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Compartiendo Nuestro Sueño (CNS)

Our story traces back to a fateful evening on April 16, 2016. At 7 p.m., a heart-wrenching earthquake struck a close-knit community in Ecuador, where roughly 75,000 people resided. The aftermath revealed a staggering loss—almost 700 precious lives, with some estimates even higher. As the news came in of the devastation of the earthquake, we were confronted with a pressing question: How could we forge a legacy of hope from this devastation?
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  • Our Achievements and Innovations in Education
At the heart of our mission is the promise of a brighter future for our children. To that end, we continuously seek ways to revolutionize our educational methods. Recent research underscores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in creating unique learning experiences.
Embracing this insight, we have repurposed a collection of generously donated laptops, embedding AI-driven tools that facilitate personalized education. This approach allows us to monitor and adapt to each child’s learning trajectory, with an aim to elevate them to the B2 level of education.

Our mission and vision

Our unwavering vision is to be present in every school across Ecuador, where our teaching methods can help improve children’s lives and prepare them for the future. We have three simple goals for all of our schools:

1) English Proficiency: To help every student reach a B2 level in English. This will open up many work opportunities for their future.

2) Computer Science: We teach students the coding languages currently in demand and those we anticipate will be in high demand in the coming years. Which will provide them with job opportunities.

3) Basic Finance: To equip students with the knowledge to create their own financial roadmap for the future, whether that means starting their own business or saving for retirement.

How You Can Help
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We have been able to help build the first school

Financial Efficiency and Impactful Reach
From the moment we constructed our first school, it became evident that building one in every small town would not only be financially taxing but also lack the broad impact we envisioned for children’s education. Our innovative solution? Mobile schools. Partnering with local communities, we leveraged community gathering houses, striking a mutually beneficial deal: they gain access to free internet in the vicinity, and in return, we utilize their spaces as classrooms. This approach significantly minimizes our operational costs, ensuring that every donation is channeled directly into our educational mission. We’re also pioneering efforts to integrate our English teaching methodology into local schools, further expanding our impact across the country without the hefty price tag.

A Beacon for Innovation
Even before the challenges of COVID-19 set in, we had already been on a path of educational evolution. Our adoption of interactive, long-distance virtual learning tools, such as portable smart boards, showcases our commitment to embracing innovative teaching methods. With the advent of AI, our education strategies have evolved, now centering on the unique learning curves of individual students. The aim? To expedite their journey to mastering English. Every 90 days, we assess their progress through rigorous tests, ensuring that our tailored methodologies are truly meeting their individual needs.

Cultivating Dedication and Appreciation
With our current capacity of two schools, each accommodating 22 students — the optimal number for effective teaching — we’ve developed strategies to keep our students engaged and appreciative. A touch of friendly competition goes a long way; our two schools often vie against each other in contests, with the winning school earning bragging rights and donated toys as prizes. However, we believe it’s crucial for children to understand the value of hard work and the idea that nothing is truly free. Therefore, in a bid to instill a sense of responsibility and gratitude, we involve them in weekly community clean-up activities. This not only beautifies their surroundings but also ingrains in them the importance of contributing back and cherishing the opportunities they receive.

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The Partnership with Chunos

Earlier this year, we were deeply concerned to learn that some children were opting out of school. Upon investigation, we discovered a heart-wrenching reality: these young minds were torn between the immediate need for food and the future promise of education. Many felt their progress in school wasn’t worth the sacrifice of a meal and chose to work instead. Recognizing the gravity of this situation, Chunos, a local plantain chip factory, graciously stepped in. They began donating their delectable plantain chips, ensuring our students had something nutritious to snack on during classes. Beyond this, we’ve initiated a collaborative effort with the local community and the parents: they assist in selling the chips, and the proceeds are used to provide wholesome meals for our students. This partnership truly embodies the spirit of community and the impact of collective effort.

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DCE Solar’s Generosity

The year 2020 dealt the world a heavy blow with the epidemic. Some regions were hit particularly hard. In 2022, faced with financial constraints, we had to pause the construction of our new school to continue compensating our dedicated teachers. But as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. In an unexpected turn of events, we had the fortune of meeting the CEO of DCE Solar. Following a heartfelt conversation about our mission and challenges, he generously committed to a monthly donation. This invaluable support has been instrumental in keeping our schools operational. We are immensely grateful to the DCE Solar family for their kindness and unwavering support.

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Introduction

Our journey began in an unexpected place: Pedernales, Ecuador. This is a place which I had never visited, but one that immediately captured my attention following the devastating earthquake that ravaged the region in 2016. This event, which is detailed on our homepage, spurred my first visit to the area in 2017. As a civil engineer, I had initially planned on using my expertise to teach locals how to build earthquake-resistant structures using new materials. However, it soon became evident to me that the challenges extended far beyond just infrastructure. The people of Ecuador were experiencing prevalent and deep-rooted cultural and educational gaps which I felt needed to be addressed. 

