Equipo Verde

Final Week Review

2008-08-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, the last day, the fiesta, the planting, playing, joking, laughing day was amazing and will not be forgotten for the rest of our lives.

We started out with just a handful of the participants (as per usual) who were all eager to help set up. They immediately got to work helping the volunteers prepare the pinatas, food, and planting materials. They then set to work planting flowers and veggies in the planters that they made on Tuesday, running to water them as fast as they could.

When we thought just about everyone had arrived we ate brownies and fruit and then set to work on the pinatas, forming two big circles of children foaming at the mouth for the candy. We didn't anticipate that the kids would be so zealous at going after that candy and a few conflicts broke out. Of course, they had been waiting for the fruits of their hard work on those beauties for a couple of weeks. We then sat the kids in a circle and talked with them about what it means to be a member of Equipo Verde and why it is important that we work together as that is our one hope at making a real difference.

At the end of the fiesta, all of the participants got their own Equipo Verde t-shirt. We had just enough for everyone there(50). Not ready for it to end, we all decided to go to the cancha and play a couple of games of capture the flag which turned into a giant futbol game with some of the community members.

The kids were literally dragging us back to the field when we were going to leave. It was an emotional goodbye.

They all signed, drew, and wrote messages on our t-shirts and we returned the favor feeling like unlikely and undeserving celebrities.

This week's volunteers were:

Tuesday: Maria (Guapulo), Anita (Guapulo), Nelly (Guapulo) Mark (England), and Charley (England)

Thursday: Maria (Guapulo), Anita (Guapulo), Nelly (Guapulo), Mark (England), Charley (England), Mina (U.S.), Rianne (Canada), Marten(England) and Dan (U.S.)

Actividades: Semana Doce

2008-07-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

No podemos creer que esta es la semana última! Estamos encantado con este programa y muy triste porque está casi terminada.

El martes de esta semana, vamos a decorar botellas plásticas con papel de color y lápices de colores. Después vamos por la cancha para jugar captura la bandera!

El jueves, vamos a tener una fiesta con nuestras piñatas, juegos, y pasteles. Además, vamos a plantar flores y legumbres en nuestras botellas con tierra que los gusanos hicieron!

Review Week Eleven

2008-07-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

What a successful week. On Tuesday it was sunny and windy and the kids were patient and diligent in making their homemade kites. They flew beautifully, albeit for only a short time before ripping. But thats half the fun. We will be passing out the instructions for all of the kids so that they can make them again in their homes.

On Thursday, we painted the remaining piñatas and made god´s-eyes in the plaza next to the police station. The kids were fanatics for the god´s-eyes and continued to work on them well after the session ended. We had a lot of new faces. We are always psyched and overwhelmed by all of the energy the kids bring with them. We would like to thank the community for allowing us to use this space for the activities.

This weeks volunteers were:
Tuesday - Nelly (Guápulo), Marten (England), Charlotte (England), and Maria (Guápulo)
Thursday - Anita (Guápulo), Nelly (Guápulo), Maria (Guápulo), Mark (England), Rianne (Canada), and many other Guápuleño community members who joined in on the fun.

Thanks for all of your hard work, smiles, and ideas!

Actividades: Semana Once

2008-07-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Esta Semana vamos a hacer cometas y ojos de dios en la cancha.

Para las cometas, vamos a usar palos y periódicos para ver que mas podemos hacer con cosas recicladas. Esperamos que habrá viento!

Los ojos de dios son signos religiosas de personas indíginas de Mexico y Bolivia. Están hecho con lana envuelve palos. Los ojos de dios representan ojos de dios mirando las vidas de todos con cariño y son para ver las cosas inconocibles. Cada esquina represente un elemento aire, agua, viento, y fuego.

Review: Week Ten

2008-07-21T11:42:00.001-07:00

This week we held Equipo Verde in La Casa Comunal in our neighborhood. We would like to give a big thanks to the community for allowing us to use this space for making the piñatas.

We made around 30 piñatas this week for the big party we will be having on the last day of Equipo Verde. The kids got pretty creative with their designs, using balloons, newspaper, and cardboard to make them. We´ve got a lot of big grinning faces, spiders, stars, clouds, and many others.

Thankfully, we had a warm indoor space for Tuesday when it rained almost the whole two hours.

