Joel's experience at Damien House!

Joel had a great time at Damien House a few weeks ago...find out about his experience through his own words!

Joel, participating in "refuerzo" or tutoring with another Starfish scholar, Betsabeth.

"Hi, I'm Joel.  I'm a scholarship student at The Starfish Foundation.  We visited Damien House, a foundation where there were people with Hansen's disease.  It was interesting because I didn't know a lot about this disease.

Jonathan, our tour guide, explaining about Damien House and Hansen's disease.

I wasn't used to socializing with elderly people, I thought it was boring, but I was wrong.  They welcomed us, and I met them one by one.  They gave us a tour of the foundation.  After, they told us we could visit whatever part of the foundation that we wanted to.  I went to the men's section.  They taught me to play dominoes together with some of the other students.  When we went to the women's section, they gave us the advice that we should keep studying, and not to go down the wrong path.  I really liked it.  I'd like to be able to go back some day."

The women's section!

"Hola Soy Joel.  Soy un becado de Starfish Foundation.  Nosotros hicimos una visita a la Fundación Padre Damián, una fundación donde había personas con la enfermedad de Hansen.  Me pareció algo interesante porque conocía poco sobre esta enfermedad.

Yo casi no estaba acostumbrado a socializar mucho con personas de tercera edad, pensaba que era aburrido, pero me equivoqué.  Ellos nos recibieron muy felices, los fui conociendo uno por uno.  Nos dieron un recorrido por toda la fundación.  Después nos dijeron que podríamos ir a visitar a cualquier parte.  Fui a la parte de los abuelitos.  Ellos me enseñaron a jugar dominó junto con otros becados y aprendimos a jugar.  Cuando fuimos a la parte de la abuelitas, ellas nos aconsejaron que sigamos en los estudios, que no nos vamos por el mal camino.  En mi opinión a mí me gustó.  Quisiera que alguna vez se vuelva a repetir."

Joel (black shirt) with Starfish scholars Danny and Anthony and their new friend!

Visiting Schools in Guayaquil

I have spent the past few weeks visiting all of the schools that the Starfish Scholars attend.  Out of all the youth we work with, 28 are Starfish Scholars.  These 28 scholars attend 18 different schools.

On each visit, a parent and a Starfish Employee accompanied me so that we could find the correct person to talk to.  In the visit we explained more about Starfish, what we provide for the students, and found out more about their school life.  The teachers told us about each students' behavior, grades, test scores, missing work and any other concerns they may have had.

The visits were eye-opening for me.  From working with the students, I had some ideas about their school life, but seeing it first hand was an entirely different story.  Most schools I visited were huge, with an average of 40-50 students per classroom.  With class sizes so large, it often seemed like the students were in control, rather than the teacher.  It was also rare the teacher who had the time to seek out a personal relationship with a student to help them succeed, again due to these class sizes.  Often times teachers had to pull out folders or notebooks, or call the student over to see who he/she was.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that despite all of these challenging realities, many teachers were able to easily recall the Starfish scholars as they are stepping up to be leaders in their classroom.

Milena is the Presidenta (President) of her class. Danny is part of the student council.  Joel is on a committee that studies human rights.  Arelisa is also Presidenta of her class - and up for election of President of the whole high school!

Tutoring in Flor

We hope that these visits allowed the teachers to see the help that some of their students receive, and open up the door to better future communication with their families and with us.  When we all work together, we can help the students achieve their maximum potential.  With the grades and comments we received this week we are having parent conferences when necessary, as well as an employee meeting to discuss specific areas that need strengthening for each student.


Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures of these visits, so enjoy these other pictures from August!!

One of the groups we took to visit Damien House.

Don Leon working hard on his hamaca (hammock).

Yessenia, helping one of the patients fix his radio.

Starfish scholars learning how to play dominos at Damien House.

New video - Starfish Family United at Integration Day!

Remember Integration Day in June?  Recent Fairfield U grad and Starfish intern, Maria, made an incredible video high-lighting this event.

Singing, dancing, learning and uniting as a Starfish family -- it's all there!

Watch the video today!

