Hi everyone!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my page - as you may be aware, I´ve been in Ecuador for the past month, volunteering with an organisation called Global Vision International.

I´ve been teaching at a primary school in one of the local communities around the market town of Otavalo, and have another two months with the project. Everything I´ve seen and experienced so far has already affected me a great deal, and left me certain that GVI is really making a positive difference in the communities it works in.

I made a decision this weekend (on a high after scaling my first volcano) to participate in The Otavaleñan 3 Peak
Charity Challenge that GVI are running in order to raise funds later this month and only have a couple of weeks to get as many sponsors as possible...if you feel you would like to contribute something towards this really worthwhile charity, any amount, big or small, would be really gratefully received!

Here are some more details:

This summer the volunteer team in Ecuador plan to take part in a 3 Peak Challenge to raise funds for our project here in the lake district of South America, Otavalo, Imbabura. The plan is to summit the 3 volcanoes we see each day up at school and that surround Otavalo: Fuya Fuya (4,290m); Imbabura (4,557) and Cotacachi (4,944m). We will also take in the wonderful crater lake of Laguna Cuicocha. The challenge - to do this in 4 days!

All money raised will go towards the following
initiatives:

Support the high school education of the 7 (aged 12) kids graduating
in July 2011 from Larcacunga - stats show that only 5% of indigenous children go on to complete high school education. It costs approximately $150 to support each student per year.

The building of a new kitchen at Huayrapungo. At 3,200 metres
Huayrapungo is exposed to the elements and we are looking to provide the kids with a dry and warm place to cook and eat their lunch. This will involve a few hundred bricks, cement and a good coat of paint.

Plan Cuy2 - to support the building of 'cuyerias' / guinea pig houses
at Muenala. Having successfully built houses in Huayrapungo we plan to roll out breeding houses at Muenala.  These are 6m by 3m guinea pig pens and cost approximately $450 to build. With a litter of 20 mums it is estimated that each one will provide 2-3 offspring each quarter. Guinea Pig is a traditional dish on the menu here and with each guinea pig raising $6 dollars this brings in extra revenue to support our kids in Muenala at high school;

Put in place an emergency fund to support natural disasters should they happen due to droughts/landslides due to rain etc.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.