> Special Sections > Making a Difference in Ecuador > Halfway done already
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Halfway done already
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Duffy gives a diploma to a seventh grade student in the Ecuadorian school where she is a teacher. Reminder Publications submitted photo
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By Erin Duffy
Correspondent
ECUADOR - We finished up our last day of school for the 06- 07 school year this past Friday, as the long vacation takes break during the rainy season. The kids did OK on their English exam, but not great. There's just such little emphasis put on school by the parents that hardly any homework or studying is done at home. The few that do put in the time necessary are doing great, and are a joy to work with.
To celebrate the end of the school year, we had a mini graduation for the 7th grade because they had completed primary school (we had 8 graduates at Gonzalo Pizarro). All of them have told us that they are planning to attend high school, hopefully they follow through with this. This would be a great accomplishment because last year only one of the graduates continued his education. For the ceremony itself, we had two graduation gowns. Therefore, the first two students would put on the gowns, receive their framed diploma, and then pass the gown to the next graduate for their turn. Once they had all received their diploma, Taylor gave a toast in front of all the students and their families before EVERYONE was given a plastic cup of champagne!
Taylor and I once again played photographers and took pictures for all the families since not a single family in our school owns a camera. Unfortunately, printing pictures is one of the few things that is more expensive here than at home, $0.40 per picture! For these families, that is a lot of money, so many parents only asked for a pair of photos as keepsakes.
Over this last weekend, we spent a little bit of time with Amarilys Rojas, another ELHS 01 graduate, who I was pretty good friends with in high school through band and church! She joined Peace Corps. last summer and will be in a city called Santo Domingo (about three hours away by bus) for another year and a half. We had a great time catching up, and plan to get together at least one more time while we're both here in Ecuador. She says that her city doesn't t have much to offer in terms of touristy interests, but they have a SuperMaxi (a real supermarket), a mall, and a movie theater. Needless to say, Taylor and I are already planning a weekend trip there!
Today was the first day of our vacation school. We are offering a very relaxed, fun, environment in which the kids can come and go as they please for the vacation
months. Fortunately we have some great donated toys, games, art supplies, etc. which the kids were already taking advantage of today!
Well, Taylor and I have been amazed at the donations we are receiving from home! Thank you thank you thank you! We have now received about $4500 through individual donations as well as a few fund raisers!
Now comes the hard part, what to put the money into! We have spent about $600 on school supplies already, so that leaves us with almost $4,000. So, we decided to look into some bigger projects than just lights and water. I think I mentioned before that we were thinking we might be close to enough to build a new school. Well, we talked to a man who works in construction, and we're pretty sure for about $5,000 we could do it! We're not getting too excited yet, but it's amazing to know that we will definitely be able to leave something permanent here for the children and community when we leave thank to the support from home!
Well that's all for stuff that has been going on lately, but in celebration of the half way mark, I'm going to reflect a little bit with you and share with you some of the things that stand out about our time here so far.
Unfortunately, the animal situation here is very sad. There are thousands of hungry, flea infested dogs running around without owners, food, or love. Even animals with owners, such as horses and cows, appear very skinny and timid. We have learned that nearly all the people here with animals only have them because they serve a purpose (cows for milk or meet, horses for transportation, dogs as protection).
When you think of a machete, what pops into your head first? Well, before I came to Ecuador I thought of it as a weapon! Not the case here, it is your every day household tool. People use machetes to make small holes in the ground, cut grass, or branches, or even trees, kill unwanted house guests (like scorpions or our recent two-foot long snake in our bathroom), and even open cans!
That leads me to the buses. Nothing surprises us anymore. People get on the buses with machetes, tazers, cats in bags, chickens, chairs, long planks of wood, crabs on a rope... you name it! Good thing they don t charge us more than $0.20!
Rice is a way of life. We have had it in one form or another at every lunch since we arrived. We eat it plain, with soup, covered in lentils, peanut sauce or encebollada (onions, cucumber, and tomato), mixed with vegetables and chicken or shrimp, as well as in sweet dishes like arroz con leche (the closest thing I can think of is tapioca pudding).
Families are HUGE and it is fairly common to find pregnant mothers whose children are already pregnant or have kids. Not sure if that was clear, but we have students who have aunts and uncles that are younger than them!
There is not a lot of politeness here. "Please" and "thank you" are heard rarely, and nothing is said when someone sneezes. Both Taylor and I learned that the right thing to say in Spanish when someone sneezes is "salud", but we've gotten more than a few funny looks after using this. At the table, people constantly reach across each other, or point and say "pass me that". We're getting used to it now, but hopefully not to the extent that it s not rubbing off on us!
We have certainly enjoyed the first half of our time here, and are certain that this second half will fly.
Besitos,
Erin
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> Special Sections > Making a Difference in Ecuador > Halfway done already
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