By: Isaac Blumenthal
One of the best parts about interning for Manna is the manner in which all the staff evolves into family. We live and work together which leads us to form a tight-knit group. Over the last month, Program Directors, Lexi, Ben and Isaac have been developing a strong relationship. Since Lexi and Isaac arrived in early July, they have seen many different interns come in and out of the house. The Summer interns headed back to school for the Fall semester, and a short time later, Executive Director Jeff Goldman arrived in Ecuador for a 10 day stay. Additionally, in mid-August, Manna welcomed a new staff member, Eliana Neuwirth. Eliana first worked with Manna in Ecuador through her Master’s degree capstone project and has returned to serve the community as Site Director.
We are so excited to have Eliana support our community impact work formerly led by the amazing Vanessa Cadena. We will miss Vanessa dearly but we so greatly appreciate how helpful she has been in making this transition as smooth as possible.
As Jeff and Eliana overlapped in Sangolqui for about a week, he also helped support the transition. Throughout the week, Jeff worked to organize many team building activities which included games, hikes, and dinners. Jeff took the team on hikes over the weekend to Molinuco, Condor Machay, and Ilalo. It was not your typical relaxing weekend but it certainly was fun! The waterfalls and views the staff saw along these treks were breathtaking. Keeping up with Jeff was quite the challenge for the staff as he is more of a seasoned hiker, but they managed to complete the hikes in one piece.
Even with all the change occurring during August, Manna continued with normal summer operations. We hosted Conversation Club, worked with our numerous partner organizations, and helped prepare our teachers and volunteers for the upcoming trimester. More exciting news: we have restarted nutrition workshops biweekly at Guangopolo, serving a lively group of elderly community members. This enthusiastic group and their Program Director leader, Lexi, are enjoying healthy activities together. We cannot wait to get classes started with our wonderful staff, volunteers, and community members!