Getting Settled

Hello from Riobamba, Ecuador. We are Alexandra Liu and Anna Claussen – ASCEND Ecuador’s newest interns! We are excited for this experience and get to stay until June and May, respectively. We live in the ASCEND office and while the accommodations are great, we’re still adjusting to living life in South America – and getting our exercise via the three flights of stairs to our apartment. We’re also going to be joined by a third intern at the end of January, but we’ll let her introduce herself then.

Although we have both gotten the opportunity to travel in the past, this is a unique opportunity that combines cultural education with travel and humanitarian work. We’re both really excited to get out into the communities, especially to get started on the new Simple Technology, Health, Education, and Microenterprise endeavors planned for this year.

Annual Meeting

I (Anna) got to Riobamba on New Year’s day, and was lucky enough to get here just in time for the annual meeting. The entire ASCEND Ecuador staff spent three days at an estancia in Patate, about an hour from Riobamba. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to get to know my new coworkers, as well as to learn a lot more about the projects that ASCEND has completed in the last year and those that are planned for this year. While the retreat was mostly focused on business, we definitely left time for fun as well and made good use of the pool, basketball, and minigolf facilities and even went out dancing one night!

Gala Preparation

We have just started preparing for the annual ASCEND Ecuador Gala that will take place on March 12 and we have a lot of work ahead of us. This is our first official project as interns, and we’re really excited to take the lead and get started on the event coordination – including designing programs, invitations, advertisements, and all of the other necessary tasks to make this event run smoothly. Stay tuned for more updates.

With love from Riobamba,

Alex and Anna, Ascend Alliance interns, Spring 2011