Source: Galapagos Conservation Trust
February 2007

By Sven Lorenz

Pablo Guerrero had a lot of explaining to do, when telling his wife that he'd accepted a voluntary pay-cut. Given that he was the Hotel Manager of the successful Finch Bay Hotel on Santa Cruz Island, a pay raise would have been what she should have actually expected. Neither had she expected that her plans to move back to the United States were going to be pushed back by almost two years. Their wedding had been due in a couple of months, and both had already set their hearts on a shared life in Texas, rather than on an island a thousand kilometers out in the Pacific.

Surprisingly, Pablo steered Susan his way.

The plans that he wanted to realize on Galapagos, before setting sail for other shores, were just too important.

The 'human problem' on Galapagos

Even the mainstream media increasingly picks up on the issues caused by Galapagos having human inhabitants.

In the past 50 years, Galapagos has experienced a population growth of 5.9% per year. There are about 35,000 people living on the islands, with the majority of them on Santa Cruz Island (25,000) and San Cristobal (6,000). The Ecuadorian government now has measures in place that are aimed at slowing down population growth. Yet for those people that are already on the island, a solution needs to be found to ensure that their lives are as much in harmony with their unique surroundings as is humanly possible.

The majority of the recent population growth came from the lowest level of the socio-economic pyramid, resulting in a large, unskilled population base. Tourism is bringing large sums of money to the islands, but little of it is accessible to such people, usually possessing only few and rudimentary skills. It's no surprise that in Puerto Ayora, the streets are blocked with a glut of taxis. Driving a car is about the only skill that many of the Islanders can offer.

For local restaurateurs and hoteliers, the situation is often frustrating. Conscious of the issue caused by underemployed and unemployed locals, many of them go to great lengths to employ people from the local labor pool. Unfortunately, many of the necessary skills still have to be imported from mainland Ecuador simply because there are no skilled candidates available locally. With each imported worker, the population pressure increases further and the problem of locals feeling they cannot participate in the flood of tourist dollars gets worse. No wonder then, that so many of them, resort to poaching sea cucumbers or hunting shark for their fins.

An opportunity that was at risk of passing by unused

It made Pablo's heart bleed to think of the industrial-size kitchen that the Galapagos Islands had received a while earlier through a soft loan program sponsored by the Government of Spain. The kitchen had been provided to help the Islands set up a vocational school for aspiring chefs, so that young locals were given a chance to acquire the skills necessary for working in the hospitality industry.

The kitchen had arrived with the prerequisite, that it had to be unpacked, installed and used within 2 years of its arrival. Not putting it to any use would have meant that eventually it had to be shipped back.

Here was an opportunity to set up a teaching program - finally - aimed at giving islanders an education that enabled them to take higher-paid jobs in the local industry, while also helping to decrease the need for imported labor.

However, the money necessary to actually set up a teaching program was missing. The clock was ticking and it seemed that just as had happened on too many other occasions in the past, Galapagos would miss an opportunity to create a sustainable economy geared towards keeping the National Park intact for future generations.

The 10-minute fund raising process

In one of these coincidences, that in retrospect seem entirely implausible, a solution for funding the creation of such a school was found - literally between a front door and a car.

Pablo's best friend, hotel manager Vasco von Baselli, had been equally frustrated by the local labor situation. Not only was he passionate about doing whatever he possibly could to help save the Islands, as General Manager of the Royal Palm Hotel in Santa Cruz Island's Highlands, he also had experienced, first-hand, the difficulty of finding properly trained staff for his five star establishment.

When checking-out from a brief stay at his hotel, Vasco happened to be at the reception, just when I was about to leave. A quick chat immediately showed lots of common ground - from having been brought up in Germany, to a desire to help a people that we both found amazingly welcoming and hospitable.

The hotel bus to the airport was already waiting outside, laden with suitcases and a driver reminding us that I was going to miss my plane. Some 10 minutes later, the decision had been made that we were going to have a go at finding funding for finally creating Galapagos' first vocational school. With a chef and a hotel manager already onboard, a fund-raising specialist walking into reception seemed like the only missing link.

We just had to go for it. Pablo's future wife Susan, too, agreed to it. She gave her future husband permission to drop his well-paid position at the Finch Bay Hotel in favor of a 2 year position for creating and running the Culinary Program for local students.

Where the school is at today

Since April 2006, the Colegio Nacional Galapagos Culinary Program that was subsequently created by Pablo and Vasco, is preparing 30 local students for a career in the hospitality industry. The enrollment for the next school year will be approximately 60 students.

