Today has been a very exciting day. All of our personal ideas of how we believe we can help the community are finally taking shape and becoming reality. Our morning started very early with a trip to Cotacachi, the closest city to our community. With our lists in hand we went in search of the material we need to complete our individual projects. It took more time than we expected but we managed to find everything we needed!.

Some of the students shared certain ideas, so they teamed up for certain projects.

Here are their ideas:

Annabelle: Her love for animals led her to create a project focused on making a recipe for dog treats based on natural products. She will pack treats in bags with the written recipe to distribute to the houses of the communities, so that they can make them for the many dogs here.

Nico, Gray, Lucca: Since we arrived in Turuco, a particular spot caught the attention of these three students — an abandoned basketball court that right now is used as a parking lot. They measured the court, got the official measurements, and realized that they can remodel this space without it ceasing to be a parking lot. They are very excited about it but they found their first challenge, which is to clean the ground before starting to paint.

Syd, Nikki, Kat: Since the day we went to school and spent most of the day playing with the children, this group decided they wanted to do something for them. After bouncing different ideas around, they decided to do an art workshop for the children, where they will teach how to make dream catchers, bracelets, and necklaces. Finding the material for this was a bit complicated, but in the end they got everything they needed.

Nehaar, Eshaan, Reid: These three incredible athletes have been among the most active in the community because of their love for sports like soccer and tennis. There has not been a minute of free time that they don’t use to go out and play with community kids. For them it seemed like a good idea to remodel the multipurpose court, which does not have established soccer goals. They bought wood and rope to make the goals themselves. They spent a large part of their planning watching YouTube videos of how to weave a net. It is a work in progress, but the progress already made is a good sign of what’s to come.

Gabe, Chuli: Every morning the group wakes up with the sound of dogs barking, roosters crowing, and the cries of a David (a child in the community) shouting to Chuli and Gabe to come out and play. This is an example of the friendship that these two students have established with the children of the community. Some of the children are in charge of tending to the little store near the soccer field, and sometimes they can’t go out to play because they have to stay and watch the store. Gabe and Chuli decided to speak with the person in charge and offered their time and energy to tend the store so the family can have more free time. They have been doing this for a day and we can see a growth in sales because of all the visits from Putney students who go to visit their friends.

It has been a very productive day and we are all very excited to finish projects and see our ideas materialized, knowing they will do good even when we have gone.

— Javier & Sasha