December 2008

As October took its final bow below the Ecuadorian horizon, November stepped into center stage, bringing with it a dizzying frenzy of activity.

Three days after getting my family onto their plane to return to the States, we welcomed the Manna Project Director trifecta: The Director, Lori Scharffenberg, Mark’s counter-part Nicaraguan Country Director, Amira Tahir, and Chris Taylor, our State-Side, Fix-Everything Director. After introducing them to each of our programs, dragging them along on our weekly Sangolqui markets runs, and welcoming them to the wonders of nightly family dinners, they escaped together to Tena for a weekend of caving and bug bites. We were lucky enough to keep Chris for an extra week after a little airport incident called ‘forgetting a passport’, and he joined us for our bi-annual team retreat to Papallacta and one incredible Thanksgiving dinner.

Each of our programs saw a healthy continuation throughout the month of November. We opened a new store at Apoyo Escolar, the currency for which is earned by each book read, good behavior, and the completion of the daily ficha (worksheet). While the kids have yet to fully grasp the concept of saving (“Why save $15 for a set of new colored pencils when I can buy 5 $2 erasers right NOW?!” seems to be the general mentality), Dunc is helping to incentivize the savings process by opening an Apoyo Bank and offering interest. Women’s exercise continues on, having expanded in the middle of November to three classes a week based on demand and providing those of us involved with increasingly hysterical mental images, most involving mid-ab-pose collapses into unstoppable laughing fits. Jocelyn’s English class recently learned the lyrics to “I am the Walrus” as sung by Eliah, and is learning how to structure a complete dialogue.

On Friday we commemorated International Volunteer Day along with our counterparts back home and around the world. Established in 1985 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, December 5th is set aside as a day to celebrate the people and communities connected by global volunteer efforts. The day reminds us of the blessings and challenges that life abroad has thus far offered up and speaks to the promise of what is yet to come. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, please know that your support of our work here not only earns you our sincere gratitude, but also links us together to the bigger chain of global community development efforts.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, don’t forget to drop in from time to time on our Daily Life Blog!

Best to you all in this wintry season,
Holly

(watching the US election with Ecuadorians and ex-pats in downtown Quito)

(The whole crew plus Chris waits for our bus outside the Papallacta hot springs)

(The stage is set at Teatro Sucre for an evening of Andean music...and some strange US oldies)

(The girls, plus Lori, come together up on the roof)

(The boys demonstrate correct form for "Cowboy, Bear, Ninja", a new version of "Rock, Paper, Scissors")

(Dana and Serena take a break along the river hike in Selva Alegre)

(Dunc carves the turkey on Thanksgiving as we all jumble around each other in the kitchen, vying for oven space)

(Festivals of Quito, and a fierce bull fight)

(Jocelyn and I try to blend in at the bull fight)

(Following the red and blue to our first big soccer game. Bitter house alliances have been drawn between Quito and Liga...)

November 2008

Welcome to October in Ecuador, where the green leaves remain on the branches, the only seasonal shift is the full onset of the rainy season, and no one’s ever heard of an orange pumpkin. Despite the unfortunate permanent dampness we’ve all gotten used to (and the lack of any real jack-o-lantern potential), our Ecuadorian October brought us excitement, triumphs, and more than a little halloween spirit in the form of carved gourds and halloween stickers from Mrs. Lancaster.

October also saw the initiation of two new programs for MPI Ecuador: bi-weekly adult English classes and a woman’s exercise...experience. Jocelyn has taken point in the English program (after running a successful 2 week summer course for middle school kids in August), and the class couldn’t be in more capable hands. With meticulously planned lessons, quizzes and games, Jocelyn leads the class with the perfect balance of grammar, conversation, jokes and laughter. It is a testament to her ability to teach (and also to her stellar co-teachers Dunc, Eliah, and Serena) that her students hang around after every class wanting to practice English and asking any number of absolutely random questions: “What’s your favorite season?” “Do you like milk?” “What’s your brother’s middle name?”. No one ever said teaching languages couldn’t be amusing, right?

(Jocelyn and Eliah go over common English introductions in class)

At 7 o’clock as the last of the English students trickle out, the boys head home to cook dinner (and more than likely play Risk). The girls lace up our tennis shoes, plug in the ipod speakers, and get ready for an hour and a half of hilarity: our women’s exercise class. With ages stretching from 6 year old Marjorie (who comes with her mom) to 68 year old Maria Catagnia, to say that the class ranges in ability is a slight understatement. Yet Serena, the brains behind the operation, has created a class which bridges the dramatic age gap and gets everyone’s blood flowing in a healthy and safe way. Each class includes stretching, cardio, and yoga, while every two weeks we take blood pressure, heart rate, and weight measurements of all 24 women in order to track their progress and give them feedback on their lifestyle choices. Seeing as how the women have collectively and repeatedly asked us to expand the class to three times a week, it is easy to see they’re enjoying it. We’ll see if they still want the third class when they find out it’s specifically targeted towards the abdominal region...

