Education for children in Ecuador

I hope all is well with you. In Ecuador classes headed into the second half of the school year with a new printer and the house for the new family was finished with the materials for the roof purchased thanks to the Appeal. Work will begin shortly on securing a new area for a playground next to the school with a wall as well as a school vegetable garden for daily meals. 

A new sustainable Plan Huerta (vegetables) in a fifth community producing beans has started on a 2½ acre piece of land and aims to provide part-time income for several members of the community as well as income for the management of Plan Moo as the herd continues to grow.

Celebración de la Lengua Materna – Kichwa del Pueblo Otavalo (celebration of the mother tongue – Kichwa) was held in the school. In Ecuador Pawkar Raymi and Muchuk Nina were celebrated giving thanks to Pachamama (Mother Earth) for the flowering of crops and the upcoming harvests of grains. Fanesca was also prepared by the parents for Semana Santa (Easter) which is a soup made from a variety of ingredients including beans, grains, fish, eggs and many others.

The parents got together for a minga this month and the whole school was disinfected, all the windows cleaned and small paint jobs were undertaken. Preparation for the new school vegetable garden was also started with lots of earth removed and new darker earth brought in before sowing.

As you can see we've had a great start to the year and to help us continue our work over the next few months GlobalGiving will be matching all donations up to $50/£40 by 50% this week (Monday 8th - Friday 12th April) whilst available funds last as part of their Little By Little Campaign which is a fantastic opportunity for the projects. If you can donate anything this week to take advantage of the matching, thank you so much in advance. 

It goes without saying that you cannot study on an empty stomach though the vast majority of the families where we work cannot provide much more than the absolute basics at home, usually a few boiled or dried potatoes or noodles in hot water with some herbs. Some governments have become more proactive with school meals over the years by providing some supplies like rice and beans though these generally run out well before the next delivery.

We have seen the success of the Plan Huerta that we started in Perú in 2022 with Impington International College. The government sends doctors each year to check on the children’s basic health and whilst most are underweight and anemic the levels of chronic malnutrition have reduced.

Our school Plan Huertas aim to provide sufficient vegetables sustainably for the students on a daily basis with any extra used to barter for other products which cannot be grown or shared with the families to eat at home. Our larger plans, like the one we are starting in Ecuador this month, aim to provide part-time employment for members of the community throughout the year whilst generating income to cover other project costs. 

For those of you with Instagram we have started to update our account once again after a couple of years’ hiatus so please do seek us out on phoenix_flying_2020

We are nearing capacity for the Patagonia Charity Challenge (please follow the link below for details and costs) which is raising money for all the projects so if you are interested in joining us in November 2024 please do let us know by emailing info@thephoenixprojects.org 

We will also be taking on the London Bridges Charity Challenge again on Saturday 3rd August followed by a reunion in a pub. If you are interested in getting involved with the bridges or just coming to the reunion afterwards please do let us know by writing to the email shown above!  

All the best for April.

Cheers

Links:

• Charity Challenges 2024

I hope all is well with you. Thanks to your donations, our regular monthly donors, those getting involved in Charity Challenges this coming year and other fundraising events, the following is what we have planned for 2024 and how all your donations will make a huge difference to the communities where we work in Latin America.

In Ecuador we will pay for six local teachers in the school as we enter the second half of the school year in January. Four of these teachers are University students we are helping with their studies. We will continue to pay for internet in the school and essential materials each month as well as funding cultural celebrations.

Since we started our financial support for local University students studying teaching back in 2016 in exchange for them working in the school to ensure one teacher per class we have helped seven students with their long-term educational costs. Dozens of younger students have benefitted from them being in the classroom over the years receiving a dedicated education. We will continue with this successful programme this year. 

The purchase of cows in Plan Moo will carry on during 2024 as we strive to sustainably cover some of the project's core costs so we can help out with more one-off critical projects in the community, similar to helping the family with their house in December, and also helping other communities over the coming years.  

Plan Moo was resumed in December following the recent unprecedented dry-spell and work has begun on the house for the new family who arrived in the community recently with nothing as they used to live and work on a farm which stopped functionning and left them homeless. Thanks to donations we have brought the materials for the roof with the community getting together and buying the other materials. Kapak Raymi was celebrated in the school in December when the community asks Pachamama for a good growing period for the crops. The school restarts for the second half of the academic year next week.

All the best for 2024 and thank you in advance for your continued support during it!

Cheers