IRS in the mail, and the Camarones Community Coalition is now listed as a public charity with tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, effective September 26, 2011.  So, all of your donations are considered tax deductible!  


So, now is a great time to see how you can help!


Thanks again for your encouragement, energy, and enthusiasm in this initiative.  As always, please feel free to email me or post below if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions!

Day 34: Invitation to Ecuador and message from the President of Camarones

Today I received an email from Jorge Luis Vaca, President of Camarones, Ecuador (goes by Paco as his nickname), that was intended as a thank you and invitation for all of you that have taken an interest in this fundraising effort, and the larger movement of construction of the community center and sustainable development in his town (see how you can help too!).


Here is the message he sent:


Una vez mas gracias a todos los donates y por esa gran generosidad, ahora esto ya es una realidad por fin vamos tener nuestro centro comunitario y estan invitados a que vengan a mi comunidad a que conoscan y tambien seran muy bien recibidos.


And here is my English translation:


One more time, thanks to all of the donors and for the great generosity, now this is a reality, that finally we are going to have our community center, and you are all invited to come to my community and to know the community, and you will be well received.


It has been wonderful to update him and the rest of the community on the progress of the fundraising (especially the description of the Zumbathon), and to hear the excitement on their end, and I think it is wonderful that he sent this message to share with all of you.  Thanks again for your continued support!!

As always, feel free to email me or post below for questions, comments, or to help host a future fundraising event.  

Day 33: Discussions of Neighborhood Centers

The session on neighborhood centers was lightly attended, but had an interesting mix of individuals providing input.  I encourage you to attend one of the remaining sessions on the  role of neighborhood centers and community needs here in Madison if you haven't already.  This meeting allowed us to share our opinions on three questions:  


1.  List 3 things that you want or need from a neighborhood center
2.  What difference does a community center make in a neighborhood?
3.  Does it matter where the center is located?


For all of these questions we worked as a group to provide our input on giant post-it-note paper sheets that were then posted around the room.  We were given three colored circle stickers that we were instructed to place on these "idea sheets" next to our top three choices for the wants/needs. These lists, collected from all of the sessions, are then going to be used to help with difficult funding decisions in the future.  So, again, I encourage you to go to one of these listening sessions if you are interested in having a voice in some funding decisions affecting neighborhood centers, and, ultimately, your community.


This session, for me, was really energizing.  I love hearing input on how people view the role of neighborhood centers, and, more generally, the overall idea of "community".  This concept is something that I have been intrigued by for as long as I can remember, but, more "scientifically" when I started studying zoology and psychology here at University of Wisconsin-Madison for my undergraduate degree.  I think the overlaps between non-human animals, and humans in their respective "communities" is important, interesting, and, to me, fascinating.  So much so, that I will definitely write more on this at a later point, but for now I am tired, with ideas all over the board, and should be a little more focused before writing more on that topic.

As always, feel free to email me or post below for questions, comments, or to help host a future fundraising event.  

One thing this session really hit home is that it would be ideal if I could raise even more funds before returning to Ecuador, so that the center has more flexibility in the initial design and programming opportunities, however, the other thing this session helped me to see is that part of what makes an effective neighborhood center is the ability to grow and evolve as the community sees fit, but that the community being served by the center has input on the planning.  So, again, please consider making a donation online or seeing how else you can help.  Or, if you have already donated, consider passing on the word to those you think may share an interest.

End of Day 22: $3236.00

No change in the dollar amount today, but I hope to have posted the amount raised from the PizzaPieCafé fundraiser from last week, soon.  Wanting to find out how you can help?  Remember there are also a couple more fundraising events if you want to Zumba or eat out to help with fundraising- check it out! 

Yesterday afternoon I made the mistake of having a tiny amount of Hazelnut coffee mixed with decaf coffee at a meeting, which resulted in two things:  1.  Me still being energized and unable to sleep at a reasonable hour (I'm normally high-energy enough without any caffeine), and 2. Reminded me of helping to process coffee in Ecuador.  From picking, to milling, to roasting, to grinding again, it is a very labor intensive process.

First, the ripe fruit, or cherry (so called because of the bright red color), are removed from the coffee plants by hand.

 Me picking coffee at Don Ernesto's farm

The coffee is then allowed to dry by being spread out on level surfaces and moved around periodically (in Hawaii I saw this part done in a very large area with retractable roofs for covering in case of bad weather).  Then, after the cherries are dry, the outside of the fruit needs to be separated from the green coffee beans.  This is done here by hand with a mill.  A very good arm workout can be had by processing the coffee this way.