This week our volunteers included Maria (Guápulo), Nelly (Guápulo), Mark (England), Mina( U.S.), Charlotte (England), and Rianne (Canada). Thanks so much for helping out! We couldn´t do this without your participation!

Actividades: Semana Diez

2008-07-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

Esta semana, vamos a hacer piñatas con materiales reciclados como periódicos, cartón, y papel brillante y cualquier que los niños traen!

Review: Week Nine

2008-07-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

It happened. We jinxed it. It rained on and off all of Tuesday's EQ session. The kids refused to leave so we toughed it out, sharing umbrellas and playing soccer to stay warm and have fun until the melcocha was ready. The language barrier had its most dramatic effect on the results of an activity to date when I (Gretchen) stirred the sugar and water mixture when I shouldn't have and ruined the first batch! This was, of course, after waiting two hours for the syrup to reach the perfect consistency. It was still yummy delicious, just NOT melcocha.

On Thursday the weather was much better AND we had Rianne come and play expression games while the melcocha was brewing. The kids were very shy when we started but slowly climbed out of their shells as we moved from game to game, culminating with "La Selva," in which the kids produced a chorus of jungle sounds into the sky like a seasoned theatre troupe. It was beautiful!

The melcocha was more successful this time around. We learned a valuable lesson though: It's hard to make melcocha over a bon-fire in the middle of a field with a large group of sugar-fiending children running around.

All things considered, it was another great week.

We'd like to give a big special thanks to our two volunteer facilitators:

Thank you Anita (Guapulo) for making the melcocha on Tuesday and Thursday & Rianne (Canada) for facilitating the games!

Also big thanks go to Mark (England), Mina (U.S.), and Charlotte (England) for being big-time troopers and so helpful this week!

Juegos de Expresiòn

2008-07-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

The Expression activities that we used this week were drawn from Theatre of the Oppressed, developed by Augusto Boal, and taken from the Joker´s Guide, developed by David Diamond. Thank you Rianne for sharing them with us!

Actividades: Semana Nueve

2008-07-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Melcocha

Esta semana, Anita va a enseñar los niños como a hacer un postre típico se llama melcocha, encima de una fogata. No podemos esperar para aprender. Yum!

Ejercicios de Expresión
En jueves, Rianne va a facilitar algunas actividades para mejorar expresión personal:

Juego de Nombres

Contraimagen
Vamos a formar equipos de dos personas. Los dos van a imitar las acciones del uno al otro mientras mantienen contacto visual.

Hipnotizador
Otra vez, vamos a formar equipos de dos personas. En este juego, una es el hipnotizador y la otra está hipnotizada. Cual quiere el hipnotizador hace con su mano la otra debe hacer con su cuerpo.

Miedo y Protector

Cada persona elije dos personas en silencio. Una representa "miedo" y la orta representa "el protector." Cuando el jeugo empeza, todos tienen que andar para mantener el protector entre sí mismo y el miedo.

Vampiro
En este juego, todos tienen que cerrar los ojos y caminar con los brazos cruzados. Cuando la facilitatora se pellizca el hombro de una participante, el/ella tiene que chillar con voz muy alta. Siguiente, el/ella extende los brazos y continuar caminando con los ojos cerrados. Ahora, el/ella es un vampiro. Cuando los vampiros se chocan con alguien, ellos tienen que pellizar los hombros de la otra persona. Esta persona es un vampiro también. Si la facilitadora se pellizca un vampiro, el/ella tiene que se aliviado con voz alta y cruzar los brazos otra vez. El ciclo continua con gritos y suspiros al azar por todas partes de la cancha.

Máquina

Los participantes construyen una máquina con sus cuerpos y sonidos. Nosotros eligimos un tema, cual quiere. Por ejemplo, el tema es "paz," entonces, esta machina hace paz. Una persona empeza y otras se unen uno por uno con acciónes y sonidas repetitivas.

Selva

Todos se hacen en el suelo en un círculo con los cabezas juntos como una estrella. Ojos cerrados. Hacen sonidos! Cual quiere sonidos!

Dar un Paso Adelante Entre el Círculo

Todos forman un círculo y alguien dice algo verdadero sobre sí mismo. Por ejemplo, "el medio ambiente es importante para mi." Si esta afirmación es la verdad para otras, ellos tienen que dar un paso adelante hacia el círculo y dar un paso atrás. Ellos pueden dar pasos muy grandes o pequeños para expresar como verdadadera es la afirmación para ellos.

