Lon-term love is possible and sustainable

Ayabaca is a lovely place to me because has been the destination of my mid-year vacations. My mother’s parents, as many Ayabaca-natives know, lived at the right entrance, where Piura and Arequipa Streets begin at the same time, just in front of so-called White-Trunk Cross, on a promontory from where you could look at the three emblematic mountains of the Ayawaka people, especially Aypate, toward the Sun rises.

So my earliest memories start in that my grandparents’ big house, now remodeled as a restaurant and  home (after my grandparents passed away, my family sold out the estate), those continue downhill passing beside the cemetery, the long flat sometime called Maracaná, until following down the road to Suyupampa, finding some of those doors, going down through a path to a place called Rosales, where one of the Castillo Family’s acres where located.

To satisfy the curiosity of the one reading or listening to this op-ed, the other acres where located on the path to Montero, just at the site known as The Devil’s Nose, the most complicated place to advance for who pilgrim to the Captive Lord Festival every October.

Then, even when it doesn’t seem, Ayabaca is an issue I’m concerned about by a double reason: first, by my interest as a journalist, second, because of that emotional connection. That’s why when the Ayawaka Cultural Association invited me to join a debate about development chances for the zone, it was impossible to say not. But what development does Ayabaca need?

First step – Think of multi

A couple of months ago, the local people, or a portion of it, demonstrated against a mining project that is being announced 15 years ago, and what, anyway, because an opposition in Ayabaca and Huancabamba Provinces as well, it’s not possible to start. I was wondered about that protest because its advocates insisted of its local development model was based on the agriculture and the tourism. Great, we already evolved!, I said, because monocathegorizing a development model is the same than considering a person as monotalented for the lifetime, and the truth is that’s not true. The persons, if they want, can be multitalented.

The same happens to the development model at any territory. It should be multicathegorized, and the reason why is such simple as the development is built by the people, not the schemes. If you take the person out the scheme, the scheme borns dead.

The agricultural development model for Ayabaca, priorly, has no discussion, and who doesn’t convince, walk just a mile away the city and get without doubts. And the agriculture comes together with the cattle, if not, it becomes unsustainable. And inside the agriculture itself, the idea would be to have a whole stock catalogue this land could grow for good. The question is – which ones?

Second step – Love the numbers

And the interesting thing comes here. Many people defend development models based on slogans, the priorly, but when you ask someone to sustain it in a real way, the problems begin. First lesson: the priorly could motivate me but is not enough to me because in most times, it comes from an anticipated judge, and that’s a big mistake.

The real way to sustain that your development model is the model is based on diagnosis made with field information as well as statistics. Yes, I know that the numbers have nothing romantic, but the numbers help us not to put the chariot before the horse… although almost nobody uses horses.

I remember that after that demonstration, I wrote an op-ed on El Regional de Piura where I left a homework for Ayabaca people, and for everybody who reads me in general, that we start with a key index saying us how much sustainable we are in terms of economy, the gross domestic product. It seems an interesting basis to me to know what the GDP that Ayabaca has got because its agricultural-cattle activity, for instance. Does somebody know it? As I said then, the information is available on the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, even by clicking. So now, what is it? Just as a clue, the Peruvian agricultural GDP is more than 7%, the double of the Peruvian general GDP projected for 2019 in 3.6%.

OK, if we can’t unfold at that level, at least what the Ayabaca Province’s or the District’s GDP is. Of course, the GDP is not the only index, but it is indeed fundamental, what must complement to  others as the existent land surface, the land proportion dedicated to cropping, cattle, forest conservation. In the end, numbers, numbers, numbers, and you’ve got my number.

If you want to pitch your development model to who you want to convince or debunk, I should stand up strongly on those indexes, and honest indexes, not supposed, not guessed, not made-up. It’s going to cost us to work but the true loves are not easy. I’m sure about that.

Third step – Turn-on the fan for refreshing the air

And not only with the agricultural-cattle sector. The same, priorly, I believe that the tourism in Ayabaca has an amazing potential, but it’s priorly, and we already established that holding to the priorly is a huge mistake. If we think of Ayabaca being Aypate, we fall into a dangerous reductionism, very similar to the people have about Talara when they believe that everything is Máncora, or when they believe that Piura is only beaches. And here I pay the attention about why we don’t end to convince everybody that Piura is touristically multicathegorized around and across.

