NOTE: Our CAP project went into overtime last night, so we’re posting this a day late.

Good Evening from Wilson and Noah,

Yesterday was a long, tiring and eventful day because we finally finished the mission we came here for: the mission to adapt to the Ecuadorian culture and to help each other.

We arrived at the Pusuca community at 9 am and were engaged in work as soon as we stepped foot off the bus. The Glimpsers were split into 3 groups: Recreation/Park Development, Trash Maintnence, and the Historias Project. Wilson and I (Noah) were Leaders of the Day and involved in all activities. Certain members such as Daniel, Elsie, Kayla and Randy were involved in multiple groups due to their versatility. The Recreation group consisted of Lawrence, Ty, Danny, Habeeb, Welyn, Lisa, Travis, Elsie and Stephanie. Recreation had the task of building a grill, expanding the park to include monkey bars, seesaws, an extra swing set, repainting the play house, and painting all playground structures. The Trash Maintenance group consisted of Chelsea, Raymond, Seer, Anderson, Monique, Fatou and Kayla. They had the task of creating new stuructures to hold the garbage barrels and four new signs for the community. Two signs were designated to stop people from littering in the community and the other two signs were for the park. The Historias group consisted of Danny, Ariela, Elsie, Randy, and Kayla. They interviewed four members of the community with video and audio recordings. The recordings were translated from Spanish to English and will be used to create a story of those affected by the volcano eruption 12 years ago that destroyed the former homes of the Pusuca community. The Historias group interviewed Leonardo (president off the community), Charito (a wise elder and our “Mother” for the CAP days), Victoria (founder of the community), and Angel (the patriarch of the community). The point of this was for the community members to look at its past and how far they’ve came from almost being destroyed.

Throughout a hard day of work we took a step back and enjoyed ourselves with a paint war. Some of us will be returning home with vibrant colors on our hands. Also, during our break, some of us took the time to eat a traditional Ecuadorian dish called Cuy (guinea pig). We worked from 9am to 12pm and 1pm to 6pm to finalize the CAP. We originaly were suppose to leave by 3:30, but most of us were so passionate to finish we wanted to stay and finish the job. To finish the CAP Day we inaugurated the park with the Glimpsers and members of the Pusuca community. After finally accomplishing our goal, we gave a heart-warming speech thanking the community for accepting us and working with us throughout the process. We finalized the CAP Day with a celebration that included a ribbon cutting, cake, juice, and a group picture to show the end result.

That’s all for now. Have a great night everybody.

Sincerely,

Noah and Wilson