Impressions of our afternoon sessions with the local students 2016

Group picture after our field trip to the local tree nursery

Picking up waste on our way to the tree nursery - an eye-opening experience for all of us (including Nic, the human garbage can, who had to carry the shocking amount of litter we found on our short way).

Listening to local government official Ramiro Alcoser explaining the purpose and functioning of the tree nursery and the local reforestation program. We learned a lot, our students showed great interest and participated by posing very good questions.

Jeff demonstrating the functioning and dangers of water contamination through a well prepared small scale simulation.

A normal day at class: Presenting about sustainable energy, water and waste management. Most of our theoretical input generated a lot of participation by our students and great discussions with them.

Bonding in our spare time: Hiking with Renato and José (l.); on our way to the "Virgen del Cisne" procession with Steeven (r.).

Our Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Development (SEDV) Interns in Mindo 2016

Margarita, Jeff and Nic presenting our program at the opening event

Maria Margarita Meza

As our only native Spanish speaker, Margarita soon became the “Mamá” of our group. She had to carry a very big part of the load during our afternoon sessions with the local students, and did an incredible job. Margarita was an important connection between the SEDV group and the local stakeholders, which made our work possible and fruitful.

Jeff Coombes

Jeff was the brain of our group. His ideas were incredibly helpful in order to prepare participatory and fun workshops with the kids. Without his input, it would have been impossible to create such excitement among the local students. He also played a major role in organizing the final report for the local stakeholders.

Nic Ritchie

Even though he didn’t speak a lot of Spanish when he arrived, Nic immediately connected with the local students, thus having an amazing effect on the positive climate in our classroom. The kids fell in love with his fun loving and open minded nature, which made them overcome the language gap easily. Nic’s value for our group was immense. Not only did he do everything that had to be done without a word of complaint, he also guaranteed the harmony within the group.