Lani's gap year blog
Wednesday 19 July 2006
Do you think you've got what it takes to travel halfway across the globe to be a much-needed volunteer?
In the first instalment of her three-part blog just for need2know, gap year student Lani, 19, lifts the lid on what it's like to throw yourself into a completely new culture, as she heads to South America for a two month stint as a volunteer teacher in Ecuador.
Week 1
I made it safely to Otavalo; things are pretty chaotic in Ecuador at the moment.
Protest
The native indigenous people are protesting against a proposed trade agreement with the USA and other South American countries.
They’ve closed all the main roads up to the mountains, so I ended up being driven on the back of a truck up a dirt track in monsoon rain, passing overturned trucks and buses which couldn’t cope with the conditions and potholes. It took seven hours to do a 1 hour 45 minute drive!
Settling in
I have settled into the group quite quickly here. I’m staying with a really friendly family who are quite well-off by Ecuadorian standards, but to me they seem really poor.
The meals consist of rice, chicken and beans, rice, pork and beans, rice, beef and beans and rice, guinea pig and beans. Good South American food.
Speaking the language
I have started my Spanish course; my teacher is really laid back. I seem to be quite good at Spanish compared to everyone else here, but I think that’s more a bad reflection on them.
The scenery is absolutely stunning here: the town is in a valley surrounded by mountains, some of them snow-capped, with clouds drifting through the valley creating this really dreamy effect.
Week 2
I taught in the school for the first time yesterday and it was really good, but really distressing at the same time. Help!
I am not teaching the kids English (as I thought I would be!) but as the school is up in the mountains where their first language is Kichwa, I’m teaching Spanish to 5-7 year olds.
Standards
The diet of the kids is abysmal and the school itself is in such a state: the walls are damp and leaking, windows are broken and the equipment is only kept at a good standard level because the volunteers renew resources.
Their waste disposal consists of tipping wheelbarrows of plastic, paper and glass down the side of a cliff - it is painful to watch them do it to such a spectacular landscape.
Spending power
I am spending more money than I had anticipated as being up in the mountains has made me eat double what I usually would!
Also, going on weekend trips (went to Quito last weekend) gets pricey, but it’s all such good fun.
Coming up
Find out more about Lani's working day and the problems faced by the children she teaches in the second part of her gap year blog.
Read the second instalment now.