(Women's exercise class stretches after a hard workout. Please notice the sweaters.)

If you’ve been keeping up with the Daily Life Blog, you’ll know that October was also filled with trips to Guayaquil, cooking lessons in humita-making, visits from Coloradan families, mountain summits, and Otavalan wanderings. And if you haven’t yet made it to blog, what better time than now to visit! http://openhandsdirtyfeet.blogspot.com.

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, we in the Manna Ecuador house are reminded daily of all the things we have to be grateful for. Please know that your letters, emails, thoughts and support mean so much to each of us. Thank you, thank you, from our corner of the world to yours.

Until December,
Holly

(The Manna girls goof around in Guayaquil)

(Seth, Dana, Mark and Dunc pause on the trek up Pasachoa)

(Mark and Seth make their way back down from the Pasachoa peak)

(Dana, Jocelyn, Serena and Holly wait with Jonathan at the bus stop after Apoyo Escolar)

(Pepita supervises Jocelyn's maneuvering of the choclo grind during our cooking lesson)

(our devious little pumpkin...ok fine, squash)

(the Apoyo crew celebrates finishing their homework!)
(Dunc Fulton and Eliah McCallah get into a tiff while hiking the Quilotoa Loop)

October 2008

(October sunset over the Andes)

Another month, another slightly tardy Ecuador update. I'm nothing if not consistent!

September saw a number of exciting changes for MPIEcuador in terms of programs expansions, project enactments, and our inner-house community. Luckily I have 9 more monthly updates to cover everything, thus each month I will be focusing the Manna lens on one or two projects.

Last year's PDs, drawing from methodologies developed by the World Bank and Northwestern University, conducted community surveys and dialogues aimed at identifying the existing institutions, networks, and individuals which stood as assets in the communities in which we work. As we've analyzed the data from these surveys in the past few months, the number of respondents who identified a desire to start their own small business was a staggering 65%. To this end, Dunc Fulton and Eliah McCalla organized (and participated in) a two week business course for community members at neighboring FEVI University.

Partnered with the local Cooperative and the Center for Innovation and Small Business Development at FEVI, the class taught basic business skills to 14 community members (and two Gringos!), covering topics such as entrepreneurial characteristics, formulation of business ideas, marketing, and the creation of detailed business and financial plans. As a final project, the participants created their own actual business plans, evaluated by leaders of the Cooperativa Esperanza y Progreso del Valle. We all attended the final project presentations, and it was incredibly touching to listen to each participant thank Manna Project and the Cooperative for working side by side to put on the class and for taking seriously their individual dreams of being small business owners.

(The small business class (spot the gringo!), with their diplomas)

We also welcomed our 9th Program Director, Dana Conway, a fellow Coloradan and ski bum, on September 23. As I write this, Dana is still living in Quito and working her way through the many Spanish verb tenses at language school, but will join us in a week down in the Valley. Already adapting wonderfully to Ecuadorian life, Dana has spent the past few weeks exploring Quito, traveling with us all to Cuenca for our yearly PD retreat, participating in our intensive weekly meetings (which somehow always seem to take over two hours), and practicing for her turn as head chef. Having found her niche in the house dynamic somewhere between the personality extremes perfectly represented by cousins Dunc and Jocelyn, we couldn't be more excited to add Dana to our Manna family.

Stay tuned next month for updates on our women's exercise and adult literacy classes, slated to begin in a little over a week. And don't forget to keep up with the Daily Life Blog (found at www.openhandsdirtyfeet.blogspot.com) if you're ever searching for more detailed depictions of Manna life, Ecuador style.

Thank you for your continued support, and happy autumn! Think of us next time you pass an orange pumpkin or crunch over brightly colored leaves!

Holly

(Country Director Mark Hand demonstrating the correct technique for 'bus surfing')

(Jocelyn Lancaster evades capture during a football break from Apoyo Escolar)

(Dunc Fulton takes part in a business strategy game during small business class)

(Serena Zhou and Holly Ward start the long clean up in the community-wide river Minga)

(Seth Harlan, Jocelyn, Dana Conway, Luke Lockwood, and Serena goof around in Cuenca)

(Manna Ecuador boys (Seth, Dunc, Luke and Mark) lounge in the pool)

(Jocelyn, Serena and Holly model their new Panama hats, purchased in Cuenca!)

(the team covers all the ground in Cajas National Park)

September 2008

(Incomparable Ecuadorian sunset-rainbow combination, as seen from our rooftop porch)

Greetings from Ecuador!

