Keteka – Adventure Travel Guide

Hi,

My name is Jason Kreiselman, and I’m an RPCV from Omnibus 99.

I’m working with a few other RPCVs on an online, community-based adventure travel guide that leverages the Peace Corps network to promote underdeveloped communities as tourist destinations. The website is www.keteka.com if you want to check it out. It’s still in the development stages, but it’s slowly coming together. Right now, one of the Keteka founders is in Ecuador and he’s trying to connect with current PCVs to identify sites that could potentially benefit from responsible tourism or would otherwise like to help the effort in any way.

If you are a current PCV or know of any current PCVs living in an interesting community that has some tourism potential, could you get in touch with Jack at jack@keteka.com or on his local cell at 095-885-6172 (feel free to just ring and he’ll call you back so you don’t waste your saldo!). Also, if you are an RPCV with strong connections to a community that you think has tourism potential, please get in touch with Jack!

PLEASE feel free to forward this message along or post it in any other PC

Ecuador forum that you know of.

THANKS SO MUCH!!

Jason

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Heartful Giving Project – Crowdsourcing Campaign through August 1st

The Heartful Giving Project recently launched their campaign on the crowdfunding site Crowdismo in order to raise funds and awareness about international folk art.

Their campaign runs until August 1st and you can donate to their cause by visiting www.crowdismo.com.   Their first project takes place in Sua, Ecuador where a group of artisans formed the association “Manglares de Sua.” Their current structure is in dire need of repair! Project directors Julia & Maryanne Chiriboga wish to help this group fulfill their dream of building a functioning art center where they can practice, teach and sell their traditional handicrafts. …

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Engineers Without Borders Request for Help

RPCV Suzanne Mills sent us this request for help with a water project in Cotopaxi. Spread the world and contact Suzanne if you can help.

Hello Ecuador PCVs and RPCVs!
I am a hydrogeologist with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) currently seeking support for small business development related to a recently constructed drinking water project in the village of Tingo Pucara, Cotopaxi Province. The project is an extensive pumped system that provides high quality water that is more than enough to supply the village for current and future needs. The system won an EWB Premier Project award in 2012 because of its success, in large part due to the participation of an Ecuador RPCV and the strong leadership and unity of the community itself.

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New PCV Fundraising Request – $3500 Audiovisual Laboratory

Peace Corps Partnerships fundraising appeal from PCV Catherine Heimsoth. $3500 is needed to support an audiovisual laboratory. As of July 29th, the project still needs about $3500.

The objective of our project is to implement an audiovisual laboratory that will serve the needs of our educational community by strengthening the linguistic skills of our English teachers and students. Furthermore, the laboratory will be used as a training center for the educational community with the contribution of the following groups: the committee of school authorities and teachers, the student council, the committee of students’ parents, as of course the English area. Everyone will contribute in terms of materials, labor, finances, and through in-kind donations. We believe this project will help not only the students currently in our institution but will serve future generations of students. This laboratory will help the students of our institution reach new academic levels, forming better people capable of working in a professional environment with an adequate use of the English language.

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RPCV Dana Rasch and the Las Mercedes Project

RPCV Dana Rasch (2009-2010) founded the Las Mercedes project in 2009 to support the construction of a health clinic in the community Las Mercedes, located in the city of Huaquillas, Ecuador. Friends of Ecuador helped in the initial stages of the project, until it obtained its own 501c3 status. Here is his recent post about how the project is doing:

Monday, May 27th, 2013

I arrived in Ecuador on May 13th and, fortunately, I have hardly had a moment to rest over the past couple weeks.  Most of my time has been dedicated to the preliminary project evaluation that was completed last week by Engineers without Borders (EWB), an international NGO that carries out infrastructure projects around the globe.  The first step for EWB in any new project is to complete an on-site evaluation to determine which project they will carry out, and if that project is feasible.  This evaluation includes a survey of the land as well as the completion of a community-based needs assessment that consists of house-to-house interviews.  Overall, their visit was a tremendous success!   If we can put all the pieces together, then our non-profit, EWB, the local government, and the residents of Las Mercedes can execute a collaborative project that will have tremendous impact in the community.   I’m excited to share the details of the proposed project, but let me start from the beginning… …

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40th Anniversary of Where There is No Doctor

Celebrate 40 Years by Joining Friends of Where There Is No Doctor!

Where There Is No Doctor turns 40 this year, and RPCVs have formed a group called Friends ofWhere There Is No Doctor to celebrate. Over the past 40 years, Peace Corps Volunteers have used Where There Is No Doctor to teach and practice community health in their host countries, saving lives and improving health along the way. After completing their time in Peace Corps, many volunteers feel moved to continue to improve access to Where There Is No Doctor.

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Graduate School After Peace Corps

In 1998, while I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, I decided to apply for a PhD program in political science. I had no idea what I was doing. Though I had majored in political science at UNC-Chapel Hill, graduating in 1993, I had a limited understanding of the “discipline.” I barely knew what journals were. I had limited access to information about programs, with no access to the internet on a regular basis (I had a dial-up connection once a month or so if I took a two hour bus ride). In the end, two of the four programs I applied to required prior Master’s and I didn’t get in to those (including the one where I now am a professor!). I studied for the GRE’s using a practice book, in between neutering pigs and workshops on cultivating blackberries. When I went to take the exam, it was the first time they had used the on-line computer version, and it was so different! My quantitative score, compared to the practice exam, paled. It was a miracle I got in to Georgetown.

With volunteers and other prospective applicants having access to the internet in even remote locations (I just got an email from my graduate student in East Timor), there is no excuse for that kind of ignorance in this day and age. What can prospective graduate students coming out of the Peace Corps do to prepare themselves? In addition to my scholarly activities, I lead a small NGO called Friends of Ecuador. I know we have a great set of guidance for would-be applicants to PhD programs, but here is a post for returning Peace Corps Volunteers that speaks to applying for graduate school, both for MA and PhD programs. 

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NSA leaker headed to Ecuador?

Whistleblower/leaker Edward Snowden, the 29 year old IT whiz who worked as a contractor to the NSA for Booz Allen Hamilton, is waiting his fate in a transit lounge in a Moscow airport after fleeing from Hawaii and then Hong Kong. He may end up in Ecuador if his request for political asylum goes through. How did this happen? And, is it likely? …

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An Open Letter by Loren Finnell

We’ve had an incredible response from RPCVs to our site re-launch. We’re slowly getting stories in, and we hope to share some with you. Loren Finnell shared this story of meeting his wife Pilar in Ecuador and their adventures together ever since. Loren Finnell as many of you may know, is the President, CEO, and Founder of The Resource Foundation. He served in Ecuador from 1964-1966. In 1987, he founded The Resource Foundation to leverage the resources and experience of donors worldwide and NGOs in Latin America and the Caribbean to increase the self-reliance and living standards of the disadvantaged.  In honor of his life’s work, The National Peace Corps Association selected Dr. Finnell to receive the 2006 Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service at a ceremony in the Senate Caucus Room on Capitol Hill. Friends of Ecuador was thrilled to support his nomination. Click here for a more extended bio.

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