A Different Perspective

My backyard, Mt. Chimborazo

I´ve never suggested living far from where you work, I have always advocated against it. But my job, is different, I´m thousands of miles away from my home, thousands of miles away from my safety zone. I travel at least a few hours a day in our truck to our place of work, but I enjoy it. You see, we work far up in the mountains, away from modern civilization, away from it all. Up here, we are different, we are people of the world, all trying the help each other in the best way we can.

Our first meeting.

Ascend is more than an organization to me, more than some average NGO or humanitarian organization. Ascend is what I eat, sleep, and dream about. It´s what I do, it is my life right now, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. We are doing many things through out the world to help those in need, but here in Ecuador we have several projects that are under way that are helping empower those in need so they can Ascend out of poverty. The first, and the most material, is that we are remolding a bathroom at the school for the children, you should have seen the condition it was it when we first started.

The before picture, can you imagine if the bathroom at your child's school looked like this?

The second is that I have begun my English lessons to those teenagers and adults that have the desire to learn. I can attest, these individuals have more passion than I´ve ever seen to learn something that they don´t call their own. Education, as we all know, is the most important thing in life, especially if you want to go some where higher than where you are now. As the days pass English becomes more and more important for these individuals, because they know, with only
another language, they can empower themselves.

The mid-way picture, we´re almost there, looking better!

My perspective here is different, it is a bit of what I expected, but a bit more rough than I had originally thought. We work hard day in and day out and we know that the work we are doing is helping these individuals better their lives. Some may disagree with what I´m doing, but I do not. I see this as a life changing experience, and I know I will grow up here, if at least on a little.

The Ecuador Crew.

As for now, I leave with you what I have seen and the experiences I´ve had. I know that if you´re reading this you have at least a little bit of passion towards the work we are doing, and trust me, I can show you how amazing my help and yours is here. There are more experiences to be had and more people to help, so for now, I leave you with this. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Andrew Reeve
www.ascendalliance.org

How to teach a child how to fly

Well, I’ve had my first week here in Ecuador and I’ve seen some crazy things. I´ve been inspired with hope and reason. I´m not sure if I can change the world, but I can at least try. Today was a special day. While we were in the community helping the poor I found myself surrounded by children. I had a reason, a way, and I was bound to teach them something, and I did. Being the crazy person I am, I decided to tell them that I could fly, and with an example, they soon also wanted to fly, so I taught them. As we jumped off of our dirt mound time and time again we shared laughs, and I thought, is this how I ascend? Is this how we ascend? I hope so. .

Flying, in this sense, is a metaphor. Realistically, my goal here is to empower those in need to save their children and ascend out of poverty (empoderar a los mas necesitados salvar a sus niños y salir de la pobreza).

Its not really about me, its more about Ascend. More so about the work we are doing. For example we are almost finished with a remodeling project of a bathroom for the kids at the school. There's a lot more we can do, but for now, we're doing the best we can. I hope that with time we can make a change in these peoples lives. I know we probably have, but there is always more help that is needed.

Anyways, Ill keep it brief, I have work to do, people to help, a world to change.

Goodbye for now, here´s hoping we can meet again.

With Love,

Drew

www.ascendalliance.org