Global Engagement

Mar 01 2020

Sorry this post took a little longer than I expected.  We had an interesting week dealing with electricity to our house.  But, we are back!! Also, sorry this is a LONG post with LOTS of photos and a few videos. ...

Feb 25 2020

If you’ve been checking the Ecuador blog for updates over the past two weeks you’ve been met with silence…. at least internet blog silence.   The final two weeks of the study portion of Spring 2020 SST have been a blur...

Feb 15 2020

Every Wednesday, for the past 5 weeks, instead of an afternoon field trip or lecture, the students make their way to Nyumbani Goshen, or the Goshen home (aka. the Schramms’ apartment). The students were divided into 5 different groups.  Each...

Feb 06 2020

As the beat of the SST drum marches on, students shifted from a focus on Ecuador’s biodiversity to Ecuador’s ethnic diversity.  Depending how you subdivide it, Ecuador has 14 distinct languages and more than 30 unique people groups and subgroups. ...

Jan 30 2020

Week three of Spring 2020 Ecuador SST thrust students into the biodiversity that is Ecuador and all the complexity that comes with it.  One of the neat elements of SST is there is so much learning that takes place outside...

Jan 26 2020

Forgive the multitude of photos in this post, but we saw so much this past weekend.  We visited a town called Bagamoyo (originally Buagamoyo, which means “lay down your heart”).  For the history of Bagamoyo, click here. While in Bagamoyo,...

Jan 21 2020

The theme of week two of SST has been ascending and descending….  After a lecture on the history of the Catholic church in Ecuador, students visited some of the historic churches in the Centro Historico of Quito.  At the national...

Jan 18 2020

Today we had a much-needed day of play and fellowship.  We met up at a nearby beach with some of the local youths from a few Mennonite congregations.  Along with normal beach activities, such as swimming, looking for seashells, and...

Jan 14 2020

Ecuador SST 2019-2020 version 2.0 kicked off this past week with strange global climate change induced sunny weather during the start to the rainy season in Ecuador.  Students missing the sun in North America quickly realized just how intense the...

Jan 12 2020

One of the most important components of SST is living with a host family.  This helps the students with language acquisition, better understanding of the culture, and providing them with the kind of support only a family can give. Last...

Jan 09 2020

The Spring 2020 Ecuador unit has arrived in Quito and has been safely delivered to their lodging at the Cofan Survival Fund facilities.  Their first couple of days will include a host of orientation activities, including introductions to the public...