New Year....New Programs!

With the break for Christmas and starting a new "quarter", some of our programs have been revamped and some new programs have taken flight. I am busier than ever having taken on some new responsibilities as well as a few of my programs getting into their initiation stages. Here is how my time will be spent, most likely, for the next, and last (sniff) 6 months of my time with Manna.


-Adult English: I am no longer teaching Intermediate Adult's English but rather Haley and I have started a Beginner's Adult English course. Many of our community members expressed interest in English but needed the beginners course because though many of them come into contact with English speakers at their various jobs, they had no where they could turn to to get the basic level....until now! Our class is completely FULL (yay!) with 10 students. They are the greatest bunch of students I have ever worked with. They are so eager to learn and participate it is amazing. I love my class!


-Estudios Mundiales (World Studies): This is a new class based off Jackie and I's Natural Science class from the fall. We had great success in our Natty Sci class but we wanted to extend it's range of material. Many kids here do not know geography and even barely know what continent Ecuador is in or where on a map. So we ran with this enlightenment and decided to make a geography/natural science combined class. We came up with 'World Studies'! Each week we teach the kids about geography and various places and cultures around the world and incorporate in current science and environmental topics. So far it has had a rough start with attendance but we are hoping to change that this week so stayed tuned!


-Women's Exercise: I have now taken over teaching Tae Bo on Tuesday evenings for the Women's Exercise class. Haley, the leader of the program, has built a great foundation of women that regularly attend Yoga classes on Mondays, Tae Bo on Tuesdays, and Aerobics on Thursdays. My side kick/punch combo will be perfected in no time! Women's Exercise is a program aiming at getting normally domestic women out of the house and moving! We track their blood pressure, pulse and weight each week so they can see the progress of their health. It is a great program and we will be soon matching this class with cooking classes to teach these women how to cook healthy using the amazing local produce available to them here in Ecuador!


-Health: I have some sad news, one of my programs, the Aliñambi Primary Clinic Expansion project has lost its funding and has thus been put on hold for the time being. It was a decision out of my hands unfortunately but, it does however leave me time to focus on my Nutrition Program. We have measured and analyzed all the data of the children and about 33% of the children are malnourished. Our next steps are to develop a Nutrition Program to get these children healthy and to change the way they and their families see health and nutrition. We plan to use a combination of vitamins and supplements coupled with nutrition education so that eventually the artificial vitamins can be replaced with natural ingredients in the fruits, veggies and meats of Ecuador. This program has been a long time developing but I truly think we are at the stage where the actual implementation of the Nutrition Program is in sight! HURRAY! 


-Scholarships: I am going to be working with a local financial company in Quito that provides scholarships for students wanting to continue their education. Nothing like this is offered in our community so we want to work with this organization and our donors to bring this opportunity to our community members. For example we have one amazingly smart lady who wants to return to school to study nutrition, and this program will help her achieve that goal.


Aside from all of this, I will be working on starting a book club at our library for the kids as well as continuing my shadowing at one of the local hospitals near where we live. When I put this all in writing it seems like a lot, and well, it is, but when it comes down to it, I'm only here for a year so I would be crazy to not take advantage of all these great opportunities! 


Hope all is well with everyone in all your respective global cities!

A picture just for fun because my family was awesome enough

 to come down and visit me over Christmas!! :)

Me and the Fam in the Galapagos! Love you guys!

Con cariño,

Krysta

2010...the Year to Celebrate Families, Friends and Communities!

Starting off 2010 right by showing the communities in which we work our appreciation for them and their support was our top priority. With this in mind, yesterday we held a "Celebración Comunitaria" (Community Celebration) for all our community members to come relax, enjoy one another, and embark in the new year with confidence that Manna, and other local organizations are still present and at their sides. 

