Mil gracias - Many Thanks to our friends at COMIL!

For the second year in a row we have been blessed with donations and support from the wonderfully compassionate and generous STUDENTS at the Militar High School "Combatientes de Tapi N.6" in Riobamba, Ecuador.  That's right, other high school students have taken it upon themselves to donate new and gently used books, notebooks, and other items to their new friends at Starfish here in Guayaquil as part of their Values class.  This year in particular, they helped us double the size of our Starfish library, which was created last year with their generous donations!  This was all made possible through a great initiative we call "Kids Supporting Kids", started by our friend Monica.  Check out her blog to hear more about some of her other initiatives!

Some of the "ayudantes" helping to sort through and categorize books for our growing library!

We're really excited to receive donations from another part of Ecuador.  While we are forever grateful for all of the support we have received from the U.S. and around the world, receiving donations from another city here in Ecuador has been an eye-opening experience for our Scholars.  They are able to learn first-hand the important lesson of how inter-connected we all are - and the great responsibility we all have to each other as global citizens.

Some of the students and teachers from COMIL plan to visit us at Starfish during the school year and we hope to keep in touch through a pen pal program so that we can continue to exchange ideas, inspiration and friendship with these inspiring youth!

May updates - Tests, Volunteers, Books & More!

May sure has been a busy month at Starfish!  We started the month off with some "exámenes de nivelación" or some grade-level tests to see what our students remembered after their long break from classes.  A lot of the students found the material very challenging so we will be using these tests and other resources throughout the year to reinforce basic concepts and assure that our students are not just passing their classes, but also learning the material!

Students in Guasmo finishing up their tests.

Our 6 part-time employees are adapting well to their new roles and forming friendships with each other and the kids.  Our first volunteer of the year has assumed the role of "Profesor de Ingles" or English teacher and our newest volunteer Maria just got in yesterday.

Jasmin, Maricruz, Tyrone and Jenn in Flor de Bastión

May has also meant a crazy month of running back and forth to the center of the city looking for books for the students.  Technically it is illegal for schools to require that students buy textbooks, especially since they are so expensive, but that doesn't stop about 50% of schools from doing it anyway.  Though we encourage our students and families to stand up for their rights, we don't want the students' grades to suffer in the meantime.  In accordance with our mission to not give the families money but rather the supplies they need to be successful, Starfish buys the books.  However, this is not as simple as going to the bookstore with the list of books you need.  It means going from store to store around the city and maybe finding 1 or 2 of the 30 or 40 books at each store.  Thankfully book season is ending soon so we won't have to buy any more books - until next May!

A sample of some of the books bought this past weekend!