MY FEET ARE DIRTY, BUT MY HEART IS FULL.
my feet are dirty but my heart is full.
Today we spent the day at the young living academy in Ecuador, just down the road from the farm. We got to meet sweet Aylen in person. We’ve sponsored her at the academy the last 2 years. Each student typically has 2-3 sponsors, and each month our contribution goes towards their school, nutrition, and school supplies. Right now, every single child is fully sponsored 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
We hung out with the kiddos, they put on the most gorgeous and creative and moving play for us based on Gary’s life, and then we helped with some projects around the school. We built two different trash and recycling centers from bamboo, pavers for a patio went in, a ton of projects were painted, and a garden was built.
ten years ago, when Gary and Mary were building the Young Living Farm outside of Guayaquil, they passed a school each day. Gary noticed several children entering a run-down building in the small, rural town of Chongon. he decided to take a look for himself. Inside he saw 42 first- through sixth-grade students crammed into one tiny room, forced to share limited supplies and sitting at broken tables while their volunteer teacher gave lessons on a damaged chalkboard. It was tiny, with no running water or electricity. after passing it one too many times, Gary couldn’t drive past it one more day without helping. he bought land, and began building a new, advanced school from the ground up.
In April 2009 the Young Living Academy opened its doors to 83 students. Word got out quickly and soon they took in 100 students, then 150, then 200. It continues to grow and expand and now educates 350 students in grades pre-K–12.
Most children in Ecuador drop out by the 8th grade. The Young Living Academy has a 97 percent attendance rate, and the high school students are on the road to college.
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and this started from one person. Doing one good thing, because he saw the need and knew he could fill it.
We change the world by changing one person’s world at a time.
