New Ecuador Travel Ad
Makes you want to a book trip, no?
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Las Mercedes Health Center: Now Open!
Friends of Ecuador helped at the beginning stages of this RPCV-supported health project before it had its own tax-exempt status. We’re happy to report that the health center, long in the making, is now open in the coastal town of Huaquillas. From the Las Mercedes Project blog:
In June of 2011, we broke ground on the Las Mercedes Health Center. After completing construction in the fall of 2012, we waited patiently for resources to arrive from the Ministry of Health in order to equip and staff the health center. For almost two years, the building just sat empty reminding everyone in the community just how forgotten Las Mercedes had become.
At times, the wait was painful. We pestered every person we possibly could from the Mayor of Huaquillas to the Vice Minister of Health to the seemingly endless stream of regional health directors that were here one day and gone another. We were almost always frustrated and sometimes we simply felt defeated. But we never gave up and this past week our dream finally came true as the doors of the Las Mercedes Health Center were opened by the Ministry of Health!
On behalf of the residents of Las Mercedes, we would like to say “Thank you” to every single one of our supporters. But more important, we want to say “thank you for believing in us and being a part of our community.”
Together, in solidarity, we were able to turn a simple idea into a reality. Several years ago, we set out to solve the infectious disease problem in Las Mercedes. The building of a fully functioning health center was a key element of our plan.But, we still have work to do.With the health center up and running, the final piece of the puzzle will be put in place this summer through the installation of a fully functioning sewage system in collaboration with Engineers without Borders, the Mayor’s office, and the residents of Las Mercedes.
To complete this project, we need your help. We need to raise $20,000 before May 1st, 2014 in order to purchase the materials for the sewage project and to reach our goal we still need a little more than $6,000. Please help us reach our goal by making a donation. Donating is easy, simply click on the link.
Just like the donations for the health center, every single dollar goes directly to the sewage project since we are 100% volunteer-based organization.
Thank you for your continued support and enjoy the pictures!
The Mayor’s office, in collaboration with the local residents, recently completed the beautiful brick entrance to the health center.
The front of the health center looks great but we still need to replace the tree that a goat ate a while back.
A few workers from the Ministry of Health setting up information boards at the front entrance of the health center.
A well stocked pharmacy thanks to the Ministry of Health!
The medical personnel from the Ministry of Health setting up one of the consultation rooms.
More picture to come!
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War of the Worlds: Ecuador Edition 1949
From the Miami Herald:
But in the tiny Andean nation of Ecuador, the stunt was pulled off so convincingly that even the authorities seem to have fallen for the story — with tragic results. …
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Train from Guayaquil to Quito Rises Again
From CNN:
Trains in Ecuador have been virtually moribund since the late 1990s.
“Strong winter rains of El Niño in 1982 destroyed a stretch of the railroad between Huigra and Bucay,” says Slav Ivanov of Ferrocariles del Ecuador, the train’s operators. “Further damage occurred during El Niño floods during the 1990s.”
By 2008, only about 10% of the Ecuadorian train network was operational.
Since then, the Ecuadorean government has spent some $280 million revamping the national railway. …
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Alto Coca Reserve Threatened by Power Line
The Alto Coca reserve that we have written about before is threatened by a power line. A week ago Mark Thurber and friends were soliciting letters of support from friends. I’ll try to post an update in the future. Here is the note they sent around in Spanish about what was going on. …
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Ecuador’s Volcanoes from Space
Reprinted from Gizmodo:
It may look more like modern art, but you’re actually looking at a the highlands of Ecuador seen from the European Space Agency’s Envisat. The peaks pretty much face the satellite, so the radar signals it sends out are reflected right back, resulting in the strong, bright signals you see.
Near the top of the images you can see the outskirts of Quito — one of the highest capital cities in the world — as a series of white dots. Elsewhere, what looks like white glaciers at the peaks of mountains are in fact artefacts of radio data
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Peace Corps Week – February 23rd to March 1st
This is reprinted from the Peace Corps website.
Peace Corps Week celebrates President Kennedy’s establishment of the Peace Corps on March 1, 1961. During this annual event, the Peace Corps community celebrates all the ways that Peace Corps makes a difference at home and abroad and renews its commitment to service.
This year, Peace Corps invites current and returned Peace Corps Volunteers to get involved in Peace Corps Week 2014 by participating in our Video Challenge and/or Classroom Challenge. Each challenge, designed to support Peace Corps’ Third Goal of sharing other cultures with Americans, starts on January 1 and continues through the end of Peace Corps Week on March 1. Follow the link to learn how you can participate in one or both of these exciting efforts.
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Peace Corps Week – PCV Ecuador Video
Peace Corps week just ended March 1, and PCV Kyle King posted a pretty cool video of his experiences in Ecuador, which of course made me nostalgic. Check it out.
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Peanut Sauce
Mary Weick-Brady brings us another recipe, following on her earlier recipes for hot chocolate and use of parsley. Who did not have peanut sauce when they lived in Ecuador? Here’s a great recipe for that peanut sauce that will bring back many memories.
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Peace Corps Connect Gathering in Nashville in June 2014
NPCA is very excited to be hosting Peace Corps Connect – 2014 in Nashville, TN with the great support of the Tennessee Returned Peace Corps Volunteers!
For those of you on Facebook, be sure to check out the fun aspects of Nashville hospitality.
The preliminary summary of events for June 20th and 21st is as follows:
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