Milling the coffee that was already dried (you can see some in the background) to remove the bean from the fruit

Running the cherries through the mill helps to remove the outer coating, but it then needs to be separated from the beans before roasting.  Here, this was accomplished with a fan, positioned over a bowl, where the beans were lifted by hand and the outer, dry shell, was blown off (the big pile of dry coating can be seen in the foreground).

Wuilter and Paco using a fan to remove the dry skin from the bean before roasting

With the bean finally separated from the rest, careful roasting over an open fire is the next step in the processing.  This part is really an art form, as you don't want to burn the beans.

 Betsy roasting coffee that has already been dried

  Coffee in the beginning stage of being roasted over the fire

After roasting, the coffee can again be ground by hand for roasting, or kept as whole-bean for sale to individuals.

Have a question or comment?  Please feel free to post below, or send me an email!

End of Day 21: $3236.00

Thanks for another wonderful and generous donation today!  I really appreciate the continued support and enthusiasm!!  Wanting to find out how you can help?  Remember there are also a couple more fundraising events if you want to Zumba or eat out to help with fundraising- check it out!  Today, I also picked up a couple more wonderful raffle prizes for the Zumbathon. 

Have a question or comment?  Please feel free to post below, or send me an email!

End of Day 20: $3136.00

Thanks to another generous donation received in the mail, the amount raised from the bowling fundraiser, and an extremely generous donation from a friend who, in lieu of party favors at her wedding, has pledged to donate a small amount for each of her guests to help with the construction of the community center, the total is now over $3000.00!  Thanks again for the continued support!  I am still amazed, and honored that my friend chose to donate to this cause as a part of her wedding!  She is a special person, so doing something wonderful like this on her wedding day does not surprise me, I just feel like I cannot thank her enough.  Find out how you can help too!

One of my favorite days when I was down in the community was when we organized the kids on a community clean up.  I had told the kids we were going to be doing a "fun activity", but didn't tell them what it was going to be.  So... when they found out it was picking up trash, I decided to frame the activity as a competition, and there would be a prize for the group of kids with the most garbage collected.

 A few of the kids with a sack of garbage

 Looking for trash

 Trash in hand on the way to the bag for this team's effort

 Garbage, garbage everywhere...

Posing with one of the many bags of garbage collected

In the end, the kids filled all of the bags we had for them, and all anxiously awaited for me to announce the winning team.  But, there was a catch.  I told them they were all winners, and asked if someone knew why.  One of the kids spoke up and said that they were all winners because now the community was cleaner.  I was so happy.  We went on to talk about how the garbage affects their health and the environment.  We talked about water quality issues and pollution, and we ended the activity with popcorn for everyone.  

End of Day 14: $2225.00

In the mail today came another $35.00 in donations from a couple of generous donors- thanks!!  I also appreciate receiving the notes that often come with the donations!  I'm still waiting to hear the total from the bowling event, but my friend did mention to me that apparently there was some friendly betting going on that resulted in one individual agreeing to matching the amount raised that night- awesome!  Which, brings up the subject of matching.  For those of you that have already donated, you may want to check with your employers to see if they do any kind of matching for donations to charity.  Or for those of you that are still planning to donate or are planning to attend fundraising event you may want to consider looking into employee matching to make your donation go even further!


Several of my friends and family members have heard me talk at length about why community driven development projects are so important (and I also wrote a little bit about it in an earlier post).  Unfortunately, there are a lot of development projects that do not have the support or backing of a community both here in the US and across the globe.  Take, for example, disagreements over proposed development in Madison, Wisconsin's downtown State Street area.  A proposal to tear down several buildings along the 100 block of State Street was met with opposition voiced by local individuals and business owners over preservation of historic buildings on this block, and then led to some compromises being sought for preserving these landmarks (2-1-12 Channel 3000, Moisman, 10-2-2011).  Or, check out one of the top stories from the local paper in Madison today, which talks about plans for redeveloping apartments near campus, and three different interest groups have plans that do not align.  In communities the size of Madison (according to 2010 U.S. census data, Madison's population was 233,209), any development project will meet some opposition (though even small communities are not immune to these kinds of disputes, of course).  But, it's the resulting discussions, and compromises, and communication between the "two sides" that can determine the "success" of the development.  Pick any city or community and you'll find many similar examples.


