New Scholars for the 2010-11 School Year  

We are excited to introduce four new students who have entered the Rainforest Scholars Program for the 2010-2011 school year. They are all from the village of Pano, Napo Province, Ecuador, where they attend a bilingual Spanish-Kichwa language school, the Unidad Educativa Bilingue “El Pano”. All four of these new Rainforest scholars are studying auto mechanics as part of their secondary school education. This training will afford them gainful employment upon graduation from high school. And, because the school is bilingual, it allows them to remain more true to their Kichwa culture. These young men are only four of the 23 new Rainforest Scholarship Program applications we received from the region for the 2010-11 School Year.  

 

Meet Enoc Josue, Age 12; Carlos Orlando, Age 13; Ronal Alexis, Age 14; and Richard Olimpo, Age 18. They are being supported at $250 each from AlliancExchange’s general funds. If you are interested in supporting any one or all of these boys, feel free to contact us for more information.  More details on our scholars here.

We met the headmaster of this school during our January visit to Tena, Ecuador. We visited the school and the village. We felt the mission of the school to provide gainful employment for these youths who are near the urban area of Tena, but still in the midst of the rainforest, was worth supporting. We decided to work with 4 families and support 4 young people in pursuit of their dreams – to maintain their Kichwa culture, but also to obtain skills to allow them to support their families.