[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Public Works projects--community collaboration in Ecuador

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

The photo above was taken from the village of Cañar, Ecuador, where a friend of mine, Judy Blankenship, and her husband Michael, have been going for six months a year for the past decade. Judy is a photographer and has been documenting Cañari indigenous
 life for many years.  Judy has written two books on the subject: Canar: A Year in the Highlands of Ecuador, and Our House in the Clouds: Building a Second Life in the Andes of Ecuador.


I thought that public works would enjoy seeing a public works project in Cañar: replacing a concrete water pipe with a plastic one.





Judy described the scene thus:


"One of the goings on I came across the other day was a minga, a cooperative work day that is part indigenous tradition, part hacienda custom, I suspect. Everyone in a comuna is called out to work, in this case on an irrigation project. The old way was
 to blow on a conch shell, called a quipo. Now they probably use cell phones. Those who don’t work must pay a fine, or send a laborer for which they pay. I came across this scene the other day near our house – maybe two hundred people digging up old and broken
 concrete irrigation pipes, to be replaced with plastic ones. They live in a village far down the mountain, and no water has reached them during this drought. When I came by later in the day, the pipe was laid and the ditch covered. Irrigation is, and has always been,
 the life’s blood of agriculture, and of rural life. Next week there will be another minga near our house, and we were told we will be expected to colaborar – collaborate, meaning either work or make a contribution. Stay tuned!"


OK, Public Works, maybe we should get our athletes going on a minga. Think of what could be accomplished!
















Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member





1726 Mapleton Ave.








Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
(303) 447-3062
(303) 638-6884