The more disparate the perspectives of the groups involved in the development discussions, the more difficult it may be to reach a consensus. Or, if one group is largely at a political or economic advantage over the other group, this may result in a lack of participation in discussions, and these groups choosing, instead, to use political or economic will to determine what "should" happen.  In these instances, resentment, or worse, "bad development" could result.  So, how does "good development" occur?  Or what constitutes "good development"?  Very generally, "good development" results when interested parties work together and when communication and understanding are paramount.  The outcome may include increased resilience and a resulting reduction in vulnerability and increased amount of security and adaptability.  A synergy can result where there is the potential for individuals involved to see things from a different perspective.  Information sharing and joint decision-making may also be key (DePaoli 2011).  


As I've mentioned before, bottom-up development movements (i.e. community driven and directed), are likely to be much more successful than those being imposed by individuals with little direct experience in the community (Altieri & Masera, 1993).  These types of bottom-up, or participatory development approaches, can include communities and/or individuals joining up with individuals that may be considered "outside" of the community and still be successful.  The difference is, however, that these "outsiders" aren't really true "outsiders", as they act as facilitators of the process and active participants in a cooperative process of development.  Examples of less successful top-down approaches to development projects are easier to find when individuals outside of the community are directing and implementing the project without consideration for, or with, the local community.

I feel very strongly that these types of bottom-up, participatory development models can be applied to an endless number of communities, though the recipe for success will vary.  Of course, each community will have its own unique needs, interests, opinions, and expertise to go on, which needs to be incorporated.


Please feel free to post a comment or email me thoughts on this or any other topic you would like discussed or have questions about.

End of Day 13: $2190.00

Thanks to a couple of generous donors, the total is now up another $175.00- thanks!!  There will also be a modest amount added from the bowling night soon (they have to add up food and beverages too), so stay tuned.  The group was a little smaller than my friend was hoping, but she had been quite ill and I am really happy people went and had a good time!!

I am hoping someone will be able to help bump the total to over $2200 tomorrow- now is the time to donate if you haven't already!  Thanks for the continued support.  Please continue to help however you can!  Think $5 is too little?  Think again!  Every little bit helps get closer to the goal!  Check out how you can donate too!  Or, check out these upcoming fundraising events if you would like to help out by going to one (or more) of them.  As always, please feel free to email me if you would like to help organize a fundraising event, have an idea, or just a question for me.


Thanks again for your support!  Look for some more interesting posts over the weekend.

End of Day 11: $2015.00

Thanks for another $10 donated today!  Thanks for the continued support.  Please continue to help however you can!  Think $5 is too little?  Think again!  Every little bit helps get closer to the goal!  Check out how you can donate too!  Or, check out these upcoming fundraising events if you would like to help out by going to one (or more) of them.  As always, please feel free to email me if you would like to help organize a fundraising event, have an idea, or just a question for me.

Reminder that tomorrow, March 1st, is a Bowling fundraiser!  If you live in Oregon, check this out:  50/50 Bowling night:  Thursday, March 1st.  6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  Four Seasons Bowling Alley, 322 SE Washington St, Hillsboro, Oregon.  $16 includes 2 hours of bowling and shoe rental and $8 of that goes to this fundraiser!  Also, 15% of any food/beverage sales goes to the fundraiser.  So, if you happen to be in the area, go get some strikes for charity!

I was asked by a friend about the kinds of programming and activities the community would like to see in the community center.  Briefly, the center will be used to hold monthly town meetings as well as any additional town meetings or special events.  There is also a strong desire by community members to have English language instruction for adults and children in the community.  One reason for this is to prepare local community members to be able to act as guides and hosts for potential income-generating ecotourism in the area.  There is also a desire to have programs for women in the community- from workshops to early childhood programming and exercise classes.  A shared community kitchen and playground for children.  Because medical services are an hour away, providing simple health services is also important.  A library and reading area.  An office area for anyone in the community needing a meeting space, to use.  A guest room/house to be used for visitors.  Educational programming for youth and adults, including environmental topics relevant to river health and quality and other environmental concerns highly relevant to daily living.  A computer work area with classes on how to use the machines.  Opportunities for cultural exchanges with youth living in the US.

So there is a brief overview of some of the classes/services the community is hoping to have in the community center.  Of course, the list is not exhaustive, and some opportunities may develop in the future that will be in line with desires of the community, but haven't yet been discussed.

What other things are you curious about?  Let me know!

