Canadians Abroad
A volunteer work program in the Amazon rainforest set the course for the future
In May 2014, I took the first steps towards fulfilling a longheld dream. I was 18 and had the privilege to travel to the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador with Me to We, an organization based in Toronto that coordinates volunteer work programs throughout the developing world.
While in Ecuador, 26 other volunteers and I helped out in the community of Bella Vista, which is located on the Napo River. During our two- week stay, we assisted with three different projects at Bella Vista’s school.
The first project was to put the finishing touches on a new classroom that previous volunteers had been working on. We sanded and plastered walls, grouted floors and put up the final pieces of drywall.
Our second project was to tear down an old schoolroom on the grounds to make room for a new one to be built by future volunteers and members of the community. It felt bittersweet to everyone involved, as this schoolroom had been built by Bella Vista parents to give their children more learning space. Unfortunately, it was not very conducive to learning. The old tin roof created such a racket when it rained that it sounded as if drums were being played right inside of your head! Plus, the schoolroom was divided into three learning spaces, with only half-walls separating the areas, making it difficult for students to focus, as they could clearly hear what was going on next door.
Our final project was digging a trench to allow proper water drainage on the school grounds. During periods of heavy rainfall, water would pool so deeply that a younger child might drown in it, and a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes was also created. The trench we dug was wide enough for a person to stand in; the shallowest part came up to my mid-calf and its deepest part was waist-high. In tougher areas, we hacked away tree roots with machetes and spent hours trying to properly level out the floor of the trench.
During all of the work we did, not a single piece of building material was wasted. Boards from the old school were hammered out as carefully as possible; nails were taken out of those same boards to be used again; and every ounce of plaster was put on the walls of the new classroom before we left for the day.
We worked alongside local men, having them teach us how to properly complete each task. The men knew little to no English, and only a few volunteers
could speak Spanish, which meant our communication consisted of gestures and a lot of pointing. I have never had the pleasure of working with such patient people. Whenever a mistake or misunderstanding took place, the men would simply smile and show us how to fix whatever problem had arisen. They understood that the incredible heat and humidity were new to us, and that we could not work as fast as them. Thanks to their patience, I felt that all the physical labour we put in while there had truly helped the community.
During our days on the build site, there were always curious children playing near us. We watched as they entertained themselves with anything they could find: a flat soccer ball, the trees that surrounded the school grounds, mud, even our building materials. One afternoon during cleanup, a few of the kids got into an unwashed bucket of plaster, which they used to paint themselves as cats, complete with whiskers and all. Their smiles radiated from their faces, so proud to show us what they had created. When I was there, the children of Bella Vista lacked things that we in the developed world view as necessities. Most did not have shoes and only ate one meal a day; none of them had access to clean water. Every single child in the community had diarrhea, due to parasites in their stomachs caused by contaminated water. Despite living in conditions that no one deserves to live in, let alone a helpless child, I have never been around such happy little souls. They made the absolute best out of an unfair situation and found beauty and entertainment in the simplest things.
The picture that the media often paints of hardship in developing countries is in fact accurate. Children with bloated bellies from malnourishment and stomach bacteria, lack of clothing and health care, less than adequate housing—these were all things that I saw with my own eyes. I had expected myself to be overcome by sadness when I saw all these things in person. Yet the moments of sadness were rare, because I was so overwhelmed by the positivity that I saw in the people of the community. Although they are poor financially and in terms of material items, they are richer in culture than any community I have ever been involved in. The people of Bella Vista taught me what it is truly like to value every moment of the life you are given.
Before my stint as a volunteer, poverty was just a news story to me. But now poverty has a face. Poverty has a name and a laugh and a smile that will be imprinted on my mind for the rest of my life. A day has not gone by that I don’t think of the women, men and children of Bella Vista. Every plate of food that is wasted and every glass of water that gets poured down the drain takes my mind back to them. I will keep the people of Bella Vista in my memory forever.
My trip to the Amazon confirmed in me a purpose in life— to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. I have since travelled to Guatemala and Peru, spending a month in each country as a volunteer within the field of education. There are still many places I wish to travel to make an impact, but that is all I’ve been able to get to for now. But it will always be the people of Bella Vista who taught me more in two weeks than I had learned in my entire lifetime. ■
ourcanada.ca.