This past week I was so generously lent a pretty special pair of yellow rain boots by the Living and Learning program... I also went to the jungle.
Early Wednesday morning, the whole cohort loaded into a touring bus and drove from Quito to MisahuallÃ, a small town located along the Napo river in the jungle of Ecuador. During our drive to the jungle, we stopped at Papallacta hot springs and bathed in the hot and cold natural pools at this spa. Although unbeknownst at the time, the marketization of this natural geographic feature that evidently drew in wealthy foreigners from all over the globe was in stark contrast to the humble town of MisahuallÃ.
The drive to el Oriente (the jungle region of Ecuador) involved a significant drop in elevation relative to la Sierra (mountainous region we were leaving) and a most evident transition away from the bustling city life of Quito to the dense flora and fauna of the rainforest. During the drive out to the rainforest alone, the most beautiful vegetation was revealed to me. As far out as we could see from the bus windows, the densest trees and undergrowth inhabited the earth. With trees resembling the tree of life from the Lion King protruding from the rainforest canopy and the undergrowth so shaded that it appeared to be nighttime beneath the larger plants, the land and its immaculate fertility cannot be sufficiently described if not seen by one’s own eyes.
When we first arrived at our hostel in MisahuallÃ, we were greeted by Eunice, the owner of the hostel who prepared all of the meals for the next 4 days for us and has an admirable heart for the Lord.
Grubbing on grubs...
We then went out to explore the town during which we ate smoked grubs and became quite familiar with the plentiful monkeys that roam around and try to steal all that you have, including your phone, wallet, and dignity as part of their entertainment.
We walked down to the river, passing numerous vendor stands and members of the Guaranà tribe seated on the sidewalk of a street as the town prepared for the coming Carnaval celebration this weekend. The Guaranà tribe members were in traditional dress, involving painted faces and minimal clothing, and had both beautiful jewelry displayed for sale and nude children (only boys) playing in the street. They were very friendly to us (very foreign) foreigners as we admired their handmade goods.
While visiting the river, the rain started to fall and we quickly found ourselves caught in the midst of a relentless downpour. We ran and danced in the streets, finding ourselves acting as unrestrained as the monkeys who occupied the streets with us. Returning to the hostel, we feasted on a glorious three course, jungle dinner which was followed by our nightly group devotional time that we shared each of the four nights we spent at the hostel. This evening we also prepared our own dipping chocolate from the cacao pod. Eunice had already fermented the cacao beans for us (a multiple week process) which we then shelled, ground, added sugar and milk to, and warmed over the stove to prepare dipping chocolate. We delighted over the fresh jungle fruit dipped in fresh jungle chocolate this evening.
Antioquia School
After a full breakfast the following morning, we hopped into the beds of our taxi trucks, equipped with our rain boots, as we drove out to our mission site: Antioquia school. Upon arrival, we were briefed on the mission and the offerings of the school. Founded by missionaries, the school’s aim is to provide a Christ-centered education for students living in Misahuallà and for surrounding underserved jungle children. The school teaches their students the core educative subjects as well as English. A key feature of the school is that no student attends for free. They do have a student sponsorship program that allows people like you and me to fund the education for students whose families can’t afford it; however, ever family makes a contribution for their child’s education. Whether it’s physical labor or finances, the parents must invest in their child’s education. Additionally, they have student housing on the campus of the school so that students living deeper out in the jungle can stay on campus during the school year. These students would otherwise be required to hike from their home in the jungle down to the river, take a boat to MisahuallÃ, and from there they walk the rest of the way to the school.
After the briefing on the school’s mission, we began our work projects. We had two main projects we were working on as a group: clearing a 25 square foot area of the jungle using machetes that was to be used as a pig pen for the students to learn farming practices and moving a mass amount of yard cropping a down a hill to be dumped into the jungle. The school had cut down multiple trees in this plot of land, clearing it for the purpose of constructing a lunch room.
We labored hard all day into the early evening. The afternoon generously greeted us with a downpour of rain that main our hike down the hill with our wheelbarrows quite treacherous. Despite the elements, blisters, mud, and copious amount of insect bites, I felt complete bliss while sprinting down the hill using the gravitational force of the wheelbarrow to pull me down and around the acute switchbacks. Returning back into town in the back of pickup trucks, we walked straight to the Napo river, dipping into the chilly water dressed in our muddy clothes.
We walked back barefoot through the streets to our hostel as the daily afternoon rain danced in the murky puddles in the streets. After showering, per necessity to eat dinner, the long-term missionaries who work at the school shared their stories with us over a meal.
The following morning, we resumed our work projects until we had cleared the entire plot of land of the organic debris. After washing our wheelbarrows in the river and leaving the school, we freshened up back at the hospital before leaving for ceramics. We were briefed prior to going that the indigenous woman who would be teaching us may ask us to participate in a earthly spiritual ritual of walking through smoke to be spiritually cleansed prior to starting. The normal building happened to be under construction at the time, so we avoided this cultural interaction all together, but it demonstrated an aspect of her deeply rooted belief in the spirituality of the earth and its elements.
