My study abroad trip to Ecuador this past July was absolutely life changing. Not only was I able to learn an immense amount of information on the ecology of Ecuador, but the experiences I had there will forever be in my memory. The people I met, the places we visited, those who we helped, and those who helped us. All of these combined made this experience one of the greatest of my lifetime – so I decided to apply for another study abroad trip to Belize for July of 2017. Words don’t do justice to the incredible memories that were made those two weeks but I will do my best to share one of those life-changing moments with all of you.

Being that Ecuador is an underdeveloped nation, naturally we saw many areas of poverty, which was definitely a culture shock for those of us that have never seen situations like those. One of the most notable things I’d like to mention is that despite the fact that the people there were not as fortunate as us, they are some of the most generous and courteous people I have ever met. One little girl, in particular, Ella. She was only six years old at the time, didn’t speak English and her mother told her to take us through her village and help us find a soccer ball that we could donate to the community. Although Ella didn’t speak English, she and I had no communication barriers – when kindness and trust are exhibited, words aren’t needed.

Ella held my hand, guiding me through the entire village in search for a ball, and she spoke to everyone we encountered, because I don’t speak Spanish, asking if they knew where to find one. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find one for sale in the entire village so on our walk back to Ella’s house we stopped for a drink and some snacks. I told her to pick out whatever she wanted and I would buy it for her, Ella chose the cheapest item there and was surprised when I told her to get more, reluctantly she grabbed enough snacks for her brothers and sisters and her favorite soda to drink and thanked me over and over again. Once we got back, Ella approached our tour guide and asked him to translate something to me, her request was “can you ask her (me) if she can come to my house and play with me, she’s very nice”. We had only met a few hours before, but Ella trusted me, she saw a friend in me and that itself is truly touching. I plan on going back to Ecuador on my own and visiting my new friend Ella in the future.