The Onzole River winds through the bright green jungle. At this time of year, it’s fast and high. Cattle stare down from the steep hills. Black and orange birds swoop from tree to tree.
As our canoe passes by, children and grandparents smile and wave from the windows of wooden houses.
It’s February and we’re in Ecuador. Our team includes students from Carleton, Queen’s University, two high school students and three leaders from Navigators, the Christian fellowship organization through which we’re all connected.
We’ve come to spend time along the Onzole River in northern Ecuador. Our base is Santo Domingo de Onzole, a village of around 400. It has a school, a soccer field and several churches.
We run children’s camps in three communities up and down the river, playing games and making crafts with kids who never seem to get tired.
Last year, a team of students went down to Santo Domingo to help build a community centre. Today, the centre is home to computer classes, a library and a women’s group.
Our team was part of a partnership between a few dozen Canadians and some of the people of Onzole. The relationship began over a decade ago when some people from Santo Domingo invited the Canadians to help them develop their community.
Together, we have fought to get the Ecuadorian government to fund the river’s schools and health care. Teams have gone down to train people how to make fine furniture and use computers. These skills have given the people of Onzole some of what they need to help others in their communities and bring hope into their lives.
There’s a reason the people of Onzole live in such a remote place. They’re the descendants of black slaves who escaped years ago from plantations in nearby Colombia.
They went upriver to escape racism, but they could never fully get away from it. The Ecuadorian government has all but ignored them. They only got electricity five years ago. One nurse serves the entire river’s health care needs.
Our team didn’t go to Onzole to “help” the people there. A week-long trip can do little to tackle the systemic and social problems of racism, poverty, addiction and domestic abuse that haunt these communities.
Instead, we went to make friends, share our lives and learn from them.
For years, the people of Onzole have been looked down upon and mistreated.
We hope that by visiting them, living and eating with them and playing in the mud with their kids, we can show them how valuable they really are.
