The end has sadly come...

Can you believe it has been 14 months, and I am back in the states?! I certainly can’t.

My last month in Ecuador was filled with traveling, goodbyes, smiles, and tears. We *reluctantly* handed over all of our programs to the new Program Directors. I was like a parent learning how to let go and send my child off to college. It was hard to see our programs, our babies, being taken over by other people, but I am confident that the new PDs will have a great year.

Other than the emotional parental struggles, my year couldn’t have ended better. My 6^th grade Nutrition Education Program proved to be a successful program with a 22% increase in the students’ nutrition knowledge and almost a 100% positive response to the students’ self-evaluation on whether or not they have the knowledge and confidence to make their own healthy nutrition choices.  The bottom line is the pilot Nutrition Program was successful and will be continuing next year! Though the program definitely had its struggles and perhaps the impact we made this year was small, I know we started an amazing project that has the potential to grow and permanently change the health of the entire community.

Even though in my last few weeks in Ecuador I was fortunate enough to travel, I was also working up until the end. For the entire year, I was working with Dr. Escobar, an internal medicine doctor at the local hospital who manages a diabetes club for his patients to unite in their struggles against the disease and learn about new treatment options. Working with him, we decided to start an exercise program for the club to help jumpstart tackling the disease. We got everything set up and under way but I was unfortunately not able to see the program begin in September. It will be an amazing program and luckily I am getting updates from Dr. Escobar. J

This past year has been one of the most amazing of my life. I learned so much about international health and communities, as well as so much about myself. It was a year filled with frustrations, tears, laughter, and love. I will never forget the people I met and friends I made.

I will also never forget your support for me over the past year. Because of you, I was able to live a dream and come away a better person. Whenever I look back on my year in Ecuador, I will think of you and have a feeling of gratitude. Thank you so much!

My last day with the Rumiloma twins-

Samantha and Ronny!

Playground with the kids!

I hope you had a fantastic year and thank you again!

Con cariño,

Krysta

Passing on the baton...

As of last week, the new PD’s have infiltrated Quito and we are starting to pass our wisdom down to them. Last Thursday, I took 2 of the new PDs, Jack and Noel, to the Sangolquí radio station, Super K, to meet Oswaldo and give them a go at their first radio charla. Jack will be taking over my position as ‘radio head’ next year and let me be the first to say I couldn’t have passed this job down to a better person. With this enthusiasm for the job, I have no doubts he will take the position and our relationship with Super K to a whole new level!

Jack and Noel flawlessly gave July’s radio charla on nutrition. They were so relaxed and had not only me, but also the DJ Marcela, laughing the entire time. After their charla I don’t know who wouldn’t want to come hang out at the library with them this coming year! Manna is in for a great year if all programs are treated with such eagerness and motivation as Jack and Noel showed at the radio. I will admit I was worried to be passing on my programs, my babies, to the newbies but I can honestly say I am confident they will take care of business and do things I never even imagined.

Good luck this year Jack! 

The morning DJ, Marcela, and me

Jack and Noel broadcasting live!

un abrazo grande,

Krysta

Forever Friends

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. For Adult English, the end sadly came last week. Haley, I and our students ended the course with a blow-out party complete with cake, freshly made hot chocolate with fig tree leaves, candy, cookies, cheese, and without fail, uncooked hotdogs. Yummm! But all in all it was a delicious, sugar-high party filled with story telling and bonding.

Each student received an Intermediate English completion certificate and a hug from Haley and I as a special congratulation. Words cannot express how much I loved teaching this class. Not only were they my students, but they were my friends as well. As I look back on this past year down here in Ecuador, I can truly say that the personal relationships I have made with my students and the community members in general are what I will always cherish long after I leave. Thinking about leaving this country is extremely hard but I will leave knowing that I aided our students in their pursuit to learning English and that they have impacted my life in ways I will be discovering the rest of my life.

And now, it is my pleasure to present the newest graduates of Intermediate Adult English!