End of Day 10: $2005.00

Yay!  Thanks to a generous $20 donation, the total amount donated is now over $2000.00.  That is awesome!  Thanks for your continued support.  Please continue to help however you can!  Think $5 is too little?  Think again!  Every little bit helps get closer to the goal!  Check out how you can donate too!  Or, check out these upcoming fundraising events if you would like to help out by going to one (or more) of them.  As always, please feel free to email me if you would like to help organize a fundraising event, have an idea, or just a question for me.

The Applebee's Dining to Donate flyer is now available online please remember to bring a copy of it when you come out to eat on 3/19!

The Zumbathon flyer is also available online and there is now a Facebook Event page so send it to anyone that might be interested!

Remember, 100% of the money being donated is going toward sustainable development in rural Ecuador, with the primary focus being construction of a community center that will also act as a sister neighborhood center to Madison, Wisconsin's Meadowood Neighborhood Center.  I imagine that some of you that are stumbling upon this blog and fundraising initiative for the first time are still wondering why you should care, or why it is important to help.  So, over the next few days I plan to provide more details on goals for the community center and beyond (including more details about why the connection to the Meadowood Neighborhood Center is important), and hope you will share in my enthusiasm and consider donating.  I am also hoping you will feel compelled to ask questions for anything you might want to hear more about.  Don't be shy!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been volunteering my time and money to help get this initiative going, as it has been something this community has been trying to do for a long time, but as with many worthwhile projects, financial resources were not readily available.  I became intrigued by the enthusiasm the community first shared at a town meeting, but was cautioned by some that the request for assistance not simply be a hand me out, and also to be sure that this really was something community-led.  So, I talked with the president and others in the community about how we could help out.  I even met with the mayor and he seemed excited about this initiative.

But, the true test came with what happened after I returned to the US.  Communication between the US (or the rest of the world) and this community is not easy.  It is 45 minutes by truck (of which there are two truck owners in town who charge 50 cents one way to the nearest town) or 35 min walking to the road plus additional 30 minutes to the closest town where you can then pay a dollar an hour for internet (if it's working that day, and it is often spotty).  In a region where people are fortunate if they have work, and, if they do, are likely earning about $8 a day for 10+ hours of work, the bus fare plus internet fees are nothing to ignore.  So, when the president continued to make efforts to get to the internet to discuss ideas and plans over gmail text chat, or borrow a cell phone from someone, or use a cabina or pay phone to call me so I could call back, I knew that there was something unique here.

It became clear to me through these continued discussions that the community wanted this center not only for basic human services, but also as a way to continue with the community's ideas and momentum in order to provide for sustainable development in a grass-roots, community-driven way.  Not as something another group or outside agency was telling them was how it should be.  And, based on my varied educational background and connections to different individuals and resources, I have been volunteering my time and money to help get this initiative going.  This will definitely be a lifetime commitment on my part, but I view myself as largely working in the shadows, gently nudging an already burgeoning community-led initiative for sustainable development.

This initiative can be viewed in part as an asset-based community development.  This strategy for community-driven development has been used in both urban and rural communities in North America as a method counter to the typical "needs-based" approaches used by governmental and non-governmental agencies.  This approach works by enabling or empowering already existing assets within the community in order to assist communities in driving the sustainable development process themselves.  The theory is based on the idea that social assets and social capital can be extremely powerful in enabling community development where financial capital may be limited (for more information, check out Mathie & Cunningham, 2003).

While the community does not have money to put into this initiative, they do have several assets, including donated land.  The center will be built on land that a family in the community donated for that purpose.  The location of the land is ideal, as it is in the center of the community and not far from the primary school.

View from slightly above the donated land, looking down toward the primary school

Another asset the community has is talented builders who will be able to help with all parts of the construction of the center.  Additionally, the president of the community is friends with an architect, so he is assisting with design plans for free.  And the list of non-financial assets goes on.

Using a "bottom-up" approach to development is likely to be much more sustainable than alternate approaches of many NGOs (Altieri & Masera, 1993).  And, these community-based initiatives can lead to income generation for the community, that is done in a way that is sensitive to the culture and the environment of the area (see Ruiz-Ballesteros, 2011 for example).

More on this in later posts.....  Please feel free to ask questions!  And, thanks again for your support!!

