Today at breakfast at Roma Santa, Our first meal consisted of Plantains with Beef/Pork Sausages. After the energizing breakfast, we played a game of Zig-Zag and it was one of the most fun games that we played during the trip! Our Quote of the day “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world” — Malala Yousafzai. The quote inspired a great deal of thinking from the students, and we realized that the quote emphasizes that education is the key to changing the world; without education, everything falls apart.

One of the field trips for the day was to the Non-Profit Organization Love On, which strives to better education in Ecuador for students of ages 4-15. Many of the children in Ecuador, and especially Riobamba can’t finish their education, because they have to work to help their families with their income. Love On provides experiences that aren’t usually taught in schools, such as soft skills, programming and many others that aren’t found in schools.

For lunch, Rosa Santa’s excellent menu included shrimp, rice, yucca, corn soup, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. This left loads of energy for the self-organized games and the Self-reflection. The Self-reflection became more like an icebreaker, as many people asked unique questions that opened our eyes.

One of the key highlights of the evenings; Because the empanadas enchanted everyone, it quickly became one of the favorite foods of the group, closely competing with the cholas. Immediately after, we visited the Martiniano Guerrero Adult School. During the visit, we heard of the struggles of the students in the classes, whose ages ranged from 17 years to 60. We found that, many of the students actually found that the school was a place to relieve themselves from the stress accumulated during the workday, even when working shifts and juggling the responsibilities with their family. The students were kind, curious and calmer than what we expected. They came back to education to set an example for their children.

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