Building Hope While Experiencing the Real Ecuador

Paul Byrne
April 4, 2011
Service Ambassadors Project Leader

I would like to invite you to participate in an exciting opportunity to make a tangible difference to a community in need in Ecuador. Over the past five years, I have led service learning projects ("Service Tours") across the globe with the International Relief Friendship Foundation. This year, I am leading a similar project for one of our partner organizations, called the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation (www.faf.org). The program is called "Service Ambassadors," and I can guarantee that it will not only change your life, but will give you the opportunity to change the lives of others as well.

Thanks to the contributions of a few generous supporters, the cost is being reduced by over $200 per participant and an extra day has been added to the adventure; the dates of the project are now July 5–18.

Our group will be working side by side with local residents to build a community center in Limon Indanza, an indigenous community in Ecuador that has struggled with poverty, poor education, and the loss of their cultural heritage. Our project will address all three of these issues by creating a cultural center for their community that will serve as a location to share and memorialize their customs, hold educational workshops and classes, and as a centralized location for their local market.

In addition to making a tangible contribution to this community, participants will experience the culture of Ecuador through home-stays and their daily interactions with residents. They will learn about international development and the social challenges facing the people of Ecuador by meeting with local and international nonprofit organizations that are working there. Finally, they will explore the natural beauty of this equatorial country through our sightseeing excursions after our work is finished.

Join us. Make a lasting difference. Experience the real Ecuador.

Visit www.faf.org/GroupTours/grouptours_2011-Travel4aCause.htm for more information and to apply

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=21184915401

Note: Limon Indanza is a community of about 10,000 people in southeast Ecuador. With an elevation of about 1100 meters, its climate is temperate and humid, with average temperatures ranging from 18o to 22o Centigrade.