Will you help me buy a cow or a stove!?

My time on the GVI Ecuador project is nearing the end and I would like to do something that will continue to assist the kids I have been working with here in Ecuador. There are two things that that could use assistance with funding that will help the kids to continue their educations.

First is the purchase of a cow for $400. USD!  The cow would go to a family in the community I am working in, or one of the other 2 communities that the other volunteers are working in.  The $400 would buy a 2-3 year old cow which would produce offspring and milk and the income from these would be used to fund the high school education of the student.   It takes about a year for the family to see an income from the cow, so the cows are going to families with students still attending the local school.  After 5th grade, about age 12, the students must travel into Otavalo to attend high school.  Many of them attend high school on the weekends while working the land with the family during the week.  So what are their expenses?  They must pruchase a uniform, ongoing school supplies, transportation to and from Otavalo, and they must pay for a place to stay and their food while in Otavalo.  Currently GVI is cash funding 5 students while they attend high school.  To end this continuing dependency, GVI and the families and communities have developed "Project Moo" where the families then take on the responsibility of the payment for the education after the intial start up costs are paid by GVI - in this case, the start up costs is the purchase of the cow. 

Second is to help with the cost of building a stove!  Yes, a stove!  Most of the homes that the kids live in have open fires for cooking inside the house, without a chimney.  The kids (and adults) suffer from respitory and eye problems due to the smoke.  On cold mornings on our way to school, we can see the smoke  escaping out of the thatched roofs. Here is a link to a blog entry on the stove building project in Ecuador.  http://gviphoenix.blogspot.com/2009/12/stove-building-in-ecuador-continues-to.html
During my last week here, the first stove in my community will be built and I will assist with the building.  Usually the stoves are paid for out of the program fees of the volunteers who come here to build the stoves.  By my assisting in the costs, one more stove will be able to be built and it will not be necessary to wait for more volunteers to come specifically for the stove building project. Each stove costs around $250. to build with supplies all purchased locally here in Otavalo.

If you are willing and able to help with these costs, there are a number of ways to get the money to me. 

First, for those in Juneau, Claudette Kreuzenstein has agreed to collect money and deposit it in my bank acount, and I will then just withdraw it in cash here and hand it over to the project manager. If you are interested in this option, and do not know how to get a hold of Claudette, let me know, and I will get her contact information to you.

Second, for those of you who want to pay with a credit card and have PayPal accounts, you can use it to send money!  Just click on the "Send Money" and then the "Personal" tabs.  This method will involve a small fee, but the money will then be deposited into my bank account and I will withdraw it here and give it directly to the project manager.

And finally, for those who want to send it through a more formal means, you can go to Tracey Lumsden's (the project manager) Just Giving web page, and make a donation there.  This will involve a foreign transaction on your credit card as it is a UK organization, as well as a small fee.  http://www.justgiving.com/traceylumsden

What ever way you choose to help if you can, I really appreciate your assisting me with making a lasting contribution to the children of the indigenious community where I have been teaching.