A Weekend with the United Nations Peacekeepers

One of our partner organizations at Manna Project Ecuador is the United Nations Peacekeepers. Not only do we visit their military base on a weekly basis and teach English, but they also participate in our courses offered at the Centro!

This past weekend, Program Directors Everett, Monique, and Kristin were fortunate enough to accompany the Peacekeepers to the Ecuadorian Air Force base in Manta, on the coast, for a weekend of training exercises as part of the UN Peacekeeper training course.

The Peacekeepers have asked us not to publicize the details of their training, but we can say that it was quite an experience! Outside of training exercises, they were kind enough to show us around Manta, the beaches, and neighboring town of Montecristi (where the famous Panama Hats are made)! We happened to be visiting on a festival weekend, and stumbled upon a huge pilgrimage procession and an outdoor fair!

We are grateful for the Peacekeepers and their hospitality this weekend. Enjoy these photos!

Midterms and Halloween at MPI Ecuador

It's hard to believe, but as October ended and November began, everyone at Manna Project Ecuador has been as busy as ever, and we just celebrated midterms and Halloween!

Our English classes have been a huge success this semester and we're already expecting a full roster for each of our classes come January, based on interest shown throughout these first few months!

After adult midterms, everyone at the Centro joined in for some homemade Colada Morada and Guaguas de Pan! One of our community members, Clemencia (also an active Diabetes Club participant), led us in the making of the typical hot berry drink. The Guaguas de Pan were made by our friends at our neighborhood bakery.

Colada Morada and Guaguas de Pan are typically eaten here in Ecuador during the holidays at the end of October and beginning of November each year, as part of the Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead) celebrations.

October 31st in Ecuador isn't typically celebrated with candy and costumes; rather, it is officially Día del Escudo, or National Seal Day, celebrating the seal on the Ecuadorian flag that differentiates it from Colombia and Venezuela. But at the Manna Project Centro, we had to celebrate Halloween, too!

Over 75 people came for the kids Halloween party on the 30th! We had a haunted house, an array of spooky snacks, creepy crafts, and the cutest little kids in the land! The haunted house was definitely the most popular attraction, as the kids lined up multiple times to enter the transformed Teen Center.

It was three hours of wild fun. Here's to the rest of the semester!

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A photo tour of Sangolqui!

Have you ever wondered what its really like to be a Manna Project International Program Director in Ecuador?? Of course you have! Today you'll get the inside scoop of where we live and work, on a picture tour of Rumiloma and Sangolqui.

First stop on the tour is the Manna House, where all of our Program Directors live together. Our house is located a neighborhood called La Serrana, a residential area of Sangolqui, the largest city on the outskirts of Ecuador's capital of Quito. Unfortunately, that pick-up truck is NOT ours, but the beautiful bright orange house is. Living with your fellow PDs is one of the most amazing parts of the Manna Project experience, and you will get to build friendships that will last a lifetime. This is our "ferocious" (not at all, actually) guard dog, Lola.

A few block away from our house is Cinco Esquinas, a restaurant the sells typically Ecuadorian food for $1.70 a plate. Most of the time in the Manna House, we cook American food, so when we want a change of pace we come to Cinco Esquinas and eat as many tortilla completas as we can.

Next we head to downtown Sangolqui, where PDs do their shopping, pass time exploring the market, and hang out. First comes Santa Maria, the supermarket where we buy most of our groceries.

We're lucky that it has a good mix of luxuries from home while also having all of our Ecuadorian favorites. Next is the market, which pours out into the streets of the city in full force on Sundays. While the main attractions are the delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, you can pretty much find anything at the market!

Sangolqui is also home to a soccer team that is quickly rising in the ranks of Ecuadorian soccer, named Independiente del Valle. The field is often open when the team isn't practicing or playing, and a lot of people use it as a place to hang out or exercise!

Another PD favorite in Sangolqui is the main church plaza, which has stunning colonial architecture and an amazing ice cream shop where they sell freshly-made helado de paila, a local way of making ice cream that tastes great!

Last but certainly not least, we head to Rumiloma where we have our community center! Rumiloma is just a short bus ride away from Sangolqui into an area of the Chillos Valley that is a bit more rural. Below is our community center and library (and local dog friend), which faces out onto a massive soccer field that we use all the time for our soccer clinics, field days, and other activities with our community members. The sunsets that can't be beat!

