Building a school in Ecuador with the Girl Guides this summer was the opportunity of a lifetime, says a Yorkton teenager.
Sixteen-year-old Leta Perepeluk, a Ranger in the local Girl Guides, was one of ten teens from across the country chosen to take part in "Ecuador Adventure 2010," a trip organized by the Girl Guides of Canada and social enterprise Me to We. She and nine other girls from coast to coast were selected on the basis of essays they wrote last November.
The ten Girl Guides and their chaperones met for the first time when they departed the country at the end of July.
"When I went to Toronto we all met up at the airport, and the only thing we had in common was really Girl Guides," says Perepeluk. "It was kind of cool to bring all those girls together."
Their 14-day stay in Ecuador began in the capitol city of Quito, which looked essentially like any modern city. That was not the case with the village of Gulahuayco, where the school was 小蓝视频 built.
"It was very different. Quito is full of vehicles and there's car dealerships every couple buildings. In this community, everybody was just traveling by foot and they wore very traditional clothing. And as we were working, we saw a lot of kids herding their sheep or donkeys back and forth."
One classroom and a dining hall for the school had already been built the previous year. The Girl Guides' job was to assist with construction of a second classroom building.
For most of their eight days in the village, the girls were the entire labor force helping a foreman with the building's construction. They mixed mortar, hauled pre-made bricks to the site, and unloaded, sanded, and painted roof tiles.
Arriving during the rainy season in the high-altitude village, the weather was cold even by a Canadian's standards. Perepeluk worked in her winter jacket.
"One day I used just my bare hands, and they never warmed up until the next day."
Warm weather wasn't the only luxury missing from the trip. The girls stayed in a Me to We lodge down the road from the village, where they were well cared for. But the area's water line had accidentally been cut just prior to their arrival, and wasn't expected to be fixed for months. What showers they were able to take were cold and short.
On several occasions, Perepeluk got to meet with some of the children who would be using the new school. She recalls how they would stop by the build site when they were not busy with chores to help with the work.
"They were so excited, and so grateful."
By the end of their stay, the Girl Guides had helped bring the school from its foundation to the point where work on its roof was ready to begin. They painted a mural in the existing dining hall as a lasting message to the village's students.
Before returning to Canada, the girls fit in some sightseeing, including a visit to a cloud forest in Mindo. Despite taking precautions with what they ate and drank, on the last day of the trip the members of the group became violently ill.
"We didn't even know if we could fly. At that point, I was like, 'I need to get home. Ecuador was fun, but I've had enough,'" admits Perepeluk.
They made it through their flight, and the illness didn't sour the trip as a whole for the Yorkton girl."It was an awesome experience. I'd definitely do it again."
Besides the memories, Perepeluk now has friends to keep in touch with from across Canada. If possible, Perepeluk plans to take advantage of other travel opportunities with the Girl Guides as a young adult and eventually as a leader.
"I'll never forget this opportunity from Girl Guides. It was amazing."
