Today we said goodbye to the last of our UGA girls, wrapping up the spring break season in Ecuador. The past two weeks have flown by for us and the house feels eerily quiet and empty without all the extra people around. I want to thank all the volunteers from Vandy and UGA who chose to spend their spring break helping us and the people of the Chillos Valley. It was great for us to have some extra sets of hands and hear some fresh perspectives on our programs. Read about the spring break trips by clicking on the Vanderbuilt and UGA tabs, and check out this video made by Kelsey Schmidt from UGA!
Mujer Corre!
Yesterday Rachel, Nicole and I ran in Conocoto’s first annual women-only race in honor of this week’s International Women’s Day. We have been excited about this race for a while, especially since we are in the process of planning our own Manna 5K to take place in June. This was the perfect chance to see a small, local race in action, and to talk to the people who planned it all. We got to witness how everything was organized and executed and made some connections with the group in charge. The race was really great to see, I had never run in a women-only race before and it was cool how many women participated, and how many men and other family members were there to support them. We had our own personal cheerleader, our neighbor Caesar, who was kind enough to drive us to the race at 7am and wait for us at the finish line. After the race they put on a big bailoterapia demonstration (dance aerobics, kind of like zumba) in the main park in Conocoto. We had a good time watching the festivities, and were able to get a lot of great ideas for our own race.
In other news, the three of us also traveled to the airport last night to pick up our new group of spring breakers from UGA! The Manna House got an extra 10 girls for the week and we PDs have several extra sets of hands and some fresh perspectives to help us out with our programs. The UGA girls will be blogging throughout the week, read about their experience here.
Adult English/Nutrition Party
Today we said goodbye to our first group of spring breakers (read about their trip here) and invited all of our Adult English and Nutrition students over to the Manna House for lunch. This is something we have been wanting to do for a while now, and it was a huge success and a great time. After our midterms this morning we closed the library a little early and headed home with everyone to finish preparing the food. Emily and Taylor’s Nutrition and Cooking students brought ingredients to make a few salads and our English students collaborated with soda, chips and desserts. Everyone was extremely helpful with the cooking, setting up, and cleaning up.
We love hanging out with the adults that come to the centro, and have been trying to come up with ways to spend more time with them. This was a great chance to get everyone together, invite them to see our house, and spend time together outside of the classroom setting. The weather cooperated for the most part and we were able to spread out outside as well as in the house. Some of the students set up a makeshift Ecuavolley match while others taught us a new card game inside. It was the perfect way to unwind after a long week of work, eating good food and speaking Spanglish with our students. This is the first time we have had so many students over at once, but we hope to make it a more common occurrence.
The whole group
The boys hogging all the ice cream
Nutrition students helping Taylor prepare the salads
Hanging out with super advanced students Ivo and Nadia
Steven, asking Taylor to translate rap lyrics
International Women's Day
In honor of International Women's Day, MPI Ecuador would like to give thanks to one special woman from our community who we feel empowers others. It is especially important within traditionally machismo cultures to honor and praise these inspirational women who serve as positive role models in their families and neighborhoods. Rosario, our neighbor in Rumiloma and our most dedicated Women's Exercise participant, is one such woman.Rosario is a great role model for women in our community. She takes care of her sick father, her own household, and her grandchildren but still finds the time to come to workout classes several times a week. Her dedication to our exercise classes and to improving her own health is an inspiration to others. She calls herself an "exercise addict" noting that she can feel the difference in her body when she misses a few classes. When Rosario's mother passed away last summer she missed a few weeks of classes and we were concerned about her well being. She came back strong, bringing her sisters to classes and explaining to us that her mother had always encouraged them to workout and stay healthy. She says el Centro de Manna has helped her to lose weight and improve her self esteem. Rosario is also very interested in our Preventative Health Center, taking copies of every health article we put up to keep herself and her family educated. She is a strong woman, both in mind and body, and it is a comfort to have her around.
Spring Break!!
Its that time of the year again... spring break! Which for us means welcoming our first group of spring break volunteers from Vanderbilt. Tonight Emily and Taylor will travel to the Quito airport to pick up a group of 8 Vandy students who will spend the week with us in the Manna House. Over the next week they will be getting to know Quito and the Valley, shadowing our programs, and working on health related projects for our Nutrition and Preventative Health Programs. The spring breakers will have the chance to blog about their experience so you can hear about their trip firsthand. Click on the tab that says "Vanderbilt Spring Break" to follow their blog and see photos from the trip.