Volunteer Reflection: Taken Aback

Jackie traveled to Ecuador this year for a few weeks, and immediately immersed herself in the culture.  Her positive attitude and energy allowed her a special opportunity to get to know many of our students and families.  Today she reflects on a few of these special people in her life!

"Taken aback, I believe, is the most accurate way to describe how I’ve been feeling and how I’ve been processing all the different and beautiful people I have met here.

There are some people we encounter– and we all know who they are, in our own lives– that shine and live so ferociously that, even when we close our eyes, we see the bright outlines cast by their luminescent presence. These people, simply by their existence, encourage us to be better, kinder, gentler, and to live in a bold, brave, and intentional way. These kinds of people leave indelible marks on our spirits and minds. They are colorful and magnificent, radiating with determination, love, and hope. Even in seemingly hopeless and impossible situations, these people rise above the material world and overcome countless obstacles through inner strength- strength of the soul.

I have met such people here, people my own age whom I look up to as role models and hold as friends. Thinking of them and their goals and dedication inspires me to live in a radical and beautiful manera.

Melanie. Now in her final year of high school, she spends three hours total commuting to and from school each day, and on Mondays and Thursdays, she skips lunch so she can attend refuerzo and receive extra help with English and her other studies. She is a devoted student, a talented dancer, a caring daughter, a loving sister, and a loyal friend. She dreams of becoming a flight attendant: of learning languages, attending university, of traveling and seeing the world. And she will.

Joel. Currently a first year student at a top private university in Guayaquil. His high test scores, hard work, and determination led him to win a prestigious scholarship that covers 100% of his tuition. He, like Melanie, has a long commute to and from classes, and afterwards comes home to study and volunteer at Starfish, thus giving back to a foundation that gave him opportunities to grow, succeed, and continue the process of lifelong learning. He studies hard: he studies to maintain his scholarship, to learn about economics and business, and to secure a stable occupation for himself. He wholeheartedly dedicates himself to growing in knowledge to achieve his dreams. And he will.

Maria. Like Joel, she is also a first year university student. And, like Melanie and Joel, she travels several hours each day to attend classes. She studies medicine: biology, chemistry, anatomy. She has a beautiful smile, loves to dance and sing, and she, also, gives back to Starfish and works there as an educadora, providing help that she once received. She is an inspiration to the students at refuerzo, and an inspiration to me. She studies for countless hours, loves her family and friends, and dreams of becoming a pediatrician. And she will.

Melanie, Joel, Maria. They exemplify hard work, passion, creativity, love, and dedication. They constantly overcome obstacles, they leap over the many hurdles that stand in their paths, and they rise above unjust situations. I feel honored and grateful to know them, and I am proud and joyful to call them my friends.

~ We must allow the world to pierce our hearts. For if we are not passionate, sensitive, and courageous, we are nothing ~  "

~Jackie A., Starfish Volunteer.  Read more reflections from Jackie on her blog!

Vacacionales and First Ever Starfish Open House!

Hola again from Guayaquil, Ecuador.  We've had a few really exciting weeks here.  Last week we shared about the graduations of our 6 seniors, but that's not all we've been up to!

For the last 3 weeks we've held vacacionales, sort of like day camp, for our students with a wide range of activities planned mainly by our educadores.

Some of our female students were able to participate in community service at a local shelter and school for young girls who either don't have families or have suffered some sort of abuse and have been removed from their homes.  Our students were able to share some activities and friendship with them several days during vacation.  We hope this partnership can continue so that our students can continue to give back to their community!

Other activities included spiritual retreats, teamwork activities, a treasure hunt, and more.  On the last day we also thought about our dreams for Starfish and created this poster (above, right) so that we may keep our dreams in mind always.

  

In Flor, the main activity was learning how to make various things from recycled materials (above).  Spearheaded by educadora María, the students learned how to make many items using just plastic bottles, newspaper, empty toilet paper rolls, and other materials found around the home.  On the last day we held an open house where parents and other family members came to learn about the projects the students had been working so hard on over the past few weeks.  We concluded the open house with the first ever "Miss & Mr. Starfish" where students modeled various outfits - including their very own dresses & suits made from recycled material. Congrats to Oscar & Itaty for winning this year due to their hard work on their recycled outfits as well as their confidence in expressing themselves!

