Tuesday, December 8, 2009

July-December 2009 (it's a big one!)

Preface to the MPI Ecuador Update (if you have a Facebook account):

Manna Project is currently a part of a voting competition through Facebook and Chase Community Giving. Chase Bank will be awarding $25,000 to the top 100 non-profit organizations with the most votes on Facebook (if we win, $5,000 will go directly to our programs in Ecuador). MPI is currently in position to win one of the top 100 spots, but with only two days left in the competition, we dont want to lose this position. We need YOUR HELP! Please logon to Facebook and vote for us through the links listed below. Voting ends THIS Friday, December 11th, so be sure to vote soon! Every vote counts!

Here’s what to do:

1) Become a “fan” of Chase Giving here.

2) Vote for MANNA PROJECT here.

Muchisimas gracias! We can’t do it without you!

Let's kick the competition! (Sarah and Bibi duke it out on the trampoline.)

And onto the Ecuador Update...

¡Saludos de Ecuador!

Welcome to our first general update of the 2009-2010 Program Director year! We hope it finds you well and in good post-Thanksgiving/pre-holiday spirits. For those of you who are familiar with the Ecuador updates of the past, things have changed just a bit. Jackie Weidman and I (Sarah Scott), the co-PR people around here, have decided to put an increased focus on our Daily Life Blog in hopes that it will give those who are interested a better and more in-depth look at what’s going on in Ecuador from day-to-day. In light of that, we will be writing fewer general update letters throughout the year, so you’ll only be getting e-mails from us every once in awhile. And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Ecuador updates, welcome! Thank you for your interest in MPI Ecuador. We hope this e-mail will provide you with a broad overview of what we have accomplished since our arrival in July and the outgoing PDs’ departure in early August.

Team Ecuador 2009-2010

Our gratitude goes out to the old PDs, as their hard work allowed us to inherit a beautiful library and teen center, a solid line-up of educational programs, and a positive reputation in Rumiloma, the community in which we work. Since they left, we have worked hard to further develop and expand our educational curriculum, scout out potential new projects, and offer several opportunities through our library – all of which are helping to turn our library space into a more inclusive community center. We have added several sections to previously existing programs, such as Adult and Children’s English, in addition to beginning new programs like Natural Science and Geography. We are continuing to work and strengthen our relationships with a handful of local organizations, including the Aliñambi School and the local co-op, Esperanza y Progreso del Valle (EPV). And we are looking forward to the future, with several exciting projects in the works, including creating a nutrition program for students at Aliñambi, developing a preventive health information center, using our newly certified business class instructors to teach business courses to community members, building a kitchen on the floor above the library and starting a nutritional cooking course. (For more specific details about our programs, please reference the separate sections below.)

Haley and Gisela during Summer Camp

It’s hard to believe how much has happened since July, and it’s equally exciting to think about what we will accomplish in the next eight months. Thank you for your continued support of Manna Project International Ecuador. We could not be here without you. If you would like more anecdotal, day-to-day updates, please visit our Daily Life Blog. And if you would like to see the accompanying photos to this Ecuador Update, please click here. Have a wonderful rest of the year and a very happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Sarah and Jackie (and the rest of Team Ecuador)

Co-Public Relations Chairs

On our first group retreat (during the 7-hour hike...)

Detailed Programmatic Updates:

The nine of us are working on different projects, based on personal interests, to further our mission of using the asset-based model of community development in order to help create sustainable and holistic change in our community. Project areas range from managing the Library/Teen Center to developing programs related to agriculture and environment… with a little bit of everything in between. Below you’ll find more specific rundown of what we’ve been working on since July.

Krysta, Sarah and Lori (MPI Executive Director) goofing around on a hike

Library/Teen Center

Both the library and the teen center, run by Jackie Weidman, Mike Gabrys, and Shawn Fagan, have been flourishing since they opened in March 2009. In August, we helped run summer camp programs for both jovenes (teens) and niños (children), which helped introduce us to the youth in the community and begin the transition from last year’s PDs. Soon thereafter we began classes in addition to reconstructing the library set-up. Some of our new features include:

· A reorganized library space to encourage more reading

· Weekly internet scavenger hunt fichas (worksheets)

· More grant searches to increase funds for educational materials and additional furniture

· An improved electronic check-out system for library books

· Improving hygiene education for the kids by requiring hand-washing and teeth-brushing upon entering the library

The Teen Center continues to thrive by offering several favorite opportunities such as Friday movie nights and teen-organized parties. Additionally, Mike and Shawn have introduced their ideas by reorganizing the space to encourage more personal interaction, turning off the video games for Thursday Game Days, and by stocking the center full of brand new board games.