Activites: Week Nine

2008-07-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

Melcocha

This week, Anita is going to teach the kids how to make Melcocha, a typical Ecuadorian treat, over a bon-fire. We can´t wait to learn how to do it ourselves! Yum!

Expression Exercises

Rianne is going to facilitate several activities on Thursday that are used to encourage expression:

Mirror Image

For this activity teams of two will pair off. The children then face one another and experiment with mimicking each others´ movements while maintaining eye-contact.

Hypnotist

Again, teams of two are formed. One child is the hypnotist and the other is the hypnotized. Whatever the hypnotist does with his/her hand the other must do with his/her body.

Vampire

All of the participants close their eyes and walk around with their arms crossed. When they bump into each other they must let out blood curdling screams and then put their arms straight out in front of them. These people are now vampires. They continue to walk around with their eyes closed but when the vampires bump into people they let out a loud sigh of relief and recross their arms. The cycle continues with random screams and sighs from the transformations taking place all over the field.

Week Eight Review

2008-07-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

Again, we have been blessed by good weather. It seems like summer might finally be taking hold here in Quito!

The children were great this week. Since we were working on team-building activities it was essential that they work together patiently and respectfully. Despite the immense amount of energy the kids have in them, they were very patient and thoughtful. This could be seen especially during the mine-field exercise. We were really impressed by their communication and listening skills as well as their tenacity.

The rope activities demonstrated just how bright the Equipo Verde kids are. We expected them to take 30 minutes, at the very least, but they were done in under 5! We had to adjust it just to make it more challenging for them.

We can't wait to do more activities that challenge their individual and group mentalities because they have certainly impressed us so-far.

We like to send out some special thanks to our volunteers this week.

Tuesday: Nelly & Anita (Guápulo) and Mark (England)

Thursday: Nelly (Guápulo), Mark (England), and Rianne (Canada)

Thank you all so much! This project wouldn't be what it is without you!

Actividades: Semana Ocho

2008-06-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Actividades para mejorar trabajo de equipo

Palo helio

Pone un palo largo en los dedos índices de 5-10 niños. La única instrucción es que ellos tienen que bajar el palo al suelo con los dedos tocando el palo todo del tiempo. En la verdad, el palo va a levantar. Los niños necesitan trabajar juntos hasta el palo es en el suelo.

Nudo de humanos y cuerda

Tres cuerdas de un metro y media están dando a equipos de cuatro personas. Los equipos forman una configuración como persona-cuerda-persona-cuerda-persona-cuerda-persona. Ellos tienen que considerar si mismos una cuerda grande y completa. Siguiente, los equipos tienen que hacer un nudo en la sección centra de la cuerda sin sueltan sus manos de la cuerda. Este es un tarea muy difícil y puede tomar mucho tiempo. Vamos a animar mucha mucha paciencia y asignar lideres para dar estimulo y ideas.

Campo de minas

Equipos de dos personas deben que trabajar juntos para que guiar una para atravesar un campo de "minas" que en la verdad esta conos dispersados por la cancha. El miembro de que va a pasar esta con los ojos vendados y tiene que depender en las instrucciones de su compañero para pasar sin incidentes. Si una toca una mina esta persona tiene que reempezar. Cuando esta persona esta en la otro lado sin contratiempos los miembros cambian las posiciones. Antes de empezar los miembros tienen que hablar sobre como ellos van a comunicar en este juego para dos o tres minutos.

Activities: Week Eight

2008-06-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Team Building Activities

Helium stick

A long stick is place on the index fingers of 5-10 children. The only instruction is that they have to put move the stick to the ground without anyone removing their index finger from the stick. The stick will move upward instead of downward. The kids must then continue until they can work as a team to put the stick on the ground.

Human Overhand

Three four-foot lengths of rope are handed out to teams of four. The team then forms a configuration of person-rope-person-rope-person-rope-person. They are to consider themselves as one long length of rope. The teams are then asked to tie an overhand knot in the middle rope without anyone letting go. This is a very challenging activity and will require a lot of patience and critical thinking by the children.

Minefield

Two-person teams must work together to get one of the participants across a minefield (cones set out randomly in a small space). The team member crossing the field is blindfolded and must rely on the instructions of his or her partner to get across safely. If the walker hits a mine he or she must start over. Once the walker is safely across the team members switch roles. This is a good exercise of communication, teamwork, and trust.

