People - Traveling around Riobamba

Tom (back row second from the right) is my main contact for my travels over the next couple of days. After sailing across the Pacific, he decided that he was going to spend his life helping those less fortunate. Born in Canada, Tom joined the Scarborough Missions as a layperson and began traveling around Latin America. After a stint in both Panama and Peru, Tom ended up in Riobamba with his family and lived there for 14 years. While in Ecuador, he spent a lot of time getting to know the local communities and started setting up projects to help them. The purpose of his trip this time is to check in on these community projects. Tom currently lives in Wolfville and manages "Just Us Coffee's" ethical sourcing and community relations with the goal of continuing their Fair Trade product line.

Scott (far left), as mentioned before, was my ride from Quito. He has done some extensive travel after finishing his Masters in Math including a few months working with Mother Theresa's organization in India, tending to the sick and elderly. You know Kilimanjaro, well he climbed the mountain next to that. Hailing from Mississauga, Scott, 30, works for Free the Children as the coordinator of their Ecuador projects. His goal during his two-year stay here is to make a lot of connections in communities around which the organization can build their trips.

Maria (front row far right), is Scott's right hand woman. As an indigenous person she has been a great asset to Free the Children. Knowledgeable in both Quichwa and Spanish, she has been able to help Scott break down barriers in many smaller communities where Spanish isn't their first language and they are wary of outsiders.

I should also take a second here to describe Free the Children. This Canadian organization was started by Craig Kielburger in 1995 at the age of 12. The mandate of the organization is to stop child labour. Unlike other organizations working for the same goal, FTC focuses not on political change, but social change. Their goal is to find ways for these children to stay in school to get a better education and help the communities develop alternative sources of income so the children don't have to work. They do this in three steps, first build a school (if they have a nice school the students will come), second help with clean water (one of the main reasons for missing school is either having to travel for 2 hours to get water or being sick because of no clean water) and then finally help improve the economic situation of the community. All this work is done by high school and university students who raise the money and travel to the projects where they volunteer.

Father Charlie (far right) is one of the most entertaining people I know. Hailing from a large family (about 96 great-grand nieces and nephews), Charlie joined the Scarborough Mission at a young age and was first sent off to the South Pacific for 25 years, where he preached under a dictatorship. At the young age of 73, Father Charlie has moved to Ecuador to fill in a vacant spot at the Riobamba parish. He is full of energy, stories and just a great guy to be around. If anyone is headed to Ecuador I'll give you his number (Scott is even trying to find a way for all the Free the Children volunteers to meet him).

Spencer (no picture) is right up there with Katy when it comes to bravery. This 18 year old Thunder Bay native was sitting in a lecture lead by a teacher in the local university when he decided that he wanted to go and help in Ecuador. He left Canada, without speaking Spanish and headed to Ecuador to live for the year teaching English. After living by himself in a cabin in a small indigenous town about an hour from Riobamba, Spencer is filled with stores and an experience that will help him when he goes to university in the fall.

This boy (I didn't catch his name) is the son of Julia's housekeeper. I had to put him in here because he was just so cute. I wanted to take him with me when I left (exactly why I'm not working with children on this trip). It took him about a day to get comfortable with me as I'm sure he has never seen someone so tall, but once I picked him up and held him against the ceiling he wanted to play with me all morning. He kept wearing my sunglasses and my watch and followed me around. He especially enjoyed my camera with which I took two pictures of him. When we flipped them quickly it looked like he was shaking his head no. Definitely one of the cutest kids ever (don't worry Glen, you were cuter).