Education for children in Ecuador

For the past few years, we have trialled 'Plan Moo' a sustainability project. Whereby a child going into secondary school receives a milking-cow. 

Milking cows are an excellent investment and a stable form of income. As milk is a staple part of most peoples diets as well as the health benefits of milk in the community. The proceeds of the sale of milk covers secondary school fee's and costs for the students. 

Delightfully, It has been a huge success and the hopes of purchasing more cows, costing around $800 each, can create a herd that can benefit other areas in the community, like food programs and local teacher salaries. 

We plan to increase the herd in the future, depending on funds.    

This week a lighthearted update from Ecuador, project manager Zoe shares some news from the field covering the three communities we work in:

‘At Larcacunga, 1st grade were learning different types of tastes and the senses – so, of course, we tried the “Marmite, te gusta o no te gusta” test! They pretty much universally hated it, but we may still send the results into Marmite anyway – here's a picture of little Estrella “enjoying” her first taste!

At Muenala, music lessons included an introduction to music theory and scales, and some fun with “push/pull forces” in second grade

And at Huayrapungo, the 5th grade had their first lessons in tectonic plates. A world map jigsaw was made out of polystyrene, which the children then had to piece together again. They also had to depict how plates were pushed together to form mountains, and how the continents were formed, using plasticine.

On top of this, the team were preparing themselves for the 2nd Ecuador Challenge started this weekend – mentally and physically, as they prepare to climb 4 volcanoes to raise funds for the project, including Cotopaxi, higher than Kilimanjaro and -22c on the summit! Good luck guys!’