Updates

Here on the coast of Ecuador, summer vacation takes place between February and April. With just two weeks left before a new school year begins, here is a look at what Mission Santa Maria has been up to these past few months.

At the mission home, the children have enjoyed a mix of routine and relaxation. Our tutor program continues through the summer holiday, with children divided into age groups to participate in a few hours of learning every weekday morning. The tutors review and reinforce learning topics that the children struggle with during the school year. As many children arrive at the home having experienced educational neglect or interrupted learning, it is important to take advantage of the summer holiday to try to catch up. In addition, the maintenance of a learning routine helps the missionary caregivers support the children when they restart the formal school year. But it hasn’t been all work! The children continue to participate in their soccer teams and ballet classes twice weekly, and have had many excursions to the beach.

At the mission school, the food assistance portion of our scholarship plus program continues through the summer holiday. The program supports school families suffering from extreme poverty and food insecurity with a 40 pound bag of rice, beans, and vegetables once a month. Even though school is not in session, students and their families still need to eat. There’s also been lots happening in the English department throughout the summer! Last week we sent all of the English teachers to a continuing education conference in Guayaquil, and this week the English department is conducting all of the placement tests to put students into the appropriate English level for the upcoming school year.

University schedules vary throughout the country, so our scholarship recipients have their summer holidays at different times throughout the year. Due to heightened security risks, especially in metropolitan cities where many of our university students live and study, the past few months have been challenging. Jenny, our program coordinator, led a team building activity with all our university scholarship recipients last week. Her mentorship of students, and organization of the program, has been instrumental to program success especially through these recent unexpected challenges.

Lastly, our family is happy to share that we have returned to Ecuador. Due to the same security risks mentioned about, we extended our stay in the United States after visiting for Christmas. We are so grateful to be back now, and look forward to what the 2024-2025 school year will bring!