Visiting Playas!
I haven’t posted much about our life lately so I thought I’d catch up on what we’ve been doing the past month. Recently, we took a weekend trip to Playas, a nearby beach community with friends to celebrate **Ben’s** birthday. We rarely take vacation and are usually working with Neo Juventud on weekends but we managed to slip away for some excellent R & R. Above, **Dani**, Paul and I are rocking our sunglasses on the ride from Puerto Engabao to Playas.
Otherwise, it’s been a productive time, especially when it comes to teaching. From our Saturday environmental art classes with kids and a Mother’s Day party with Mujeres Cambia to a visit from a youth foundation from Guayaquil, we’ve been teaching recycled art projects, color theory, crafts, entrepreneurship, and youth leadership. See for yourself!
JUCONI Foundation Visit
Fellow PCV Tom from Omnibus 108 works with Junto Con Los Niños (Together with Children) or JUCONI, a foundation based in Guayaquil that works to eradicate child labor. Learn more by visiting their website: http://www.juconi.org.ec. Many teen participants were once street children begging, borrowing, or stealing. The foundation provides them and their families with structured activities, therapy, education, professional development, and excursions to learn from other organizations like Neo Juventud.
Participants first traveled to San Pablo to learn about social entrepreneurship and how to build a micro-enterprise in Ecuador from the ladies at Mujeres Cambia. Then, they continued on to Palmar to hear about Fundación Neo Juventud and to take a workshop with me about branding culminating in a logo design exercise in groups. It was a great experience and we hope to have the opportunity to take our own students to Guayaquil to see JUCONI in action there.
Brigadistas Class Going Strong
Our Saturday Brigadistas class is going well and always puts a smile on my face. Recent projects include water color painting, flora and fauna crafts, playing an environmental poetry game, and watching The Lorax in Spanish.
Mujeres: Cambia Celebrates Mothers
To celebrate all of the fabulous mothers and members of Mujeres: Cambia (say that ten times fast) we threw a recycled art party where we taught various projects including how to make earrings and coin purses from inner tubes; how to make flowers, boxes, and other origami projects from magazine paper; how to make a wallet from a milk carton; and how to make a bracelet and earrings from toilet paper tubes and magazine strips. Several projects we perfected at the recent Recycled Art Workshop that Peace Corps hosted in Quito. There is another one coming up in August that we have been invited to as presenters. Can’t wait!
Santa Rita Festival Take Two
It’s finally hitting us that we’ve been at site for over a year. One of the reminders of this is celebrating the Santa Rita festival. Another year another castillo set on fire. This time, we knew what to expect and I had my camera ready to document the experience (last year I left my camera a home during this festival), we helped to serve pizza at Palmar Pizza during the event, and I bought another inflatable to add to my collection. I really must photograph my growing collection including two planes, a zebra, a fish, and a panda bear. Think of a stuffed animal but instead of being made from fabric it’s made out of the same material as a pool float.
Puerto Engabao Surf Competition
During our weekend getaway in Playas we traveled to fellow PCV **Kecia’s** site of Puerto Engabao. What a beautiful place! There was a junior surf competition going on and we got to watch from the pier as 16 year-olds and younger surfed and body boarded enormous waves.
More Recycled Art Workshops
After the success of the Mother’s Day recycled art event we were asked by another women’s group in San Pablo to present similar projects to their female entrepreneurs group. We gladly agreed and spent a lovely afternoon at our friend’s beachside restaurant teaching 20 women the art of turning trash into treasure.