Towards the end of our camp, we also held our closing ceremony for the 2014-15 school year, recognizing our students, employees, and parents for their efforts during the year.  We started off with some inspiring words from Milena's mom, Mariana & Scholars Geovanny & Mirka.  Then we recognized all of our employees with some awesome Starfish hats and awards.  Educadores Tyrone from Flor and Cynthia from Guasmo were recognized by their co-workers as "Educador del Año" or Employee of the Year.  Jordy's mom Norma was recognized as "Parent of the Year" for always going above and beyond what is asked of her.  Yesenia from Guasmo and Jordy were recognized for earning the most stars on our star chart that tracks grades, attendance, behavior, community service and more.  Our 6 graduates also received framed graduation pictures as our special gift to them!

Scholars who have been with us since the first year!

Mariana, Milena's mom

Flor Scholars with their families!

All of our students acting a little loco to celebrate their hard work!

A Volunteer Perspective - Why I Stayed

Extending my Visa

Ecuador is a country filled with diversity, culture, and most importantly life. Why would anyone want to leave Ecuador? This question was always running through my thoughts during my first month of working with the Starfish Foundation.

It was so easy and comfortable adjusting to life in Ecuador, with the warm welcome from the Starfish families. With that in mind I decided that my journey in Ecuador didn't have to end so soon, and so the next step was to extend my visa.

Extending my visa is the best decision I've ever made. I've had more time to make memories and bond with the students while chatting about future plans and goals.  And best of all, every day I am able to walk into a classroom filled with warm smiles, and share time with families who open their homes to us strangers.

Working for the Starfish Foundation has been a blessing and great experience.  I wouldn't change it for the world. There is no other place like Ecuador and that's why I decided to make it my home as long as I possibly could.

Written by current Starfish Volunteer in Ecuador, Nancy Landeros

*Note* Nancy is doing a gap year between high school and college and first heard about Starfish through the extended HOBY network, of which co-founder Beth is a part.  Originally Nancy had planned to say for the 90 days that a tourist visa allows, but quickly decided she would like to spend more time in this beautiful country.  So she embarked on the challenging journey of obtaining a visa extension and was rewarded after much hard work and patience with a 6-month extension that will allow her to be with Starfish until the end of March!

Ayudante Update from: Guasmo!

This week we get the chance to hear from our "Ayudantes" in Guasmo about the beginning of the school year there!

"During May and June, we set up a schedule with the parents to help us with snack.  So far, everyone has collaborated and the kids are satisfied with the snack they are given.

In the Starfish Foundation in Guasmo we have 2 groups:

Group 1: The students come Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  In the morning we have 7th, 8th and 9th graders, and in the afternoon we have 10th, 11th and 12th grades.  In each group they do their homework, and during free time we do ice-breakers.  The new students and the old students get along very well, there's a lot of friendship and everyone helps each other.

Group 2: The students come Tuesday and Friday in the morning and they are in 6th and 7th grade.  They do their homework and during free time we do ice-breakers.  The new students and the old students get along very well, there's a lot of friendship and everyone helps each other.  They really like the ice-breakers and other activities, and they have a lot of ideas.

We also had a parents meeting to explain the new rules, values and snack system.

In the foundation, we also go on field trips, and one of those was the Integration Day when we spent a morning playing sports with the Scholars.

From,
Yuliana, Cynthia, Lissette, Betsabeth & Marcos"

Ayudante update from: Flor de Bastión!

Today our Employees or Program Leaders  (the "Ayudantes") share with us a beautiful reflection about the beginning of the school year at our Flor de Bastión site...stay tuned next week for the Guasmo updates!

"Hi!  Here we have a very friendly environment where some of our most important values include: respect, fellowship, humility and mutual cooperation between us and the students.

We have three groups during the week, and each one is different from the others. One of these groups is the group with the youngest students, which is also our most active group.  Then we have our morning group which is a little quieter and always gives a 100% effort in their work, and lastly the second afternoon group which is a little more challenging to work with - some are quiet and others talk a lot, but all have dreams and goals to achieve!

We as employees and leaders always try to be patient and also to get to know each student better.  We share our friendship and our knowledge with them.  Even so, there are some things we are still working to improve, and every day we strive to be better.  That's a little of what is going on at the foundation.

Peace,
Jessica, Tyrone, María, Cecilia, Kevin & Jasmin"

You might notice a new name on that list - Find out more about the newest addition to our Starfish team, Cecilia, over at our Employees page!

Integration Day

This past weekend we had our first "Integration Day" of 2014, where our Scholars from both Guasmo and Flor de Bastión had the chance to recreate and converse during a day of fun-filled sun and sports!