The local school in Puerto Ayora, Colegio National Galapagos, provided the space to host the class within the existing high school grounds. The school's head mistress, Maria Lopez, supported the concept from the very first minute. It didn't take much time to select two dozen youngsters who were passionate about improving their chances to making a decent living, while also helping to protect the island.

In daily classes, the students are not just learning how to cook. Folding napkins, safety standards, improving their English language skills, and food culture all count among the 12 different subjects taught in year one. Possibly most importantly, they also learn which local fish can be sustainably caught, and which can't. Not only is the program geared towards making them valuable additions to the local labor pool, but the course is also aimed at getting the message out that the island's resources must not be taken for granted.

The Ecuadorian education system

Education is widely available and easily accessible to Galapagos families of all socio-economic backgrounds. However, the education provided throughout Ecuador tends to be very general in nature and focuses primarily on administrative skills.

The Culinary School picks up where the Ecuadorian state education stops. By including a technical component to their education, high school students will graduate with immediately employable skills. These skills provide them with an opportunity to qualify for employment in the growing Galapagos tourism industry.

The mission of the CNG Culinary Program is as ambitious as it is important. Over time, this program is expected to:

• Reduce both legal and illegal immigration to the Islands
• Reduce the impact of legal and illegal fishing activities in the marine reserve
• Improve the quality of life for legal local residents
• Improve standards for Galapagos tourism operations

Right from the beginning, the programme started to have effects that go well beyond its students. The local press reported on it in-depth and a newspaper in Ecuador's commercial capital, Guayaquil, featured a prominent article. Word is getting out.

Meet the students

Helping the local community of Galapagos to claim a stake in the job of preserving the Islands is a job that requires dealing with one Islander at a time. With mainstream press reporters all too often blaming the Island's population in general, it's worth taking a look at some of the amazing individuals that this unique archipelago has to offer.

Daniel was already the sole provider of his family, when enrolling into the Culinary School. Both his parents having died, it was up to him to look after his siblings. The Culinary School requires him to attend school 40 hours a week, on top of the responsibilities thrown upon him by the early death of his parents. Sensing an opportunity to both double his future income (to about $600/month) and help the islands, Daniel rose to the task in an admirable way - his grades are among the best of the entire school year.

Seventeen year old Yuri was 4 months pregnant, when deciding to aim for one of the sought after spaces in the Culinary Programme. Teenage pregnancies being a prevalent occurrence and another reason for young locals remaining unskilled, here participation became exemplary for what is possible, once someone sets his or her heart onto it. With her pregnancy progressing, she wasn't always able to attend every single class. Yet, with the help of her teachers and the support from other students, she too, is pulling through the program with top grades.

Examples like these go to show, that while often being viewed as a liability for the Island, the locals could just as well be an asset. All that is needed, is some help to launch them into a life, in a way that their own government simply didn't provide them with, i.e. the right skills. The large young population of the island is eager to protect their Islands, if only someone gives them a chance to do so.

Raising funds through selling a very special book

The money for starting the CNG Culinary Programme was raised through selling a special edition of my German-language travel writing and investment book. A limited edition of just 100 copies was hand-bound by Rook's Books, a South-London book binding specialist (www.rooksbooks.com). The sale of these books, as well as my personal contribution, lead to 48,911.33 Euros (appr. $64,000) being donated towards the opening and the operation of the CNG Culinary Program. Almost every one of the 80 readers donated more than the required 300 Euros minimum, with one donation coming in at 10,000 Euros.

None of this would have been possible without the support of the Frankfurt Zoological Society (Frankfurter Zoologische Gesellschaft, ZGF), which since the 1960s has been an active force for change in the Galapagos. ZGF set up a special account into which donations from the mostly German donors were paid. Equally important was the contribution of the Charles Darwin Foundation, which agreed to receive and administer the funds without charging for its services. Special thanks are therefore due to Dr. Antje Muellner and Dr. Christof Schenck of ZGF, and Dr. Graham Watkins of CDF.

The CNG Culinary Program now has enough money to carry its students through to the entire 2-year program, and Pablo is already training the next generation of teachers. Efforts are now underway to find more funding for the program. The ultimate aim is to not only keep the program going after these initial two years, but also to eventually broaden its scope and reach.Check the website for more information

Website: www.educando-en-galapagos.org
Contact: s.lorenz@innomega-ag.de

Contact: comments@galapagos.org