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Alternative Spring Break: Traversing The Andes |
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Project Description - - Starting & Ending Date: GROUPS: Flexible dates; INDIVIDUALS: See dates below; suggested 8-day package
- - Location: Quito, Pichincha Province, Ecuador
- - Price: $699 (all-included, excl. flight to/from Ecuador)
- - Price: Session 1- March 10-18; Session 2- March 24-April 1
The condition of the education system in Ecuador is dramatically lacking, particularly in the most impoverished regions of the country. The persistent rates of illiteracy result from low education levels, high repetition rates and desertion rates, poor quality of education, and lack of educational structure and learning material.
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Alternative Spring Break: Wild Amazon Experience |
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Project Description - - Starting & Ending Date: GROUPS: Flexible dates; INDIVIDUALS: See dates below; suggested 8-day package
- - Location: Pastaza Province (Amazon), Ecuador
- - Price: $769 (all-included, excl. flight to/from Ecuador)
- - Dates: Session 1- March 3-11; Session 2- March 24-April 1
One of the most threatened natural resources in the Amazon Rainforest is the wildlife, which can suffer from habitat destruction, unsustainable hunting, and traps set by illegal animal hunters. Orchids, parrots, monkeys, and more than 20 thousand exotic animal and plant species have distinguished Ecuador as one of the countries with the most biodiversity in the world.
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Alternative Spring Break: Beach Conservation on the Coast |
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Project Description - - Starting & Ending Date: GROUPS: Flexible dates, INDIVIDUALS: See dates below; suggested 8-day package
- - Location: Puerto Lopez, Manabí Province, Pacific Coast
- - Price: $769 (all-included, excl. flight to/from Ecuador)
- - Dates: Session 1- March 3-11, 2012
This Alternative Spring Break Program takes place in the community of Puerto Lopez on the coast of the Manabí province of Ecuador’s Pacific Coast. The Manabí coast is an area rich in unique flora and fauna, including humpback whales, monkeys, and a multitude of bird species. Off the coast, one can visit the famous Isla de la Plata, an island with species similar to those of the Galapagos, including the blue-footed booby. The region also includes dense forests, which put the area in great danger of deforestation because of logging interests as well as efforts to expand agricultural and pastoral lands.
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Sustainability Work on the Galapagos Islands |
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Project Description
The principal aim of the project is to devise environmentally-friendly initiatives and activities that encourage collaboration between volunteers and local people and persuade islanders to adopt environmentally-sustainable practices. In particular, you will help find ways for both visitors and islanders to get the most out of the scenic beauty located on the upper part of the Island.
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Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Youth |
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Project Description
This project is focused on an educational center that provides children from the ages of 2 to 25 years old with rehabilitation and educational services. These children often come from dysfunctional homes where families have few economic means for betterment. The center offers education to children from preschool through the fifth grade. The center also provides tailored education, pre-vocational workshops, routine care, and medical care services.
There are currently 15 special needs children and youth who live in the “Casa Hogar” (“House Home”), which also serves as an orphanage. These children are afforded round-the-clock protection and care and are given health, nutrition, rehabilitation, and education services with immense love and affection.
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Elderly Care Center |
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Project Description
The nursing home looks after approximately 200 elderly people with a range of problems such as senile dementia, disability, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.
The home provides a loving and caring environment for the elderly where they can live in peace and harmony and receive the medical attention, physiotherapy, psychological and social care that they need. The home has a staff of 25, which include doctors, nurses, kitchen and cleaning personnel.
The majority of elderly residents suffer from arthritis, back pain, and other debilitating physical conditions which require constant care.
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Teaching English & Computer Skills in Punta Chonta |
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Project Description
The project is located in the Amazon and is dedicated to helping young members of a very small community who have big dreams. The community does not have enough professionals to improve the level of education and health care facilities. Hence, volunteers are needed to assist with the development and preparation of IT and English classes. Help is also required in the teaching of other subjects such as geography, mathematics, social sciences, natural sciences, history, and languages. Volunteers will have the opportunity to develop their own initiative in collaboration with four local teachers.
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Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation Center in the Amazon |
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Project Description
One of the most threatened natural resources in the Amazon Rainforest is the wildlife, which can suffer from habitat destruction, unsustainable hunting, and traps set by illegal animal hunters. Orchids, parrots, monkeys, and more than 20 thousand exotic animal and plant species have distinguished Ecuador as one of the countries with the most biodiversity in the world. At the same time, this distinction has turned this biodiversity into the helpless victim of illegal plant and animal trafficking.
The center initially took in animals rescued by the Ecuadorian government. However, it is not just the Ecuadorian government who bring animals to the center but people who used to keep wild animals as pets and subsequently realized that they cannot cope with these animals. Furthermore, some of the animals brought to the center are the young of mothers killed by hunters. To have in your possession, to buy, or to sell wild animals is prohibited. However, such incidences occur frequently.
