Hello,

Today we went back to the indigenous peoples’ community, Cacha, to meet a special guest, the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa. At first we took a bus until the police stopped the bus and told us we couldn’t pass by because the president was coming. So we went hiking. The hiking went okay, but most of us were out of breath because of the high altitude. But, it was a great experience. Most of us got to shake the president’s hand and speak with him. This was a great experience for some of us because we never got to meet the Presdent of our own country, Barack Obama. It was also a unique opportunity for us because we were the first Global Glimpse group ever to meet a president.

Glimpsers talking to the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa

The leader of the day (ELDD) Fatoumata Ceesay

In the afternoon, we met Eduardo Yumisaka, who works with marginalized communities. Mr. Yumisaka works with people in this community because many of them thought that they were going to lose their history and culture due to technology. He also manages a cartonera, which is a collective that make books out of recycled cardboard. The cartonera members write the stories of those people who were imprisoned. He says that you can’t live with a cartonera job, but it helps the community to understand their culture’s history.

Later in the afternoon, we met Roberto, an agronomist. We created a collage about the things that represent development and undeveloped communites. He talked about how he helped a community with farming and learned how to farm along with them. Also, he shared with us what development means to him: harmony. This means that in order to help develop a community, you need people from the community to get together and make a difference.

Glimpsers with our Aid and Development speaker: Roberto Gortaire – grassroots and community development promoter for over 20 years

Today was a great day and we can’t wait to seek more adventures tomorrow!

Sincerely,

Fatoumata Ceesay