| An
opportunity to learn through experience |
 |
| Andeanface
has been organising educational expeditions for young
people, which have a strong emphasis in nurturing a consciousness
about the aspects that define our different social realities.
We
believe that cultural interaction is a great aspect
in every educational expedition that we organise. People
in the Andes are culturally different than in western
countries. And although there is a different language,
traditions and history, human values are the same in
most societies. In any of our voluntary work programs,
students will have the chance to interact with local
people who are related to the projects.
We think that cultural interaction is the best way to
ultimately understand one another and therefore avoid
racial and social prejudice.
There
is a lot to learn from people in the Andes. In rural
areas, they normally have a basic economy, and live
in small villages. Students will be delighted to see
that they are warm hearted and spontaneous to foreign
visitors.
|
|
|
 |
| |
| Other
Voluntary Work Programs for School Groups
We
strongly believe that tourism should help
the local people of the areas that we visit,
therefore we have started the following
voluntary work programs for school groups
in different mountain regions of Ecuador.
El
Quinual
This is a tiny village located at 3.400
m / 11,152 ft within Chimborazo province
in Ecuador. This province is a highly indigenous
populated area that attracts lots of visitors
due to the presence of Ecuador’s highest
mountain, Chimborazo. Unfortunately, the
region has a high level of poverty.
|
|
The
project at this stage involves helping to
build a playground for the village and painting
the community house. During the voluntary
work the students will be staying at Urbina,
a hostel located right in front of Chimborazo.
Urbina used to be a train station, but has
been converted into a hostel by Rodrigo
Donoso, one of Ecuador’s leading environmental
activists and climbers. The project will
be co-ordinated together with Rodrigo and
Maria Canga the President of El Quinual.
In the recent past, British volunteers of
Harrow School have helped to build the structure
of the community house, which a few months
later, was finished by students from Wellingbrough
School also from the UK. So far the project
has been a great success!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chugchilan
On the western side of Cotopaxi province,
near the Quilotoa crater lake, there is
the tiny village of Chugchilan. This is
a typical village of a mountain region in
Ecuador. It has a small plaza, a church
and a school. The people are very warm hearted.
Most of them still use a horse or donkey
as transport. Visitors, from a European
perspective, will be feel going back a few
hundred years in history!
The voluntary work project will be at the
Juan Jose Flores School, which is named
after the first Ecuadorian President. The
school is a state school. All the public
schools Ecuador are badly financed due to
the lack of financial means.
Resources for maintenance and teaching materials
are lacking.
They need help to paint the school, make
some murals on the walls, teach English
and simply interact with the local kids.
They love to meet you!
|
|
| |
Guachala
A small village located at the base of Cayambe
Volcano, was a home of an important era
in the colonial history of Ecuador. The
village grew around the first hacienda,
Spanish farmhouse, established here in 1548.
The community project involves helping the
Oto Sharnon public school in Guachala. Most
public schools in the country are badly
financed due to the lack of financial means.
At the moment there are 140 kids between
5 and 11 years old. There is also a nursery
home with 35 infants from 5 months to 4
years old.
|
|
| |
Help
is needed to paint the school, improve the
garden, play with the children, and teach
English or just to interact with the kids.
The nursery home needs mattresses urgently!
The project is co-ordinated by Gabriela
Bonifaz who is the manager of Hacienda Guachala,
nowadays converted into a lodge. She is
a person committed to help the local kids
of the village.
|
|
|
|
|
-