Hip with the Kids: Fun in the English Classroom

As Program Directors, one of our main responsibilities is to teach English. At the Manna Centro in Ecuador, we offer English classes from the most basic level for kids all the way to advanced conversational classes for adults. For many of us, this is our first experience teaching, and I for one am loving it!

I'm "Profe," "Teacher" and "Señorita" to 18 adorable kids ranging in age from 5 to 10 years old. We meet for 90 minutes twice a week, and our classroom is an equal exchange learning environment. They're forgiving of my developing Spanish and get crazy excited when they know random words in English that weren't on the lesson plan.

Above all, my kids are always excited to come to class and are extremely energetic! Their preferred method of learning, of course, is through games and interactive activities. This is great fun for me as well, so I thought I would share some of my class' favorites.

Rojo, Verde, Amarillo (Red Light, Green Light)
Have the kids all line up and instruct them to run forward on green/verde, stop on red/rojo, and dance on yellow/amarillo. Do the first round in Spanish and then the rest in English so they learn the colors. But make sure to play this on a big open space, because they sure do love to run!

Rojo, Verde, Amarillo (Red Light, Green Light) in Ecuador

New blog from Ecuador | Hip with the Kids: Fun in the English Classroom http://www.mannaproject.org/ecuadorblog/fun-in-english

Posted by Manna Project International on Friday, October 9, 2015

Matamoscas (Flyswatter)
This is a great activity for reviewing vocabulary words. The kids especially enjoy the competition! Have them form two teams and let them pick their group's name. Have vocabulary words written out on the board. Have one person from each team come up, one at a time, and say one of the words in Spanish and have them slap the correct translation with a flyswatter. Whoever slaps first earns their team a point!

Beanie Baby Drop
The kids go crazy over this one! It is ideal for learning colors and numbers. Have a bucket of Beanie Babies (or stuffed animals or other small toys) at the ready. Have kids form a circle and drop a handful of the Beanie Babies on the floor. The kids have to count the quantity dropped in English and also identify the colors of each animal. Then, add to or subtract from the pile. They get really into it and also love to pick them up for you at the end.

Songs!
My kids love to sing. We learned the alphabet by singing the song about 5 times in a row one class because they just didn't want to stop. This is great not only for participation, but you can slow down the song to work on pronunciation and then speed it up later on. Another classroom musical hit is the classic, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." Follow that with a couple rounds of Simon Says, and you've got body parts covered.

My kids also love to suggest their own games to me, and we love to play them as well! I try to have one each class so that they're engaged and having fun.

Do you have a favorite game you play in class? Let us know!

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Life on an Ecuadorian Family Farm

Last weekend, the Manna Project Ecuador team went on its first quarterly retreat. We definitely set a high bar for the rest of our retreats! MPI Ecuador's Country Director Nancy invited us to the farm operated by her husband's parents, Alfonso and Carmen. The farm is located near her former Peace Corps site in La Orense, nestled in the lush green cloud forest. Being in the cloud forest was a welcome change from the dry season that we are currently experiencing in Sangolqui. Heading down the mountains from Quito into the cloud forest, we could feel the air growing cleaner and more tropical, and the scenery quickly changed to lush and tropical trees and grasses.

Program Director Alex Saal tries her hand at milking a cow

Over three days we had the opportunity to experience a new part of Ecuador that many of us had never seen before, and experience a new way of life. We learned how to milk cows and got to participate in daily farm chores. The family taught us how to make some of the most delicious empanadas I've ever tasted, filled with cheese from the same cows that we got to milk! After eating one too many empanadas for breakfast, we hiked around the farm and herded cattle back to their pasture before hiking down to the river. That afternoon, we swam and bathed in another part of the Mulaute River... definitely a highlight of the trip!

Program Director Everett herding some cattle

The retreat was amazing, and we were sad to have to head back to Sangolqui after such an exciting yet relaxing few days. Beyond just being a wonderful trip into the cloud forest, the retreat was a breath of fresh air after working hard through the transition of leadership and the start of programs with new Program Directors. What was an amazing and eye-opening cultural experience to get to spend time in on Ecuadorian farm and see an entirely different side of the Ecuadorian experience.

Mmm...empanadas!

 Mil gracias to Nancy, her husband Enrique, their kids Sofie and Ronnie, and their entire family for the wonderful hospitality!!

The team with Alfonso and Carmen