MASONRY COURSE# 1 - YACHANA

MASONRY COURSE# 1 – YACHANA

PROGRAM: Earthquake Ecuador – Rebuilding the Future for Coastal Ecuador

DATE: From June 24 until July 13

Summary

We carried out our first training course at Yachana Foundation facilities. There were 20 participants from three areas along the coast affected by the earthquake. Many who came are still living in tents with their families. This was our first course and it turned out to be hugely successful. The focus of this course was on masonry and the men were actually building things involving all aspects of mixing cement, pouring floors, laying block and finishing the surface of the blocks. An architect and two assistants were in charge of the training and provided guidance in the actual work plus theoretical instruction in how to read plans, industrial safety and other subjects.

Mr. Todd Chapman (USA Ambassador) and William Bessette (Facebook editor) at Yachana Lodge

The Yachana Foundation is offering a series of courses, beginning with the first course in masonry from 24th June to 13th July, to be followed by other building trades like carpentry, electricity and plumbing. The participants of the first course have assured us that they will serve as ambassadors to find other people interested in participating. They said that a large number of people would be interested. There are many jobs available in the region as part of the reconstruction efforts, but they require a certification to have access to these jobs. The certification that Yachana is giving, along with the National Organization of Tradesman, qualifies these participants to have access to a lot of work. One participant, who has 20 years of experience but needed a certificate, has now secured a contract with MIDUVI, a government organization that builds low cost housing, and has contracted four of his friends who were involved in our course.

Our training courses are specifically for people from communities most affected by the devastation of the earthquake. These members will now help us to identify future participants from their communities.

It has been less than four weeks since our training ended. We started with 20 participants in the training program and ended up with 17, three dropped out. (The next training session will be full with 32 participants because the first who were involved are recommending the program and are calling asking when it will begin. One has to understand that this first group really made a tremendous “leap of faith” to go off in a bus to an unknown destination in another part of the country and to an organization they had never heard of before. Their recommendations will fill the next course.) Of the 17, ten were from the community of Coaque that was completely destroyed. All from that village have jobs So as a direct result of the training and certification program 88% of the total participants are involved in work.

It is hard to imagine the emotion of these men as a result of the course. First, they said it was a wonderful advantage to have had the course at Yachana facilities, on the other side of the Andes Mountains from the coast, because it was a peaceful, secure area. In the areas where they live, there are aftershocks, some very strong, virtually every day! Second, since Yachana is located in a remote area of the rainforest, there are no distractions and they could concentrate on the project. Third, our program is a boarding situation and helped to create a sense of “family” between all the participants and the Yachana staff and many expressed interest to return with their families. Fourth, they felt good that they could participate on actual building projects that they could see from the beginning to the end. And fifth, many individually came to me as executive director of the foundation, to just say how much they appreciated the opportunity we were giving them. They said there was a tremendous amount of support that the area was receiving, but very few organizations had offered our more personalized, long term support.

Cknowledgements

Global Giving Foundation – Donation and sponsorship (www.globalgiving.org)
Arq. Fausto Moreno – Development of teching architectural plans (faustomoreno@yahoo.com)
Mr. William Bessette – Photography (will.bessette@gmail.com) (Except “Graduation”)
Mr. Todd Chapman – Ambassador of United States in Ecuador, for his personal and family visit

CURSO 1

Godparents

GODPARENT

ACTIVITY

CITY

STUDENT

Iepesa Cía. Ltda.

Ing. Raúl Moreno H.

JCI Portoviejo

Jaime A. Cevallos

Inyección de partes y piezas en plástico

www.iepesaplasticos.com

PORTOVIEJO

Steven Acosta
Joel Bone
Lauro Macías
José Saltos
William Sánchez
Bryan Valeriano

Cialcotel

Ing. José Luis Alvarez

Mayito Alvarez Palacio

Israel Albán

Patricio Mosquera

María Pía Medina

Erik Naranjo

Andrés Naranjo

Cadena hotelera en el Ecuador

www.cialcotel.com

BAHÍA DE CARAQUEZ

César Santos
Dilque Lucas
Edison Santos
Francisco Proaño
Gabriel Zambrano
Manuel Marazita
Angel Ureta
Carlos Farías
Edwin Farías
Elías Ureta
Segundo Ureta

Avanti

Eco. Carolina Pozo

Anita Dávila

Impacto Social y emprendimiento

www.avanti.ec

COAQUE

Fulton Ride Canchingre Pether
Rider Rogoberto Vilela Salazar
René Antonio Armas Vilela
Dante Temístocle Loor Bermudes
César Leonel Sánches Mojarrango
José Euclides Anchundia Gutiérrez
Edgar Estuardo Vera Nevarez
Francisco Junior Napa Vilela
Víctor Hugo Vilela Salazar
Nixon Edison Andrade Gutierrez