Education Ecuador Project #18011

Build a Classroom, Save the Amazon

by YACHANA Foundation

Project Report | Apr 3, 2015
April 2015 Aquaponics Up and Running!

By Colleen Ebken | Project Leader

85 New Members Yachana Training Center Family

A lot has been happening at the Yachana Training Center since last we reported a status in December 2014. Our Yachana Future Builders [YFBs] boarding students and day students have both returned to classes after winter break. Volunteer Lena arrived to take over for Christy – we all miss Christy but Lena is a perfect replacement. She is trained in biology. Her knowledge and help has been a jump-start to the Aquaponics project!

The Aquaponics project is up and running! This was possible because of the donations that we have received through this GlobalGiving project. We really appreciate the support and thank you very much.

One of our YFBs, Cristhian, has really taken the lead in helping to get this project where it is today. All the YFBs have worked on the project to help clear the space, build the structures and install the piping but Cristhian shows the biggest passion and hopes to bring a smaller scale version to his home community.

Last week the YFBs made two trips to a Tilapia pond, about half an hour away by truck, to pick up the newest members of the Yachana Training Center family, 85 Tilapia! Starting with ½ pound “seed” fish was necessary but the hope is to be self-sustaining from this point forward. The fish are doing wonderfully. All appear Happy! The first plants to grace the rocks of the aquaponics system were tomato plants that have been growing for three months in buckets. These tomoates were planted by our students in preparation for this transfer. The plants have been doing well with the transition so far. There are also lettuce sprouts growing. The plan is to add more plants to provide food for the training center meals and perhaps transfer some of the extra to the Yachana Lodge for use in meals for our guests!

Check out our new photos that show the pool, tank, growing beds, etc. All these new additions were from your contributions. Just to the left of the blue filter system we built an observation platform and added a mirror. If you come to visit the Yachana Training Center now everybody, short or tall, can see all the aspects of the total system.

We still lack our new classroom and need additional funds to get this done. We have poured the footers but we must wait for more money to be raised to complete this structure. Thank you all again for your support to date! Watch for more updates very soon.

Cristhian our YFB with Aguaponics Passion

New Aquaponics System at Yachana Training Center

Harvesting Baby Fish For Aquaponics

Transferring the Stock

New Home for our Tomato Plants

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Dec 30, 2014
December 2014 Project Update Build A Classroom

By Colleen Ebken | Project Lead

YFB Enjoying School

A couple of weeks ago the Yachana Future Builders [our boarding students] finished the 2014 term at Yachana Training Center. Before leaving for end of year break they made good progress on Aquaponics project [see pictures] and the work will continue when they return January 2015. We taught over 180 day students this fall. With so many students wanting to attend our enrichment classes we had to add Saturday sessions just to have enough time to teach them all. We will miss our students over the end of year break and we wait anxiously for their return early January 2015!

We were sorry to say goodbye to volunteer teacher Christy. All the students loved her and she assured us that this was one of her greatest teaching experiences ever. She returned to Canada over the holidays but is off on her new adventure to Bali and Australia in January. Have fun Christy and come back to visit us often! We have three new volunteer teachers starting in January 2015 and we are looking forward to their arrival.

As part of the tropical permaculture curriculum everyone participated in planting banana and plantain circles. Now we have added yucca, squash, and pineapple to the mix. All the products are looking good. With the additional vegetables coming from the aquaponics farm and fresh Tilapia, teacher Mariana’s cooking and nutrition classes will be very exciting, and delicious, in 2015.

In addition to teaching our high school students we hosted two teacher’s conferences this fall, each with about 40 teachers from Yachana Inty. Educating teachers is one way we can make a big impact on the quality of education in the region. Yachana Future Builders, with the help of Mariana, prepared all the food for these conferences.

On a sad note a local parrot dined on our Internet cable. The Internet has never been the same since. We hope that donations we receive in 2015 can be used to get us back to normal. Life in the Amazon!

Look for regular updates on our progress early in 2015. We will introduce you to our new volunteer teachers and share some stories the students bring back from the end of the year break. We still have a long way to go in meeting our goal for the new classroom. As you plan your 2015 gift giving donations remember to factor out some dollars and support for this project.

Nutrition Class

Tug A War with Yachana Lodge Guests

Teacher Training Day

Early Stages Aquaponics Building

Laboratory Building Under Construction

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Oct 1, 2014
Update on Students from Volunteer Teacher Christy

By Colleen Ebken | Project Lead

Students Enjoying Learning About the Forest

Today is 1 October 2014 – as many of you know from previous progress reports that our position in GlobalGiving has been secured because you enabled us to make our challenge goal. Thank you again for your donations and support. We will continue to send progress reports as we make progress towards the larger goal of $27,000. I am happy to report that as of today we have raised $6,635! This is great progress toward our final goal. We are confident we will reach this and you will see the completed project very soon.

Following is a short update from Christy one of our current teachers volunteering at Yachana. Please enjoy reading her perspective about our current boarding students. I am also including pictures that she has taken of her students in action.

“After spending eight years teaching in Alberta, Canada, I decided to spend four months teaching at Yachana and have found the educational philosophies and strategies that are woven into the process here to be aligned with the leading pedagogical research and practices. Currently, I am most involved with the Yachana Future Builders (YFB), a group of students who live and learn at the Yachana Center for Learning. The students in this program are highly intelligent and motivated; really, they are the kind of kids that are a pleasure to teach. They put in extra time studying and are always eager to help and learn. They ask questions all day and practice their English. They take pride in the food preparation for the students and staff here and embrace the afternoon projects for the center such as building walkways or completing drainage systems. I often find myself wishing I could expose my students at home to their level of responsibility and maturity. They take care of their laundry and schoolwork and are on time for their classes and meals. They are appreciative of the opportunity they have been offered here and are invested in their education and improving both their lives and the region. --- Christy”

Christy and I want to let you all hear directly from the students; starting later this month we will help them build and write stories that we will share with you through GlobalGiving. These stories will be from both our boarding students and our 177-day students who begin classes for the year next week. Watch for the student-generated stories staring later this month. You can also check out progress on our website and Facebook accounts.

Thank you again for your support and we hope that you will enjoy hearing directly from our students on how much your donations are appreciated by them and are helping them with their education.

Regards,

Colleen Ebken, Project Lead

Christy Duce, Lead Teacher/Volunteer

Douglas McMeekin, Executive Director

Small Group In Dining Center/Temporary Classroom

Enjoying Results of Nutrition Class for Lunch

Working Hard after Lunch

Volunteer Bob - Helps Students with ESL!

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