¡Saludos desde Ecuador!
My name is Greg Branigan and I am a double major in Biochemistry and Spanish at
Villanova University. Last summer, the Spanish program and the business school granted me the
opportunity to visit Guayaquil Ecuador and to be part of the Starfish Foundation. The
foundation´s goals are to be a premier means for at-risk Ecuadorian youth to achieve a postsecondary education. The Starfish Foundation coordinates three main programs in Guayaquil:
scholarship, tutoring and leadership development. Their vision is a community where
underprivileged Latin American youth are empowered to create a better future for themselves
through continuing education. I am very grateful for this opportunity, since my Spanish has
greatly improved, but more important than that, I now appreciate a different culture and
understand what it is like for people to live in a developing country and that this does not deter
from true happiness.
I am very proud to be associated with such a great organization as the Starfish
Foundation. Ecuador is a very unique country filled with extraordinary people. I was given the
opportunity to meet some of the most generous and gracious people whom I now have the
pleasure of calling my friends. All of the families we met warmly opened their homes to us and
shared their culture and their lives without hesitation.
During the week, the volunteers attend refuerzo, which are the tutoring sessions that
occur at the foundation for the scholarship students as well as many of the neighborhood kids.
The general set up is an hour and half of studying and doing homework and then a half hour of
dynamicos (a game that gets everyone up and moving). There are two locations for refuerzo: one
in Guasmo and the other in Flor de Bastion. My job as a volunteer was to help with student’s
homework and to explain concepts that they did not understand; my primary role was to assist
the students in English, Math, Biology, and Chemistry, all in Spanish. This allowed me to get a
glimpse of the education system in Ecuador, which is a wakeup call for most of us. A major
struggle that we have to deal with is the fact that the students don’t always have the most
competent teachers in their schools. Many times the homework they have is only copying
problems or multiple pages out of their textbooks into their personal notebooks without truly
understanding the concepts. With this, the kids are only going through the motions because the
massive amount of work prohibits real learning and understanding. Despite this, they still keep
going and are dedicated and excited to learn.
I found it interesting to observe the differences between the two groups and how they
have formed their own community within Starfish. The two towns have their own distinct
personalities, both towns being of extreme poverty. Guasmo being slightly more developed and
Flor de Bastion only having running tap water for the last three months. One can only imagine
how a child would act coming from either of these two scenarios, yet the commonality amongst
all of the children and people who I worked with was a genuineness, eloquence, and love that
was obvious within the first few moments of meeting them. While talking to one of the other
visitors, he made the comment that if you needed to learn how to love you could not find a better
teacher then the families in Ecuador.
Given the loving and genuine nature of the people it is hard to imagine that the areas in
which they live are in utter shambles. The typical house has windows covered by large metal
gates and tin roofs. While lucky families have cement floors and walls, the remainder of the
houses are made of dirt floors and cane. What is extraordinary is the happiness that radiates from
these people while living in this level of poverty. It is said money cannot buy happiness and you
wouldn’t need more proof then to spend the day with the Starfish families.
To survive in Ecuador you have to pay attention and learn quickly. The custom while
greeting people is to kiss them on the left cheek. Women kiss each other and men kiss women,
but men do not kiss other men. You can imagine how this can be tricky when you are first
learning the cultural norms and your Ecuadorian family member’s are practical jokesters.
Another interesting cultural phenomenon is machismo, best translated as an intense masculine
pride of sorts. This can best be seen while taking public transportation. If you are a man, the bus
will not stop for you when you are boarding or debarking. However, the bus comes to a complete
halt for women. Some interesting facts: the current gas price is about a dollar, 22 chocolate
covered bananas cost $1.40, and bus fare is 25 cents. The words that come to mind when
thinking back on this experience are “eye-opening” and “life changing.” It is not every day that
you can experience the culture and the people that you find in Ecuador and it really makes you
appreciate your life.
I have been asked several times “what is your favorite thing about Ecuador?” To me the answer
is simple: its people… especially my Ecuadorian friends and family. I stayed with a host family
in Guasmo during my trip. My host mother’s name was Filadelfia (pronounced Philadelphia)
which we all thought was funny given that I go to school in Philadelphia. Filadelfia, in my
humble opinion, is one of Ecuador’s best cooks. This single mother of three runs the house,
cooks every meal, not only for our family but occasionally for the neighbors, all out of a
compassion for her friends and family.
Some of the kids who made a particular impact on me were Geovanny, Christian, Joel, and Mike.
These four boys as well as all of the children’s at Starfish have such compassion and genuineness
and will never be forgotten. These boys would go out of their way to say hello and make sure
that my day was going well. By the end of my trip, these boys went from being my students to
my friends to my little brothers.
If you ever have an opportunity to visit Ecuador I would highly recommend it. In Ecuador it’s
not hard to find an experience that will make an impression and meeting these families was truly
an unforgettable experience.
All the best,
Greg “Gregorio” Branigan