Quote of the Day: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

Our day began with a wake up call at 7:15 where everyone got ready for another wonderful day in Guaranda. We started off with another lovely breakfast at La Estancia. Right after, we were all prepared to visit Ruminahui High School in the small, agrarian community of Las Gradas. The students there welcomed us with a lot of joy. We started off with a competitive soccer game at the high school where we ended up tying with the students. After the soccer game, we moved to the primary school where we were introduced to many children ranging from first to sixth grade. The children were excited to meet us and even swarmed some of us, Then we, as the Glimpsers, were invited to participate in some games that they created for us which included dodgeball, egg drop, and potato sack race (we won the dodgeball game).

We were sad to say that we had to go afterwards. Many of the children grabbed on to us not wanting us to leave.

After we left the primary school, we went back to the high school where we learned Quichua (Kichwa), the native language of Ecuador. We learned how to say words such as “imanalla” which means hello, ” nukapa shutimi kan” (my name is), and ” alli tutamanta mashi” (good morning friend). In addition, we learned how to say the numbers in Quichua (which was surprisingly easy). Our teacher, Arturo, was happy and proud that he was able to teach us his own language.

Right after Quichua class, we toured the small community where they showed us the areas in which they plant their crops in. We were introduced to a new fruit called ‘uvilla’ which we all thought were delicious, too bad we don’t have those back at home.

We got some free time before we had to start the second Community Action Project seminar. During the seminar, we all decided on the project that we will be doing at the end of our trip. In the end, we had decided to prioritize building benches for the community back in Llullundongo for their community meeting room. In addition, we also decided that we wanted to paint the room. We decided to split up into three groups, a group the oversees the financial part as well as the organization, a group that focuses on the building of benches, and a group that focuses on what is needed for painting the room.

Right after the seminar meeting, we all headed to a great lunch at La Estancia. Then, we all came back to prepare for our second day of English Tutoring. While walking to the school where we tutor, we made a quick stop at a nearby store for ice cream, which was delicious.

We all had more experience than the day before and had a lot more fun teaching the kids today. The students were willing to get to know us more and were well engaged in the lessons we were teaching. Then after tutoring, we all headed to dinner and had our daily nightly meeting. Tomorrow is our first free day and our leader of the day will be Kylie. We are all looking forward to a day off and can’t wait to explore the city.

Written by Roselene Chen & Yomaira Ramirez