2014-2015 Starfish Scholars

Switching it up from past Integration Days, we decided not to have either neighborhood host, but instead we took the kids to a local park, Parque Samanes.  Over a year ago, the government opened the first phase of what will be one of the 3 biggest parks in all of Latin America. We played soccer and basketball, and enjoyed using the exercise equipment.  

New Starfish Scholars had a blast getting to know each other, while our returning Scholars had a chance to catch up with old friends.  The best part - this park is free and we hope our students are able to go back soon with their families.  

Scholars Maria and Solange with Employees Lissette, Cynthia and Yuliana

Relaxing after a hot day in the sun!

Twan & Rianne's Volunteer Experience

Today's blog is a guest post from volunteers Twan & Rianne.  They are from the Netherlands and volunteered with Starfish for two weeks at the end of February - here is a reflection on their time with Starfish!

"We started traveling in September '13 to revitalize ourselves and explore another beautiful continent but also to make worthwhile experiences which will make our lives richer. We came across The Starfish Foundation and we could identify with its mission. We believe education is the first step towards a better future.

Rianne helping Starfish tutoring student, Genesis, with her English homework

The first day we arrived, Jenn picked us up and brought us to our host family for the next two weeks. Immediately we felt at home because of the warm welcome. Not only the family was great to us, everyone in the neighborhood came to welcome us, this stayed like this during the whole period. We loved it and would really like to thank them all for the amazing time they gave us!

Twan & Rianne with their host family :)

At the foundation we found groups of very sociable, friendly, intelligent and driven children. They were very curious about us, eager to learn about the Netherlands and to learn new things. The eagerness was to be found at some students, seriously trying to finish their homework to their best knowledge, driven to continue their studies at university if possible.

Twan, taking a break to play basketball with the kids in Guasmo!

Overall we had two amazing weeks and brought a lot of people into our hearts.  We wish everyone all the best and we hope to return one day! Keep up the good work!" ~Twan & Rianne

A day in the life of Maria's week off from school!

Maria had a great time during school break a few weeks ago and today she shares with us a little bit about how she spent her time!

"During my vacation, I had a great time.  I went out almost every day until almost 10pm and the good part about that is that I was with people that I love - my cousins Andy and Luis and my family, and the best because God was always with me.  Also, Sunday we started practicing for my Quinceañera (15th birthday) and so far I like the choreography, I don't about the others.

And during vacation I was also on facebook because I could talk to my friends from school since it was 2 weeks that I hadn't seen them.  My best friends are:
Sofia - I did see her during my Quinceañera practica, I love her a lot
Kenia - I love her so much!
Melli, Betza, Moises, Joel, Anell, Nadia, Andy, Jean Carlos, Jonathan, Leonel, Joss Yaritza, Antony, Andy Mauricio, Steven, Leo, Joselin, Genesis, Wellington, Alana, Boris, Efren, Erick.

They are my best friends.  With them I have done a lot of crazy fun things, we've done a lot of cool things.  We've been through the good and the bad but the most important thing is that they've never failed me, I don't know why, maybe because they love me like I love them.
I also had a great time at Starfish because we were learning with the volunteers and Jenny."

Maria working on an art project at Starfish during vacation!

"Yo en mis vacaciones bueno yo la pase super, salía casi todos los días como hasta las 10:00 o más de la noche y lo bueno es porque estaba con personas quiero, mis primos Andy y Luis y mi familia y lo mejor porque siempre estaba conmigo Dios.  Y también el Domingo tuvimos que estar ensayando para lo de mi quinceañera y bueno a mí hasta ahora si me gusta los paso no se a los demás.

Y en mis vacaciones yo también he estado en el facebook ya que en el puedo conversar con mis amigos ya que tenía dos semanas que no los había visto entre ellos los mas importantes:
Sofia - pues a ella la vi en los ensayos, y la quiero mucho
Kenia: A ella yo la amo mucho, la quiero mucho
Melli, Betza, Moises, Joel, Anell, Nadia, Andy, Jean Carlos, Jonathan, Leonel, Joss, Yaritza, Antony, Andy Mauricio, Steven, Leo, Joselin, Genesis, Wellington, Alana, Boris, Efren, Erick.

Son unos de mis mejores amigos/amigas.  Ya que con ellos yo he pasado muchas locuras junto a ellos he hecho muchas cosas cheveres.  He pasado cosas buenas y malas con ellos pero lo importante es que ellos nunca me han fallado porque no se que será me quieren más o como yo los quiero por eso puede ser.  Y también pasé super ya que nos queda más con los voluntarios y Jenny aprendiendo."

Maria and Starfish friends at the pool!