We Workout!

Last Saturday we hosted our second Women’s Exercise and Nutrition party (solo para mujeres) to start off the new quarter. We had good attendance, with a lot of our Adult English women and Nutrition class students showing up, as well as a few Women’s Exercise participants and our upstairs neighbor (who we have been bugging all year to come to exercise classes). Walter and Gaston were very offended that we wouldn’t let them attend, but they still helped us out by holding down the fort in the library while we were upstairs with the women.

We cooked a healthy baked oatmeal recipe that Emily had found, along with a peanut butter banana-pineapple smoothie. While the oatmeal was cooking Nicole and I gave a charla on the importance of drinking water, walking as a form of exercise, and the 10 power foods that help with weight loss and muscle development. The charla went really well, and the women had lots of questions for us. Next we each gave an explanation of what we do in our workout classes, and talked about our personal reasons for doing exercise. The women had some awesome and inspirational reasons of their own, which will soon be displayed in the exercise room for a little motivation.

Here are some of the reasons we came up with together:

-To feel strong

-To prevent disease

-To lose weight

-To maintain healthy blood sugar levels

-It makes us feel better

-Because we love to eat

-To feel beautiful

-To clear our minds

-For the endorphins

-To improve our self esteem

-Because we like it

We are working hard to get the women excited for our 5k in June. We handed out lots of information about the benefits of running and how to prepare for your first race. Rumiloma has never had a race before and we are very excited to be the first ones to put one on. All the girls in the Manna House are passionate about exercise and we love having the chance to share this with the women in the community. Stay tuned for more race updates as we talk to sponsors and start the process of inscriptions!

All the women took part in preparing the recipes

 Enjoying the food

 Nicole and I giving our charla

Manna Benefit

So all of our hard work finally paid off last Saturday night in the very successful execution of our second annual Manna Benefit in Ecuador. Here is a guest blog from Nicole, one of event planners:

Taylor, Darcy, and I began planning this event back in February, reading through the manual from last year, getting input from Ecuadorian friends, and making lots and lots of lists. After somewhat organizing all of our thoughts into a Google Document appropriately titled Benefit Thoughts that would serve as a reference point for the next 2 ½ months, we began the string of what felt like never-ending voyages to Quito. With letters in hand we visited about 10 different restaurants in search of a new home for our event. While we did not host the event at the same place as last year, C’est La Vie, we were able to sit down with one of the owners who was familiar with Manna and get her input on what the event should look like and what we should do to make it a success from an Ecuadorian perspective.

After gathering insight from that meeting, as well as friends and community members, we decided to change the event from a formal sit down dinner to a casual cocktail and appetizer hour (or hours, rather) and charge a much lower entrance fee in order to make it more affordable. We decided on the restaurant Uncle Ho’s because of the awesome food, environment, location, and the undeniably helpful fact that the owner, Kevin, is an ex-pat who speaks English and understood exactly what we were trying to do. Over the next month or so we made about 672 more trips to Quito armed with letters and determination to get over $400 dollars in raffle prizes, as we had already advertised on the invitation! With all the big things in place, this past week was spent catching all the little things up to speed, making candle holders, programs, nametags, signs, etc. etc. etc.

On Saturday, Taylor wrote Darcy, her, and I out of the normal Centro schedule and we headed into Quito early to set everything up for the event. At 2:30 the rest of the PDs showed up and the event was under way. Everyone was right on time – Ecuadorian time, that is – and the place was filling up at around 4pm. We had an awesome musician, John, who played and sang at just the perfect volume, an wonderfully moving speak by our friend and community member, Walter, a riveting acapella performance, and an exciting raffle where almost half of our guests left with prizes!

One lesson that we continually learn here at the MPI Ecuador sight is that things will not go as you plan. It’s almost a guarantee. But sometimes, it’s so much better than you could’ve imagined or tried to plan on your own. And despite a few wrinkles in the plan, like forgetting to factor in the broad daylight at midday that kept the incredible (not to mention very, very long) slideshow that Heather made from being seen, I am going to have to brag and say that the event was a smashing success. It was so encouraging to see friends and students come out to support us, hear encouraging words from people impacted by what we do, and be able to spend time outside of the Centro with people who mean so much to us.

 The event planners: Nicole and Taylor

Darcy and I with our friend and guest speaker Walter 

The Intermediate Adult English Class loves profe Charlie 

Emily, Nicole and I at Uncle Ho's 

Bibi and Lucia with our favorite vecino and Walter 

Walter giving a touching speech about the role Manna has had in his life 

Our Adult English students came out to show support 

Uncle Ho's delicious appetizers went fast

Thank you Nicole, Taylor and Darcy for all the hard work. The event was a great success and a really fun time for everyone. 

Retreat! to Cotopaxi

This past weekend, Ecuador PDs and country director Darcy went on an overnight retreat to Cotopaxi National Park, high in the central Andes.  It was the third and final retreat that the team will take together, and it resulted in a productive discussion of Manna Ecuador’s programs, as well as a chance for PDs to relax in a hot tub and enjoy the views. 

