Who Wants to Invest in an Embroidery Machine?

Have spent two whirlwind days here in Cuenca, visiting various organizations which serve people with disabilities. I´ll be editing the hell out of this later, but wanted to get the rough draft out while Gladys is taking a well-deserved siesta.

First impression: wow, there are A LOT of organizations. One person estimated about 15 special education centers of one type or another in Cuenca alone, each with its own mission, structure, and clientele. There´s an ¨escuela particular¨ for children with cerebral palsy whose families have the wherewithal to pay or get scholarships, and an ¨escuela fiscal¨ for the same population minus the cash. Another center for people who are blind but not cognitively impaired, another for folks with hearing impairments. Yet another that´s essentially a catch-all for kids with pretty much any disability except severe physical impairments, run with donations out of an abandoned hospital. Plus universities offering certification in special education, which can translate into heaps of willing and able internal volunteers.

It´s been fascinating touring the different centers, listening to the directors and teachers, and watching how the different places operate. Everyone has been very warm and receptive, and wonderfully tolerant of my struggles with spoken Spanish: it´s gotta help that the ones who aren´t language therapists themselves work hand in hand with language therapists.

We also had the good fortune to learn about an exhibition put on by students of the local Polytech university: teachers and soon-to-be teachers were displaying work they had done to adapt and create materials for students with visual impairments. Bridgett, I wish you could have seen it: it was utterly incredible the creativity of these folks, and they have the idea of adaptation down to a T.

There have been a few moments that would make for excellent cross-cultural situation comedy:

• One of the very first people I was to give my Project talk to was the very impressive head of a provincial organization. I comforted myself beforehand with the idea that, ¨Well, at least I have the book of photos. Worst comes to worst, I´ll just show him those and Gladys can help talk more about them. A picture is worth a thousand words, you know. It´ll be enough just to show him the pictures.¨ My introduction from Gladys: ¨And Sonia is here to explain to you what her organization does, exactly, so I´ll let her talk for awhile. By the way, Sonia, Daniel´s blind.¨




• One of the directors seemed to be most proud of one specific aspect of his organization: that they had contracted local artisans to sew large, anatomically correct dolls to teach the children Where Babies Come From. He was quite insistent that I touch ALL parts of the dolls to see just how realistic each was, and I now know how to both say ¨blow up doll¨ in Spanish and to opine that his dolls are infinitely superior.




• Another of the organizations, while they were exceptionally polite and listened actively to our presentation, were really, really hoping that we were primarily there to invest in an embroidery machine that they wanted to buy for the center.
  

All in all, it´s been a great learning experience, and I think there are places and pieces where the Project could be of use. I am always inspired by any time I spend in special education facilities in Ecuador: the kindness of the children to one another, the dogged creavity of the professionals in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and always the hunger to learn and do more. Tomorrow, we´re going to visit two rural centers, in Paute and Gualaceo. We´ve been prepared for a very strong contrast: urban centers, in general, are far better resourced than their rural counterparts. Perhaps Paute, then, should get the embroidery machine.