Gaston helping Fabiola prepare the 

hot chocalate

Ruth proudly accepting her certificate!

Fabiola and her amazing smile and laugh! 

I miss her already!

Our fabulous graduates! Congrats!

Holding back the tears,

Krysta

All good things must come to an end...

Today marks the end of my Aliñambi Nutrition Education Program. :(  Though it has been a rough few months full of long nights and sore throats after class, I am going to genuinely miss some of those kids!

We spent the last two weeks of class playing jeopardy and taking one last trip per group to the garden and the kitchen. Though the garden is still in it's growing stage and not quite ready to be cultivated, the kids really enjoyed planting and taking care of their respective plots. Hopefully Bryan, one of our kids who lives at Aliñambi, will be able to pick some of the crops over the summer!

In the kitchen, Haley and I made a recipe book for each of the kids full of all the recipes we did in class as well as about 25 more recipes catered to their household cooking abilities. I wish I could have captured all their faces of excitement when we told them about the recipe books! Priceless. Surprisingly, I think the boys were more excited than the girls haha.

The kids will take the diagnostic exam that they took the first day to gage how much they learned, as well as to see how they each responded to the self-efficacy questions (hopefully positively!). When they first took the diagnostic prior to learning anything about nutrition, the average score was about a 50%. To deem the program successful and hopefully carry on another year, we are hoping for an increase of 25% or an overall average of 80%. We shall see next week when we get back the exams! I'll keep you posted! I'm crossing my fingers, yet again, that this program can continue next year and expand to include the families to promote more permanent change within households.

And now, the best of the Aliñambi Nutrition Education Program...

One of the posters I made for the 

hand-washing charla

Some of the girls soooo excited to give

their interviews at local tiendas! 

Such eager students!

Sayuri and Jessica crying. From the onions

or because they're having so much fun? Guess

we'll never know...

Enjoying the fruits of their labor!

Our final class. :( Captures them perfectly...

I was so sad to be ending the class as I probably will not see many of the kids again because they are out on summer vacation now. Though a few come to the library, so I will have a couple more days before the big goodbye.

besitos,
Krysta

'Tis the Season for Money!!!

After months of work, a 12-page document, days of editing, and 'self-efficacy' becoming my new favorite word, my Coca-Cola Grant request is officially submitted!! :) CELEBRATION!

I submitted a grant request to the Coca-Cola Foundation for Manna's nutrition and health programs. Currently our budget is at about $200, and lets just say that doesn't go too far when you're trying to purchase new Women's Exercise equipment, run a nutrition class and trying to open a Health Resource Library. So, for months I have been working on this grant so the next year Program Directors are not held back by money.

My money request came to approximately $17,516.32. Now do I expect to get all $17k? Perhaps not, but even a small chunk of that would do wonders for the nutrition programs and that is the least I can hope for! The budget included things from aerobic steps to photo copies to health conferences for Manna PDs and community members to a weight scale and blood glucose monitor. Channeling the true nerd in me, I am so stoked at the possibility of getting sweet, new medical equipment!

I believe the turn around on notification is 6 to 8 weeks so hopefully by the time my contract ends with Manna in August, I will have heard some (great) news! I will fill you in once I hear something!

I'm so nervous I'm biting my nails...

(This was actually taken in Venezuela after Jackie

and I  got the last 2 seats on this overnight

bus to catch our flight back to Quito!)

Hope you're enjoying the start of summer!
Finger- and toe-crossed Peterson

Summer Library Sprucing!

Two weeks ago 10 eager college students arrived to live in the Manna House (yes, there are currently 19 people living all together in the Manna House) and work with us on our programs and do things us PDs just simply never have time to do.

Haley and I have 2 awesome girls helping us with Adult English and they are already planning and teaching part of the classes. Our awesome students have of course welcomed them with open arms and it's definitely a load off of us during a very hectic time of the year! But it's going great and Sonia and Jenni (our TA volunteers) are doing a fabulous job.

