(courtesy of Tom Kumpf)
It was one of those gorgeous Ecuadorian days. The sky was a deep, rich blue and the sun shone high, illuminating the majestic green mountains surrounding us. Everyone was loving the weather- even the stray dogs sprawled out on the dirt roads leading to our schoolhouse were sunbathing. Unfortunately, the last thing any kid wants to do when it’s so beautiful outside is sit in a classroom and work on homework, which created a difficult situation for us MPIers trying to lead an after-school program. It was as if the nicer the weather got, the crazier our kids became.
The scenario was especially interesting for Annie, who is in charge of teaching our 4-6 year olds how to write and recognize letters. Jumping and laughing and screaming and wanting to run around outside in the sunshine, the little ones’ energy and urge to play was almost impossible to contain. So, in an act of pure teaching genius, Annie rounded up the kids, along with some sidewalk chalk and flash cards she’d made with the various letters of the alphabet, and headed outside to the playground. The next thing I knew, the kids (still full of energy) were busy drawing letters on the concrete basketball court- a remarkable task considering they didn’t know what the letter “A” was about 3 months ago.
In addition to forging ahead with our after-school educational programs, this past month has seen some exciting developments in our microfinance efforts.
From MPI Microfinance Program Director, Zak Schwarzman, “At the request of the local savings and loan cooperative, we are trying to find them technical assistance to professionalize their microfinance operation and additional funding to expand this operation. Toward these ends we have succeeded in registering them as a member of The MIX Market, and international organization which provides microfinance institutions with a venue to connect with foundations and other institutions with financial and other relevant resources (you can view the cooperative's profile here). Through this connection we have also facilitated the cooperative's membership in Red Financial Rural. RFR is the largest Ecuadorian association of microfinance institutions and performs many of the same functions as those described above however as a strictly Ecuadorian network they operate with greater local knowledge than their international counterpart. Through these and other efforts the cooperativa is engaging in two separate benchmarking exercises to identify its strengths and deficiencies in relation to the industry as a whole. We are energetically pursuing these new relationships and are excited about the results these efforts will yield for the cooperative and our community as a whole.”
Other updates:
- We moved into a new program space and love it! See attached pictures.
- We’ve begun a large Community Assets Assessment, anticipating to interview over 1,000 families in the areas where we work
- Manna Project was featured in the Vanderbilt View, Vanderbilt University’s monthly alumni and faculty periodical. To see the article, click here.
- Our updated wish list can be found here.
- For more pictures, please visit our monthly updates website
Sending our best from Ecuador,
Abbie
Our new program space, the Casa Barrial.
Seth in the Casa Barrial.
Little kids' section.
Recycling Center.
Art project decorating the walls of our new program space.
Reading Corner- in need of more books!
Annie, Luke and I at Monañita beach.
Mark and Craig surfing in Monañita.
Truck full of medical supplies donated to Aliñambi Clinic by medical students from Iowa.