When Mark asked me the other day when the Monthly Update for September would be ready to send out, I was in shock. Had it honestly been one month since we sent out the last update? Had time snuck by so quickly down here in Ecuador that I already had to start composing the next(my first!) update? Seeing as how it is now already September 7, the answer is clearly yes.

As I've begun to sort through all that's happened since we last wrote, I'm amazed by the variety and richness of our experiences here so far. We've wandered our way through the markets in Sangolquí and biked through the Andes mountains. We've played pick-up soccer with a jumble of kids from San Francisco and stood with one foot each in both hemispheres. We've learned to identify fresh passion fruit and taught our first classes, immersed ourselves in community development literature and begun to re-mold our preconceived notions on creating change.

(The whole crew on the equator at Mitad del Mundo)

Specifically, the trip to Mitad del Mundo, ("half of the world") encompasses how I've come to view our time down here so far. Straddling the equatorial line put us in the unique position of being a part of two hemispheres simultaneously. Emblematically this stands true as well. Attending some of the top universities in the States allowed us to engage with expert professors in fields ranging from Biological Anthropology to Native American Literature. We benefited greatly from the privileges that come hand in hand with university life; the rich atmosphere of intellectualism, a commitment to communal successes, and a seemingly endless supply of available resources. Now down here in the town of San Francisco, Ecuador, we're encountering a different kind of world, a world struggling to rise above economic uncertainty, insufficient access to health services and lacking educational resources.

As Manna volunteers, we stand figuratively with a foot in each world, able to think and work, to plan and enact with both perspectives in mind. Instead of remaining on one side of the line and
picking out needs on the other, MPIE has been working to redefine our strategy of community development as one that identifies existing communal strengths and uses our abilities and connections to enhance them. We see our role here as three-fold: to empower individuals, strengthen institutions, and build networks. With a stake in each hemisphere, we stand poised to connect and reinforce our numerous worlds.

With finance courses, the expansion of the local health clinic, English classes, women's exercise programs, a community garden/recycling initiative and teenage girls’ art classes in the works, there is plenty to keep updated on. To help our friends, family and donors do so, we're proud to announce the creation of the new "Daily Life" blog, found at http://openhandsdirtyfeet.blogspot.com. With tidbits about life in the house, program updates, random information about MPIE PDs, and a rating of our nightly family dinners, the daily blog is the best way to keep up to date on life at MPIE in real time.

Also, to facilitate the ease with which I send out these monthly updates, we've created an MPIE google group. That way, instead of sending this email out to 500 people in 10 stages (and getting my gmail account shut down from overuse), once you accept the invitation I will be able to send the email one time and reach everyone in our network. Look for the invitation to the google group later tonight, and please accept!

Here's to the next month,
Holly

New PDs Eliah McCalla, Serena Zhou and Holly Ward climbing the Basilica

Art class during our 2 week summer camp at local Aliñambi

New PD Dunc Fulton acting as soccer mom for his Aliñambi students at the Amusement Park

Celebrating like Ecuadorians on 9 de Augosto in downtown Quito

New PDs Jocelyn Lancaster and Serena Zhou playing a memory game with the students in their English Class

Serena giving Marjorie and Wendy (at Apoyo Escolar) their favorite ride of the day

August 2008

Hello and, for those of you who are new to our monthly update, welcome! Starting next month, new Program Director (PD) Holly Ward will be sending out brief monthly updates with stories, pictures, and links to this blog, where we'll be posting even more.

This Sunday marks exactly one year since I (Mark) landed in Quito. I spoke basic Spanish, was unsure if the other volunteers would be able to get visas to meet me in September, and it took me three weeks to locate where I was on Google Maps. I had - at best - fragmented knowledge about community development and nonprofit management, and knew only that my immediate role would be helping with summer camps operated by another local organization.

The other volunteers did in fact arrive in September, and since then our Spanish has improved quite a bit. We still struggle with Ecuador's kafkaesque visa system, however, and - to Craig's consternation - I still get lost in Sangolquí, the valley's biggest city. But our understanding of community development and management have grown in bounds, and we have begun more sharply to define MPI's role in the neighborhoods where we work. That is entirely due to the tireless, selfless work of this year's PDs - Annie, Abbie, Hilary, Seth, Luke, John, Craig and Zak. I can not imagine a stronger founding team, and they have set a high bar for subsequent volunteers.

One year later, the stage is set for MPIE's next generation of PDs, who are moving in to their rooms in the Manna house this evening. After three weeks of training and language school in Quito, they're itching to get to work. They'd better be - they've got their work cut out for them!

Atentamente,

Mark Hand
Ecuador Country Director
Manna Project International

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Donate: As always, we're grateful for your support. To donate online, please visit here - or see our online wishlist.