Week Seven Review

2008-06-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

We have been incredible lucky and blessed with the weather (knock on wood!!!!!). It always seems to rain on Mondays and Wednesdays during the afternoon but miraculously we get rain only in the mornings of Tuesdays and Thursdays! We hope that whatever forces may be that seem to be favoring us continue to do so!

This week's activities were full-on. Full-on energy, full-on competition, full-on confusion, and full-on fun. These extremely alternative Olympic games were very well received by the children and it was a great sight to see all participating, big and small.

An important evolution that has occurred is that our age-group has extended from 9-12 to 3-13. We are pleased to welcome all of these age-groups and feel like we are reaching them all, though at times this adds more challenges. Still, we seek to incorporate everyone and facilitate thought and growth in each dynamic individual at his or her own level.

We like to send a big thanks to our volunteers this week!
Tuesday: Mark (England), Rachel (U.S.), Nelly (Guápulo)
Thursday: Mark (England), Nelly & Anita (Guápulo), Julie (Denmark)

Also, a special thanks to a couple of our previous volunteers who were there in spirit after "donating" their shoes for one of the competitions. Thanks Caroline and Guillermo (France)!!!

Actividades: Semana Siete

2008-06-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

¡Los Juegos Olímpicos!

Vamos a dividir los niños en 4 diferentes países; Japón, Egipto, Italia y India. Cada grupo va a recibir una bandera de sus países y una cosa típica de este país.

Después, cuando los grupos están listos ellos van a marchar en la cancha y un comité va a acogerlos, por supuesto está cogiendo la antorcha de Olímpico. El comité va a explicar las reglas y los diferentes juegos hoy en Los Juegos Olímpicos en Guápulo.

Los niños van a competir en estas disciplinas:

Carrera de globos en platos; tirar de la cuerda; carrera de saltar en grandes bolsas; quien pueden comer lo más grande cantidad de galletas en dos minutos; carrera de traer huevos en cucharas; memorar 10 cosas que los grupos pueden ver de 30 segundos y después vamos a cubrirlos; carrera donde los participantes necesitan poner extra ropa cuando es de turno de él o ella a correr; el grupo puede recoger más basura en 3 minutos; carrera de transportación de agua a un lugar a otro; el grupo puede arrojar una bota de agua lo más grande distancia.

Un juez va a controlar los puntos de cada grupo durante las competencias para buscar los triunfantes de Juegos de Olímpicos. Las medallas especiales concederían en el final de este evento.

Activities: Week Seven

2008-06-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Olympic Games!

The children will be divided into 4 different countries; Japan, Egypt, Italy and India. Each group will have the flag of the country and something else that symbolizes their nationality.

After the groups are made they are going to march in to the field in their groups and they will be welcomed by a committee, of course holding the burning Olympic torch, who explains the rules and so on for the Olympic Games this year in Guápulo!

The children will then compete in the different disciplines below:

Race with a balloon on a plate; pull rope (tug-of-war); race jumping in big bags; who can eat the largest amount of very dry biscuits in two minutes; race with egg on a spoon; memorize 10 things that will be uncovered for 30 seconds and covered again with a blanket; relay-race where the running participant needs to wear an extra set of clothes and pass it to the next runner; who can collect the biggest amount of garbage in 3 minutes; race transporting water from one end to another; who can throw a rubber boot the longest distance.

A judge will be keeping the score during the competitions, so we can find the winning country when the games are over. Naturally medals will be awarded to the teams in the closing of this event!

Week Six Review

2008-06-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Energy all over the place this week - the children gave it all they had in this week's activities!

We were really excited to see how well they received all the different games that both Gretchen and I know from our childhood. Some of the games were meant as an opportunity to burn off energy and others demanded hardcore teamwork! It is a pleasure to see how the children of Equipo Verde work together and give room for everybody no matter age, background and gender.

This week has been an awesome exchange of good energy!

This week Equipo Verde will like to thank the volunteers on:
Tuesday: Julie (Denmark), Mark (England), Anita (Guápulo)
Thursday: Julie (Denmark), Mark (England), Rachel (U.S.A.), Anca (U.S.A.), Anita (Guápulo)
Administration: Che (Argentina), Cecibel (Ecuador)

El texto para las pinturas en el hospital "Baca Ortiz"!

