$30000 Before 30 in 30 Days For a Rural Community in Ecuador

This guest post was contributed by Emily Kalnicky of 30before30in30 - a fund raiser for a small rural community in Ecuador. 

“Why Ecuador?” is a question I commonly receive when I talk about a small non-profit I co-founded to assist in fundraising and general sustainable community development.  To me, the answer is simple:  I fell in love with the country- the people, the flora and fauna, the food, and the music.  In fact, my travels to Ecuador were far from planned.

Almost a year ago, (end of February 2011), I saw an advertisement on a listserv I subscribe to for a volunteer community education internship in Ecuador that sounded interesting.  On a whim, I sent it to a friend of mine, whom I’d met while we were both completing master’s in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Because of our varied educational background, interests, and goals, she and I had talked for a while about working together to construct an education center, but it was also just a goal for the future.  I was in the final stretch of my PhD program at this time (which I successfully defended on 12-2-11!), and she was at a transition stage in her life, so we thought this might be the perfect time for us to see how well we worked together.  We ended up on quite the adventure.

Among other things, we designed and helped to build a brick oven that is big enough to fit a pig; designed curriculum and taught English language to 1^st through 7^th graders and adults in the local school; danced until dawn; learned to make all kinds of Ecuadorian food; survived drinking cañon (an alcohol derived from sugar cane), and assisted in harvesting coffee, cacao, oranges, limes, and many other things.

We also participated in town meetings and befriended the President of the rural community of Camarones.  We were then asked for our assistance in helping to raise money to construct a community center that could be used as a library, a meeting space, a place for health services, and a learning center.  The land had already been donated by one of the local families.

After our short stay in Ecuador (May thru July), we stayed in touch with the President, and it became clear there was still a strong desire to get this center built.  It also is clear that there have been many projects started and left incomplete in the community (including a drinking water project started in 2009 with the help of Rotary International, but left incomplete due to lack of funds from the local Ecuadorian municipality).  I feel compelled to make sure this project not be one of those.

So, here I am- 30 days before my 30^th birthday (which will occur 3-19-2012) with the goal of  raising the $30,000 needed to construct this community center.  The idea came to me from those 30 before 30 lists that many people keep- the idea being to write down 30 things you wish to accomplish before you turn 30.  All of the things I could think of seemed rather insignificant, and, with only 30 days left there was some limitation on what could be achieved.

I am hoping to return to Ecuador later this Spring where I hope to volunteer my time to help with construction of the center.

Please help donate if you can, to make this center a reality, and then (after the challenge is done) follow along as I document my adventures living in Ecuador http://30before30in30.blogspot.com/.

This guest post was contributed by Emily Kalnicky of 30before30in30 - a fund raiser for a small rural community in Ecuador. 

Related posts:

1. Las Palmas Gated Community: Coastal Ecuador Real Estate Opportunity
2. Vacation Volunteering: See Ecuador Differently
3. Ecuador Expat Profile – Maureen Douglas, Cuenca Ecuador
4. Galapagos Trip: Days 2 & 3
5. Living Abroad: The Bad Days