Community Partner since 1996.
In this journal entry, two-time volunteer Betsy Creedon covers the ABCs of volunteering in Ecuador – everything from altitude to llamas to learning phrases in Spanish. Read on to learn about what fun it is to volunteer with children in Ecuador, and bond together as a team. Betsy concludes it’s so much fun, there are […]
In this journal entry from her third day in service, Ecuador volunteer Ann Hite reflects on what the young children at an early childhood development center on the outskirts of Quito have taught her while she has played with and taken care of them. Ann served at a center that feeds and educates 60 children […]
First-time volunteer Sandi Tsai was so inspired by her experience in service that she decided to organize an event to fundraise for Global Volunteers’ program in Ecuador once she was back home. In Quito, Global Volunteers partners with FUNDAC, an organization of women that runs two early childhood development centers for disadvantaged children on the […]
Ecuador volunteer Madeline Hite-Smaka reflects on convenience, assumptions, and perspective after her first day in service at an early childhood development center for disadvantaged children on the outskirts of Quito. She marvels how at the FUNDAC center in Calderón – which feeds and educates 60 children each day – nothing is wasted. In her team […]
In this guest post, Ecuador volunteer Gordon Smith takes us along on his step-by-step discovery of service abroad with preschool children and their teachers in our partner community. Secure as a father and grandfather, he knew he’d relate well to small children – even if they spoke a different language from him. In surrendering to […]
Our Volunteer Team Number 183 to Ecuador in July, 2019 helped our community partner, the Foundation of Ladies of Calderón (FUNDAC) carry out an extremely important renovation project. Read here about the history of this project and the struggle to provide a clean and safe place for disadvantaged children on the outskirts of Quito. Global […]
Proper hand washing with soap and water is the most effective way to prevent infectious disease from spreading. In Ecuador, children living in poverty who attend our partner’s early childhood development centers are taught how to properly wash their hands, and are helped to do it several times a day. Volunteers participate in these lessons! […]
There cannot be a holiday in Ecuador without there being a specific food that goes along with it. For Holy Week, it is an elaborate, rich, creamy soup packed full of grains. This deliciousness is called fanesca. Fanesca can be found in restaurants several weeks before Holy Week, but families get together to prepare it […]
Seventeen determined Medtronic employees joined a March team in Quito, Ecuador for a week of service and bonding. Pouring their hearts, skills, and strength into their assignments, the women helped paint the exterior of the two-story early childhood development center, tiled the dining room, and cared for the 80 children alongside the center’s teachers. The […]
The insight into the poverty of a child served by Global Volunteers’ community partner FUNDAC in Calderón, Ecuador was an unexpected highlight for this team of five volunteers. The two early childhood development centers for disadvantaged families where Global Volunteers works provide a very low-cost option for parents, mainly single mothers, who work to support […]