Una en Cada Seis

Background story:

I grew up in a county with a hunger problem. When I was younger, one in seven people were unsure of where their next meal would come from. Since the U.S. economy nosedived, that number has gone up to one in six. One sixth of the population. That´s roughly 5,300 people. 3/5 of whom are children. 3,200 children.

Hungry.

When we moved to the county, our new church was involved in a ministry to aid the local food bank. My parents, being gardeners and generally benevolent people, joined in.
I don´t think I will ever forget the day we went as a family to drop off our bag of cans, to find the sign on the distribution door:

¨No fresh produce today. Cans only.¨

I was too young to really comprehend it, but the idea that everyone coming to get food that day would be turned away without anything green or leafy or grown on a tree broke my mother´s heart. From that day on my parents have devoted our one acre vegetable garden to the fight against hunger. I grew up helping weed, pick, pack, and unpack their efforts. Spending summer mornings sorting old grocery store bread into bins labeled ¨clients¨and ¨pigs¨ hugely impacted my values, even to this day.

Y es por eso, que tengo este historia:

[And for that reason, I have this story:]

I don´t like to throw food away. If someone puts something on my plate, be it ginuea pig or pre-dressed salad, I will eat it.

My host family here in Ecuador has noticed this, and assures me occasionally that if I don´t like something, it won´t insult them if I don´t eat it.

This came up again last night, which resulted in the following conversation:

Papa Cesar: ¨Si no quieres comer algo, no necesitas. No hay problema.¨

[If you don´t want to eat something, you don´t need to. It´s not a problem.]

Me: ¨Yo sé. Pero, para mi es dificil para dejar comida en me plato.¨
[ a terrible attempt at: ¨I know, but for me it´s hard to leave food on my plate.¨]

Papa Cesar: ¨¿Por que? No nos molsete.¨

[Why? It won´t bother us.]

Me: ¨Porque en mi canton hay muchas hambrientos. Una en cada seis no pueden comprar comida, porque no tienen suficiente dinero. Y mi famila trabaja con ellos. Entonces, no puedo dejar de la comida, porque siempre hay alguien que no tiene. ¨

[again, terrible attempt at: Because in my county there are a lot of hungry people. One in six can´t buy food, because they don´t have enough money. My family works with them, so I can´t leave food, because there´s always someone who doesn´t have any.]

And Papa Cesar has been walking around shaking his head muttering ¨Una en cada seis¨ ever since.

To make things even more interesting, I found out this morning that tomorrow´s cultural seminar will be about food sovereignty and the problem of hunger in Ecuador. Needless to say, you will be hearing more about this.