2008-06-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

Estas pinturas son un regalo de los niños de la comunidad de Guápulo que están participando en un programa de protección del medio ambiente organizado por "Equipo Verde".

Las pinturas representan lo que podría suceder si la humanidad dormiría durante 100 años. Este es un ejercicio que hace reflexionar sobre cómo afectan las costumbres de la humanidad a la naturaleza y al medio ambiente.

¡Los niños de Guápulo les envían muchos saludos a los niños del hospital Baca Ortiz!

The paintings, the children of Equipo Verde have painted, that will be displayed in a children's hospital in Quito!

2008-06-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

Equipo Verde will like to thank Marten Sims from England, who took pictures of the four-meter-long paintings in parts and gathered it all, so it is now possible for everyone to see the paintings close up!

Actividades: Semana Seis

2008-06-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

Tarjetas abajo del cono

Vamos a poner 13 conos en la cancha de fútbol. Debajo de cada uno están cuatro tarjetas (una de cada símbolo). Hay cuatro equipos (uno de cada símbolo). La tarea de cada equipo es recoger todas las tarjetas en su símbolo, desde la tarjeta numero dos hasta de tarjeta el as, por orden cronológico. Las personas de los equipos van a sucederse en la cancha, cada vez que él o ella hicieron una inspección de las tarjetas abajo del cono. El participante que revisa la tarjeta debajo del cono, debe recordar que tarjeta es y compartirlo con sus compañeros de equipo. Tal vez ellos no necesitan la tarjeta que vieron en este momento, pero es muy importante recordarlo, pues en otro momento la necesitaran. Si la tarjeta bajo el cono es lo que buscan (número dos por ejemplo), el equipo puede recoger la tarjeta y traerlo a su equipo. El primer equipo que recoja todas las 13 tarjetas, va a ganar.

Gigantes, Magos y Ángeles

Este juego es muy parecido a “pierda, papel y tijera”. Gigante (brazos arriba, rugido) gana al angel (agitar los brazos como alas); el angel angel supera al mago (agitar los manos y va a decir “kazaam”); el mago gana al gigante.

Dar un golpe al bote

Una persona cuida el bote mientras los demás participantes se esconden al derredor. Quien cuida el bote debe contar hasta 30 con los ojos vendados para dar tiempo a los participantes de esconderse. Cuando la cuenta se acaba, quien cuida el bote debe salir a descubrir a quienes se escondieron, cuando encuentra a uno, debe correr hasta el bote y tocarlo, gritando “tal persona esta en el bote”, dejando a esa persona temporalmente fuera del juego. Pero también puede suceder que uno de los participantes corra hasta el bote sin que el cuidador se de cuenta y si llega hasta él antes que el cuidador puede gritar “yo estoy salvado” y salvarse a si mismo, o también puede gritar “todos están salvados” y con ello liberar a las otras personas que habían sido descubiertas. El cuidador del bote sólo cambiará cuando pueda descubrir y “poner en el bote” a todos los jugadores participantes. Si alguno de ellos logra liberar a sus compaæeros, el cuidador del bote necesita volver a contar para que los demás se escondan.

Todos a bordo

Un ejercicio clásico para construir un equipo fuerte. El juego consiste en que todo el equipo debe pararse al mismo tiempo sobre un pedazo de plástico extendido en el suelo. Todos los equipos tienen que poder lograrlo, pues quien no lo haga se quedará fuera del juego. Si todos los equipos lo han logrado, el plástico se doblará por la mitad y nuevamente todo el equipo debe caber dentro de él. Debe repetirse esta operación hasta que sólo quede un equipo que pueda caber dentro del plástico.

Activities: Week Six

2008-06-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Cone Tag

There are 13 cones placed randomly in a field. Under each one are four cards (one from each suit). There are four teams (one for each suit). The task for each team is to collect all of the cards, the Two through the Ace, in order. The teammates take turns running out into the field and checking under a cone. This gives them a chance to see what card is underneath that cone and report it back to the team. If the card under a cone happens to be the one they need (a Two, for example), the team picks it up and brings it back to the starting point. The first team to collect all 13 cards in order wins.

Giants, Wizards, and Elves

Fun chasing game with suspense, laughter and exercise. Giant (arms up, roars) beats elf (hands to ears); elf beats wizard (waves wand & "kazaam"); wizard zaps giant.

