Tena Retreat

This past weekend we packed up our best jungle attire and headed east for our 3rd Manna Ecua company retreat in Tena, a small city that sits on the bordered of the Amazon rainforest.

Our first afternoon/evening was spent discussing program monitoring and management. We looked at how different methods and algorithms can be used to determine strengths and weaknesses of our programs and site overall. It was great to come together and identify things that we have constantly done well and things that we can improve upon as we continue to grow as NGO here in Ecuador.

Discussing strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities of Manna

Carryn reading our strengths and weaknesses

  On Sunday, our second day, we took a break from discussion, jumped in the back of a camioneta, and headed to the river for some white water fun. It had rained all night and the water level was really high which made for some excellent rapids and our guides definitely made sure we had a good time making our way down river. For lunch we pulled off to the side of the river and ate lunch at a local's house. The gave us tradition tea, taught us a little about the surrounding vegetation, and trekked with us to a near by waterfall. It was a really fun day, with only a few spills out of the boat!

Las chicas de la selva

Sunday night we played a great game, introduced to us by our new CD, Fred, in which we simulated the monthly spendings/earnings of a small business. It is a great tool that will definitely be used by some of our programs, such as Small Business Development, in the future.

Business #1, tracking finances

Monday we woke up early and headed a half hour away to monkey beach, where a band of monkeys runs free, occasionally stealing the hat of an unlucky passerby. It was a wonderful morning of monkey photos and bathing in the sand on the beach.

Tena sunsets

Hanging out on monkey beach

After our excitement filled, yet relaxing retreat, we are geared up for our fourth quarter of English classes which began yesterday with Children's English and tonight with Adult's English! Let the new, and final semester begin!

End of Quarter 3 Classes

Last week marked the end of our quarter three classes here at MPI Ecuador. It was a great quarter with the successful addition of a new level 5 adult English class and the a new Super Advanced Children's English class. Overall our students did very well and many of them will be advancing to the next level of classes!

On Thursday the Children's English classes celebrated with a field day in which all classes came together to compete in events like tug-o-war and sack relay races. It was a fun day, and we were lucky to have the sun shining. 

S

After the Adult English classes took their final on Saturday we had a great time celebrating with homemade ceviche, courtesy of our wonderful Adult Cooking and Nutrition class. The day consisted of soccer, Quarenta tournament, and finally a great game of basketball. 

Inscriptions for our next quarter of classes started yesterday and we are so excited to announce that in just one afternoon we filled up almost every classes with between 15 - 30 people. It has been really rewarding to see how popular our English classes have become just over the past year and we can't wait to start classes up again in two weeks.

4th Annual Quito Benefit

Last weekend we had the pleasure of hosting our 4th Annual Quito Benefit at El Patio del Arupo in northern Quito. It was a great success with 39 of our friends and community members in attendance and over 200 dollars raised for the Manna library!

It was a really fun event! The night started off with appetizers and drinks, followed by three wonderful speeches given by current CD Heather Kryzak, our incoming CD Fred Schick, and devoted community member Andrea Haro. Andrea spoke very highly of the library and about all that Manna does in general, she almost had a few of us in tears. One of our newer PDs, Carryn Mills, then sang a wonderful cover of Blackbird by the Beatles, accompanied by our live musician, Edú Naranjo.

Andrea giving her speech

Carryn serenading the crowd

The night really picked up when like all good Ecuadorian parties, the dancing commenced. Couples of all ages, including our youngest guest, Martina, had a great time out on the dance floor.

We finished the night off with out raffle drawing which included a number of awesome prizes, such as a night in Hotel Rumiloma (one of Quito's top boutique hotels), a breakfast for two at Magic Bean, four hours of salsa classes, and a three month membership at Lift Gym. There was a wide array of winners, including Freddy and Ivo, who were both very successful and took home the top prize, the night at Rumiloma!

Martina helping out with the raffle drawing

Our wonderful raffle winners!

