Nestled nearly two miles beneath Mount Pichincha in the Andes near the equator, Quito is the capital of Ecuador. The Spanish settled Quito in 1534 and its official language is Spanish. The heart of the city remains exactly as it was in colonial times, but in the surrounding areas, modern buildings designed by remarkable local architects are everywhere. The Mayor, Concejales and the Prefecto direct city affairs. Exported products of the areas are flowers, tuna, rice, coffee, bananas, cotton, and petroleum. For additional information on Quito and Ecuador, please see the Culture Kit.
Quito became Louisville's second Sister City in 1962. Since its origins, the Louisville Quito committee is notably active in the areas of sharing medical knowledge, municipal cooperation, and humanitarian aid. In addition, the Quito committee remains true to its mission in offering multicultural exchange opportunities, which include educational, cultural, and artistic exchanges.
The committee is supportive of city development projects in Quito. In 2002, the committee worked with the city of Louisville to arrange for the Louisville Fire Department to donate a fire truck, and ambulance, and 50 fire suits to the city of Quito. In exchange, SCL’s Quito partners provided assistance in helping SCL and the City of Louisville educate the Louisville Spanish speaking community on fire-safety measures.
Throughout the 1990s, the committee aided Quito in the areas of public health, sanitation, water purification measure, and poison control. Several Louisville delegates traveled to Quito to give seminars and raise public awareness about the latest research in these fields. Over the years, the committee has provided financial assistance to Quito in several ways. In 1999, it raised money to help clean up ash from the volcanic eruption of Mount Pichincha. Also in 1999, it donated textbooks, computers, medical equipment, and volunteered numerous hours of professional training to its twin city.
In years past Sister City committee members worked with a medical cooperative to arrange an annual medical conference. This conference allowed the Quito committee to offer medical assistance, research, technology, and medical equipment to Quito. Sister Cities’ members in the medical field have provided Quito citizens with medical operations that they could not have afforded or obtained otherwise. In 1999, the Quito committee helped organize the Andean Nation Toxicology conference in Quito in conjunction with the World Health Organization the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health.
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Cultural Educational Exchanges |
The Quito committee often sponsors student exchanges by offering grants to cover living and educational expenses. Several Quite students have benefited from the SCL Music Scholarship and the Monsky-Wolf Scholarship at the University of Louisville. Through the SCL scholarship, the Quito committee sponsored AmeriaManta, and Ecuadorian music group (1990 and 2001), a classical guitarist (1995 and 2000) and a painter (2000). |
