My name is Lukas and I am the new manager at the project side. I
volunteered and teached children myself in the past and therefore
looked forward finally arriving in Ecuador and to be part of the
Arajuno Road Project. It is also my first newsletter I am sending to
you and I will continue to keep you updated every month about what is
happening in the schools and on the Arajuno Road.
September has been an exciting month for our project as well as for
the pupils in Ecuador. After a long and deserved summer break, school
went back to normal. The house saw a new breeze of air with many new
volunteers arriving and ready to give something back to the community.
The month also started with some important achievements for us, as we
arranged to teach in two more schools, which puts the total number to
5 schools we will teach this year. But as Ecuador is in the rise of
many changes, the teachers went on strike in the first school week and
therefore we weren’t able to give classes. As nobody knew for how
long this strike will continue, we were prepared to go back to school
every day.
But these circumstances also gave the volunteers the chance to
experience some other activities in this area. We helped some
community families with the work on the fields, which was a great
experience and showed us how hard people sometimes have to work for
living. Furthermore, some volunteers went on a jungle trip over two
days, organized by some people from the community. Afraid of what
might happen within those two days, they all returned save, happy and
with a bucked full of stories to tell! We also took advantage of the
many waterfalls and rivers around here and had some nice swims during
hot days.
At the end of the day all we wished for was the return of school.
Finally the strike was over and we were ready to teach in 5 schools.
More about that in the next newsletter!

P.S.: Julian the car finally decided to be more open minded: He’s
playing all CDs now!