Heather, Erika, Andrea, and Cate

We are so thankful to everyone who helped us make this event possible! Special thanks to Sara, owner of El Patio del Arupo, Joshua,  Edú Naranjo, Andrea Haro, and all of the wonderful businesses who donated raffle prizes.

Manna 2013 - 2014

2nd Annual Valley Benefit!

We recently had our second annual Valley Benefit!  We had a great time with good friends as we were joined by a wide range of people from the community.  Everyone from our English students to community members to the president of Rumiloma was there.  We enjoyed a delicious Ecuadorian almuerzo and then continued the fun with dancing and games. 

 The most exciting game that we played at the event was “Guess the Profe!”  First, our guests were separated into teams, we then read an interesting fact about a profe.  The teams were challenged to guess which profe the fact belonged to.  The facts were funny, interesting and at times almost unbelievable.  They really tested how well our community members know us!  Our facts ranged from “which profe has read 24 books since they’ve been in Ecuador” to “which profe got sick & threw up on her first date!”  The game was a lot of fun and we loved laughing and learning about each other alongside the community members.  

We had several local businesses get involved with the benefit by donating a wide range of items as prizes for our games.  We had everything from ice cream to a baked chicken to a free term of english classes with Manna.  Getting to collaborate with businesses within the community was a fun experience.  We were encouraged to see how enthusiastic the businesses were about getting involved with MPI.

Thanks to all of the businesses and community members who contributed to making the benefit a success!  We really enjoyed collaborating with you all and we are pleased to say that together, we raised over $100!  We are encouraged and excited to see what happens next year!

Written by PD Torie Barnard 

Small Business Development Update

It has been an exciting few months for the Small Business Development Program! January marked the conclusion of our second loan cycle, which was met with a 100% repayment rate and positive reviews from all loan recipients.

Second round loan recipients and SBD PDs on the last repayment

After seeing first hand how much impact these small loans can have, we wanted to find a way to expand the program to more individuals. So, throughout the months of December and January we ran an Indiegogo campaign, which successfully raised $2,415. Thanks to our generous donors, we were able to almost double our lending capacity for the third loan cycle, which began on February 7. Now in our third year working in Jatumpungo, we had a lot of interest from community members. Applicants attended a series of small business classes, taught by ourselves and organizations ranging from Deloitte to a small organic food co-op. After filling out applications and business plans, we interviewed sixteen different business owners and selected seven individuals to receive loans ranging from $150 to $800.

Applicants attend a charla on marketing, taught by our friends at a local food co-op, De la Mata a la Olla

This loan cycle we are putting a big emphasis on proper accounting, in an effort to avoid a fairly common scenario for small businesses in our community—losing money without even knowing it. Last week our friend Carlos, who takes English classes at Manna and has a degree in accounting from a local university, accompanied us to each loan recipient’s house to design an individual accounting system that works for each business. Just three weeks after loan distribution, we were thrilled to see how much progress has already been made!

Hector, who used his loan to open a tienda, already has a fully stocked store and has been keeping diligent notes of each income and expense. Over drinks and snacks sold at the tienda, Taylor, Carlos and I spent a few hours going over how to calculate profit, and making a comprehensive price list for each item sold in Hector’s store. Our hope is that he will be able to see which products he makes the most money on, and make sure to stock a larger inventory of those. Each Friday, Program Directors, who have paired up with one or two business owners, will visit Jatumpungo to help with accounting and offer suggestions on marketing and related topics.

Hector and his new tienda!

We are so excited to have such an ambitious and entrepreneurial group of loan recipients, and look forward to watching their growth and successes. We will continue with monthly repayments and weekly accounting meetings, but in the meantime we are looking to expand yet again. This time to Rumiloma-- the neighborhood where our community center is located. Through a partnership with the community president, we plan to offer a two month long small business development course, followed by microloan applications. We’ll keep you updated!

Written by PD Cate Parker