Rhythm is in the blood of the children of Ecuador and plays a large part in the culture of the country and nowhere more so than in Isla Triniteria where the Afro-Ecuadorian influence is particularly apparent. The children made and decorated their own maracas and introduced us to some of their own rhythms and impromptu hip shaking.
Children have the right to express their opinion so we decided to give them the opportunity to share their dreams with the world or in this case the Universo. The Universo is a popular Guayaquil newspaper and each child in our Fertisa group was invited to paint what they would like to see on the front page the next day. Here´s some of their fantastic ideas.
Children have the right to adequate information so we asked Don Pablo, a JUCONI councillor if he would do us the honour of wearing the ´hat of truth´ and allow the children of Balerio Estacio to fire questions at him. An opportunity they were´t going to let slip by. An hour of intensive questioning took place and subjects as broad ranging as Religion, Science and English vocabulary were covered with a few of the more challenging questions including: ´How many fish are there in the sea?´ ´How was blood put inside our bodies?´and the age old classic ´How did Mum and Dad make me?´ Pablo´s delicately delivered response to the latter seemed to satisfy the most curious minds.
The children celebrated their right to a family by drawing and painting a family portrait. Here are a few of our favourites.
The first of June marks Ecuador´s national children´s day, a perfect opportunity to celebrate the rights of children and especially their right to play. So we dusted down a gigantic parachute as used by previous volunteers and we played and we played and we played.
