Lani's blog part 3

Picture of Lani

Friday 7 July 2006

Do you think you've got what it takes to leave your family and mates behind and head on a gap year to do some volunteering?

It's the final part of Lani's gap year blog and she's about to head home, but there's a dramatic event to deal with before she heads off into the sunset and leaves Ecuador behind.

If you haven't yet caught the previous instalments, catch up before you continue.

Read the first part of Lani's blog.

Read the second part of Lani's blog.

Week 6

Something happened today that really highlighted the importance of the volunteers' presence to me. Before we had arrived in the morning a girl had managed to take off the top of her finger, nail included. There was blood all over the playground. Not knowing what to do, the teacher had sent her home.

Emergency

When we went to see the poor girl, her finger had already become infected. She was shaking, only 8 years old.

We immediately tried to get in contact with the project manager but, unable to do so, we took her to the nearest hospital, which involved 20 minutes in a bus and 30 minutes in the back of a pick-up truck.

Price to pay

The total cost was minimal, £3 for transport, £4 for supplies for doctor and £2 for the doctor's time, but the parents would have been unable to pay it.

Without the treatment and antibiotics I’m sure she would have at least lost the rest of her finger, if not her hand.

Money talks

I don’t like to think of myself as a wallet but the volunteers provide essential funding to the community and, unlike putting money into a charity pot, we actually got to see the money helping people and we got thanked for it by those it helped.

Week 7

I’m really going to miss the children when I leave next week; they are just awe inspiring. They are little bundles of energy, full of love and affection, determination and an endearing cheekiness.

Maturity

I look into their eyes, which always seem water-filled because of the cold, their cheeks scarred from wind-burn and their hands which could have belonged to a ninety-year-old, and I wonder how they manage it all.

They have this maturity that most westerners don’t achieve in old age as well as an ability to carry on and enjoy their life regardless of the harshness.

Pure

They also seem so pure and innocent without the influence of things like fashion and the need to have the latest trainers or Beckham-style hairdo but they are also beyond their years in so many ways. They are able to be children with the responsibility of adults.

I watch the four-year-olds look after their one-year-old siblings, feeding them half of their lunch consisting mainly of rice and potatoes, carrying them home on their back and having a good go at them if they misbehaved. It’s unbelievable to see.

Week 8

When I left the school on my last day I had tears streaming down my face. I felt honoured to have felt their affection and be given their love and to have been trusted by their parents.

Just to have been able to embrace those little gods was a gift I will never forget. I am actually starting to cry again now.

Week 9

I have just got back from trekking in Columbia; it was absolutely spectacular. The lost city was beautiful: stone platforms and steps covered in lianas and moss and surrounded by beautiful tropical flowers.

Amazing journey

The trek itself was the best part although hard work in the 40 degree heat, humid air and walking uphill; my legs won’t recover for a while. It was really exciting too, walking through massive raging rivers, jogging through the jungle in the pouring rain. Amazing.

The travels continue

Going to Peru soon, where I plan to chill on the coast for a bit and recover; depends on the weather though. Then off to Huaraz, a spectacular region full of mountains, canyons and lakes...