Our fourth full day here in Riobamba has definitely been eye-opening and informational. Today we all headed out to Cacha and visited Amula Casaloma! The scenery was incredibly beautiful and refreshing to experience. Several students mentioned that they felt very relaxed and free with all the fresh and cool air at such a high altitude. We met so many inspiring people as well.
Amula Casaloma was a community that is 100% populated with Indigenous people. They were all of course very welcoming and gave us a brief tour of their community. They shared both their current struggles, and beauty of their culture. After a while, they invited us to a common home that is open to everyone who visits. There, they offered us fava beans, which is a food which hold significant nutritional and cultural values. We learned that in all Indigenous communities every visitor will be offered something to eat, even if it is a small offering. This was a very touching moment in our visit.
The people we met there were named Caramita, Mariano, and Lorenzo. These inspiring individuals helped us recognize that there are places in the world that are less fortunate than us, however they still manage to show pride and love for their background. Although they may not be financially stable, they do have faith and hope that they will progress together as a whole community.
The reason we visited Amula Casaloma was because Global Glimpse will be working on a very important project to help and support this community. During our tour of this beautiful location, our guides let us know which projects the community is prioritizing. We will all take this into account and try to come together to help bring the community to progress and feel that they are gaining their identity back.
We had the honor to witness their beautiful flag that was donated by a soccer team within the community. Down below is the picture of this breathtaking flag.
As well as the wonderful trip to Amula Casaloma, we did have an important speaker named Pablo Manzano who currently works for a company named KOICA. He presented many ideas this Korean company has accomplished and is working on. This company is full of projects made to specifically help developing communities progress and become better. He definitely made us all realize that working together as one can make a huge difference for ourselves and others. Pablo also gave us some great advice for our own projects we will be working on throughout the following days. This consists of fixing holes in roofs, making a welcoming sign, and installing shelves for storage in the community kitchen.
Overall this community brought us together and opened our eyes to realize that helping people is what Global Glimpse is really about.
Hey BCSM family,
I am glad to see you guys having fun and learning about the Ecuadorian culture.
Marian, it was nice to see you in one of the pictures. Please take risks, be vocal and enjoy your time as Lider Del Dia.
Kiryat, I think that is you in the pictures. I am glad you ended up with some BCSM folk after all, please take advantage of this opportunity, ask many questions and be the awesome leader I know you can be.
Rabia, just saw your dad in the main office. He said your mom is concerned because she hasn’t heard from you since day 2, I explained that that was normal. Please give them a call asap. Continue growing and learning, you are an amazing young leader and I can’t wait to read all of your blog posts when you are Lider Del Dia.
Hey Liz!!! We’re so happy to hear that you’re doing well! We all miss you and hope to hear from you soon again! Hopefully we see some pictures of you on here!
Love,
Your crazy family