Library empowers Girls & Women in coastal Ecuador

Miryam´s (36) warm smile enters a room before her friendly countenance joins it. She is tiny and always cheerful. Her youthful appearance makes her look like a teenager, but she is a force of nature.  She is the best host, teacher, and companion one can find, always busy, always teaching the most timid of our patrons how to read or count.  Her patience is beyond measure, whenever there is a trifle that upsets everyone, her calm smile never leaves.  Once, after a difficult time, I asked her, how do you do it? How can you remain calm when everything is upside down?  Oh Veci, (short and endearing term for Vecina neighbor)  you know me, I don't suffer for such things.  

 Myriam is our Library Assistant, she is the cornerstone of our project. We met in the middle of the devastation brought by the 7.8 earthquake that destroyed our village in 2016, and immediately became friends and coworkers. After two years of volunteering, we were finally able to open paid positions for us. We now share the same responsibilities and salaries along with 2 other Vecinas from town (we all earn the minimum wage in Ecuador).  Myriam is well respected in the community and everyone looks up to her.   Let me share a recent conversation we had in the Library.

 RR:Veci, what were you like when you were a kid? 

 MR: I was a very happy girl, always optimistic. I would play all day with my brothers, and we constructed our own toys: I liked to play teacher. We played addition and subtraction with corn kernels, pebbles… whatever we found.  When I was very young I was just like Dana (a headstrong little girl that is learning to read in the Library).  I learned to read on my own, very fast. There was only one book in our house, even though my mother couldn't read, she was never sent to school (her father feared she would fall in love in school) she pushed me to take the book and figure out how to read, she would ask around neighbors, who could teach me.

 RR: How many siblings do you have?

 MR: We are 7, I am the third, since I was very young I had to look over my brothers and sisters. My grandfather had coffee crops, so when my Mom went to work in the coffee fields, I had to look after the younger kids. 

 RR: That was a very early age to take such responsibilities, don´t you think?

 MR: Oh yeah!  I remember thinking that I would never ask my child to take over such a heavy burden.  Babies are so unpredictable, anything could go wrong… Now that I look back I understand that my mother had no choice.  I promised myself I would never do that to my children.  I felt bad for my mother, she was so overworked, she had to work the fields, then she would carry big loads of laundry -bigger than herself- and take it to the river to wash, she never stopped, so I helped her with the children.  But I knew it wasn't fair.  My brother and I would take turns going to school, he would go a week and then I could go. He always ended up going more than I, but with his notebook and his homework, I would do the work for him, so I ended up learning more than him, even though I stayed home more. 

 RR: At what age did you finally go regularly to school?

 MR: It was only when my father got a job at a shrimp farm that the family could afford sending me to school. I was 11 by then, was sent to second grade and stayed until 6th grade.    I finished grade school when I turned 17, I couldn't continue because the younger siblings had to go to school. My mom sacrificed a lot, always washing other people's laundry to get us through school, she really believed in education.  She is very curious about words and books, she would have loved to go to school… 

 RR. What about your Dad, did he put any value into his children´s former education?

 No, not really.  My Dad had been sent to school when he was young, but his parents decided he was easily distracted and that it was a waste of time, so they took him out.  Back then, they had to decide who was going to help out with the family's income and who had a studying disposition.  But now I see, that was so difficult. How can a child have “disposition to study”  if she doesn't see anyone reading, or there´s no books at home?  

 RR: So, now your Mom must be very proud of you…

 MR:  Oh yes!  Remember the day of my graduation? (on August 21, 2021 Miryam, along with 27 young women and 2 men, graduated from high school through an intensive education program), my mother was sooo happy, one would have thought it was she who was graduating!  She is always telling people about me, about my job here at the Library, my school graduation, my marriage, and now my driving license!  Ha ha ha… She is very proud of Vinicio (Miryam´s only son)  and she always encourages him to continue studying. 

 RR:  Let's go back to your teenage years, when and how did you meet Johnny, your husband? 

 MR:  My mom always took us to visit our grandparents in the countryside, they hosted traditional gatherings for all the neighboring communities.  Johnny and his family came to my grandparents' Chigualo, a traditional Christmas festival. After 3 weeks Johnny came to talk with my mom. He said:  “I would like to get to know your daughter and I  need your permission to visit her, I only want good things for her”.  So my mom asked me if I wanted to be friends with him, and I said yes (oh, yes, ha ha ha!).  So every month, after traveling for hours, he visited me, stayed for a couple of hours and then left.  We went on like this for 4 years!  I got married when I was 21, he was 23. We decided  we would get married but wait to have children. I got pregnant after 4 years of marriage. Johnny built a little bamboo house on the beach, we lived well, Vinicio was born there,  we took him out to the beach and rubbed little crabs on his feet so he could walk fast. It was a  quiet time, there were times that we did not see the neighbors in a month.  When Vinicio was born I wondered what I should do to help… I got a job as a cleaning lady in a local Hotel doing beds and cleaning for $1 an hour.  I worked 4 years in Samvara, then I went to Jama Campay -a vacation resort-. Vinicio was in kindergarden so I told them “I have to drop my son at school, I can't prepare breakfast”.  Because Vinicio has been the first thing for me and he knows it. In 2008 we lost our house after the El Niño phenomenon, they placed us in a shelter in Bellavista, and then they gave us the MIDUVI houses.

 RR: What were those little houses like?

 MR: They weren't good, they were small, dark and you couldn't see the sea. I still miss my house on the beach. I made cheese to sell, also gelatin, ice, the fishermen came, they brought some fish and bought something, it was like receiving visitors.

 RR: So, from 2008 until the day of the earthquake you lived in that house. Tell me how was April 16, 2016 for you.

 MR: April 16, 2016…ugh! That Saturday I was in Esmeraldas, I had gone to visit my sister who was out there. It was late afternoon, I was doing my mom's nails, Vinicio came with water for her feet, when the earth started to shake very badly, Vinicio knelt down and shouted "God, why is this!" It was soooo scary.  After a while we were desperate to get back home, so we took a truck that was coming to Pedernales.  When we entered the town, there were many bodies on the sidewalk, everything was dark, stinky and ugly. We got here and it was pitch black. I entered my house and sank into the mud up to my waist. When I came out I asked everyone about Johnny. No one had seen him. Everyone was screaming and crying looking for their relatives. That night we went up to the hill with my mom and Vinicio and settled down until daylight. The next day we found Johnny, who had survived with my brother Kevin and my dad. He made a little shack to accommodate us, he brought a bed and a stove. On the fourth day I went up to your place, your house had also been destroyed, we became friends... This is the only nice thing about all that time: I helped to wash dishes that we rescued from the mud, you took out books and put them to dry...

 RR: I agree, that was the only nice thing that happened to us during that time.  But let's talk about today: what do you like the most about your job as an Assistant Librarian?

 MR: I love sharing with children and teaching them what I understand. I also love how Vinicio is learning from each volunteer who stays with us.

 RR: Tell me how your life has changed through this Library:

 MR: It's like I was born again, a new beginning of my life... Now, I don't doubt myself so much, I´ve finished High School, got my drivers license... haha! Now I feel more secure and I tell myself “ I am able to drive the Van and I will be able to lead the Library. Every step I take I feel stronger, stronger….” Johnny says, yes, woman, you keep on growing ...

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