Happenings in December 2009

Lucas and I just got back from a productive and great trip. The main reason for our visit in December was to prepare for what the group will be doing this summer. We started off our trip by going to visit one of the best private schools in Quito. The school was named Albert Einstein and is a K-12 school. The monthly tuition for the school is 500-600 dollars per student. As we toured the school we saw all the great and wonderful things that it had to offer. During our walk through I just kept thinking about how different this school was from the rural schools in Macuchi, Pilalo, and La Esperanza. I also thought how lucky we are in the United States to have access to things such as a free education and public libraries, things that I often take forgranted. Touring this school gave Lucas and I some insight on how we would like the future library in Macuchi to be set up. After our visit Lucas and I headed out to one of the 300 sights that Compassion International has running in Ecuador. Compassion is a program that helps needy children in Ecuador and all around the world. Most of the children in this program are sponsored monthly. The sponsors pay 35 dollars a month. This money helps the children with several things. At this particular sight the children come 3 days a week after school from 2-5. During this time the children have a devotional, receive food, and a small mini lesson on things such as character education and good hygiene. It was very interesting to see how this program was set up. The next day Lucas and I headed out to Macuchi. Throughout the week we visited the 3 regional schools and checked on the progress of the building that was built in the summer of 2009 in Pilalo. Most importantly we held a community meeting to discuss a future library and a peace core volunteer. During the meeting the community was in agreement that a library is something that is truly needed now to help advance this community. The community and the community leaders all signed a document agreeing to give a plot of land that is 25 X 45 feet. Now that we officially have a plot of land we can continue with plans to construct a library in Macuchi in the summer of 2010. Our family is very excited about the future possibilities for this community. We truly appreciate your continuous support in this project. Thank you for your donations, thoughts and prayers, and continuing to check out the blog.

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