Participants Blog

Reflection from Ecuador, Summer 2008

A shared reflection from Lisa Gasson in Ecuador.

Community is everything here. Yesterday, I rode to the volcaneo in the back of a truck with 15 members of Wajnaa´s host family. It was a daytrip, Ecuadorian style. The region that I am living in, Cayambe, is named for the volcaneo and it looms large over both my house and school. Many of the local people have never visited it; the presence of two foreigners created the perfect opportunity. Wajnaa´s host father arranged the trip. He hired a truck and invited 17 member of his family to come along and fill it. Everything was organized as a group: there was chicken and rice for everyone to eat and the men helped Wajnaa and I climb the mountain. To me it was a lovely picture of how family operates here. The only metaphor that I have been able to come up with is fabric. It´s not the greatest metaphor, but it does capture the sense of interconnectedness that prevails in this community. For me, it´s striking: I don´t know my neighbours and my extended family is very small. There is such strength in community and such joy in being welcomed into this one. Children are taught from a very young age to greet all of the adults that they encounter; in Toronto we walk with our heads down, refusing to make eye contact with the people that we see everyday. My professor suggested that apathy is the opposite of love and I think that our lack of community fosters apathy. Community creates an enviroment where people know and care for those around them. Imagine what Toronto could be like if people really saw and desired to know the people around them. Imagine if a sense of interconnectedness grew up in our neighbourhoods. Interconectness leads to a sense of responsibility and a desire to care for each other. When I go home I hope to find a space where I can be a part of a community. This is only one of the ways that the people I have encountered here have impacted me.