READ - Rural Education, Advancement and Development

We have two educational resource centers in rural Ecuador. Our services are free of charge to the public. We lend books, provide tutoring, computer classes and child sponsorship. All child sponsorship is paid by donors in the United States. Staff and operating expenses are covered by donations and sales of Ecuadorean crafts. We collaborate with local schools and the public health system. We have purchased supplies at request of the schools. We schedule public health programs in our facitilies for the education of the general public. We bring groups down from the states for "educational vacations". This provides an opportunity for US residents and READ donors to experience rural life in Ecuador and to see our programs in action. We collaborated with Western Carolina University last year to bring down teaching students to instruct our staff how to better tutor the children in our programs