Day Three - by Daniel and Karol

         After waking up, we went downstairs to eat breakfast one last time at the Hotel Real! After breakfast we were introduced to Sarah and Carlos, our service project leaders from Me To We. They joined us on our 6 hour ride to the service project site.

At around 9AM we loaded our luggage on the bus and began our voyage towards our service project. After several hours and more bathroom breaks than we could count we arrived at our destination. On our way we stopped for a lunch that consisted of sandwiches (either ham, chicken or vegetarian), a fruit and a hard boiled egg.  The chaperones had also purchased some Doritos and Ecuadorian potato chips for us.  For desert we had ice cream and some cookies made by Ms. Maggio’s mom!  Of course there were more snacks and games on the bus to keep us occupied over the 7 hour drive..

         We are staying at the Hosteria Pircapamba, a beautiful place that is open wide for all to explore. It is located on a mountain at around 10,000ft and overlooks the town of Alusi. On arrival we were given our room assignments and the rules of the property. On our short tour of the property we discovered there was a pool table, foosball table and a ping pong table for us to use during the hour and half before dinner.  At 7PM we sat down for a delicious dinner of quinoa soup, stir fried chicken and rice. For desert we had peaches and cherries with animal crackers.  The meal was prepared for us by three Quichua woman from the local village!

Our last organized activity of the day included a whole lesson on the history of Ecuador! Sarah and Carlos told us the 500 year history of Modern Ecuador.  We were amazed to learn that slavery of the indigenous groups of Ecuador had existed here well into the 1960’s and the effects of that system are very much still felt today!

We were informed about the Free the Children foundation and Me to We. For those of you who are not familiar with these organizations, Free the Children foundation started in Canada with a 12 year old boy who read a newspaper about another 12 year old boy in Pakistan who was shot and killed for sharing with the world his 4 years of forced labor in a carpet factor that started when he was only 6 years old! This foundation goes to the factories and quite literally Frees the Children.  But overtime the foundation realized that without change in the communities they are from, these children would end up in other factories in time.  And so Me to WE was born.  Sarah and Carlos explained that Me To We works to improve villages in 4 important ways – educate the children, supply safe drinking water to the village, provide mobile medical services and _____.  The projects that they do in their “Adopt a Village Program” are requested by the villagers and are paid for in part by the village. This ensures that the project is something the village wants and needs!  The company also expresses beliefs in buying clothing that are not made by children and contain organic cotton, items that come from recyclable material and working together with a community. Many of the group members were in fact enlightened by these charities and were eager to start their project in the local school kitchen the following day.

Once the Me to We introduction was over we were given on the property until lights out at 11:30PM.  Most of us played tag – yelling much more than Ms Maggio would have liked as we ran around the dorm rooms -  or cards or pool with others. Today was a fun day, but we are looking forward to making a difference tomorrow!