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Trip Summary
Ecuador 2015
19 travellers from in and around the community of Aberdeen (13 students and 6 adults) set off to Ecuador on a 10 day service learning tour on June 30th.
The trip was co-organized by EF tours (Education First) and Free the Children organizations designed to give students an opportunity to learn about culture, practice leadership skills and carry out meaningful service projects in A Free the Children "Adopt a Village" community. (See metowe.com or freethechildren.com for more info on adopt a village communities). Phoebe and Kaitlyn were our amazing ME to WE field directors who kept us busy, engaged, safe, well fed and hydrated, and overall having a great time every step of the way!
Although Ecuador was "plan B" after having our trip to Kenya in April to work in a community in the Masa Mara cancelled on the eve of our departure due to a terrorist attack, this trip turned out to be more than any of us could have expected. With such a positive group going forward to take on Ecuador, we all went there with open minds and eager to learn and work and certainly ended up leaving a piece of each of our hearts in Ecuador. It was truly a trip meant to be!
In our one day tour of Quito, we toured the beautiful streets of Old Quito, learned about the history of the Indigenous people, challenged ourselves with games that define gravity at the equator museum and walked in a protest with thousands of people as the only means to access our hotel.
Our trip into the Andes mountains in the Chimborazo province allowed us to take in the stunning views of the agriculture and people that live in the more remote areas of the country. Over the course of seven days, we saw first hand how the ladies work and walk with babies on their backs and care for their donkeys and sheep. We got to visit a ladies group in Sumak Ahuana (means "beautiful knitting" in Kichwa) in the community of Pulingui to learn how to shear sheep, clean and spin wool and weave it into scarves and sweaters. For these ladies, having an opportunity to sell their goods through partnerships with Free the Children means giving them an income to send their children to school. Here we also participated in a "day in the life" of a local indigenous women walking to access her alfalfa field to feed her cow, pig, guinea pigs and rabbits, followed by hoeing a field so she could plant potatoes.
Another great experience during our time in Chimborazo was a visit to another free the children adopt a community called Gulahuayco where we participated in a water walk. Only two years ago the children and women in the community there had to walk over a kilometre up a mountain to access their only source of water from a stream to use for cooking, cleaning and drinking. Many kids lived with parasites from this water. Now their community has acess to clean water thanks to a reservoir built in partnership with free the Children. The water walk made us appreciate how lucky we are to have such easy access to clean water in our own homes.
And most significantly was our work in San Miguel helping build a new wing of the school Free the Children has been building there over the last five years. We took our leadership from Carlos, a local resident who has been hired as the foreman by Free the children to train and coordinate the local families and visiting groups who come to work on the project. In the 2.5 days we worked there, we helped build 5 support columns, 10 layers of a brick wall, and sanded and painted 190 roof tiles. Tears of joy for the experience, pride in our work and sadness to leave the community overcame us all as we said goodbye to the people we built relationships with and the project we had put a lot of hard work and heart into. It was truly the most impacting experience on our trip and left many of us vowing to take another trip to continue helping Free the Children support communities like San Miguel who work so hard to provide their children a place to go to school and are so welcoming to us to work along side of them to reach their goals as a community.
Of course we had a lot of fun throughout the whole trip as well. From group sing-a-longs to 80s rock on the bus, trying Guinea Pig for the first time, roof-top dance parties and an intense Ecuador vs Canada soccer match, to fun and thought-provoking leadership actives and conversations, we truly left a piece of our hearts in Ecuador and made new friendships that will last a lifetime!
Our EF service learning trip with Free the Children was an experience we could never have had in the classroom. It has impacted the way we will forever look at our own school buildings, homes, access to water, work opportunities, bathroom facilities and overall opportunities in living in Canada. We are all so grateful for the experience and many of us plan on doing another EF Service Learning your with Free the Children!
The next EF Aberdeen Youth Service Learning trip opportunity will be in February of 2017 travelling to Nicaragua. For more information, please contact Kelli White at [email protected].
