By Rut Roman | Project Leader
As the year 2022 is about to end, we look back at all that we have been able to accomplish: a bamboo seismic resistant building; housing the volunteers,and a library with 7.000 cataloged books, computers, games and didatic resources that offer kids the experience of learning as fun.
Today I would like to celebrate the more than 180 international volunteers that left the comfort of their homes, traveled across land and sea to reach this tiny fishing village in the north coast of Manabí, Ecuador to read and write with our young neighbors.
Many were seasoned travelers, exploring the world with their families or by themselves. They were seeking to make the world their own, enjoying it and taking responsibility for it, as we all should. These traveling families were teamworkers who taught by example, no preaching required. Young volunteers brought the contagious enthusiasm that makes anything possible. They left a courtail of optimism reassuring us that we are heading in the right direction. Couples settled in our small village as if to start a new life and took on the most difficult children under their care. They dedicated extra long hours, even more than was required, like when Em and Al were teaching business and marketing at the local night school, or when Mar and Ru spent most of their weekends with a little girl that never met her parents.
The amazing conceptual artist HS and her husband E. came twice. During her first visit, she had the children depict their experience of the earthquake on a mural that now decorates our garden; on the second she rallied the fishermen and their wifes to paint a collective mural, based on what their lives looked like before the actual, “modern” highway connected us with the rest of the country. A y E -from Cataluña- tirelessly worked after hours doing the flooring, painting the mural, while still working in the Library. M -a medical doctor- remains the trusted physician our neighbors call whenever somebody is ill, years after having volunteered at the library. T brought his ukulele and his talent for happiness to us and went on to share it with even smaller libraries we support in the countryside.
We want to thank and honor all volunteers who share their skills and experience in photography arts, pedagogical training, compost and gardening, those who helped the writing process of more than 30 high school graduates, those who took the time and care in designing a specific masculinity project for our boys. We also want to thank those local last minute volunteers that are here in a few hours when we have transitions.
Upon departure, many of these hard working volunteers become recurring donors in GlobalGiving.
With the arrival of each one of these wonderful human beings, our hope is revived and our commitment strenghtend. We are in this together.
Thank you all! ¡Felices fiestas!
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