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic altered the landscape of our work, making it impossible to continue our for-profit service. Yet, despite the adversity experienced during the pandemic, the drive to make a difference never waned. We revisited our earlier project and analyzed its shortcomings to learn from them and improve our plan. It became clear that without addressing the educational and cultural issues in Ecuador, our goals would be unattainable.

Inspired by successful models employed by other nations, we recognized the universal importance of an understanding of the English language as a stepping stone towards broader opportunities. Despite not yet having a clear roadmap developed, we urgently embarked on building our first school focused on teaching English—an essential skill for the future of students in Ecuador. This project quickly evolved into a comprehensive educational plan. We enhanced our plan by drawing on lessons from countries like Israel and Singapore where education is aligned with future job trends. In Ecuador, where large manufacturing corporations are scarce, we turned our focus towards computer science. Affordable laptops and the flexibility of location-independent work made this an ideal choice for us. English, therefore, became a prerequisite for our students to harvest the vast resources within the field of computer science.

Moreover, we identified a growing and worrying trend of debt accruement in both developed and developing nations. To prepare our students for a stable future and equip them with financial literacy skills, we incorporated basic finance education into our curriculum, utilizing board games as a practical teaching tool.

As we expanded our reach by opening a second school, we delved deeper into understanding Ecuador’s rich and diverse cultural landscape to enhance our teaching effectiveness. The realization dawned on us that to truly make an impact, scalability was key. This realization encouraged us to transition into a non-profit organization in which avenues for funding would be opened. 

Our commitment to this cause runs deep and we sought to share our journey with a wider audience. Hence, we decided to create this blog on our website. This platform allows us to document and share our experiences, our successes, and our challenges. It’s a resource for others who might embark on similar ventures, a testament to the power of perseverance, and a beacon of hope for the transformative impact of education.

We earnestly invite you to join us in this endeavor. Through your support, engagement, and belief in our mission, we can collectively weave a brighter future for the children of Ecuador, together. 

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Challenges & Solutions:

As we progressed with our first and second schools, we noticed an unfortunate trend of declining student numbers. Initially, we suspected that a lack of incentives was the cause. We introduced prizes for outstanding performance, but this approach admittedly proved to be a bit off the mark. While high-achieving students remained engaged, those who were already struggling felt further alienated and their attendance continued to drop. To address this issue, we shifted our strategy to a system of offering our students smaller, more frequent rewards with a significant prize every six months for each school’s top performer.

The second challenge we faced was lower participation rates amongst our students, which we believed could be linked to the high crime rates in the area of one of the schools. Through observation, we discovered that the issue was not solely based on the crime. We found that it was also due to the value, or lack thereof, placed on education in this area. In one school, a parent-driven initiative was launched in which a nominal fee was introduced. This small investment led to a greater sense of ownership and commitment to education amongst our students and their parents. We are still in the process of formulating a solution for the other school which features a different demographic.

A significant barrier in both schools is the perceived irrelevance of learning English, particularly among parents with limited education. They struggle to envision future job opportunities for their children which require proficiency in English. To tackle this, we’ve initiated motivational meetings. By drawing on Geert Hofstede’s 6-Dimension model, these meetings aim to display the influence of power distance on behavior and allow us to show parents the tangible benefits of English proficiency for their children’s futures.

Lastly, we have worked to address the issue of students skipping school to work for their meals. We initially provided them with snacks from a local manufacturer, which showed promising results at first but ultimately didn’t help sustain long-term attendance. Recognizing that food insecurity was not the primary factor at play here, our focus has shifted towards engaging parents more actively in their children’s education. We believe that as the first cohort of students securing jobs through their acquired English skills, the need for these additional motivational strategies will gradually diminish over time.

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First Expansion

As we embarked on the journey of increasing the scope and domain of our project, we proudly opened a new school serving over 200 students in the mountainous regions of Ecuador. Although we are still in the early stages of increasing the scale of our non-profit, we are taking determined strides in the right direction. To bolster our efforts, we’ve appointed a dedicated individual to focus on grants and applications, which serves to expand our pool of funding. We’ve also amplified our presence on social media, which has already begun to open up additional funding opportunities for us. This support is crucial until our grant initiatives fully materialize.

Additionally, we understand the value of diverse funding sources in sustaining our growth and are actively seeking corporate sponsorship. We embrace the philosophy that “perfection is the enemy of progress” and thus we are not waiting for flawless conditions to arise before we advance in our mission. Starting next month, we will begin evaluating our students. This is a critical step in refining our educational approach and moving towards our goal, which is ambitious yet attainable: to equip our students with a level of English proficiency and education that paves their way to studying at universities in the United States and equips them with the skills they need to succeed.

In the interim, as we fine-tune our plan, we are launching after-school clubs conducted entirely in English. These clubs provide valuable language immersion for our students and will also allow us to test and develop our educational model further through a hands-on approach. This approach affords us the necessary time to address upcoming changes and gather the essential support and funding that we need.
We’re extremely optimistic about this journey. With each step we take, we come closer to realizing our vision of providing transformative education and opening up new horizons for our students in Ecuador.

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