“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world”- Malala Yousafzai- Pakistani activist for female education.

Hello family and friends back home!

Today we started off the day by going to breakfast at Roma Santa’s, we then headed to a local school (on winter recess) nearby called Martiniano Guerrero Freire. This school is where we will be doing our CAP (community action project) Project, we were welcomed in by the principal Susana who gave us a tour or the grounds and explained to us what she thought the school needed to flourish. After touring the school and jotting down some future ideas for the CAP

Project we were all invited for coffee and bread, the coffee was so good and the bread was one of a kind. We had a little time to spare so while some of us sat in the courtyard of the school and relaxed, others started up a friendly(yet competitive) game of soccer on the court nearby (which ended in a tie).

Once we were done at the school we headed to lunch once again at Roma Santa’s which was delicious as always, we headed back to the hotel. Some of us relaxed and played Chess or Uno while the next LDD had their meeting to prepare for the following day. Soon after we had our second CAP Seminar which was all about design, with the information we had gathered this morning we split into groups and  discussed multiple ideas and how we would accomplish those ideas. When we al came back together as a group we shared our ideas with the group, we have multiple good ideas from inspirational murals  to repainting the basketball court (there were some minor disagreements, however we all worked as a group to overcome that.)  When we had finally agreed on a few final ideas we packed up our stuff and headed to dinner (which included sweet popcorn, aka kettle corn) our bus then picked us up and we headed back to Martiniano Guerrero Freire to view another perspective of the school, which is a night school for adults.

At the school night classes are offered to adults ranging from 18 years old to 50+ years old who were never able to finish school, in their classes they learn a wide variety of things such as the basics (Math, Science, History). When we got there class was already in session so we quietly met outside the class rooms and met the director of the night school Jorge Ona who explained what goes on during these classes, we then split up into groups as he showed us to different classes to enter. In the class my group entered the students ranged from 18-47, we asked them some questions as an ice breaker and they told us a bit about themselves and why they were in night classes. Our group then started playing a game with them which included a lot of laughter, jokes and even dancing. Some other activity’s that other groups did were answer questions from curious students and even teach them a few English words (they also learned a bit of Spanish and Kichwa which is a local Ecuadorian language). Once we finished at our classes we met once again with the director who we gave a small gift and our gratitude for letting us experience in some of the classes. We ended our day by holding our nightly meeting and the passing of the torch to our next LDD Jadah!

By being LDD today I gained a valuable experience of compassion, perseverance and teamwork from the school and its teachers that truly added to my view on hard work. I wish all the students well in their hard work and hope they all achieve their future goals once they graduate. I also appreciate all the hard work my other glimpsers showed in working together in hopes to find what CAP idea will help the school the most.

(Hello Family! I am having tons of fun so far and making friends, everyone is very nice. I hope your all doing well and continuing to read the blog. Miss you all very much and can’t wait to see you again. I also scored the first goal in our soccer game! so I guess all that soccer playing paid off. Be sure to be on the lookout for those special socks!)