Each Study Service Term culminates in six weeks of service engagement with local organizations throughout the host country (casually referred to as “Service”). After the initial six weeks of cultural and academic study, the shift in location and purpose opens the door for powerful new experiences.
On our first visit to Mindo, we planted some trees and now they are bearing fruit and attracting pollinators.
Students have been scattered throughout the Andes and Amazon to work in schools, local governments, churches, and nonprofits. The scope of the work is varied: one student might teach English while another plants trees or distributes aid packages to refugees. The nature of Service often means that students face new challenges each day. Flexibility, patience, graciousness, and a healthy dose of good humor are key to a student’s success no matter their endeavor.
Several of our students engage in teaching, but they are also learning.Others learn the craft of coca bean cropping.We have partners conducting academic research on Ecuadorian culture and history. Our students take their work seriously but with joy.
Though new, they are a welcomed part of their host family in smaller communities.Students work hard, but they still find time for a match.Family is so important in Ecuador. La familia es lo más importante en Ecuador.Planting threes is also important in Ecuador.Now that we have an expert in the art of making empanadas from scratch, we hope to learn from her how to make them.Our host families make our students feel at home.…always. Work is hard, but those chess matches don’t seem easy either. SSTers quickly become part of the team.Uno, dos, trees!Making brownies from scratch? From collecting, fermenting, drying, and roasting coca beans?? ¡Psss! ¡Pan comido!
While the work of Service is challenging, students are supported by their new host families who ensure that each student is fed, watered, educated, and entertained. Families and our partner organizations have embraced our SSTers, and in return each student has begun to integrate themselves into their new communities.
Our students engage with the youth of Ecuador discussing health and values. I was just trying to not get in the way.When families go to work on their farm, and they don’t leave anyone behind. But they also feed them well. …and take them to see the sights.We visited one our students on PI Day and we couldn’t break with tradition.Some of the restaurants here have a special kind of beauty.A stelar team behind a beautiful view.SSTer were joined by a German volunteer in three panting. Now they are Das Amigös. While on Services, students don’t shy away from preparing groceries to donate. Awww…!It isn’t hard to feel at home with Ecuadorian families.Goshen students participate in entrepreneurial projects.…and trips to the waterfalls. They still have to do their academic work.
This week, we, SST leaders started visiting students, hearing their stories, learning about their lives while on Service. It is a true joy to hear about the progress, meet their families, and see them in action with our host organizations. We will continue touring Ecuador’s central region in the coming days and seeing our students.
If you need another reason to smile, look into those eyes. (This is Nina, a little puppy, living in an environmentally friendly farm in Mindo, where our students are helping repair ecosystems).
As we continue visiting students and families, we marvel at how thoughtful and serious our partnering organizations are about improving their communities. Thanks to the institutional commitment, our students become fully engaged in the Service and in their personal growth.
At Centro Médico, in Cayambé we learn about medical services provided at affordable prices for the community.Our students were helping in the kitchen, shelling green pease, when we arrived. We meet families in Cayambe.The Otavalo Public Library hosts one our students as an English as a Second Language instructor Jóvenes Por la Paz is dedicated to restoring forests around traditional trails for the community and tourist. Fernando explained to us that this is not “work” in the traditional sense, but volunteering to improve our world and enact social justice.At Instituto Otavaleño de Antropología, with its director, professor Diego. We also spent time with families in Cotacachi. In San Simón, Su Cambio por el Cambio is dedicated to creating resilient communities through agricultural work and education.Lots of agricultural workEven one of our directors took part in the workSu Cambio produces vegetables for their own meals and to generate resources to offer free meals.We enjoyed the fruit of Su Cambio’s hard work.As in other locations, we meet students for coffee and sweets in Riobanba.Or a walk in the park.In Puyo, we had lunch during a much deserve break from painting a new ENL school where SSTer help with teaching and tutoring young learners.