The taxi ride back to the town of Misahuallà after sculpting our clay bowls was one of the most relaxing parts of the trip. We rolled the windows down and were simply overcome by the sheer immensity of the rainforest as warm rain sprinkled into the car. After eating dinner at the hostel, we left for an optional night-time nature hike in the jungle.
Ducking to stay alive
Taking a boat taxi then walking to only God-knew-where in the Jungle, we loaded into another boat. Out of the darkness, a man appeared who was around 80 years old, he was our tour guide for the night. We spotted caymans wading in the water and a six foot fish accompanied our boat the entire ride. We even had the opportunity to pet the gentle beast. We unloaded the boat at some other point along the river, and embarked on our hike in the daunting unknown. I saw the most horrifying insects of my life during this hike, and best of all, there were points along the trek that we had to step to one side of the trail, duck, or step over spider webs to avoid the pinch of their relentless chelicerae. The only reason I’m alive today is because our tour guide hiked the trail first and nonchalantly warned us of the creeping arachnids in the ominous unknown.
The following day we returned to the school once more to host a basketball tournament for the school children. We ran four courts for this 3 on 3 tournament and praise God my role was in time-keeping in place of refereeing. This tournament was where I enjoyed the most interaction with the students. Parallel to Shaq on the court, I played a few rounds of 3 on 3, towering over my 13 year-old competition as an apparent Amazonian woman. After another full day of enriching work at the school, we found ourselves boarding boats on the Napo River for a sunset boat tour. This ride was yet another experience through which God revealed Himself in the glory of His creation.
After dinner this evening, a group of us decided to head into the town for our daily 50-cent chocolate-dipped bananas. During our innocent stroll through the town plaza, we found ourselves being pursued by kids with painted faces that were armed with eggs and buckets of muddy water. The Carnaval celebration had begun. Sprinting through the plaza that was decorated with chaotic Christmas lights whilst being chased by foreign children, the majority of us got drenched and sprayed before returning to the hostel to regroup.
With vengeance in mind, we lightened our heavy pockets of change in a convenience store, arming ourselves with foam spray, flour, and eggs (flour and eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast... obviously). Equipped physically and mentally (or so we thought) we descended once more upon the town as a pack of five gringas (whites) who stuck out like none other. Getting drenched in muddy water and foam of unknown origin, we fought back relentlessly and formed an alliance with the a group of small painted children playing in the night streets. In summary, I ended up chasing a 40-something-year-old man for multiple blocks at a full sprint and having a mix of alcohol and ice cream dumped on my shoulder at one point. One of the best (strangest) nights of my life.
Let's talk reality.
Five days, 18 students, ten wheel barrows, and an unidentified number of work tools: a most concise summary of the Living and Learning group trip to Misahualli. Although the trip that took place in February of 2022 was limited to only three work days, this trip represents one of the plentiful short-term work trips that Living and Learning has led for years. The long-term relationship of the Living and Learning program with Antioquia School arguably garners an increased value of work that the program’s short-term teams contribute. Despite the long-term relationship of Living and Learning with the Antioquia School, the reality of the work trip to Misahuallà is that it was a short-term mission trip and the reality of short-term mission trips is that they have the potential to hinder more than help a community.
Considering the negative potential of short-term mission trips, there is a humanitarian obligation to reflect on the impact of the trip in light of effective community development models and, most importantly, Biblical examples of short-term mission trips. One of the classes that all students are required to take here is called Community Development, and it's a class in which we've spent a lot of time reflecting on short-term missions and their implications. Our short-term mission trip was very short in duration and involved almost solely working on projects involving physical labor, outside of the interaction that we had with the students during the basketball tournament. I personally interpreted our volunteer labor at the school and hosting of the basketball tournament as an act of encouragement for the long-term missionaries at the school that we were coordinating with the entire trip. Hearing their stories and praying with them was certainly a humbling, yet also encouraging, experience for me personally.
From Biblical examples of short-term missions, it seems apparent that the most effective approach the short-term missionaries can take is an approach of encouragement and affirmation for the long-term missionaries. This approach is evident in the Biblical example of Epaphroditus and his encouragement to Paul. We didn't go on this five-day excursion with the intent of evangelizing, but instead with the intent to assist the school with some difficult labor that we could perform with the advantage of our large group. Our volunteer work was simply an act of encouragement to the long-term missionaries of the school.
Glory in God's creation
The creativity of God in His creation was so readily evident throughout the duration of this entire trip. The Amazon rainforest is an immense and extremely diverse ecosystem that reveals in itself the necessity for an infinitesimally glorious Creator. These revelations of God's glory are certainly an aspect of my time in the jungle that I'll hold dear for the rest of my life.