Gary Young’s passion for helping others has improved the lives of many people around the world, including the students at the Young Living Academy in the rural community of Chongon, located on the outskirts of Guayaquil, Ecuador.
When Gary and his wife, Mary, moved to Ecuador to begin the development of a new Young Living farm, they were constantly stirred by the tiny, impoverished school that they passed every day going to and from the farm. The conditions of this little school were deplorable, with no kitchen, no running water, no electricity, cracks in the cement, broken chairs and tables, a hole in the ground outside with four cardboard-like walls used as a toilet, and little resources for teaching and learning.
Traveling back and forth lasted only a few weeks before a plan was in place. Gary’s love for children and his desire to help others inspired him to build—not just a new school, but a brand-new, American-standards school for the students, using resources from The D. Gary Young Foundation.
Gary and Mary worked to convert what was once swampland into a beautiful location for the new Young Living Academy. The school was built for the original 47 children of the old school but is now “bulging at the seams” to provide educational opportunities for approximately 160 children ages 5 through 14, many of whom are children of Young Living farm employees.
Not only does the school offer education to children but also to the parents of the students and other adults in the Chongon community who desire to attend night classes to learn Spanish, English, and other skills. None of this would be possible without generous contributors to The D. Gary Young Foundation.
Several more projects are on the horizon, including a new high school and other academic and cultural additions for the academy and the Chongon community. To reach these goals more quickly, Gary recently built a brick factory on the Young Living farm, which will provide jobs for local residents, as well as higher-quality and less-expensive building materials for both projects and will help generate money to support these and other projects.
This is a new type of brick that is made by compressing dirt and water. The equipment comes from South Africa and is the only production of its kind in South America. The bricks are perfectly formed to fit together without mortar and without any cement. This means they are extremely inexpensive to make and will afford all kinds of designs with different colored soil. It will be very exciting to watch this new business grow at the farm and what it will do for the school, farm, and community.
Gary’s hope is that the local students will continue their education and eventually become leaders in their country. Of the school and its students’ successes, Gary explained, “This is the model for what can be done around the world.”