Friends of Ecuador Schools | Success Stories

Stories from the Schools

We delivered (Spanish) reading material to Escuela Manuel J. de Calle and within a few minutes each book had 5 to 7 young people digesting each page as fast as they could without fighting.
On one vivsit to the Upper Nap area Jim brought a picture book of Colorado schenes in all seasons and weather conditions. He had to ration reading time at each school in order to let each school share the book.
The KINTI school sent two community representatives and a teacher to accompany me to Quito and the school supply store. We spent 6.5 hours on the bus to travel about 90 miles and arrived at the book store. Thre hours later they had a taxi full of materials and supplies and another taxi forthemselves to take them to the inter city bus. They then traveled an additional 6.5 hours to get to the school. Enthusiasm over the new supplies was so great that during his next visit with Nancy, Jim found all of the lower grades working during the equivalent of our summer vacation.
One day Jim found a group of youngsters with no ball. They were playing with a grapefruit. A soccer ball (pelota de futbol) solved the problem and brought many smiles and hours of entertainment.
Classes put on a sing and dance as their way to say thank you for the materials that we brought. They get the volunteers to dance and then the whole community dances.
Community meetings at school - when donations arrive or other important topics arise the total commmunity appears, The community president will speak.
Kids write thank you letters to active volunteers.
Smiles and laughter are visible as soon as an outsider interacts with the community.
A small piece of hard candy is a very special treat. The kids say "carmelos" about a 100 times when they see the first piece passed out.
Picture taking and showing instant results of a digital camera is always welcome as well as delivering photos of your community.
The students all want to talk at once.
A typical community meal is usually presented.
All persons eat enough to stay healthy. Starchy food is prevalent with meat or fish once a week.
Everyone likes futbol (soccer) or basketball.
The school year is similar to the US schedule.

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