Sonia and Jenni teaching vocabulary!

I also have some volunteers helping me paint the very worn down clinic at Aliñambi. But more will be told of that in a few weeks when we finish, so stay tuned.

One of the biggest changes as happened in the library. When Tulane was here for Spring Break, they painted an amazing mural on one of the walls in the library. Tulane left it up to the PDs to fill in/paint all the bubbles....well it never got done. So we recruited the summer vols to finish it for us and within 2 days, it was transformed! It looks fabulous all completed!

The completed mural! (I painted the Ecuador flag :) )

Apparently finishing the mural wasn't enough and some decided to take on a new project of painting other parts of the library as well. The library really needed some color on its ugly pale yellow/tan walls and its getting the star treatment! It is really starting to look like a library with continued book donations and character being added by short-term volunteers and a wall now devoted to the kids reading club. Its incredible to see what we been done since we arrived last July.

Jenni and Claire working on the 

plant/outdoor themed Adults Corner!

I am sure there will be more to come of the library space with these vols around and a new group coming in in a few weeks so I can't wait to see what else springs up!

Disfrute,

Krysta

The Next Food Network Stars!

With the start of June, we will be heading into our 4th and final month of our pilot Nutrition Education Program at Aliñambi. I can't believe it. We have completed all our cooking classes and garden classes with the kids and are now onto more difficult curriculum here in the last month.

In the kitchen we cooked 5 meals including Honey Chicken with Rosemary, Fruit Salad, Rice Salad with Spring Vegetables, Acelga Soup with Vegetables and the always-a-hit Zucchini Bread. As those recipes were just the tip of the iceberg. Needless to say we cooked up a storm with these kids and they all seemed to love it! Each week we assigned ingredients to each kid that they were responsible for bringing. We wanted them to start to gain a sense of responsibility in the kitchen and start them on the track towards self-efficacy in their nutritional lives. Many didn't know what a lot of the ingredients were so by having them have to search and discover new fruits and vegetables, they will *hopefully* now start to realize the healthy variety available to them!

Cooking with Valeria, Sasha, and Jose!

(I apologize for the scary looking black eye 
I'm sporting...soccer)

Jackie did a great job with the kids in the garden. Group 1's plot is sprouting some carrots, lettuce, and herbs beautifully, though much to the regret of Group 2, whose plot isn't looking too hot. Jackie taught them about the negative effects of pesticides and how they effect our health as well as about composting and she even took on the carbon cycle!

Group 1's flourishing garden on the right, 

Group 2, not so much :(

Many days with this project we get overwhelmed and frustrated. Needless to say we have learned a lot about Ecuadorian school systems and discipline and even a few cultural clashes here and there. One day in the kitchen when we were almost at our whits end after suspending 5 kids from the kitchen the week prior, something amazing happened. I was talking to Jennifer, one of our best students, while she was eating the beautifully prepared meal for the day. In the midst of talking she informed me that she made Potatoes with Rosemary (one of the first recipes we did with the kids) in her house with her dad for Mother's Day. She said she cooked and helped her dad and her whole family loved them! I was so excited and so touched, I was at a loss for words. That day made the entire past months of hardships worth it. If we are even affecting the lives of one of these kids, than it has all been worth it. That piece of news Jennifer gave me made me again step back and appreciate why I am here and how amazing it all really is.

Jennifer giving her stellar interview!

Today was the first Friday on non-kitchen and gardening activities. On Tuesday, I taught the kids how to give an interview and how to professionally conduct themselves. Today, we went out into the community and each of them conducted interviews to food-store owners. Despite their nervousness, most of them did fabulous and it was great to see their sense of accomplishment when they were finished. This is just the beginning of a serious of activities we have planned for the kids in their quest towards self esteem and self efficacy in their lives.

So, only one more month until we wrap up this pilot program and assess its success and possible future. Yikes! I will keep you posted upon its end!

A warm Ecuadorian embrace,
Krysta