equipment for 84 schools in the earthquake region. For girls' schools we bought sewing machines, cloth, needles, thread, scissors, and sets of tailors' rulers to make and cut out patterns because commercial patterns are un¬known in rural Ecuador. For the boys' schools we got hand-powered tools, since most of the schools didn't have electricity, and saws, hammers, chisels, files, vises, brace-and-bits, clamps, pliers, screw drivers, hinges, nails, screws, and paint, as well as enough wood to make hundreds of usable articles. Getting the equipment from Quito to Ambato, where the courses for teachers were held, was quite a job. It filled a whole freight train. At the Ambato station we loaded supplies on huge, two-wheel, horse-drawn carts. We plodded clown the road after them until all sup¬plies were delivered. It turned out to be a lot cheaper to move supplies on men's backs than on trucks. People in rural Ecuador carry the most fantastic loads on their backs, and one load might include babies, furniture, large bundles of cackling chickens. We had to have a lot of wood planed, and we sent it from the school to the sawmill that way. To have a man carry 50 long boards across town on his back cost me, roughly, 12 cents. Inauguration of the course in Ambato was wonderful. Everybody showed up, including the governor, the mayor, and the bishop. After we all made speeches, a five-piece orchestra appeared from nowhere to serenade me with Let Me Call You Sweetheart. Having done their duty, they went into native folk music with which they were more at ease. The children were dressed in costumes symbolic of each of the North and South American nations. As the orchestra played a different national anthem the child representing that country marched around the one representing Ecuador. Poor little Bolivia got mixed up on the stage and broke into tears. A little diplomacy and she was all right again. Twenty women and 21 men, representing the 40 largest schools in the earthquake region, attended our first course in Ambato. They were so interested in the lessons we had to push them out for their 5-minute morning and afternoon rest periods. In 2 weeks, the women teachers produced 5 complete outfits for boys and girls, and as an extra dividend made aprons for themselves, a total of 295 separate gar¬ments. In the same period the men made 105 articles, practical things to use at school or at home. For the schools they made desks, benches, bookcases, bulletin boards, test tube racks, and geometric designs. For the home there were small tables, stools, bookcases, book- ends, bread boards, and washstands—the last a very useful object, as there is no indoor plumbing in the typical rural home in Ecuador. Educational toys for children were also made. The teachers then put their learning to work in their own classes. The teachers' classes were taught by Lyda Heffron and Bligh DesBrisay, staff members of Servicio, sponsored by the Institute of Inter-American Affairs of the U. S. State Department. These Americans were assisted by Ecuadoreans of the same staff. Just as the opening of the course was marked by special ceremony, so was the closing. The same digni-taries were on the stage and there was music and oratory. I was greatly embarrassed by the large number of parchments, scrolls, flowers, and awards they gave me, among them Ecuador's highest decoration, the "Al Merito" award. Through me they were saying "thanks" to all members of the Junior Red Cross. A fiesta followed. Again an orchestra appeared from nowhere. Some of the teachers invited me to dance, and before I could explain that their dances were too fast for me, I was out in the middle of the floor dancing. In Ecuador when you say goodbye to a good friend, you give him a hug. When it was time for me to go, we drank a toast, and I was hugged goodbye. Even the Bishop hugged me. The American Red Cross and I had been accepted as close friends. * In these days of world tension, here is an example of international cooperation between the American Junior Red Cross and the Ecuadorean Red Cross, described in this article by Mr. McDonald, who spent almost 4 months in the Latin American Republic as the representative of American youth on this rehabili¬tation project. Joining the Red Cross staff in 1942, the writer became the director of the Balti¬more, Maryland, Junior Red Cross last August. 19