The Celebración was preceded by hours, and months for that matter, of organization, bringing back supplies such as water balloons and face paint from the US, and walking all over advertising for the big day. Our preparation even entailed recruiting visitors from the states to spend precious Ecuador vacation time making large banners to hang at local organizations...Thanks Laura! Despite the usual pre-event advertising and organization, I was responsible for coordinating with a local radio station, SuperK, with whom Manna has a very close relationship, to advertise our event on air. Since December, Oswaldo from SuperK has been making short 20 second advertisements on air with the promise that we would come into the station in January to be interviewed about the event. Since I have been to the station twice before, once with our teen camp this past summer and the other to promote our Health Clinic in August, I was the one heading to the station last Friday, on nerves, to be interviewed. Accompanied by Jackie, Oswaldo introduced me and said a little background info about the station's history with Manna and from there interview took off. He asked me about Manna, where we work, what we do, how the culture here is different and how we are liking it, how Manna gets its money and support to work down here, and of course about out upcoming Celebration. Amidst all the business talk, he of course didn't fail to ask if I had an Ecuadorian boyfriend and as I responded "no", he made the announcement that I will be handing out cards at the Celebration for those interested! ha. He also mentioned my personal blog and ask about the soccer team we were playing on and what position I played. I mentioned that Jackie also played and though she had bowed out of speaking on the radio, Oswaldo asked her what position she played and if she liked it and Jackie, thinking he asked what she would be doing at the Celebration, responded: "I'm doing musical chairs!" hahah. Needless to say that is the joke around the house right now, but I reassured Jackie that the listeners just got a glimpse of how fun and entertaining we are and would want to come to the Celebration even more! :) So, all-in-all the interview lasted about 25 minutes or so and we definitely got across to some of our community members as one lady mentioned her hearing us on the radio that morning! Success!
During the actual Celebration, we had a local DJ playing music, the Ministry of Health had a booth with current health issues, the local credit and earnings coop, as well as local venders selling food. We had games for kids including a water balloon toss, face paint (and let me tell you I'm pretty darn good a painting whiskers now), balloon animals, egg races, and soccer. For adults, we had a recipe/food sampling table (which I spent hours before the event preparing the food), soccer, a sample Women's Exercise class in which for that day only men were invited, and of course dancing and entertainment. I was the "ringmaster" of the event in that on numerous occasions I had to get on the loud speaker and made announcements about upcoming games and activities and library tours. Loud speaker talking in front of many people....yikes. But hey what's life without a little humility right?
All-in-all the event was a huge success with many new community members coming to see what Manna and the library have to offer and spend some time with neighbors and family. It was really awesome to take a step back yesterday and see the number of families and children that had come to enjoy the day with us. Amidst all the chaos and stress, it is very easy to forget why we are here doing what we do and that even though we may not be as successful in all aspects of what we do, it is the little things that are really making a difference to these people and communities. Many people overlook this and get wrapped up in the bigger picture and forget to appreciate what they have accomplished thus far. Our library has really grown in the past few months and we have so many upcoming new programs about to start...that is something we really need to be proud of. I have learned so much being around this culture and these communities. Who can resist faces likes these....

Me and the Future Champion Flosser of Ecuador! 

(See my first guest blog on the MPI blog!)

Whatever you do don't drop the egg!

Community members checking out what the 

Ministry of Health booth has to offer!

Passing along delicious and nutritious food and 

recipes, all using local Ecuadorian goods!

Thank you to all my family, friends, new and old, and to my supporters. I am now just about half way through my year here and can't believe how time is flying. I have so many goals still to achieve here and I can only hope 2010 proves to be as generous and prosperous for me as 2009!
May all your troubles last as long as your New Year Resolutions!


Un abrazo,
Krysta 

Ready... Set... EXPLODE!!

First off let me apologize for my lack of posting in November AND December! Between Thanksgiving and organizing classes and contacts to prepare for break, my blog sadly took position on the back burner. But here is a guest blog that I wrote for the Manna Blog about our fabulous Natural Science class volcano-building finale....
And check back later this week for an update about the new year here in Ecuador and how our programs and my work has changed!

Without further ado, my guest blog...

"As our Natural Science class sadly came to an end this week, we decided we wanted to go out with a bang...or rather an EXPLOSION!

Our 2-part class on volcanoes had a suspenseful start with a volcano diagram and learning, in Spanish AND English, about the various parts of a volcano. Then we swiftly transitioned into our lecture for the day with material stopping just short of discussing plate tectonics, but nonetheless just as invigorating! We had planned to do a worksheet and show a video, but due to the awesome power outages, neither of those caught glimpse of action on Volcanoes Day One. We ended Day One with the actual building of the volcanoes! WOOHOO! Since our class is so large, we split them up into 2 groups allowing each group to make their own paper mache volcano. And naturally without fail they teamed up into boys and girls teams. As Day One came to a close, the volcanoes were taking shape and looking awesome!

Cotopaxi is one of Ecuador's more famous volcanoes with its spectacular glacier-topped summit peeking over mountains and clouds providing views from all around Quito. Did you know that Cotopaxi has erupted 50 times since 1738?! If you were in our class Friday, you would have learned this! NO WAY! Yes way...

After some English vocabulary review, a Discovery Channel video about volcanoes, a worksheet and a lesson about the effects of volcanoes on the environment, the time had come...explosion time! Needless to say they were a huge hit, I mean what kid doesn't love volcano eruption day in elementary school? So, I'll let the pictures and video do the talking from here...

The boys enjoying constructing (and sticking newspaper up their

noses)

Jackie and Krysta with the girls' finished product

Profe Krysta completes the second demonstration

Our whole class!

And FINALLY, our epic explosion video:

**For some reason my Blogger will not allow me to upload the video

so click this link to my guest blog to see the video! Sorry!

Natural Science Volcano Explosion Video!

If you are just beside yourself with excitement and jealousy that you didn't get to build a volcano with us, we offer free Skype dates so you too can learn how to bring the fun into your home! (*Materials not included)

Thanks for reading and have a splendid Thanksgiving week!

Hugs and besitos,

Krysta"