by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
BEACHBURG — Paige Knechtel had such a “fantastic” time in Ecuador, the teenager didn’t want to come home.
The 18-year-old Beachburg high school student had her first taste of helping to build a school in Ecuador and feels the 10-day trip was too short.
“Seeing the kids and building the school was exciting,” she said.
Through the Educational Fund Tours and Me to We organizations, Ms. Knechtel travelled to Ecuador to help build a school, participate in various experiments and experience a different culture.
The first group to this village to build a school, their job was to begin the foundation, she said. She was given a shovel, and a pick-ax, and give instructions on how to dig a trench, whose width was laid out by chalk powder. Once trenches had been dug, it was time to fill them, with a layer of large rocks, layer of dirt and water and then cover with pieces of wood. She said there were between two to four layers per trench.
Her group travelled to a local farmer in the Amazon and discovered how he came to be there and helped pick his coffee beans and taste a variety of fruits, including yucca root.
“Some of their fruit is very different from ours,” Ms. Knechtel said. “Their oranges are tiny and green, but taste the same.”
There is one fruit used to paint faces, and one of their jungle guides painted their faces, she said.
The group also visited a Shaman, which is a tribe’s local doctor, and had a tour of his home. They also saw his plants and he explained the uses of them, she said.
“He did a cleansing ritual on us,” she said.
Ms. Knechtel explained that the Shaman blew smoke onto each of them and if it stayed above their heads, it meant they had bad spirits, so he shooed them away.
The Shaman’s wife made a special tea for them, which they snort up their nose which clears the pathway, working like a decongestant.
The students had an opportunity to use a blow dart and spears.
“The blow dart is heavy,” she said. “A jungle guide put it on his shoulder so we could try it.”
She was surprised to find the dart was heavier than the spear, but the spear was bulkier to handle.
“The spear was longer and awkward to hold,” Ms. Knechtel explained.
At the local cocao farm, they saw how it was planted and once picked, it’s sent to France to be used in making chocolate.
They also had an opportunity to visit a health centre and an area where mothers can earn an alternate income by creating crafts, such as bracelets. They also performed a traditional dance. When the students were asked to perform a traditional dance, they weren’t sure what to do since there is no traditional dance.
“We did the Macarena and then we just danced and had fun,” Ms. Knechtel said.
The medical centre only opened about two months ago and serves an area that is “much, much larger than Renfrew County,” she said. It only has two rooms, and one is for women to give birth, she said. Ms. Knechtel noted a doctors residence is now being built, in hopes of enticing doctors to stay for a few months instead of just a few days at a time.
They also visited Quito, the capital city and an old city, she said. When told not to talk to the locals because they would be soliciting them to purchase things, Ms. Knechtel said she wasn’t really prepared for what happened. There were so many people, young and old, who wanted them to buy something, and they didn’t give up easily.
“They spend all day asking people to buy their things, but that’s how they make their living,” she said.
She laughed when she recalled a woman with herbs came and wanted her to smell them. She tried to ignore her, but was eventually told she was part of the tour. She explained the herbs and then performed a traditional dance which allowed the students to be on the land.
“It was a very neat experience,” she said.
They also visited seven churches built in the 16th century. However, they were visiting them when Mass was happening, so were only able to get into one.
“We were told the history of each church,” she said. “They were beautiful churches.”
While they didn’t get to see this particular church, there was one that is covered in gold leaf, she recalled.
They learned there are many tribes in the Amazon, including head shrinkers, and they were taught how to shrink a head.
One of the highlights was visiting the equator.
They were shown how water goes down the drain when the hole is located right on the equator – straight down. However, if it’s situated just off the equator’s line, a whirlpool forms, which everyone sees when they pull the plug in their own sinks.
The guide also showed them how to balance a nail on an egg that is situated on the equator.
“None of us could do it,” she said. “If we had, we would have gotten a certificate. No one brought a certificate home.”
Another experiment was trying to walk on the equator’s red line, similar to that of testing to see if you are drunk, Ms. Knechtel said. It’s not possible because you are being pulled to the north and south the minute you put your arms out, she explained.
They also did some shopping and went out for dinner and a night hike, with an opportunity to see frogs, large spiders and a snake well hidden in a tree.
Ms. Knechtel said the people there are happy all the time. They don’t realize they are poor because they know no other life. For some, it’s a six-hour drive to the city, so they rarely go and there are probably some people who have never been, she added.
“They were so welcoming even though there is a language barrier,” she said.
On the last day there was a chance to play with the local children and take photos, which hadn’t been allowed until then, Ms. Knechtel said. While there is a school there, it’s too small and that’s why they’re building a new one, she said.
The day was spent playing soccer, dancing and just interacting with the children.
“There were so many kids and we were taking photos and they were taking photos, just clicking at random things,” Ms. Knechtel said with a laugh.
Debbie Knechtel, Paige’s mom, said her biggest fear was there being an earthquake while her daughter was there. And it did happen.
She recalls receiving an email that two earthquakes occurred registering 6.7 and 5.9, but they were 170 miles away from the students. It was nice they were notified right away, she said.
“As a parent, I felt good they were notifying us,” Debbie said.
And with this experience behind her, Paige is now working on raising money to go to Kenya next year, leaving on the same date as she did this year – July 5. However, this time she’s going for 20 days. She will be travelling with We to Me again and going to Masa Province in south Kenya.
“It will be a different experience because we’ll be staying in tents,” she said.
The cost is $5,500 but covers everything except what she wants to buy. Throughout the next year, Paige will participate in webinars regarding the trip.
Paige will be doing a variety of fundraisers and working for the money. And doing this while attending her fifth year at Fellowes High School in Pembroke.
