Responsibility as a Community

This week, we feature a short blog post by two of our educadores, Pamela and Jasmin. In this honest reflection, we learn that small actions, when an entire community participates, can have a great impact.

Pope Francis's recent encyclicals about ecology and climate change beckon us to open our eyes to the natural world around us, and to take actions towards truly caring for the environment. As a worldwide human community dependent on the world's resources, we should work towards integrating ourselves with our nature: on caring for and protecting our environment. Pope Francis invites us to participate in the "the divine harmony between beings and creation."

During his visit to Ecuador (July 7, 2015) and meetings with political, business, and community leaders of the country, Pope Francis boldly and truthfully proclaimed: "We received this world as an inheritance from past generations, but also as a loan from future generations, to whom we will have to return it!” Pope Francis calls us to claim responsibility for our actions, and to realize that future generations will have to address the environmental problems that we have created. Furthermore, the Pope asserts that "We are not God. The Earth was here before us and given to us."

And here, our very own Ecuadorian youth share their thoughts about community and the environment: 

Community

If we begin today, helping with the small things in our community, then in the future, we will see results. 

Today there exist many problems within society. 

One of these is the lack of communication about things that affect our environment. Thus, our objective is not only to strive for a general academic and economic improvement, but for our youth to help, to do, and to be informed about the environment we live in so that they may work themselves towards improving it. For this reason, we learn how to creatively reuse materials on a daily basis, so that we may contribute in the smallest way to caring for the environment. Do you want to help us change the world?

~Pamela and Jasmin~ 

Pamela Rodriguez 



Jasmin Tumbaco 

en español: 

Comunidad: 

Si empezamos hoy ayudando con pequeñas cosas a nuestra comunidad en el futuro veremos los resultados.

Hoy en día existen muchos problemas dentro de la sociedad.

Uno de ellos es la falta de comunicación sobre cosas que afectan al medio ambiente. Nuestro objetivo no es solo ayudar académicamente o económicamente sino también a jóvenes y a niños una manera de ayudar y hacer conocer a las personas de su entorno que se pueda hacer por mejorarlo y es por eso que aquí aprendemos a utilizar material reciclable de una manera creativa y dinámica.

Quieres ayudarnos a cambiar el mundo?

A surprise donation from our students!

Last week some of the Starfish students in Guasmo surprised me in the best way possible.  Last month we did a raffle to help support some of our programming and contribute to the renovation of our space in Flor de Bastión.  Last Wednesday, Starfish Employees Yuliana and Valeria told me that since we hadn't raised enough money in the raffle, they organized the afternoon "refuerzo" group and asked the students to raise more money by selling candy, crackers or some other similar product at school.  They told the students that they could keep part of the money for their hard work, and make a donation to Starfish with the rest.  Two students decided to participate and over the past month, raised a total of $15.75.  Congratulations Joel & Yesenia!  Thank you for being an inspiration to all of us.  Your selflessness and dedication to the foundation is a great example of what it means to be a Starfish Scholar!

Joel and Yesenia with their hard-earned donation for Starfish!

Meet Cynthia, our newest employee!

Meet Cynthia, our newest Starfish employee.  She will be joining us in our Guasmo neighborhood in the mornings to help out with our tutoring program!

"Hi, my name is Cynthia.  I am 25 years old.  I have 2 precious children and I am the happiest mom to have them with me.  I am very fun.  I like to learn a little bit of everything and I like to listen to music.  I am friendly.  It's nice to spend time with the kids at The Starfish Foundation even though it's just two times a week.  I try to help them so that they can be great young people for the future.  I hope they can always count on me."

"Hola, me llamo Cynthia.  Tengo 25 años.  Tengo 2 bebes preciosos y soy la mamá más feliz de tenerlos conmigo.  Soy muy divertida.  Me gusta aprender de todo un poco y me gusta escuchar música.  Soy amiguera.  Es muy agradable de pasar con los chicos de la Fundación Estrellitas el Mar aunque sea 2 veces a la semana.  Trato de ayudarlos para que sean jóvenes de bien para el futuro.  Espero que siempre puedan contar conmigo."

Get to know the rest of our employees on our website!

The struggle to obtain a registration spot.

Guayaquil has never heard of school districts. Not only must all students – at both public and private schools – pay to take public transportation to and from school every day, but these high schools could be 1.5-2 hours away from their homes! Most high schools are located in the center of the city. What does this mean for students like those with whom Starfish works who live in the peripheries of the city? High transportation costs, and long commutes.

Another effect of no school districting – you’re not guaranteed a spot anywhere. March 15 marked the first official day for signs up for the 2012 school year that begins April 2. Meet Lili, the 15 year old sister of two Starfish scholars – Pamela and Arelisa.  Lili and Pamela recently finished the equivalent of 9th grade at a school that only goes through 9th grade. This means they have to start at a new school. As if starting new wasn’t hard enough, it was 11 days before the start of classes and they still didn’t know where they would study or if they would even be accepted anywhere. Tuesday, March 20 Lili woke up at 4am to be at one high school by 6am. Luckily, she was one of the first 10 people in line, because even waking up at dawn sometimes does not guarantee you a good spot. Once arriving at the school, all were forced to wait until a representative of the school informs the crowd of how the process would be. After a few hours, Lili was informed that the director would arrive at 6pm. She considered this lucky since sometimes people must camp out overnight in order to just get a spot in line to possibly sign up at a high school. After a few hours Lili’s older sister came to help her ask the right questions – what documents would be required, what time would she have to be there, etc. Luckily Lili was able to secure her spot in line and leave to get lunch. When she returned around 4pm she waited until the director finally arrived at 6:30pm. The director took note of everyone’s names and phone numbers and said – “Don’t call – we’ll call you”. The following week they were going to do a random drawing to pick the names of the students who would be given spots to study in the school. Those who were selected would receive a call the following Tuesday, March 27.

Lili and Pamela were in limbo. There was a possibility that only one, or neither of them would be selected in this random drawing, so in the meantime while both of her parents are at work, Lili had to look for other high schools that were accepting new students this year. Even after waiting all day and following all the regulations, she was still not guaranteed a spot and wouldn’t know for another week which is 6 days before classes were originally scheduled to start on April 2.

Update: Lili and Pamela never received a phone call, but in the meantime were able to enroll at a smaller high school closer to their house. It is not very well known, but they are hopeful that they will receive a good education at this new school. Their first day of school is tomorrow!

Note: Entering in the equivalent of U.S. 7th grade and U.S. 10th grade are the hardest to secure a spot since many schools go through 6th or 9th grade and afterward their students must switch schools. This is the first year that you only have to sign up if you are switching schools. Before this year, a process similar to that which Lili is in the middle of was necessary for ALL students, EVERY YEAR, regardless of whether they changed schools or not.


Read more about changing education laws in Guayaquil.
http://www.eluniverso.com/2012/03/13/1/1447/matricula-rapida-planteles-ocupados.html

--Jenn Zocco, The Starfish Foundation In-Country Representative

Arelisa and Pamela!

Lily (blue polo) taking the lead in a game with friends.