07 ː Salasaka pt. I

I’ve been in Ecuador for a little under a week. Here’s a short update of what’s transpired. :)

Things experienced

We’ve been bouncing around between hotels and hostels, and next week, we will be hosted by Salasaka families. Yesterday we interns all shared our testimonies in the morning church service. We learned some traditional Kichwa hymns and shared some time with community members after the service. We learned how to use Proclaimers, which are hand-held, solar-powered speakers that have an audio recording of the entire Salasaka Kichwa New Testament. I shared from the first half of Romans 8, and coincidentally, one of my fellow interns chose to share the latter half of the same chapter along with her testimony. We also had the opportunity to pray for an elderly woman who was about to head to Quito for some time to receive radiation treatment for cancer.

Things learned

We’ve had about 10 hours of Kichwa lessons taught by a native Kichwa speaker, our "language nurturer." We are employing the Growing Participator Approach (GPA), which emphasizes listening on the front end. That meant that we did not speak, read, or write any Kichwa for the first several sessions. Instead, we used objects, dolls, and pointing to show that we understood what our language nurture was saying. I learned about GPA in my Second Language Acquisition course this last semester, so it’s been great to have some hands-on experience with the strategy.

It’s been an interesting experience learning a language from scratch, especially one that is so unrelated to Spanish except for a few loan words. Kichwa is an agglutinating language, meaning that verbs can have many suffixes added onto the verb root to communicate when something happened, how it happened, who did it, how it relates to the speaker, & c. Many Spanish verbs that have entered the language are altered to fit Kichwa pronunciation and conjugation. Kichwa has three main vowels: i, u, a. Words that use e or o are likely borrowed from Spanish.

I’ve been learning lots about Kichwa culture as well. They are a very relational people. Every time someone enters a room, they greet everyone, even strangers at a restaurant. All food must be shared among those in the room, even if it is just a small snack.

Most Salasakans are bilingual, learning Kichwa in the home and Spanish in the schools. In recent years, many have migrated to the capital city Quito or the Galapagos Islands for work. Some have migrated as far as Spain.

Almost all clothing is made by hand. Women often go about town spinning handfuls of wool around a spool while they are walking, conversing, or selling wares at the market. They wear black wool skirts, colorful shawls fastened with bright broaches, and several beaded necklaces; the men wear white wool pants and long black ponchos. Fedoras are worn by most adults, typically green or brown. A truly immaculate sense of style, in my estimation.

Things felt In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve had a strong, comforting sense of familiarity. So much of the sights, sounds, smells, and language remind me of Costa Rica. I’m eager to learn more of the cultural differences between the two nations, but for now, I’m feeling at home. It’s been especially encouraging to be able to communicate fairly freely in Spanish even after five months of being outside of Latin America. Learning Kichwa is its own challenge, but knowing I can fall back on Spanish has been comforting.

The first stage of cultural transition usually comes along with a feeling of euphoria and fascination, which is typically accompanied by a gradual emotional decline spurred on by cultural frustration (not quite as potent as culture shock), confusion, and eventually instances of culture shock. Since I’m only here for a month, I doubt I’ll get far beyond the euphoric stage. Towards the end of my semester of Costa Rica, I found myself significantly depressed and frustrated. It’ll be interesting to compare my emotional states between the two experiences.

Features from the fortnight

Here’s an interesting podcast interview with a speaker of Bolivian Quechua (related to Kichwa) who has worked in revitalizing her native language: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3cvXX465CJ03v8FKImMB2P?si=TbkfN79YScqZUDtXjozqSw

Also, a fun podcast episode related to loan words: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7efJEOZVT12wF46UlouWmy?si=mMUUxyjVTR2aUUvfGg4M4g&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A4IfWLwqURo177w2i4Ecj7t

Just read: Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry

Currently reading: Esperanza renace by Pam Muñoz Ryan

On deck: Del amor y otros demonios by Gabriel García Márquez

Prayers & Petitions

If you are a person who prays, please consider praying especially:

· For the health of our team. Three members have come down with some sort of virus.

· That our upcoming homestays would be mutually beneficial.

· That the people of Salasaka would continue to encounter God through His Word.

I appreciate you so much. Thank you for your impact, prayers, and presence in my life.

Be well,

jcb