We were fortunate to find an incredible and affordable hostel with great views of the mountains Cotopaxi, Sincholagua, and the Ilinizas.  Cotopaxi National Park, along with the Galapagos Islands, is one of Ecuador’s most celebrated parks, and draws visitors from all over the world to see the high páramos (mountain plains with distinctive vegetation), nevados (snow-covered mountains), and of course Cotopaxi, one of the world’s highest active volcanoes.  This area is also known for its cold and often-rainy weather, and our first day did not disappoint in this respect.  However, we awoke the next morning to rare blue skies, and were treated to fantastic views of the mountains. 

As well as traveling, relaxing, and getting to know Ecuador as a country, our retreats also serve as an opportunity for us to evaluate our programs and discuss issues related to our community development work in the Chillos Valley.  Among the issues we discussed were how to be both disciplined and firm but also understanding with teens in our teen center, a recap on some of our newer programs, and amusing stories from this year.  We returned from the retreat relaxed, focused, and ready to make the most of our remaining three months. 

What is it about hot tubs that get the discussion juices flowing?!

The spectacular Cotopaxi, sitting high above the páramo at 19,340 ft.  "Cotopaxi" is Quichua for "Neck of the Moon."

From left to right, Rachel, Darcy, Taylor, Charlie, and Watkins, relaxing at the end of the day in the  mountain hostel.  

Our lovely lodging, with the Ilinizas peaks in the background.

Charlie, Emily, Nicole, Heather, and our fearless guides, out for a hike.  

English Party Turned Minga

This past Saturday was our last day of English classes for the third quarter. Since the celebration we had after our midterms was such a success we decided to have the adult English students over to the house after the final exam as well. Emily and Taylor’s nutrition students brought over ingredients and helped us with food preparations and we all had a great time hanging out, eating, and playing cards.

While sitting outside with some of the adults, talk turned to a little problem we were having at the Manna House. Our landlord hasn’t been pleased with the upkeep of our yard, specifically this one area behind the house where we dump our compost. During the rainy season the area has become severely overgrown to the point where we refer to it as “the jungle” and have been scared to go back there. He warned us that if the area wasn’t cleaned out ASAP he would send over his own gardener and it would cost us $200. We were planning on trying to take it on ourselves, when one of our students suggested we plan a minga. A minga is when members of the community come together to help out with a project when someone is in need. Well we were definitely in need of some help, and several of our Adult English students volunteered to get started right then and there. We insisted that they had come over for a celebration and didn’t need to spend the afternoon working, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Walter and Guillermo were professionals with a machete, and within a half hour they had annihilated the jungle. It was a much bigger task dragging all of the plant remains out of there, (while ignoring the smell of rotten eggs), but we had plenty of help doing it. It was amazing to me how willing and helpful everyone was. The mother of one of my students, a woman in her 50s, was one of the first to borrow rubber boots and climb right in there. Cleaning the jungle was something we had all been dreading but with all the help we managed to make a huge difference in just a few hours, and we actually had a lot of fun doing it. While we were outside working in the yard the women from Charlie’s class cleaned all of the plates and dishes from lunch.  They amazed us all by getting the burnt rice off the bottom of one of our pots (one that we thought we would have to throw away). I ended the day feeling exhausted, a little guilty, and incredibly appreciative of our community members and friends. 

Taking down the jungle 

Walter, proud of his work

Gaston flexing while everyone else works... typical 

Two of my beautiful English students, Estefania and Lucy 

Emily raking up the mess

Día de la Tierra

This week, in preparation for Earth Day on Sunday, Nicole and I have been spreading the word on organic agriculture, the proper disposal of organic waste, and how to re-use recycleables. On Wednesday we took over Chaupitena’s weekly nutrition class to talk about organic food and how the way we treat the environment directly impacts our health. Laura from our partner org Fundación Añamisi came along to give her expertise on organic gardening in Ecuador. Laura and her husband Christian work with local agricultural producers to teach them sustainable and organic farming practices. They also help them to sell their organic produce in the valley and in Quito. It was extremely helpful for us to have Laura as a partner in this, plus she is great with kids.

On Friday we brought some Earth Day awareness to the library as well. Nicole printed out colorful posters honoring the day and promoting environmental awareness. We decided to show the movie Earth, a feature-length version of the documentary series Planet Earth, which follows the migration paths of four animal families as they deal with climate change. The kids were thrilled at the chance to enter the Teen Center, an area from which they are usually prohibited, and to watch a movie on the big projector screen, complete with popcorn. They were out of control while we were setting up the area, lining up at the door and asking every 2 minutes ¿Cuanto falta? How much longer until the movie? The movie however was a little slower than we anticipated, with a lot of educational narration and we quickly lost half our audience. Nicole and I were feeling a little disappointed until we snuggled up with some of the kids who stayed and realized that some of them were really into it. It broke my heart to see how excited Jonathan got when the ice started refreezing in the arctic “the papa bear is going to make it across!” The few kids who stayed throughout the whole movie to see what happened to the animals made it all worthwhile.

The Manna House will be spending Earth Day (Sunday, April 22) on a retreat in Cotopaxi National Park. Next week however, we will continue spreading awareness by taking over Emily and Charlie’s monthly PHC Radio Charla. This charla will be geared towards an older audience and will talk more about the production side of organic agriculture. Nicole has already been a guest on the monthly radio show, but this will be my first time. I will be sure let everyone know how it goes!

 Nicole, Laura and I teaching Chaupitena 7th graders about composting

Laura teaching about organic agriculture 

The library kids eating popcorn and waiting for the movie to start 

The dedicated few who stuck out the whole movie