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Similarly, Ecuador encompasses large disparities in the distribution of wealth. Over 40% of the national income goes to the richest 5% of the population. Approximately 12% of the people live in absolute poverty. With escalating unemployment and population, Ecuador is one of the poorest countries in the world.

Yet Ecuador contains a great diversity of cultures and people. Mestizos, of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, make up over half the population, although economic and political power is concentrated among the minority whites, who claim Spanish or European descent. Inhabiting the Andean villages are the Indians, another minority, speaking Quechua or other indigenous, non-Spanish languages and maintaining traditional customs. Ecuador's blacks are concentrated on the northern coastal plain.

Recent trends show a population shift from the highlands to the coastal plains, a shift of rural to urban. Many Ecuadorans leave their villages with promises of jobs and a better standard of living only to end up cramped into overcrowded shantytowns.

One of these ghettos, called "El Suburbio," located just outside the chief seaport of Guayaquil, is home to more than half a million people. Here, problems associated with poverty are compounded by lack of space, of resources, of traditional culture, and of community support.

Most severely affected are the children, the most vulnerable of the population. For the children of Ecuador, malnutrition, hunger, and disease are a way of life, given the inadequate housing and scant food and sanitation. The primary cause of childhood death is dehydration due to diarrhea, typically the result of drinking water polluted by human and animal waste. Such communicable diseases as measles, mumps, and tetanus, rarely seen in the developed countries, are major causes of mortality here. Half of the children die before their fifth birthdays.

In contrast to the despair of the ghetto, children living in the highlands of the Andes Mountains experience a life rich in culture and tradition. These children live in close knit families, many generations living together, as they have lived for centuries, within the same roofs in the same villages. Food is cultivated on the land and, while plentiful, is not always well balanced. Poor nutrition contributes to the Andean people's markedly short stature, a natural adaptation to the extremely high altitude and low oxygen content.

The children, dressing in traditional clothing, hand made from the family sheep and llamas, are a vital and treasured part of Andean culture. And they are incorporated in all areas of work, recreation, and traditional activities. Families handcraft a variety of goods including sweaters, rugs, wall hangings, silver jewelry, and wood carvings, traveling as dawn breaks with these, as well as with produce and small livestock, to such marketplaces as that in Otavalo each Saturday.

In spite of the differences in richness of culture between the children of the Andes and the children of the coastal plains, most of the children of Ecuador live in poverty. Although there are pockets of poverty in the developed world, the magnitude and depth of suffering is far greater here. This portfolio, we hope, will increase awareness of the plight of others and enhance our humanitarian commitment to the children -- the future.
 

[On the Portfolio Opening Page] A young Indian girl rests on a doorstep after a long day at the market in Otavalo, north of the capital, Quito.
 

	Children line up with buckets at one of the few working water pipes in the ghetto. With no public sanitary system, primitive latrines empty directly into the earth, contaminating the limited water supply with bacteria, parasites, and amoebas. As a direct consequence of the lack of clean water and sanitation, dehydration from diarrhea is the primary cause of death in the underdeveloped world.
	Three generations guard the stock of Pepsi they sell at their doorstep. Although the glass bottles are an initial expense, the soda is cheap in comparison with clean water or milk. The empty bottles are so valued that they are commonly fought over or stolen. Because the soda costs so little and is readily available, it serves as a substitute for milk among barrio children, with a sad consequence in rickets from a lack of calcium as well as in dental caries.
	Two children living in the slum city of "El Suburbio" suck on slices of mango. Unkempt and poorly clothed, the suffer with head lice and scabies. The limited water supply makes cleanliness a privilege that many such children will never know.
	A native Indian mother and child sell fruits and vegetables at the open market in "El Suburbio." Although the mother's playful nature is evidenced by the banana sticker she has placed on her child's forehead, her eyes speak of her despair migrating from the rural countryside in search of a better way of life only to find more hardship and danger in an overcrowded ghetto.
	Short stature is a natural adaptation to the low oxygen content of the Andean altitudes, poor nutrition being a contributing factor. The girl on the left said she was eleven, although she was the size of a five year old.
	An Indian mother and daughter wash their laundry in the cool, clear water of Lake Pablo, beneath the volcano Imbabura (15,270 ft.) near the village of Otavalo.
	Perched high above the muddy swampland, a toddler gazes out at the foreign visitors from her bamboo hut on "Devil's Island," whose few inhabitants number escaped criminals, outcasts, and the poorest of the poor. On this oppressively hot and humid day, the child is dressed in only a tattered sweater.
	The public works sign reads, "Elsa works for Quayaquil." During her campaign, Elsa, mayor of Quayaquil, exposed her bosom to the media, vowing, "I will feed the children of Quayaquil if I have to feed them with my own breasts." With elections occurring frequently, such promises made only to be forgotten. The children still live in a shantytown and play in raw sewage. The children who fall from the unprotected doorways or unstable walkways and do not drown often die from infection. As one volunteer translator explained, "Life here is cheap."

Barbara Poremba, Associate Professor of Nursing at Salem State College, received her M.S. in Nursing from Boston University, her M.P.H. from Harvard, and her Ed.D in multicultural public health education and media from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

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