Bibi reads to kids in the library

Haley, Shawn and Sonia check out the fireworks during 10 de agosto celebrations in Quito

English

Our English classes, which are run in the third floor space above the library, have seen increased and consistent attendance in comparison to years past.

· Adult English, taught twice weekly by Chet Polson, Krysta Peterson, and Haley Booe, is just finishing its second round of classes. They have high standards for their students, as they are taught new vocabulary and grammar each class. The profes work to make class more exciting and applicable by adding different elements such as the song of the day, where students learn new vocabulary by listening to a popular song in English. Chet, Krysta and Haley are looking forward to starting both a beginner and an intermediate course in January, and are hoping to see several returning students advance to the next level.

· The Children’s English class saw an enrollment of over 20 students in mid-September and has since split into two classes, to more effectively teach to the students’ varying levels. Jackie Weidman and Shawn Fagan teach the advanced class (formerly taught by Dana Conway, who returned to the States in late October), while Sarah Scott teaches the beginners. The main goal for Children’s English has been to bring an increased level of consistency to the class, in hopes that students would learn and retain more than in the past. This has been accomplished by providing a more structured syllabus and class schedule, both of which have been phenomenally successful. Attendance has remained high, and we’ve already had several inquiries about when classes will resume in January.

· Jackie and Krysta started a Natural Science class, in conjunction with Children’s English, which takes place every Friday. Students have covered several topics ranging from fossils to volcanoes. The class has become so popular that it will be splitting from Children’s English to become its own program, along with Geography, in January.

Basic Children's English learning the names of different fruits in English

Ivan and Emelia, two Children's English students have a serious chat during Summer Camp

Art

Art class is in its second year of existence, and although none of us are budding artists, we wanted to continue this popular, creativity-evoking class. Chet Polson and Sonia Patel tag-team this class, which is offered twice a week. They have chosen month-long themes to tie together different projects, which range from Animal Month (September) to Shapes Month (October). Different projects have included making mobiles, rain sticks, and expressive collages. Art class allows Rumiloma’s youth an opportunity for a creative outlet, which oftentimes is overlooked in the Ecuadorian education system.

Wendi focuses on her project during art class

Profe Chet gets a make-over by some of his art students

Health

Since roughly half of the current PDs have an interest in health, it’s no surprise that the last 5 months have seen a lot of production in the health realm.

· In August, our joint-run clinic weekend with the Aliñambi school and partner non-profit, Healthechildren, was a huge success thanks in large part to the detailed planning by Krysta Peterson. In only two days doctors were able to see over 130 patients, while only charging $1 per visit.

· The Women’s Exercise Class, run by Haley Booe, has seen a huge jump in attendance since moving the class from Rumiloma’s Casa Barrial to the third floor space above our library. Since the move, Haley’s class has seen an average attendance of about 10 women. Class is offered three times per week, with a different exercise focus for each class including tae-bo, aerobics, and yoga. Additionally, Haley and the Health PDs are looking forward to starting a nutritional cooking class in conjunction with Women’s Exercise. They are currently fundraising to support the construction of a kitchen in the third floor space.

· Our relationship with the Ministry of Health has been strengthened substantially since our arrival in July due to Shawn Fagan’s efforts. Along with the Sangolquí Hospital, she has helped coordinate weekly shadowing sessions between each of the 5 Health PDs and doctors in the surrounding area. Shawn, Krysta and Sonia shadow physicians in the hospital, while Sarah and Haley shadow physicians in the campo (rural area) one morning per week.

· Our goal of opening a preventive health information center is progressing slowly but surely. Sonia Patel and Sarah Scott have worked to create a survey and plan informative focus groups with members of the community to gain a better perspective of what preventive health looks like in Ecuador. This information has allowed them to enter the planning phase, with the hope that the project will get off the ground when they return from winter vacation in January.

· The nutrition programs are also progressing nicely. Thanks to Krysta’s planning and the help of the rest of the PDs, every student at the Aliñambi School has been measured for height and weight, and that information has been plotted on the WHO growth charts. After further research, we plan to develop a nutrition program and start its implementation in conjunction with the school upon our return in January.

Art

Art class is

Krysta and Haley lead a dental charla during the health clinic in August

Haley leads aerobics during a Tuesday Women's Exercise class

Agriculture/Environmental

In September, Jackie Weidman and Erik Swanson began to address solid waste issues in our community by hosting a community clean-up minga (community project) and working with the local government on improving trash pick-up efficiency and discouraging the burning of household trash. We also continued the agricultural charla (talk) series started by last year’s PDs, with the first community speaker talking about raising health chickens. In the future we hope to bring more publicly accessible trash cans to the community and start to tackle the issue of providing clean drinking water in Rumiloma.