July UPDATE 2008

It’s summertime in Ecuador. Kids are finishing up school for summer vacation, days are becoming a little less rainy and MPI is in full gear. We are currently hosting our second group of month-long summer volunteers, who are doing fantastic jobs running various programs:

1. Summer day camp. Now that school is over for summer, our volunteers have started a two-week summer day camp for kids in San Francisco. Incorporating arts, science and sports, kids spend days doing activities that range from making baking soda volcanoes to cooking class, to playing fun games outside.

2. Intensive English course. MPI summer volunteers are in charge of planning and teaching a month-long, intensive English class for children in the sixth and seventh grades in a given community. The class, consisting of about 20 students, meets for three hours every day and is a great extracurricular opportunity for children to advance their English skills. Two weeks ago we finished the first English course in San Juan with great success and are now teaching class in Conocoto, about two blocks from where we live.

3. Surveys and Data Entry. This week we finish conducting the Community Asset Surveys that we’ve been working on for months. Summer volunteers have not only been helping conduct the surveys, they’ve also worked incredibly hard putting together a data base and entering surveys into the software to be analyzed this month.

4. Maternal-child health research in the community. Carmen Wolfe, first year Vanderbilt medical student, is conducting maternal-child health research in San Francisco for the Aliñambi clinic.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying my last seven days in Ecuador before I return to Denver to start medical school at the University of Colorado. The goodbye will be incredibly bittersweet, as I know I will miss so many things about this beautiful country. I have seven more days to wake up to the snow-covered tip of Cotopaxi standing proudly outside our window; seven more days to enjoy the freshly baked bread from the local panaderías; seven more days with the kids we work with in San Francisco and seven more days to cherish time with my roommates/ co-workers/ friends who have also become my family during the past 11 months.
Thanks to everyone who has supported and encouraged me throughout the year. It’s been amazing!

Hasta pronto,

Abbie


Also, we’re in need of community development books! Please check out our Manna Project Ecuador Wishlist if you’re interested in donating.



Registering for English Class.


Kids in English Class in San Juan.


Painting and cleaning the community house in San Juan.


Art project in San Francisco.


Diana surveying in Rumiloma.


Kayla and Kristen, summer volunteers, at Apoyo Escolar in San Francisco.


Annie and Seth with their paper plate awards from the first group of summer volunteers.

June 2008 UPDATE

Dear friends and family,

For almost ten days now Mark, Craig and I have been conducting community assets surveys with the help of ten seventh graders from Aliñambi school, a school/clinic/ home-for-children-in-difficult-family-situations. We've also partnered with HealtheClinic, a US-based health non-profit. So far we’ve completed 190 surveys, and have hopes of interviewing over 1,000 households before the end of the summer- a number that is both daunting and exciting. We’re happy finally to be conducting interviews with the seventh graders. Getting to this point has taken months of planning, including a 2-week capacitación, or training session, for the kids on how to survey a household in a professional and mature manner.

The idea of the survey is four-fold: 1) to collect information about existing assets and services in the community, 2) to better understand the social/ cultural make-up of the community, 3) to learn about individual skills and talents of people in the community, and 4) to teach the Aliñambi students self-respect, the value of completing a task, and a little bit of self-confidence. Ultimately, our goal is to be able to strengthen the assets that already exist (local clinics, businesses, etc.) by connecting individuals with each other and with local institutions.

We continue to build friendships with the seventh graders conducting the surveys, whose story in itself is inspiring: 7 of the 10 students live at Aliñambi and have most of their lives. Ana, Jazmín and Diana are on my team, and it has been a joy to get to know them. Just the other day, after 2 hours of doing door to door interviews, they mustered up the courage to ask me, in between giggles, “Tía Abbie, (they call all teachers and authority figures at the school tío or tía, uncle or aunt), have you ever had a boyfriend?” Their endearing, adolescent comment made me smile, especially since they looked so professional in their uniforms and interviewing identification cards.

For Mark, Craig and me, these asset surveys pretty much take up our lives in Ecuador- if we’re not conducting surveys, we’re discussing the surveys with Aliñambi’s Dr. Julia, examining maps of the community to figure out our next step, checking for mistakes in already completed surveys, figuring out software for data entry, writing about the surveys in the MPI monthly update… you get the idea.

We are committed to working as hard as we can to ensure useful, comprehensive survey results that will greatly benefit the community we work in, and are asking for your financial help.
Attached is the formal survey proposal, if you are interested in viewing it. If you’d like to donate, please email me back and I’ll send you the details.

Sending our best from Ecuador and thank you!

Abbie

p.s. click here for pictures, videos and past updates.


Jazmin and Ana waiting at the door to conduct a survey.


Ana and Diana interviewing


Diana interviewing a family. See the rainbow on the right?