February 1, 2018

Have you found Ecuadorian friends on Facebook?

When I went and visited Ecuador last summer for the first time in almost 20 years, I found that many people are on social media. If not the parents I knew when I served, their kids are, and they are all grown up. If you haven’t tried to find Ecuadorian friends on Facebook, search for their names! By one account, nearly 60% of the population in Ecuador, nearly 10 million Ecuadorians, are on Facebook!

Once you friend a few, others will likely friend you! I feel like I have a better appreciation for what people are doing than I ever did. Soccer games, weddings, birth announcements, trips on horseback to the Paramo, dances, funerals, vacations, hospitalization, I’ve seen it all.

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Ecuador Vice President jailed

News reports said Ecuador’s vice president Jorge Glas was jailed on corruption charges in October and convicted in December:

Ecuador’s Vice President Jorge Glas was jailed on Monday after the Supreme Court ordered his arrest while he is investigated for allegedly taking bribes from a Brazilian construction giant involved in a sprawling regional graft scandal.

Apparently, evidence has been recently submitted against him.

Ecuador’s Inspection Commission has convened with assemblyman Roberto Gomez Alcivar, the trial judge presenting evidence in the impeachment hearings against suspended Vice-President Jorge Glas.

Ecuador’s president says Glas is no longer vice president, despite it being an elected position. …

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A greeting from Country Director Michael Donald

This is a guest post from Peace Corps Ecuador Country Director Michael Donald who has been in post for about a year now.

I’ve been in touch with Josh Busby and appreciate his interest in receiving an update on how Peace Corps Ecuador is currently engaged as we start 2018. I’ve been the Country Director here for one year and try to find the balance in devoting my energies among relationships with Volunteers, Staff and counterparts. My most favorite part of the job is visits with the Volunteers; this is what energizes me.

We have three programs currently in the Peace Corps Ecuador portfolio: Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), Community Health, and Youth and Families Development. Training is also, of course, a major focus with classes arriving in January and May each year. By spring we should level out at around 140 Peace Corps Volunteers population in Ecuador.

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Help an Ecuador PCV: On-line Volunteer Opportunity

The National University of Education of Ecuador is looking for Video Pals willing to gift 1-2 hours a week to converse with students from the National University of Education who are preparing to be the future K-12 teachers of Ecuador. In order to graduate they need to achieve a B2 level of English proficiency, and opportunities to strengthen their listening and speaking skills would be gratefully accepted. Not only will the students you connect with benefit, but so will all the children and youth that will come under their tutelage in the future. For details please contact Linda Hayes Gallegos, Peace Corps TEFL Volunteer, lhayesgallegos@gmail.com or send a Facebook message to Linda Hayes Gallegos.

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