Some Starfish students relaxing after a long day of fun at Integration Day!

The Starfish family - united!

Leadership Development at Damien House

This past week a group of Starfish students (Scholars and non-scholarship students) visited another organization here in Guayaquil as part of our Leadership Development (formally community service) program.

The organization we visited, Damien House, is a charitable hospital and clinic that transforms the lives of patients with Hansen's Disease.  Hansen's disease (formally known as leprosy) is now completely curable - but unfortunately it's past stigma means that many patients are cast out of their families and society.  Damien House provides them with a place to live with dignity, and die with dignity.  Many younger patients who have undergone the treatment have now returned to their families and lead completely normal lives.  Damien House provides care to the patients, but also receives many groups like ours throughout the year in hopes to continue to the spread awareness about Hansen's Disease.

Our students first received a tour and a talk about how the organization began, as well as a talk on what is Hansen's.  Then we had a chance to spend the rest of the day with the patients, getting to know them and assisting in their daily lives.  In the men's section the students were fascinated by one man who makes string bags, while another group of students spent hours playing dominos.

Gathered around, watching the master at work!

In the women's section, the students spent a lot of time talking.  The patients loved hearing about Starfish, as much as we loved hearing about their lives.  This is important as many patients don't receive a lot of visitors.  One lady was working on her bracelets, when Starfish Scholar Pamela shared that she also makes bracelets.  Pamela taught Esther how to make names with string on a pen while Esther showed her many new ways of bracelet making.

All in all it was a great day.  Due to the size of our group and the organization we've broken into 3 groups.  This Saturday it's group number 2's turn!

Joel, center in the Starfish shirt, was a great leader in starting conversation and really getting to know the patients!

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!

Sponsor a Scholar updates!

As you may be aware, this year we started a "Sponsor a Scholar" program, based off of the success we had with last year's pen pal program.  This year our students have been paired with a new friend in the U.S., a "Starfish Sponsor" to exchange communications about life, school, culture and more.  

Our Starfish Sponsors include many of you - volunteers, donors, and other loyal supporters!  Starfish Scholars and Starfish Sponsors will write to each other 3 times a year with various updates.  

Our Scholars write about what they do in school, what their families are like, what they like to do in their free time - and their topic for the first letter - "What is your dream?" Our Sponsors respond with stories of their own lives, what it's like to live in the U.S., etc.  Some of them even used this as an opportunity to practice Spanish!

Yamileth & Yesenia working on letters with volunteer (& Starfish Sponsor!) Danny.

We have just completed our first round of letters for this school year.  It is important to note that this program does not require any additional financial support has all of our sponsors have previously demonstrated their commitment to Starfish through time, money or other support.

Next year we hope to have more scholars, and more room for your participation!  If you are interested in getting involved in this or any other program, never hesitate to email us!

Solange, in her school uniform, making sure that her new friend in the U.S. receives a colorful card!

Think about your future...

During our July monthly meeting for our scholarship students we reflected on important values in the lives of our scholars and how this affects their future.  Our reflection began with a card sent by our friends at COMIL through the Kids Supporting Kids project.

Our friends sent us motivational letters and one in particular stood out, "Dicen que los niños son el futuro de la Patria.  Yo pienso que los niños son el presente," it said. "They say children are the future of our nation.  I think children are the present."  Such wise words from a high school student.

Marlon was the first to jump up and share his reflection on the importance of continuing studies!

We reflected on these words in light our our own Starfish story to help the world, one by one.  While talking about values such as honesty, respect, friendship, humility and solidarity, we also reflected on our past, present and future.  Later, we decorated our classroom with some wonderful motivational drawings and messages!

Genesis, reflecting on her goals and dreams!

But while talking about our dreams, of course we had to have some fun too!

Flor de Bastión scholars starting off the meeting with a "dinámica" or ice breaker!

After the Flor de Bastión meeting we continued renovations on our tutoring space.  Rumor has it we'll be done shortly - don't forget to check back next week to see how much progress we've made!

Families of Starfish Scholars and tutoring students working together.
Theme of the day: "La unión hace la fuerza" - "Union is strength"