Best experience in my life, very life-changing

Help, Learn and Discover has made a huge impact in my life. It has showed me how helping others can be so much fun and you get to learn so much about another country and about yourself.

First off, the volunteer site was the best part of the trip. I cannot explain in words what I felt while I was helping in the community but I'll try. You get to help build homes for a community of poor people who have been struggling in paying rent every month. You get to give shelter for their children and make them feel more comfortable. You also get to connect with the community while building homes since you will be building their houses with them. Even if there is a language barrier between both parties, you will still feel that connection with them and you will for sure make the effort to learn their basic language so you can communicate with them. Body language is key in communicating with them as well. The children in the community are so awesome since they are so playful too. After the whole trip, I want to go back to Camarones (the community we helped) after a few years just to see how the community is doing.

Travelling around Ecuador and seeing the main attractions around the country is amazing. You get to learn about the culture and the way people live in Ecuador. Learning about the history and background stories of the place where you are helping is awesome because you get to feel the wholeness of why you are helping that country. Yes, we do lots of fun things like tubing at the amazon, night jungle hikes and jungle hike, repelling down a waterfall, surfing, hotsprings and lots of other adventurous things but that is just the secondary fun of the whole trip. There were times where I wished I stayed in the community longer because one week is not enough. However, Ecuador is a big country and there are just so many things to explore and learn as well.

In this trip, you have to be ready to go out of your box and explore what there is out there for you. This trip has definitely pushed me to do things I wouldn't think I could have done before. It feels amazing. You get to discover your limits and what you can do. You have to dare yourself to do the things the people in Ecuador think is normal (eg. eating guinea pigs and lemon ants). After accomplishing some of these things, I surely felt amazing about myself that I went through these experiences and have learnt that I can do anything in the world. Also, there are more things in life than what we see everyday here in north america.

In the 5 weeks I was in Ecuador, I have learned so much, discovered things about Ecuador and myself and helped families to have shelter the rest of their lives. In that short time, I have accomplished all these and I can say that it feels amazing. I wish everyone can experience this because it not only open your eyes to a new world but also helps you grow as a person and see things in a different perspective. Given a chance again to go back and help another community, I would do it again in a heartbeat.