Looking forward to 2009 in Ecuador

2008 was good to the Phoenix Project here in Ecuador. Lots of willing and committed volunteers came down to work with us and the communities all really appreciated their help, humour and generosity of spirit.

Benn and his leadership team worked hard to continue the great relationships started almost 4 years ago by Dom and Doreen in Urcusiqui and Huayrapungo, and to strengthen the more recent and growing friendship with the children and families in the Larcacunga community To every one of you, a big thank you.

So what does 2009 hold for us? Well, as regular readers of the blog will know, we continue our support for the children of Huayrapungo who are in colegio by giving livestock rather than cash through Plan Moo.

So we will be watching over the Huayrapungo herd of cows during 2009 and looking for ways to plan for the future and include more families so they can start saving now ready for their children to go to High School. At the moment we are continuing our financial-only support for the children of Larcacunga and Urcusiqui while we see how Plan Moo works.

We will also add to our after school homework-help classes for all colegio children which we started in late 2008 with classes run during normal school time for those children who go to colegio at the weekends.

Good news as well for 2009 as we return to work with the community in Muenala. The parents are delighted that we coming back and we are hoping to start up again with volunteers towards the end of February.

And for Larcacunga, we have been talking with the teacher about improvements we need to do to the school such as fixing the kitchen roof and making changes to the comedor so all the children can sit down to eat. Plus we are currently investigating the potential need for a stove building project in that community.

So 2009 looks set to be another busy year here in Ecuador – keep in touch with how we are progressing through the blog….or why not come and see for yourself?!!

Looking forward to 2009 in Ecuador