Guest Speakers May 1, 2019

Jackie introduced the speakers but first she outlined the many successes of the JPCI Rotaract project now called CITY. These include both local and international projects, raising funds for, among others, malaria kits, hungry kids, kits for newcomer kids and kits for the homeless. Recently we supported a group of 8 students and 3 teachers on an education and working trip to Ecuador. Today Alexander, Soliana, Hezner and Cesar came to tell us about their trip. They presented us with a slide show and took turns outlining their journey.

 

 

They flew to Quito, the capital city of Ecuador and after a one-day tour of the city they went to Yungilla, higher in the mountains where there is a cloud forest terrain. Here there is little rainfall and all water comes from condensation from the clouds. They went on to Mital del Mundo on the equator and then took an 8 hour bus trip to the junction of the Amazon River with the Napa River. Here they learned about the Spanish conquest of the country and went on an interesting night hike to see many animals and bugs.

 

 

They visited an organic cacao plantation where they found the pure chocolate powder from the gourds is almost too bitter to sweeten with only sugar but they also learned a lot about the worldwide business of cacao and the terrible lives of children who harvest the pods in some African countries. They planted banana trees and learned these will be harvested in one year. They watched artisans making jewelry from natural materials.

 

A local man, Don Vargas, told them how he had lived far from the river and had to walk for several hours each day to get water. He moved closer to the river but his 13 yr old daughter became ill from drinking the river water. She died and so Don Vargas learned how to make a sand filter to purify the water

 

On their last three days they worked on building a school. They dug foundation holes and filled them with stones and cement. The helped build a kitchen and they played soccer with the school children. On their last evening they were treated to a dance performance by the locals.

 

 

They closed by presenting a plaque (above) to the Club to thank us for supporting their trip.