Mike and Dana picked up trash and kids during the clean-up minga

Small Business Development/Microfinance

Chet Polson and Erik Swanson have made great strides toward their goals for the microfinance and small business programs. Cooperation has increased greatly with the partner agency Esperanza y Progreso del Valle (EPV) in efforts to find workshops and other training opportunities for the cooperative. We have also been working to get EPV a better rating on an online microfinance community called Mix Market, which allows small co-ops like EPV find more funding from reliable sources. On the small business front, Chet and Erik became certified small business trainers by the Business Innovation and Development Center of the Escuela Politecnica del Ejercito (ESPE). This certification will allow the duo to teach classes to community members and interested future entrepreneurs as well as certify other small business instructors.

Chet is a newly certified business course instructor...

... along with his small business partner-in-crime, Erik

One of many beautiful sunsets, as seen from the roof of our library

Thanks for checking in with MPI Ecuador! Until next time,

Sarah and Jackie

Saturday, June 13, 2009

April-May 2009


For eight ex-pats living in Ecuador, April was the pause, the deep breath, the cool breeze from the mountains. Nestled between three jam-packed weeks of March spring break trips and the onset of May summer sessions, April filled our South American lives with peace and normalcy. Ok fine, as much normalcy as could be expected from life in the Manna Ecuador house.

Programs in April carried on much in the same vein. Serena’s women’s exercise class continued, amazingly, to attract new members each day. Along with organizing all five of the Spring Break trips, Jocelyn managed to teach her advanced English class the lyrics to a new techno song (which we still hear them singing to themselves while reading at the library). Under Seth’s guidance, the kids in the teen center held elections to form their own “Board of Directors” in charge of organizing events and making sure the center runs smoothly, a notable result of which being an increase in Friday Movie Night events. Eliah and Dana hosted another successful agricultural charla (presentation) in the library space, this time focusing on pigs, and Dunc continued to accumulate more books for the library while taking care of it’s day to day functioning along with Mark. My children’s art students studied Diego Rivera and perfected their self portraits, while Seth and I began a new teenage art class in conjunction with the teen center.

We also began a new series on the Daily Life Blog, aptly named “Interview a Program Director”. Each week I sat down with one of the PDs and filmed their responses to questions submitted on the blog. They are definitely worth watching whenever you have a pause in your day!

Also in April: we traveled, we had family dinners on the roof, we read in the hammocks, we got caught in afternoon rainstorms. Life continued on.


(Iori show his excitement for May)

And then came May. If April was the pause, May was the dive. On the 12th we welcomed nine college students into the apartment (or Manna Hostel as it’s now been renamed) for the start of Summer Session One. Between the nine of them they re-organized the entire layout of the library, built a ping-pong table for the teen center, taught an intensive three week English class for 30 students, shadowed at the Ministry of Health (and helped deliver a baby!), taught yoga at women’s exercise, led art classes, organized a health fair, baked some wickedly good desserts, and traveled to some of our favorite spots around Ecuador. We as PDs were really just along for the ride.

With the recent arrival of both Summer Session Two and our fantastic new Country Director Bibi Al-Ebrahim (more to come on that front, clearly) the craziness around here has only intensified. Today we look ahead at our remaining two months in Ecuador with bittersweet excitement and anticipation for the end of the rainy season!

If you're looking for more updates, you can always check out the Daily Life Blog, where posting is a little more consistent and on-schedule.

Sweet summer wishes from a house in the Andes,
Holly and Team Ecuador



(Eliah, Dunc, Holly and Dana on an oceanic cliff on Isla de la Plata, the "poor man's Galapagos")


(Blue Footed Boobies on Isla de la Plata!)


(Our fantastic sign advertising the Library and Teen Center)


(Dennis, Seth and Jonathan play 'traffic' donated by the McCalla family)


(Dunc and Tobin Fulton organize new additions to the library)


(Mark, Selena and Carlitos relax on the bean bags between books)


(The teens organize a BBQ on the roof)


(A good afternoon)


(Dana and Mark laugh at an undoubtedly inappropriate joke)


(Summer Volunteer Perry Dubin and I get ready to march in a parade)


(Which one of these is not like the other?
Trying to blend in during the parade...with little luck)

(Serena answers questions at the health charla)


(Playing Blokus is our favorite library past time- after reading, of COURSE)


(Iori, Prisilla, Jocelyn and Selena discover the joys of the new I Spy: Adventure book)


Friday, April 3, 2009

March 2009

Another month, another missive from Manna Project, Ecuador.