Ecuador 2015
19 travellers from in and around the community of Aberdeen (13 students and 6 adults) set off to Ecuador on a 10 day service learning tour on June 30th.
The trip was co-organized by EF tours (Education First) and Free the Children organizations designed to give students an opportunity to learn about culture, practice leadership skills and carry out meaningful service projects in A Free the Children "Adopt a Village" community. (See metowe.com or freethechildren.com for more info on adopt a village communities). Phoebe and Kaitlyn were our amazing ME to WE field directors who kept us busy, engaged, safe, well fed and hydrated, and overall having a great time every step of the way!
Although Ecuador was "plan B" after having our trip to Kenya in April to work in a community in the Masa Mara cancelled on the eve of our departure due to a terrorist attack, this trip turned out to be more than any of us could have expected. With such a positive group going forward to take on Ecuador, we all went there with open minds and eager to learn and work and certainly ended up leaving a piece of each of our hearts in Ecuador. It was truly a trip meant to be!
In our one day tour of Quito, we toured the beautiful streets of Old Quito, learned about the history of the Indigenous people, challenged ourselves with games that define gravity at the equator museum and walked in a protest with thousands of people as the only means to access our hotel.
Our trip into the Andes mountains in the Chimborazo province allowed us to take in the stunning views of the agriculture and people that live in the more remote areas of the country. Over the course of seven days, we saw first hand how the ladies work and walk with babies on their backs and care for their donkeys and sheep. We got to visit a ladies group in Sumak Ahuana (means "beautiful knitting" in Kichwa) in the community of Pulingui to learn how to shear sheep, clean and spin wool and weave it into scarves and sweaters. For these ladies, having an opportunity to sell their goods through partnerships with Free the Children means giving them an income to send their children to school. Here we also participated in a "day in the life" of a local indigenous women walking to access her alfalfa field to feed her cow, pig, guinea pigs and rabbits, followed by hoeing a field so she could plant potatoes.
Another great experience during our time in Chimborazo was a visit to another free the children adopt a community called Gulahuayco where we participated in a water walk. Only two years ago the children and women in the community there had to walk over a kilometre up a mountain to access their only source of water from a stream to use for cooking, cleaning and drinking. Many kids lived with parasites from this water. Now their community has acess to clean water thanks to a reservoir built in partnership with free the Children. The water walk made us appreciate how lucky we are to have such easy access to clean water in our own homes.
And most significantly was our work in San Miguel helping build a new wing of the school Free the Children has been building there over the last five years. We took our leadership from Carlos, a local resident who has been hired as the foreman by Free the children to train and coordinate the local families and visiting groups who come to work on the project. In the 2.5 days we worked there, we helped build 5 support columns, 10 layers of a brick wall, and sanded and painted 190 roof tiles. Tears of joy for the experience, pride in our work and sadness to leave the community overcame us all as we said goodbye to the people we built relationships with and the project we had put a lot of hard work and heart into. It was truly the most impacting experience on our trip and left many of us vowing to take another trip to continue helping Free the Children support communities like San Miguel who work so hard to provide their children a place to go to school and are so welcoming to us to work along side of them to reach their goals as a community.
Of course we had a lot of fun throughout the whole trip as well. From group sing-a-longs to 80s rock on the bus, trying Guinea Pig for the first time, roof-top dance parties and an intense Ecuador vs Canada soccer match, to fun and thought-provoking leadership actives and conversations, we truly left a piece of our hearts in Ecuador and made new friendships that will last a lifetime!
Our EF service learning trip with Free the Children was an experience we could never have had in the classroom. It has impacted the way we will forever look at our own school buildings, homes, access to water, work opportunities, bathroom facilities and overall opportunities in living in Canada. We are all so grateful for the experience and many of us plan on doing another EF Service Learning your with Free the Children!
The next EF Aberdeen Youth Service Learning trip opportunity will be in February of 2017 travelling to Nicaragua. For more information, please contact Kelli White at [email protected].