Let’s return to Ayabaca. Reducing the all beautiful to Aypate already means a problem to me as a journalist and more as a tourist, because after Aypate, what? I know as a journalist that there is also Samanga, that I’m personally much interested on, or Huamba, or Cujaca, or Yanchalá, or El Toldo, or Olleros, or Yanta, or Culucán, or very near the city, in Socchabamba, or still pretty near the city in Yacupampa, where that beautiful combo is, composed by the Yantuma, the Chacas, and the Cuyas-Cuchayo clod forest. And I learned around of some waterfalls those somebody wants to launch. Excellent!

And even the Ayabaca City itself is able for beautiful urban circuits those you, at the most, haven’t realize like one that my producers and I were invented, beginning at the Main Square, going through all the balconies of Arequipa Street, reaching my granparents’ former house, resting for a while in the White Trunk Cross, and going down along the Piura Street until arriving to the Main Square again. And there is another through the path to Pampa de Lobo. And look - I don’t live in Ayabaca.

Until there, the existent offer. Now, what services do we have to offer to the tourist considering just two basic aspects like assistance quality and essential services: safe water, adequate management of spaces & supplies, safety. We have to quantify all that. Of course, the romantic ones will say me “the troublemaker is already here”, but if you already convinced that the priorly is not enough, you are ready for upgrading the next level. Once we quantify all, we have to specify which ones apply for minimum quality standards those motivate the tourist to come once, twice, and everytime, and bring more people. Right then, we’ll have a sustainable model!

Fourth step – Project to the world

Once we have all this well fixed, we can put that other component right, that’s my best professional talent – how we release it to the planet. Not your next-door fella, not the Ayabaca-natives living abroad, but the whole planet, where you truly contest, and where even you have to speak in codes we haven’t grown.

And, sure, how to feature all this with a text, picture, sound, hook production of marketing that makes irresistible going to Ayabaca, but once you be in Ayabaca, prove it’s better than they told it to you. And here is when the romance just borns strong and everlasting.

Fifth step – Real goals

In this sense, Ayabaca can place as a brand, the Ayabaca Brand. I know many people have thought on that, but if you pretent to get it by skipping from A to Z not passing along the whole alphabet, you’re going to give up. And the successful way to go along starts from knowing wwhat we have, knowing how it is, knowing what we can improve, knowing how we’re going to feature, knowing how we’re going to react before the response, and knowing how we’re gonna to evolve upon the first results.

In other words, people, strategic planning, because it’s not worthy to me that something is beautiful if I don’t have a whole network behind pointing me out goals, activities, resources, persons, results those allow me to measure if I am advancing through the right way or I am falling down. Yes, something like going madly the Yantuma uphill from Yacupampa, and getting unsteady and releasing you had no liferope once you reach the summit.

Sixth step – Be proactive

So now, I know very well that many people will say this is the authorities job, and notify us when you have it already to see how I take advantage. I’m sorry but I have to inform that in the Peruvian context, that is the simple and fast way to give up.

I understand that the ideal is in the social construction of every community, our leaderships open the way, or at least they say us where it goes, but the reality has proven that our leaderships have shown to be incompetent, selfish, and even corrupt. Then, what do we do? Unmotivate? No, that’s not the choince.

If the formal leaderships are not as high as the challenge that demans to launch a brand like Ayabaca, don’t cry, don’t regret. Let’s bet for our own initiative capability, and in that aspect I consider that the private initiative, even being incipient anywhere, can be the same or the better good than the public initiative. And I’m not talking about corporations. Peru has proven it moves 70% of its economy because the little companies, as well as the many independent entrepreneurs (including me). So, if it rains limes, make a lemonade. I mean, if your productive system is mostly the littlest or the independent, build your social network from there and manage the development model from there.

Yes, the authority is going to feel lost but I think there’s no most punishment for any leader when sees not to have a place in the picture. And that’s what the world demands! If you see the international reality, the governments are not those moving the processes but the people like you or me who do it. It happens exactly to a community like Ayabaca!

Then, when that attitude changes, and moves the things into a most proactive direction, believe me that the human asset will be an irresistible added value for that natural, archaeological, commercial, agricultural, cattle, touristic assets, whatever you decide for Ayabaca, looking for including everybody who wants to work on and get it. In other words, when a community becomes competitive, when it transcends from the priorly to the factually, it’s when it really improves the things, and when the things improve, it’s when we have a good story to tell, and when there is a good story to tell the world, well, it’s when you count on me.

Pleased again for the trust, and how good that the Ayabaca people are looking for solutions everywhere. If you keep that way, I guarantee you have a good portion of the success for sure. And if somebody wants not to join, you know?, don’t lose your time by criticizing. Get focused on the good that you’re getting because you’re going to get so far that way.