Leadership and Community Engagement: Ecuador

We will continue to Camp Donbiki, which will be our base. Camp Donbiki is located in the Arajuno area of the Pastaza Province. The bus journey alone is a traveler's dream, including possible sightings of the glacier of Cerro Antisana, as well as ranging views east across the immensity of the Amazon itself. The last bit of the journey is by motorized dug-out canoe.

Staying at Camp Donbiki is a very special experience as you actually get the chance to live inside the Ecuadorian Amazon. You'll start the day in a jacket and end it in shorts and t-shirt. The camp sits beside the Rio Arajuno, on the edge of small community, surrounded by the jungle. We will be staying in traditional wooden buildings with comfy mattresses on bunk beds, and the bathroom facilities have flushing toilets, cold showers, and sinks. There will be time to relax in the jungle and get your bearings. In the afternoon, you will receive a full briefing on the projects that we are doing in the community. Whilst at camp, three healthy, well-balanced and tasty meals will be provided daily. For example, toast, cereal, and fruit for breakfast; fish with veggies for lunch and dinner and fruit. The signature dish is Tilapia wrapped in banana leaf, cooked on a campfire, as well as palm and yucca.

Each one of the projects we work on is designed to improve the basic well-being, education or sustainability of the local community and the environment. The projects are identified through a partnership with the community and in all our projects we are working with the community authorities and alongside trade men from within that community. Project work could include helping to maintain or develop facilities at local schools, create organic gardens for families to tackle malnutrition, reforestation or constructing water catchment and sanitation facilities. All projects are ongoing and, in collaboration with our volunteers, we work on them year-round to ensure a responsible and sustainable approach in all that we do. Your group could be starting a new project or continuing with a project in progress. This could include helping to maintain or develop facilities at local schools, creating organic gardens for families to tackle malnutrition, reforesting or constructing a local medical center. Each of these activities sits at that point of meeting between the needs of the community and the needs of their local environment - a difficult and challenging point of contact which we encourage the groups to understand and think deeply about.

A student-focused discussion of Leadership, its challenges, models, and aims. The students will be asked to think about these issues particularly in the context of their current environment and activities. What has worked, what hasn't? Are we on schedule for our own aims? How could we do things differently?

Much of Camps work in this community has been focused around the school, including building a house for the teacher and various school buildings. We are continuing that work, but, further, this relationship with the school opens up great opportunities for interaction between the group and the school students, who are always keen to learn English, share stories of their lives or just have a game of soccer with visiting groups. We often find that the shared language of sport and competition can transcend any difficulties in communication that may crop up through not having a shared vocabulary.

Your evenings are usually spent relaxing in camp and the local kitchen crew will rustle up a delicious dinner for you and your team. After dinner there are plenty of opportunities for group discussion, reflections on project work, keeping travel diaries up to date, as well as various team-led games and activities. Local staff are always in camp and are on hand to chat to and help you with anything else that you need.

We will pack our rucksacks and hit the jungle trail on route to Camp Chili Urku. Situated in a remote area of the rainforest, to arrive at the camp you'll trek for a couple of hours through the jungle - the journey is well worth it. During the trek, students will learn about some of the indigenous plants and trees and how many are used for medicinal remedies.

At Camp Chilli Urku, you will again be welcomed by the local community and this is a great opportunity for traditional face painting and the making of traditional, reed head-dresses. In the afternoon, we will tour this tiny community and investigate the service work projects that are ongoing.

Camps has a series of interactive lectures, that cover subjects such as Stakeholder Engagement, Citizen Science, and Threats to Biodiversity. These sessions can be run following discussion with the school of the topics considered most appropriate to the group.

Camps is working with the community in both reforestation and sustainable income generation. The community recognize the importance of their natural environment and want to conserve it, but they need, and deserve, an income. We run a reforestation program with them, which, for our groups, may mean searching the nearby forest for seeds and saplings or working in a tree nursery planting native species. The saplings that are grown are either sold to generate income for the project or planted on community land as part of a process of reforestation. A significant part of the income generation process is promoting eco-tourism in the area, which the community have identified as a sustainable, long-term plan for themselves.

A student-led session, following on from the previous reflection sessions, in which the group identifies goals achieved, both group and individual, both internal to the group and externally in the service work achievements, to bring context and resolution to the week's experience before heading back out of the jungle.

Quito is one of the most compelling cities in Ecuador. Nestled in a long, narrow valley in the Andes, between the Volcano Pichincha to the west and the Machángara River Canyon to the east, Quito enjoys a spectacular natural setting. The Ecuadorian capital city's mix of colonial and modern architecture creates a fascinating built environment. In addition to being the site of the Ecuadorian government, Quito is also the nation's cultural capital, with an impressive selection of museums and festivals.

Explore Ecuador's beautiful capital on this guided tour of Quito's downtown. Explore the Plaza de la Independencia, the Old Town's main square, and see Palacio de Carondelet, the Presidential Palace. Visit Iglesia San Francisco, the first church built in Quito, begun in 1535 on the site of an Inca Temple. Inside we will view the baroque altar which has three important sculptures: the Baptism of Jesus; a representation of Jesus de Gran Poder; and one of the most important sculptures in Ecuador, the original La Virgen de Quito. Jump from the southern to northern hemisphere in an instant at Mitad del Mundo, the Equator Monument that marks the equinoctial line.

As a result of participating on this program, all high school students are eligible to take an online Global Perspectives course through a learning management system, where all the grading and assessment will be undertaken by the WorldStrides Curriculum and Academics team. Our partnership with George Mason University provides students in grades 9-12 at the time of travel an opportunity to enroll in courses to earn college credit. Students must meet George Mason University’s admissions requirements to receive the credit, including reporting a 2.8 GPA or above. Upon successful completion and the processing of credits, a transcript may be ordered directly from WorldStrides or George Mason University.