Ecuador February 2008
Dear family and friends,
We have been in Ecuador for 6 months and it continues to amaze me with what we learn. What has surprised me the most recently is the lack of education the students are receiving. The hours of class are only 4 hours daily and much time is spent on other activities other than learning. Days off of school happen on a regular basis. For example, this week is Carnival so communities have big water and foam (that they purchase) fights and lots of drinking and celebration. Jim and I have also discovered that students have not been taught how to answer a question. We ask in English and in Spanish and the students really struggle with answering. It is very interesting to me as all my teaching in the US was done by asking questions. I know you won't believe this but we asked the class "Who has on a white shirt?" in both languages and they could not decide what to write down. This is as all of them had a white shirt on! It's like when there is more than one answer that confuses them. Students are so used to just having one that they freak out when they have to decide. At another school I was teaching students to talk to each other about lesson. (Brenda, you should be proud of me that I have retained some of my RBT) This is a strategy to get students to cement learning in their brains. When I asked the students to talk to the person next to them they got these blank looks—I know what that means! So Jim and I modeled how to do it. Literally they could not do it even in Spanish. I tried a subject that they know and they still could not do it. Whoa, this is going to be interesting when I teach the teachers this process! Have no fear Jim and I just patiently keep asking questions and make the students talk knowing that this will take time. At least we know that there is always more work to do.
Last week, we visited a new community, Guarena which is about 25 km farther east into the rainforest. We were taken to this community by friends, Jorge and Pamela. Jorge works for the municipality of Tena and his job is to make contact with these remote communities. It was totally fascinating as the community is Waorani, an indigenous group famous in Ecuador for its past violent ways. Thank goodness they are no longer spearing folks. The Waorani lands are where much of the oil is. To get to the community we had to go through a checkpoint for the oil company/Ecuadorian government and is way past where the bus runs. The forest was beautiful with many huge trees. As we are going down the road (one lane only) we see one of the locals holding his shotgun and machete—I'm thinking this could get interesting, but he was hunting for food, not gringos. We gave him a ride in the back of the pick-up. When we arrived at the community one of the elders came to greet us. His name is Waorumi (see picture). He was very friend though I could not understand a word he said. All of the community enjoys seeing their picture - a great icebreaker. The community was thrilled with the school supplies because they have many (20+) student that have not been going to school due to lack of materials. It is great to help them out.
In December, we had a visit from our good friend, Joyce and Mike Bungaard. We spent a few days in Quito where we visited La Compañia, a church that much of the walls is covered in gold, rode the Teleferico (gondola) to 14,000ft above Quito and ate and shared a few mojitos. Then we took the bus to Baños where we hiked and celebrated New Year's. A tradition in EC is to burn effigies symbolizing leaving the old so you can bring in the new. Great fun! Then it was off to Jatun Sacha where we took a canoe ride down the Napo and Arajuno rivers. Jim and I really enjoyed the company and all the great conversation—something missing when you live with youngsters.
Please do not forget to get our message out to friends and family that the children of Ecuador need more resources. Each donation is critical! Thanks!
Hope all of you are healthy and happy. We think of you often.
Nancy and Jim
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Nancy Wesorick
Friends of Ecuador Schools
http://friendsofecuadorschools.com/
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