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Teaching English & Childcare in Rural Community |
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 Project Description
The school provides education for students through the fourth grade of primary school, while the childcare center takes care of children from three months to four years old. The project provides the children with quality, bilingual education, because this is often the key for these children to escape poverty. You, as a volunteer, will form part of our “family” by teaching, guiding and supervising the children in their daily activities.
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Teaching English in Quito |
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Project Description
The Teaching English volunteer project takes place in several deprived schools located in the south and central parts of Quito which have very few economic resources. Volunteers will teach classes to primary school children between the ages of 5 and 12 years.
Currently, there is only one teacher to teach 178 primary school children between the ages of 5 and 12 years. Thus, volunteers in the education sector are extremely important.
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Teaching English in the Galapagos |
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Project Description
This project has several objectives, one of the priorities being to improve the level of English of children between the ages of 5 and 12 years. The principal aim this project is to facilitate the children's communication with tourists on the islands. Since the Galapagos Islands is one of the main tourist attractions in Ecuador, the children's ability to work and communicate with tourists is essential for their range of opportunities.
Volunteers help teach, guide, and assist children in the first through seventh grades of primary school. The schools currently have an average of 30 children per class and generally at least three classes per grade level. However, English teachers are very limited, with only one per school. Hence, there is a real need for volunteers to assist with English instruction.
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Sustainable Organic Farm in Cuenca |
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Project Description
This opportunity allows volunteers to stay with and work alongside rural families in their goals to implement eco-friendly agricultural practices such as conserving primary forest, reviving endemic species through reforestation, using organic farming methods, studying and monitoring birdlife, and constructing a botanical garden using orchids and bamboo.
Local families are also involved in the planting, harvesting and processing of the world-renowned, high-quality Ecuadorian cocoa bean. These families also grow extensive collection of exotic tropical fruit. Located within the project site are five hectares of secondary forest in which the reforestation of various native species, especially previously deforested hardwoods, is being carried out.
All volunteers will have the opportunity to participate in all of the aforementioned activities. Volunteers can also give English and/or IT lessons to pupils at a nearby school.
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Community Work in the Jungle: Chinimp Tuna |
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Project Description
The work in the community of Chico Copataza focuses on helping a native Kichwa family who wishes to maintain its culture and traditions. The Chumapi – Siguango family includes the father, a native Shuar, his wife who is a native Kichwa, and their 9 children.
Chico Copataza is situated in the province of Pastaza. The community is located approximately 25 km (one hour and 45 minutes by bus) from the town of Puyo. There is electricity but no running water in the community. The water must be fetched from a river near the volunteer house and must be boiled before consumption.
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Community Work in the Andes |
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Project Description
Children between the ages of 3 months and 4 years attend the nursery. We have 30 infants. Five people work in the nursery: three teachers, a cleaner, and a project coordinator. The volunteer will have the opportunity to practice his/her language skills and work in a pleasant environment with committed people in the field of education.
The project offers varying areas of work. The main objective is to help local people escape extreme poverty. Ongoing research into means of funding is essential to meet project costs.
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Children and Youth in Chunchi |
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Project Description
The project consists of caring for and helping in the comprehensive development of children from emigrant families from the Chunchi farming community, an area with approximately 1200 residents, located in the southern province of Chimborazo. The community is primarily involved in agriculture and milk production. It has the highest number of migrants, mostly families emigrating primarily to the United States and, more recently, to Spain. This leads towards learning, emotional and behavioral problems among the children of families where members have emigrated from the community. More than 15 people work in the center, 12 teachers and one psychologist.
**Note: This project requires a 6 month minimum commitment to maximize the volunteer's impact on the community.
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Day Care Center for Disadvantaged Children |
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Project Description
This volunteer project has been set up by mothers to provide a childcare center to care for small children who come from low-income families and whose parents cannot take care of their children while they work full-time. This center provides these parents an alternative to having to leave their children at home unattended or take their children with them to work.
The project’s main objective is to offer such children comprehensive and supportive daycare, which includes their health, nutritional, and psychological needs. The center is run in conjunction with parents and the local community. However, parents and the community oftentimes lack the skills or economic means to meet their children's needs.
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Center for Deaf and Blind Children |
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Project Description
Children stay at the institution from Monday until midday on Friday when they return to their families for the weekend. The children come from extremely low-income families. Unfortunately, the center lacks the resources to be able to recruit sufficient personnel, who otherwise would reside full-time. Currently, a staff of 24 provides special needs education to 39 children, of whom 24 reside permanently at the center.
Even though the school has a reasonable number of staff, volunteers are needed to provide greater assistance to these special needs children. Volunteers will help to strengthen the current workforce during afternoons and particularly during the evenings.
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