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Lori Deaton, who teaches an online "Business in Society" course in the College, required all of her students last year to do volunteer work in their communities. What follows is a report submitted by her student, Jose Ferando Ycaza, about his experience. My Trip to Bastión Rotary International is an organization devoted to helping those in need. My parents have belonged to the Rotary Club since I was a little child. As I grew up, I started joining them for community service and field trips. I really enjoyed it and that's how I felt motivated to join them.
We have weekly meetings every Tuesday and we elect our president by voting. Our president, who is one of my best friends, keeps us up to date about the club and also looks for projects along with the help of the rest of us members. Then, we get together in the club house and decide which is the best day for everyone to attend. We usually go out and help the community once or in some cases twice a month. About four weeks ago, on a Tuesday night, I went to the club house at around 8:40 p.m. as usual. Jaime, our president, had already started the briefing. It had come to his attention that the community had built a new elementary school in Bastión. Bastión is about an hour away and it's a zone overtaken by extreme poverty. With dirt roads and no sewer systems, people wash their clothes in the river, which is mostly contaminated with waste from their houses, mostly built of sticks. The school they had built fortunately was made of concrete, constructed by the local city hall at the demand of the people, but as always, local city hall employees leave without finishing the construction because they say they don't have enough money in their budget. Talk about corruption. Fortunately, they did finish all the architectural work. But they had not painted the school. All the walls were gray; it looked like a prison instead of an elementary school. So we decided to buy gallons of paint and to go paint the school. We also started collecting toys to leave at the school for the children to play with. Most of us agreed to go the next Saturday. When I returned home, I found a sack and started filling it with my old toys which I no longer felt attached to, since I knew my old toys would make a child extremely happy as they once had made me. As Saturday approached, I went to my friend Jaime's house, since, as the president, he was organizing the trip. Twenty-one people out of the 31 had confirmed their attendance, so we would need 4 big all-terrain cars for the trip. Jaime had one, and we managed for three other members to take out their cars. There are not any paved roads once you get kind of close to Bastión; some of them are full of mud or vegetation and cars can get stuck. On Saturday morning, we all left the club house together in the 4 cars at 9:30 am. You could feel the excitement in the air. Just imagine 21 young people ranging in age from 17 to 24 all together ready to go on a trip. We had one car almost filled with toys, but we all managed to fit into the cars. The first driver had been driving for about 40 minutes when he suddenly stopped. The road was gone; there was no dirt road; there was a river. The problem was that the high tide, which had started in the morning, washes the road away every day, and we would have to wait another 5 hours before we could cross. But we were not there to wait. Four friends and I left the cars to see if there was a way to cross. Walking along the river bank, we found an old man with something that looked like a sinking raft. But it had paddles. We talked to him and tried to convince him to take us across, but he wanted $15 for each time he had to cross. There were 21 of us, and the raft did not look like it could fit more than five people in it. But with our powers of persuasion, we managed to be taken for $8 for each crossing. As we were crossing, the raft was taking on water. We all got wet; it was so funny, especially when it was the girls' turn to cross. The driver of the raft also made one final trip bringing all the gallons of paint and toys across the river. Once we got across, since we had left our cars on the other side, we had to walk. It was exhausting, walking in the dirt, in the morning sun, with vegetation and with gallons of paint and sacks of toys. Forty minutes later, though, we finally managed to get to the school. When we got there, the people were so kind. They were so excited to see us. They started walking with us. They also brought us some refreshments typical from Bastión, and 30 minutes later we were ready to start painting. We had brought bright colors that would cheer everybody up. For the younger kids, we painted cartoons on the walls, with castles and prairies. The parents of the children also came and helped us paint. While we were dedicated to the painting, we also fooled around every once in a while. By the end of the day the school looked like a McDonald's playground, full of colors. The kids showed up with their parents at around 5:00 p.m. and we started delivering the toys for them to play with in their school. They were so happy! These moments make you feel great. We played with them for a while. They gave us so many thanks and hugs; they just could not believe people had come to make their community better. That usually does not happen. They offered us a ride back to where our cars were in the back of a big old van so we would not have to walk through the vegetation in the dark. The chauffeurs who drove us at the beginning of the trip were taking care of the cars so we were not worried about whether or not the cars would "still be there." Once we got there, the river was gone.you could even see the wood planks people use to cross the remaining water. On the way back, everyone was asleep. We were really tired; even the most hyperactive members of the club were exhausted. But we had so much fun with the people of Bastión. When I got home, my mom saw me and she told me to take my shoes off and go straight to the shower! I was really dirty, full of paint and mud. At our next meeting, we showed the other ten members who could not make it the pictures and the video of the trip. We laughed so hard at the video- it was hilarious. We definitely will go back to Bastión in the future to check on our new friends. Although they are extremely poor, they have huge and rich hearts. The poverty has not brought them down. They are hard workers and great people. I do believe people should get more involved with people in such need of help as the ones in Bastión. This is one case among the thousands that exist throughout Ecuador. I am very lucky that I was born in a wealthy family who has given me everything. That's why I feel that if I am able to help, I must help. It is my duty as a citizen of Ecuador to help my fellow Ecuadorians. Businesses as well as individuals should get involved. I don't see any "cons" in helping others. I can only think of "pros." What can be bad about helping others? When I get to be a CEO, I will definitely have an Employee Volunteerism Program. I would have no problem in providing time for my employees to go out and help; I most probably would join them. This is one of the many experiences I have had in the club. We have so many amazing stories to tell. We have helped so many people, and the most important thing is that we like doing it. We have so much fun in our "adventures" that most of the time, we finish one project and we are already looking for the next the following day. The smiles and happiness in the faces of the people in need keep us going, and once you get a smile, you can never forget it.
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Rotaract is a branch of the Rotary Club whose members are young people from the community
like me. It's really amazing because we are all friends, and once you join Rotaract, you will have 31 new
friends to help people by doing community service, or to just hang out with and go to the movies or to
parties.