Just like our assortment of costumes on Halloween, the responsibilities we’ve shared during October in Ecuador have been varied and wide-ranging. Not only did we start leading classes in San Francisco (currently we run an after school program for children ranging from 3 years- 12 years), we also began teaching English to adults in Quito. By morning we prepare classes and attend meetings with UBECI. By afternoon we teach kids and lead programs. At night we can be found cooking, typing monthly updates on our laptops, hanging out on the roof, playing “Quarenta” (an Ecuadorian card game), and working on spring break volunteer schedules and logistics. We make attendance posters and incentive programs for our classes, and interact one-on-one with kids as tutors while they work on their homework. Mark finished building lots of shelves for the house. John, Craig and Seth summited Iliniza Norte, an 17,000 ft. mountain in Ecuador. Also, we managed to place 5th out of 36 teams in a rafting competition held in the Napo River (in the Amazon) last weekend.
Our programs, currently the heart and soul of our time here, are getting better and better with each day. We’ve become fast friends with our students, learning their various strengths and weaknesses. For example, Andrea, the six-year-old spitfire of the younger group, is an excellent writer but struggles with reading comprehension. She is quite a talented artist, loves the color “celeste” (light blue) and is about as spunky and determined as a little a six-year-old can be. Also, she really likes dogs.
Along with a growing understanding of our students comes a greater appreciation for the needs we aim to address during our time here. In order to address those needs effectively, we need resources, which is why we came up with the 2007 Manna Project Ecuador Wish List:
1. Educational books in Spanish (To name a few: Viaje Por El País del Sol- $6, Interactive ESL, K-5 English/Spanish- $30, Easy & Interactive ESL Activities and Mini-Books for Every Classroom- $11, Matematicas Para Niños -$30)
2. Projector -$1,000
3. Pipe cleaners - $5
4. Felt- $5
5. Tempura paint- $8
6. Puzzles for young kids -$10
7. Stickers -$10
8. 15 passenger van- $23,000
9. Construction paper -$10
10. Glue- $3
11. Poster board- $20
12. Spanish Children’s Dictionaries -$40
13. Pens, pencils -$5
14. Children´s story books in Spanish -$2 each one (there are 20 that we´d like)
If you’d like to donate for any of these materials, please send me an email or go to http://www.mannaproject.org/DonateNow.asp and designate your donation to ´MPI Ecuador.¨
Also, THANK YOU to everyone who donated school supplies at the MPI Benefit Dinner in Denver in July. Those markers, crayons, rulers, bottles of glue, pencils, packets of construction paper, etc. are what we are using right now in our programs- we couldn’t have started so strongly without you!
(For more pictures and stories, go to www.mpiecuador.blogspot.com and click on the links to our personal blogs- they’re on the right side of the page).
Gracias otra vez y hasta pronto!
Abbie
The group on opening day of classes. Since then, we´ve gone from 20 kids to over 30 in our programs.
Andrea, the 6-year-old spitfire of the group.
Me reading to the little ones with one of our two children´s books (it´s their favorite, El Lobo y Los Siete Cabritos).
Craig in front of some alpacas in Quilotoa (with alpacas on his sweater!).
Introducing ourselves at the opening ceremony for our programs on October 15th.
Annie and Melani working on an art project.
John on Iliniza mountain.
Seth and Craig in front of the class putting on a skit about respect- part of the ¨values¨program.
Andrea, me and Marjorie at programs.
Craig and Seth on top of Iliniza Norte- 17,000 ft high.
The boys teaching the older kids.
Rafting at the 2007 Competition in Chaco, Ecuador (Mark is on the front right hand side, Hilary is in the middle on the left side).
The group rafting in Chaco.
Team Ramrod at the rafting competition.
