Salgo por el Sabado (I leave on Saturday)

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  Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Thursday, August 26, 2010

I'm sitting in my basement of the house I grew up in, my cat sprawled out beside me,  and for the first time in months the enormity of my reality has hit me. For the last 9 months I've been consumed with the task of applying for, and later organizing my trip to Ecuador as part of the Trent in Ecuador Program offered by the University.  After a summer filled with vaccinations, visa applications, doctor's certificates, police checks, and countless other administrative hoops to jump through, I'm really having trouble convincing myself that these next 8 months are more than just a dream, or some abstract thought that exists at an unknown point in the future. The reality is that I will be in Ecuador and (hopefully) neighboring South American countries until next May, and that this experience will be profoundly different from the life that I've become accustomed to.

My decision to participate in this program was fueled in great part by my growing skepticism and disappointment in affluent Western culture. It's as if I woke up one day and realized I've been mislead throughout childhood to believe that material and economic affluence are the ultimate goals to strive towards. Ironically, for my first four months in Quito I will likely find myself in a host family who's level of material standing surpasses that of my own in Canada. This may testify to a country and continent who's society is characterized by unbelievable stratification and polarization between the rich and the poor.

In contrast to the first four months of the year where we will be taking classes on Ecuadorian culture, economy and society,  the backbone of the program's curriculum is the 3 month field placement. Unlike many other study abroad opportunities, the Trent in Ecuador program is quite unique in the way it emphasizes the importance of being part of a community for an extended period of time.  Individually, students seek out a community anywhere in the country that they can identify with, whether it is in the Amazon or the Coast, or anywhere else, we have the amazing privilege to live with and learn from the community for 3 months, while contributing whatever we can to community development. For me, it is essential that this relationship is a reciprocal one of mutual respect.

 With an open heart and mind, I see this journey as an opportunity to transform not only the way I look at the world, but also how I see myself fitting into it

 

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