Casa Palabra y Pueblo welcomes its first Peace Corps volunteer

Amy Elizabeth Agosti Woodruff arrived in Intag two months ago to begin her two-year tour of duty as a Peace Corps volunteer with the Casa Palabra y Pueblo. Amy was born 24 years ago in Seattle. Her mother, a physician, is a native of Alaska while her father is a lawyer born in Minnesota. Amy has two younger brothers: Zack, 23, is working on a doctorate in engineering while Fletcher, 18, recently began his university studies in the field of computer science. Amy graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in public policy, with an emphasis on education policy. Before coming to Ecuador, Amy lived in the community of Homer, Alaska, where she worked on the organic farm of her aunt, Ann Hackett, who produces broccoli, potatoes, cauliflower, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, goats, chickens, and ducks. In addition to the production of vegetables, Amy learned how to make goat cheese and yogurt while working with her aunt.

Amy has had a wide range of teaching experience.  She directed an event called Splash-Chicago. This one-day activity consists of college students working with 800 high school kids, teaching them language and poetry, inspiring them to go on with their studies. She was a volunteer with the Arts Center of Chicago, a community organization, where she started a community garden.  She was a teaching assistant at the university in biology, a tutor, and an instructor in computer skills for Spanish-speaking adults.

At the Casa Palabra y Pueblo, Amy has already become indispensable. She works with Casa director Carolina Carrión and our German volunteers with primary school children involved in our Reading/Theater Circles in Pucará and the Ludoteca in Apuela. She advises and supervises the German volunteers and works in the Infocentro, helping students search the Internet and typing up documents for residents. She is especially involved in working with three seniors from Apuela High School who will be getting the Casa Palabra y Pueblo’s café going. The students will soon begin doing the internship required for graduation, working in restaurants in Otavalo and Cotacachi in order to learn first-hand what is involved in running a café.

Thank you, Amy, for the many contributions you have already made and the many more you will be making during your stay in Intag.