Travels with Llamas: Challenges

Some of your hardest days are when you learn the most.

I learned this lesson the week (November 30 - December 6) I spent in the Amazon to check out my community development placement for next semester. I lived in the Pueblo Kichwa de Rukullakta (PKR), in the community of Rukullakta, the largest of 17 communities under the organization of PKR. I will be working with them and researching how a community resists oil development, and I will be putting together a report on viable alternatives to oil development. PKR is utilizing organic, free-trade coffee production, and tourism (including the tourism of student volunteers like myself).

The week was confusing and difficult. This included:
- Living in a cement house with a tin room that leaked when it rained (every day)
- Eating rice and chicken everyday (it gets old after 1 day let alone 7 days or 3 months...)
- My Spanish wasn't great and people speak in a mixture of Spanish and Kichwa, the latter of which I know nothing
- Not having any idea what I was doing there. This stemmed from the fact that I a) didn't understand about half of the Spanish spoken to me and b) I came in with the idea that I wouldn't be imposing with what I wanted to do in the community and let them decide what I wanted to do. Now this would have worked great for a less organized community, but this community seems like a well-oiled machine and so they took it to mean that I didn't know what I wanted to do. Based on this, they planned my week to just be about learning about the community and what they are trying to achieve (showing the government that they can sustainably develop without oil production). Although this was fine and constructive, I really had to work hard to try and figure out what my role was going to be when I returned in January.
- Being Canadian. This has never, ever been a problem before, but because the government-hired oil company that they are resisting is Canadian, I met some hesitation as well as some outright opposition to my presence in the community. Most people were welcoming but a few members of the community definitely felt this way, even though it was conveyed in Spanish-Kichwa. I now know what it's like to be a travelling American...

I hit a definite low the day before I went home, where I felt so utterly useless and like a burden that I just started to cry. After that point, the day got better and I finally solidified what I was going to do for three months. It was almost like I had to hit rock bottom before things showed themselves to me... That day I learned the most. That day, December 5, was the day I learned that living in a community is never easy (not that I really thought it would be) and that you need to really be clear about what you hope to achieve. People are not going to tell you what to do, you have to figure it out for yourself. Now, whether this was their plan initially or not, it was an effective but difficult learning scheme that made me really question everything I had been taught in the semester I was just finishing. (There will be another post on my thoughts on community development soon, or in many posts in the next few months, because the questioning is always there.)

Regardless, I made a few friends, one of which is a student from France volunteering in the tourism section of the organization for 6 months. I also got to participate in the making of a traditional meal, play Ecuavolley (3-on-3 volleyball), and help in one of the steps of coffee making. The area that PKR is located in is phenomenally beautiful and diverse. I hope to scratch the surface on the Amazonian Kichwa culture and learn a lot about the strength of people.

The next three months (starting January 9th) will definitely be the hardest three months so far in my life, but they will probably be worth it in the amount I will learn and experience.