Spring 2009 - Seattle University

People
see other parts of the world with a new
perspective and start to really understand
the importance of letting go of ethnocentric
values,” she says. “This gave me the courage
to find true meaning in my life by reaching
out to other cultures and their communities.”
Doing service in another country was not
a foreign construct for Weber, who
participated in the university’s International
Development Internship Program. In 2006
the program took her to Riobamba,
Ecuador, where as an intern she tackled
a microcredit project that aimed to
involve local indigenous youth in community
development and in turn improve
their social and economic status.
Spanish language classes to area children.
After Weber graduated from SU she joined
Whitley and the two conceived of a plan
to grow the scope of their work and put
down roots.
“When we were together we realized the
enormous potential for starting a school and
saw the great demand for a more substantial
education,” Whitley says. “The locals have
a strong desire for a high-quality English
education and that wasn’t being offered.”
As nonresidents of the country and
without teaching degrees, Weber and
Whitley contemplated how to best fulfill the
needs of the community. They considered
starting an accredited institution but
community benefits from the various
programs it offers.
“We have molded our mission to the
needs of Pavones and though our focus
is concentrated on the low-income
population, we are able to provide services
for the large range of socioeconomic
backgrounds that make up this small
community,” Weber says. “I feel incredibly
fortunate to have the opportunity to work
with an amazing community and share
such a special connection with the locals.”
With ECC, it’s not about insinuating their
values and personal ideologies on the people
of Pavones, Weber says. “Everything that
we offer is at the request of the community.
“Seattle University gave me the tools to become an empowered individual,
capable of making real changes in the world and always believing in myself.”
Haley Whitley, ’06
“I had the opportunity to work alongside
a culture in Ecuador that though it embodies
a vital part of Ecuador’s history, is highly
disregarded and marginalized,” she says.
“I experienced nothing but warmth and
openness from the Chimborazo people as
they invited me to talk, eat and dance with
them as though I was part of their family.”
Costa Rica was chosen for the educational
center largely because of Whitley’s history
with the region. In high school she took
her first trip there and it deepened her
understanding of the culture and people.
When Whitley returned to Pavones six
years later she planned to stay in Costa
Rica for a few months but that turned into
a year. While there she began tutoring
locals and teaching homeschool and
found the process arduous and fraught
with challenges.
Instead, they went the nonprofit route,
which afforded them the freedom to serve
more community members in more ways.
Back home in Oregon, Whitley had a friend
who recently formed a nonprofit, Humans
for Humanity, which was created to
assist low-income communities. Partnering
with the nonprofit, which Whitley and
Weber did in January 2008, enabled them
to get the center off the ground in quick
order and legitimize their work.
“With a lot of hard work and motivation
we created this community center,” Whitley
says. While education is at the center
of Escuela Camino Claro’s mission, its
distinction is that the broad Pavones
We are here to listen and support the
community as long as they support us.”
Witnessing the benefits of their efforts
to promote literacy and language in a
community more than 3,000 miles from
home is gratifying.
“The students, children and adults alike
are learning, which is the single-most
rewarding thing about being a teacher,”
Whitley says. “I see the changes happen
in front of me every day—several students
are bilingual and literate in both Spanish
and English now, even after only one year.”
A new pilot program the women have
started is aimed at high school students in the
United States and combines global outreach
and cultural integration with service learning.
The project launched this past June with eight
8 | People