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The Small Town of El-Tingo
Blog #1, April 14,
2009
The Town Council
This is our home town where we have lived
for the past 22 years. Back in 1994 we promoted the renewal
of the local Town Council which functioned for the first six
years, but then degenerated into a group that claimed
authority, but did nothing for the town. This group wanted
to remain in power forever, and the town didn't know how to
go about renewing the board of Directors.
We went to the government offices that
regulate such organizations, and asked for a certified copy
of the names of the Board of Director of the Town Council in
El-Tingo. To our surprise the Board of Directors had expired
in 2000! That news, plus the certified copy from government,
caused the town to meet in a General Assembly, and elect a
new Board of Directors.
But the old Board wasn't about to give up
their privileges! They went to the government offices and
registered themselves, before the second group did. And so
the problems began to grow.
It's not until an organization like this
has problems that the government starts checking up on
previous legal procedures. As it turns out, no one had ever
registered new members of this Town Council since 1994.
Therefore, neither of the two groups could be members of the
Board. This required that the original members of the Town
Council take the matter into their hands. And lo and behold,
Faby and I are two of the original (and only) nineteen
members of the Town Council!
So we had to round up at least a majority
of the original members, and formally revoke the Board of
Directors that had been registered in the government
offices. Now we are in the process of receiving new members
so that we can elect a new Board of Directors.
Cultural Conflicts
In reality, a Town Council does not exist
in El-Tingo, but the folks in El-Tingo think otherwise. What
is called the "Town Council" is really a group of persons
who seek improvements for the town. It is not a governmental
organization that represents the town, but this is what the
town wants and assumes is reality. In fact, they held town
elections in February, with 539 people voting, as if the
elections were approved by local authorities. But the
government says that the "Town Council" is merely a private
organization that consists only of those who desire to be
members.
Two world have clashed, and don't
understand each other. The dominating government authorities
make the laws, but the small, indigenous towns have a
traditional way of doing things. As missionaries, we find
ourselves between the two worlds, trying to help each
understand the other.
Legal Conflicts
At the moment I write this blog, I can
name five legal suits pending here in El-Tingo, and a
certain lawyer is promoting all five of them. This Saturday
the town is holding a dance in order to raise funds to cover
the legal fees of three individuals who now have to defend
themselves. Two of the lawsuits involve caretakers who live,
one in the health center, and the other in the kindergarten,
and are suing the institutions for salary issues. They
wouldn't be doing this if the lawyer wasn't giving them
advice. The first just lost her case, but still won't leave
the health center. This jeopardizes the community services
of the health center. Since we were the ones who got the
health center built ten years ago, we have some pull getting
this case solved.
We have been involved in several legal
problems in our years of ministry here in Ecuador. It's a
pain, and requires time and money. As a result we actually
put up our house in El-Tingo for sale, and had planned to
move to Quito. But the house never sold, and God brought us
back to this town. Now, all those legal problems we had
serve for us to help others! (2 Corinthians 1:4) We have had
several people come to us with their legal problems. We send
them to lawyers, but we can give them initial advice on what
to do (and what not to do).
Ministry
Is this ministry? It's definitely not the
usual ministry a missionary is involved in, but we believe
this is part of living and ministering in a community. We
are now part of this small town, part of the local
community, and a part of its problems and solutions.
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