This time, however, instead of attempting to rehash the past month's events in a perhaps too wordy email, I thought we'd try something new. At times, when something really big has happened, written words just cannot do justice to it; this was definitely the case with the library-teen center project of ours. To that end, below you will find a link to a short film I pulled together from footage taken at the grand opening of our new space. Think of this as "monthly update, version 6.0".

We wish you all could have been here to share the day with us; please know that you were in spirit. Also please bear in mind that I am still learning the ins and outs of iMovie; we've all got to start somewhere, right?



After watching that, if you're aching for more video documentation of Manna Ecuador life, head over to the Daily Life Blog and watch the interview with country director Mark Hand, the first in a series. Who knew life with a video camera could be so fun?

Until next month,
Holly and Team Ecuador

Monday, March 9, 2009

January-February 2009

(View from above in Mindo, an Ecuadorian cloud forest)


How wonderful it is to look around and feel proud and at peace, even amidst the tumult of activity that January and February brought for us down in Ecuador.

After returning from our respective December destinations, we jumped into one of our infamous Monday morning marathon meetings, discussing and planning out our next seven months. Jocelyn and Dunc took point on the intermediate English program, picking up where their beginners English had left off in December. With seven students inscribed, the two of them are able to provide detailed and closely monitored attention to each student, which comes in handy when attempting to explain past participles and irregular future verbs.

During the last class of women's exercise in December, Serena had the women fill out an anonymous questionnaire, the overall aim of which was to find out their impressions of the class, whether they were satisfied with the workouts, and what they would change. 100% of the women cited complete satisfaction with the class, writing that the only improvement they could see would be "más!" (more!). Inspired by their positivity, Serena has expanded the women's exercise program considerably, incorporating yoga, aerobics, tae bo, pilates, weights, and tai chi into three days of intensive exercise. The women love and hate it at the same time; the groans of pain on pilates abs days are universal.

Late winter also saw the initiation of two brand new programs for MPIEcuador, children's beginning English led by Dana and children's Art, led by me (Holly). With 15 kids enrolled in each class, Dana and I have our hands full in the most wonderful ways. English meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, and is filled with memory games, team competitions, and more vocabulary than I'm able to keep up with. Class is often held outside, and Dana's enthusiasm is enough to inspire even the coolest middle schoolers into running around in search of the day's vocab words.

Children's art class, a first for most of my students, fills the Casa Barrial every Tuesday and Thursday with piles of crayon shavings, newspaper cut outs, paint splatters and rogue markers hiding out under the bookcases. Thus far we have drawn imaginative responses to Neruda poems, made tissue paper Valentines, and kicked off our painter's study with Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. The shock factor of Van Gogh's famous ear incident fixed the students focus immediately; with studies planned through March for Georgia O'Keefe, Jackson Pollock, Oswaldo Guayasamin, Monet, Andy Warhol and Vermeer, here's hoping I can find something for each artist akin to a chopped ear to draw them in...

(Art students create their own interpretations of Van Gogh's "Starry Night")

The middle of February found Eliah and Dana, our Agricultural Education PDs, joined with 20 Ecuadorians from the community in the first agriculture charla (discussion-instruction) as they learned the best practices of raising cuy, ie. the guinea pig. No irony wass lost on the fact that Eliah, our staunch vegetarian, put the whole thing together.

But wait, there's more! During the last week of January, we received something we've been anticipating for months: the keys to MPIE's very own library/teen center/office space! Mark, Seth and Dunc have attended weekly meetings with the Cooperative to map out our big plans for the first lending library and teen center in the entire Valley and have spent countless hours planning, designing, fund raising and stocking the space. To kick off the grand opening this Saturday, Seth has been putting together a huge concert/ book drive, complete with Ecuadorian celebrities, interviews on local radio stations, and more meetings than I would have thought possible.

(Part of the new library space; stay tuned next month to see what we've done with it!)

And there you have it: our past two months in a slightly too-long email summary. Tune in to the Daily Life Blog for up-to-date information on each PD, the progression of their programs, and a coming-soon weekly video interview with the lucky victims of my choosing...

Sweet Hopes for Spring,
Holly and Team Ecuador


(our advertising attracts people of all ages...maybe he's interested in women's exercise?)


(Mark and Serena show their excitement of having a car for a week! Thanks to NJ, Mark's wonderful aunt and our house-guest for a week)


(Dana and Jocelyn play a game with the kids in Children's English)


(Eliah and Dunc get ready to cross a river in Mindo in a tiny metal cage)


(Seth tends to the meat for Serena and Mark's birthday bbq)


(making friends with a lost baby cow outside our front door)

(the whole crew with Pepita and family at our house for a dinner party)