OSCUS - Food aid event for a village hit by volcano ash raid to nearby village

An old indian lady from the village after receiving a sack of food

As I’ve mentioned before, what separates OSCUS from most other banks is it’s social responsibility and the fact that all it’s profit goes back to the members of the cooperative. One of the ways in which this responsibility is expressed is by helping out local villages that’ve been struck by natural disasters. One of my first pictures from Ambato on this blog showed the volcano, Tungurahua in the midst of eruption. I wrote that we we’re lucky because the wind carried the ashes away from where we are staying. Pillate, a village east of Ambato wasn’t as lucky - it got drowned in the ashes the volcano threw up. Among other things, this is apparently devastating for crops which suffers an immediate death. For an already poor mountain village that is dependent on farming this is a huge economic and social backlash, and that’s why OSCUS decided to do a “charity raid” to this village.

Armed with two truckloads of food sacks with basic stuff such as rise, beans, lenses, corn, tuna etc. and balloons and toys for the children we headed for the village. When we arrived the villagers was all about sweeping ashes from the street into big piles, but they soon let go of their brooms and gathered in the town center (a concrete playground). OSCUS had made it quite an event and organized games for both the adults and children of the village, invited the local orchestra to play, the local beauty queen and the far away guests from Sweden - big stuff! The villagers seemed really excited and glad - one could tell that these people wasn’t spoiled with visits from the city, especially not from one of the bigger banks. After the some playing around and dancing, the villagers was given their sacks with food in exchange for a signature - those who couldn’t write had to sign with their fingerprint.

It was an interesting and rewarding experience, especially when one of the town elders came up to Oscar and me before we left and told us that he would never forget this day.

The masks wasn't really necessary, but it made good publicity...

Probably a third of the village population gathered around for a picture before we left.

Two of the girls from marketing who organized the event along with me and Oscar.
If it wasn't for the clouds in the background one could see Tungurahua, the perpetrating volcano.

The rest of the pictures from Pillate can be seen here