The swift sway of the leaves, the tall glorious trees, the soothing flow of the Napo and oxygen that we can actually breathe. The Amazon Rainforest. My new home.
This past July, I traveled to Ecuador, specifically to the Amazonian Region, with the organization WE; a non-profit organization working to make sustainable changes in developing countries.
I have never fallen in love with a place that quickly. Emerging myself into that atmosphere is indescribable. The beginning of my journey to the Amazon began with a canoe ride down the river to our lodge in the rainforest, our new home for the week, the Minga Lodge. Minga symbolizes a group of people with like minds, working towards a similar goal. As 20 youth embarking on a volunteer trip, there was not a better word to illustrate our passion and drive to make a change in the Amazon communities. Often, we tend to focus on the exotic animals and various plants when imagining the Amazon Rainforest, marginalizing the indigenous community members who live within.
Throughout our days, we participated in leadership enhancing activities, focusing on our passions which ranged from the right to education, clean water, equal gender rights, access to healthcare, and I could go on. From there, we dove into nearby communities to get hands-on experience and hear first hand the issues the residents face.
The poverty levels are high. Too high.
In a place with so much nature, so much potential, so much beauty, the citizens living within the trees are struggling daily due to lack of clean water, lack of education access, lack of healthcare and much more. We spoke to a woman who lived right off of the Napo River in her wooden shack, lifted up off the ground for protection. She told us the story of her daughter. She went on to explain that due to the distance between her house and the closest clean water source, she was forced to use water from the Napo River, heavily polluted with mercury. As they had no alternate option, the family had to bath, wash clothes, drink and use that water for cooking. Due to this, the women’s youngest daughter passed away at a young age due to water-borne illness. Absolutely devastating. To know that those occurrences are a reality for some people in our world is heart-wrenching. We all up here in North America wasting 76L of water during an 8-minute shower, EACH DAY.
People do not even notice this. People are dying and we are soaking in the freshwater they could be drinking.
As a continuation of my journey, we traveled to a different local village to work and collaborate on building a new classroom and education building for youth in the community. I had the opportunity to work hands-on, shovel up dirt and work on the structure with my peers. In an area with minimal resources, very poor architectural conditions, there is so much beauty and potential for greatness and that is what the children of the community deserve. I am beyond thrilled to say I contributed to their future, hopefully giving more kids the opportunity to receive an education for a better future and break the chain of poverty.
The people of the Amazon are the most intelligent people I have ever met. They have grown up, taught to use their resources for survival and for the needs in their life. They learn to use what they have and not overuse and waste, something people here in the West do not follow. The plants, the water, the trees, the dirt. Anything you could possibly think of that is related to nature could be used to build their homes, be used as a medicine, a piece of clothing, a source of food and many more necessities. It demonstrates their love for their land and how grateful they are for what they are given. We need to learn from the people living in the Amazonian Region. I know I did and it changed my life.
My trip has forever changed my life and the way I live it. Please, if you have the opportunity to travel and help create change, do it, and if the opportunity does not arise, make one and grab your passport!
Here, There and Everywhere 