Kick-the-Can

The person who is it has a can sitting on the ground nearby. He/she must get everyone in the can. This is done by yelling, for example, ‘Mia behind the bush is in the can!’ then Mia is trapped. But if someone else gets the chance, he/she can run over and kick the can, setting everyone free and the game starts again.

All Aboard

A classic teambuilding activity in which a group is challenged to physically support one another in an endeavor to occupy an ever diminishing space.

Week five review!

2008-06-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Bread over fire was a very popular activity among the children. We had around 25 children on Tuesday and Thursday we reached around 40 children, so the word spread fast!

We were incredibly lucky with the weather this week, the sun was almost shining from a cloudless blue sky, which was a very important factor in our activity becoming as successful as it was.

Our volunteer Julie, who has been a scout in her earlier years, made the perfect bonfire for the bread we were cooked on sticks over the fire.
Before we started baking the bread we talked with the children about how to bake them and how the bread bakes better over the ember and not directly in the flames. But it still took some practice before the bread was moved out from the flames and over the embers instead. Therefore, the second bread they made, with its golden brown color, indicated very clearly that they learned how to use the bonfire in the best possible way.
It was great to see the happiness in the children's faces after they accomplished the task of making their own bread and several children expressed that it was some of the best bread they have ever tasted.

This Thursday the French/Ecuadorian freelance photographer Natalie Ayala joined us on Equipo Verde. We have been in contact with her for a long time and she has been very interested in covering the project. At the moment she working on a project where she creates a debate about the contamination of petroleum in the Amazon through the pictures she has been taking the past year. We are very honored to have her come by our project and cover it!

From week five we will like to thank our volunteers:
Tuesday: Julie (Denmark) and Armando (Ecuador).
Thursday: Julie (Denmark), Señora Anita (citizen from Guápulo) and Natalie (French/Ecuador).

The Equipo Verde paintings will be displayed in a children's hospital in Quito!

2008-06-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

The children of Equipo Verde painted two large paintings this past week over the theme; "What would the world look like if we all slept for a hundred years". These paintings turned out amazingly beautiful, creative and very colourful.
After Sunday's event, where we displayed the paintings in Guápulo, it was time to find a permanent home for the paintings. So, after considering different options, we decided to approach the director of the children's hospital, Baca Ortiz, with the proposition of displaying the paintings on the walls of the hospital. Director Dr. Milton was very positive to the suggestion and immediately asked to see the paintings. We agreed to bring the paintings to the hospital next week and we feel very confident that we have found a nice and secure home for them.

We thank and congratulate the children of Equipo Verde for their beautiful art, which now will serve to brighten the minds of the children in the Baca Ortiz Hospital.

Testimony from a volunteer - Marten Sims

2008-06-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Anyway I have been in Quito for just over three weeks now, learning Spanish (es mucho major ahora, atras, ha ha ha: super mal, pero yo abla con toda chaufers adentro taxis’, supermarcados y la calle, tambien, yo abla un poquito con mi nuevo amigos de Equipo Verde y ellos casa: ‘Cultura Commun’ en Guapulo – es una pobre, pero muy bonita logal en del este Quito – es una muy bein casa! Enscribir en Español es mucho mas dificil que ablar!!!), hanging out with the people mentioned above, but to name them (in case they read this and think I wasn’t joking yesterday night about just mentioning their country origin). Firstly I have to thank Mia and Gretchen for allowing me to join the Equipo Verde team for three weeks, we have had a massive amount of fun, playing games, painting masks, making the murial. These two people are very special, starting the project from scratch themselves inspite of several problems, but they did it because they just couldn’t find a volunteering project that was either either managed to their liking, or free. It reminds me of the classic phrase that people say when they are watching some world issues on television: “What can I do?” Well, you can start by getting up from the sofa for starters, finding a project that fixes what you just saw (whether it be local or elsewhere), committing to it and doing it. Mia and Gretchen just came out here and did it, and they are joined by a team of great volunteers, helpers, friends and often different new-commers each week (like myself), volunteers who come along for one or two sessions to not only give up some of their own time for people who need it, but also to visit an area of town that contrasts quit starkly with the central areas of Quito that are more developed, not in danger of mudslides during torrential weather (which you can see happen during one of the days we were mask-painting). It makes me wonder more and more about my own possibilities for starting something, using my skills, perhaps as a designer, perhaps as something else.

2008-06-09T19:47:00.000-07:00