CURRENT MISSION

We're creating a mid term community and long term solutions for the victims of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Ecuador on April 16, 2016. We have created and are expanding a IDP refuge for 50 families and will be supporting them in the process of rebuilding their homes, finding work, and creating a healthy and sustainable town Canoa.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Campamento Saman has benefited enormously from the help of volunteers during the last 3 weeks and we now have an active IDP camp with families settled in and enjoying basic services. While we'll continue with expanding the camp, much of the work we'll do in the future will be helping other members of the greater Canoa community with their short term recovery needs as well as long term programs based on education, health, and economic viability in a post earthquake environment.

Interests

Our volunteer program is new - the earthquake happened less than 6 weeks ago at the time of writing this and we're struggling to prioritize and balance all of the immediate needs of the community and apply our volunteer and other resources in the most effective way. Within the same week volunteers might find themselves sorting food donations, building with bamboo, sharing knowledge in a workshop setting, or helping our neighbors outside the camp with demolition on simple construction project to help them have shelter and security again in their homes.

• writing
• education
• environment
• dining
• camping
• teaching
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

We live in a beautiful community/tent city in Briceno, nearby Canoa. It's a very dynamic environment and we have had between 6-40 volunteers ever since we began. To aid our mission here helping Proyecto Saman, we have a volunteer program that makes it easy to stay with us. We can provide all of the basics including camping, 3 vegetarian meals a day, transport, water, bathrooms, wifi etc. To help cover the costs of running this program, we ask that you collaborate with $10/day if you stay less than a week or $5/day if you stay a week or longer.

We ask our volunteers to be ready to help during our working hours between 9-5 monday - friday. It's not all work here, but our primary purpose for existing is to help the community here.

Please be flexible with your needs as a volunteer and we will do everything we can to make your experience one that makes the maximum positive impact on the community as well as personally rewarding for you.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

http://www.colectivoculturalmadretierra.com/campamentocanoa/home

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Laos, Macedonia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, United States