Famous person from La Chimba dies

During my training, I lived in the village of La Chimba, near Cayambe. La Chimba is a village of dairy farmers, with a large indigenous population. It´s a very tranquil town, where the residents live their lives and shy away from the public spotlight. Everybody in the village knows each other. In the United States, I live in a village that calls itself "the town that time forgot." I guess La Chimba would be an Ecuadorian version of that.

The most noteworthy thing about La Chimba is that it was the hometown of one of Ecuador's most famous Indian rights activists, Transit Amaguaña. She died this week at the age of 99, although she claimed to be older than that (she just didn't have a birth certificate to back it up). I never met her. She lived on the other side of town and I wanted to respect her privacy.

She was famous for promoting agricultural unions and cooperatives among the indigenous population and founding the Ecuadorian Federation of Indians. She started bilingual schools that taught kichwa and Spanish.

She was also considered one of the most respected Ecuadorians. It´s a big loss for Ecuador, but she did great things and contributed to the conservation (and respect) for the native populations.

As a proud former resident of La Chimba, I was bit offended when the news organizations said she lived in the neighboring town of Pesillo.