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 by Lynn Biddle, Steering Committee Member This Spring I paid a visit to the Pacific Coast of Ecuador. Last year my church's Fair Trade project had sold some beautiful crafts from Ecuador--stationary, folders, and other things made from recycled paper and decorated with pressed wild flowers. This was my chance to meet the women of Ecopapel who made them and learn more about them and their lives. Ecopapel’s home is in the town Bahia de Caraquez, called “Bahia” by everyone and known throughout Ecuador as the site of a disaster in 1998. That was the year that El Nino flooded the town mercilessly, causing deadly mud slides and ruining its crops. No sooner had the rains finally stopped, that a pair of terremotos (earthquakes) flattened half the city. Poor to begin with, most of its citizens now had nothing at all. This was banana and shrimp country. The elite owns most banana plantations, and controls the market for those few that it doesn’t own. The big name here is Naboa, the name, also, of one of the candidates for president in the May elections and a man who has been called “the richest man in Ecuador.” Ecuador is the only Latin American country without unionized banana workers, and, consequently, it undercuts the prices of the other Latin American and Caribbean bananas. There was a running “Banana War” in the World Trade Organization (WTO) because the European Union wanted to give preferential treatment to bananas from its former colonies (in restraint of free trade) instead of buying at the lowest price. Now that Ecuador’s banana workers are trying to unionize, they are being met with mass firings and violence from hired thugs. (See the March 18th newsletter of Campaign for Labor Rights, a respected U.S. nonprofit organization) But the people of Bahia have entirely lost their income from the shrimp industry. Shrimp live in mangroves, at the edge of the ocean. In fact, mangroves provide the ocean’s nursery, the richest and most diverse ecosystem on earth, even more so than the rain forest. A few wealthy men saw the potential profit in shrimp farming, bought concessions from the government, fenced off most of the mangroves, hired guards to shoot trespassers, and began to farm shrimp. Then, El Nino destroyed what little was left of the unfenced mangroves. Since the town of Bahia had to rebuild, practically from scratch in 1998, the citizens decided to rebuild as an “eco city.” So far they have extensive recycling programs and promote bicycling to replace driving. They have ambitious plans, but not much money. The government has promised them a grant for a “wetlands sewage system,” which apparently involves using aquatic plants in recycling waste water. What I learned is that Ecopapel is part of much more that an artisans’ group. It is part of a complex of endeavors of a remarkable woman botanist, Nicola Mears, who came from New Zealand thirteen years ago to attend an organic farming conference in Bolivia and look for a “project” in which to involve herself. She came to Bahia, saw a need, and started Ecopapel. She also started and helps run a school. Nicola has also started an eco-tourism agency, staffed totally by Ecuadorians, an organic farm, and a children's environmental education program which currently has 1700 graduates. She is a dedicated, creative, and wonderful woman, and I feel privileged to have met her. I fell in love with the coastal section of Ecuador. It’s sunny, the people are relaxed and friendly, and the beaches are beyond imagination. And in spite of all their troubles, little Bahia is a welcoming town; its people are friendly and warm. It was hard for me to leave.
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