The Ecuador Partnership Committee is pleased to tell you about the approved requests for support and assistance from our partners for 2009.

FEDICE: The Lisa Haida Memorial Child Care Center will be built in Romerillos, a small village high in the Andes Mountains.  This early childhood center will serve 30 – 50 children between the ages of six weeks and five years.  The land has been purchased and construction will begin after January 1, 2009.  ISC will send a delegation to assist with the build in late spring or early summer 2009.  This center will provide both childcare and pre-school education for all the young children of the village.

CHUQUIRAGUA CLUB: With this partner, ISC continues to provide 20 high school scholarships and 10 university scholarships for talented indigenous young women in the Quito area. To date, none of the high school scholarship recipients of ISC have dropped out or failed for any reason.  In fact, this past year we are proud to announce that three of our recipients graduated as valedictorians of their classes.  The young women at the university are doing great as well. Occasionally a few will need to repeat a class, but this has never caused them to lose sight of their goal—graduation!!  Our first two young women graduate this year, Johanna in December with a Technical Degree in Mechanical Engineering, and Karina in May with a degree in Business Administration.

YACHANA: The Yachana High School along the Napo River provides secondary education for students in the Ecuadorian rain forest.  This is a boarding school and students have an active agricultural program  where they are producing approximately 48% of their own food and also food which they sell to the Yachana Lodge.  They are managing around 300 layers, 350 broilers, and 5,000 Tilapia fish.  A request has been received from Yachana  and approved by the Ecuador committee to financially support the installation of a solar powered electric fence system to guarantee the security of the food they are producing.

INTEGRATED FAMILY SERVICE CENTER (CIF): Our work with CIF continues in the LaDolorosa Project.  This project deals with both boys and girls who have dropped out of high school.  These students are not in trouble with the law but have had great difficulty in high school and could probably be labeled Learning Disabled.  The educational program at LaDolorosa is an intensive, one-year program and includes academics and personal growth.  Career choices include mechanics, iron working, electricity, carpentry, beauty salon, and hotel/restaurant.  Students are also taught how to set up a micro-enterprise after graduation.  CIF provides training for the teachers, therapy once a week for families, and a medical clinic to meet the needs of students at the school.

HABITAT: Mission teams from Illinois South Conference will build two more homes in Ecuador in 2009. The sites have yet to be determined, but there will be one build in February/March and one in July/August.  Anyone interested in participating or has questions should contact Kent Lytle at 618-656-4264.

For information on Ecuador Partnership, go to www.isecuador.net