End of Day 9: $1985.00

Thank you, thank you for your continued generous donations.  We are so close to being over $2000.00 in donations.  Please help however you can!  Think $5 is too little?  Think again!  Every little bit helps get closer to the goal!  Check out how you can donate too!  Or, check out these upcoming fundraising events if you would like to help out by going to one (or more) of them.  As always, please feel free to email me if you would like to help organize a fundraising event, have an idea, or just a question for me.

Exciting news today!  This fundraiser was featured in the Wisconsin State Journal.  Check out the article, if you haven't already!  And, check out the "Press" tab for more stories or blurbs on this fundraiser.

The response to the article has been wonderful.  Not only did several people step up and donate today ($120.00 donated- yay!), but several individuals reached out and offered help with fundraising, or collecting school supplies, or toys for sending down to Ecuador.  Thank you all for your interest and enthusiasm!  Please continue to pass along information about this fundraiser (and thank you to all of you that did that today, and have been doing that), and please help me reach this fundraising goal.  I know that it is really hard right now, but even $5 can (and will) help out!

Look for Facebook event pages for some of the upcoming fundraisers, as well as posters, registration forms (for the Zumbathon), and more in the next couple of days.

Please also feel free to ask questions or post comments here on the blog.

End of Day 8: $1865.00

No new donations today, but, seeing as there is no mail on Sunday, and if you were in and around the Madison, WI area, you should have been outside today, and not on the computer, it is understandable.  However, with the workweek starting again, now is the time to donate if you haven't!  Even if you only have $5 to give, don't be shy, please consider donating!  Or, if you are more interested in eating out, dancing, or bowling to help out, then check out these events!  Or, want to help plan a fundraising event or presentation in your area?  I will gladly help- just email me!  Thanks!!

(Repeat from yesterday, but worth stating again) Remember, 100% of the money being donated is going toward sustainable development in rural Ecuador, with the primary focus being construction of a community center that will also act as a sister neighborhood center to Madison, Wisconsin's Meadowood Neighborhood Center.  The center is being designed by the local community, on land that was already donated by one of the families living there, and will be both a meeting place, location for educational and health services, and a facility to assist in income generation, and cultural exchanges for local community members.  Any additional funds raised will be used to help complete a potable water project left incomplete since 2009 when the local government failed to provide the matching funds to the Rotary International project.

I have been asked a number of times about the currency in Ecuador.  As of March 13, 2000, the official currency of Ecuador became the U.S. dollar.  Prior to that, the national currency was the Sucre.  The Sucre was named after Antonio José de Sucre, who was apparently a good friend of Simón Bolívar's (extremely important figure in Latin American history of independence), and, like Simón, a Venezuelan independence leader.  Apparently Antonio José de Sucre participated in the battles for South American independence from Spain, and is buried in Quito, Ecuador.  The U.S. dollar was adopted as the official currency after the exchange value of the sucre drastically decreased during 1999.  Sucre notes were exchangeable for U.S. dollars at the rate of 25,000 sucre to 1 U.S. dollar.  Before the sucre (used from 1884 to 2000), the currency of Ecuador was the Ecuadorian peso.

End of Day 6: $1865.00

Thanks again for another generous $30 in donations today!  Are you interested in donating too?  Check out how!  Also, check out information on upcoming fundraising events to see other ways you can help.

There is a lot of bamboo, or caña growing in and around Camarones.  One of my friends there makes beautiful lamps, hammocks, beds, and other crafts out of the bamboo.  He has even made one lamp that stood 8 feet tall and was one of four he was asked to build that size.  He is very talented and extremely detail-oriented- see for yourself!

Bamboo

 He makes several different sizes of lamps, and also different fabrics for the lampshades

 Bed frame made out of bamboo

 Workshop and giant lamp

Bamboo hammock

End of day total for day 0.75

Thanks to a generous donation today, the total for day 0.75 is $1110.00.  This is a great way to actually kick-off the fundraising tomorrow, as official day 1!  Another $10 is awesome!  Donations of any amount are welcome.  Put another way, if 2,889 individuals are able to contribute just $10, the goal will be met (can you tell I like numbers and was on math team when I was younger?).

If you aren't able to financially contribute, think about passing on the blog to those who might be able to.

Thank you again for all of your contributions and messages!  Thanks also for passing along the link to people you think may be interested.

With tomorrow being the official kick-off to the 30 days, look for more pictures of the community, and other information about living in Ecuador.  Please also feel free to ask questions about Camarones, nearby communities, or other things of interest.  Or, if you've traveled to Ecuador and want to share your story, please do.  Have a great recipe from those travels?  Even better.  I love cooking!