Ellie Austin

Last week, a former student of St Michael’s and Jersey College for Girls, Ellie Austin, flew off to Ecuador.

For the next six weeks she will be volunteering for a small charity called Outreach International in the CENIT day centre for street children in the country’s capital, Quito. Ellie (19) has just finished her first year at Durham University studying French and Spanish.

She is also hoping to share her enthusiasm for music, drama and sport with the children. While in Quito she will, along with other volunteers, stay with an Ecuadorian woman.

During Ellie’s stay in Ecuador she will be filing fortnightly reports for the Jersey Evening Post documenting her stay and experiences with the children in Ecuador’s capital

I AM not usually spontaneous, but something came over me last November. Six weeks into my first year at university, reality hit home. The excitement and debauchery of Freshers’ week had become a distant memory, overshadowed by French literature essays and tedious Spanish grammar exercises. In need of distraction, I flicked open my laptop and Googled ‘volunteering in South America’.

Seven months, and a lifetime’s worth of injections later, I am one week away from jetting off to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. For the next two months, I will play with, teach, feed and give medical checks to some of the city’s poorest street children, who without the work of volunteer organisations would be condemned to a life of scavenging and poverty.

I had, maybe subconsciously, always known that the departure date would arrive and that I would board a plane, on my own, to the other side of the world, deserting my comfort zone and support network of family and friends.

However, in the midst of exams, netball matches and unlimited socialising, I pushed Ecuador and the challenges I would face to the back of mind. Of course, when asked, I explained that I would be spending my summer volunteering in Quito and living with a local family. In response, friends showered me with admiration, promising that it would be ‘an incredible adventure,’ before relating the experiences of an aunt or friend of a friend who had just returned from a similar trip, a changed person.

As many of us have only ever heard or read second-hand accounts of people volunteering in impoverished countries, such superficial reactions seemed completely natural.
However, during the past week, my naive vision of spending two carefree months entertaining mischievous, adorable children has given way to a frightening reality.

Despite being jabbed up to my eyeballs, my doctor assured me that I am still at risk of contracting a range of ferocious-sounding diseases, whether it be from unfit drinking water, mosquitoes, animals or even the children themselves. Similarly, having had hoards of friends recently embark on gap years, I am all too familiar with tales of horrific bus crashes and cars veering off dirt tracks.

In short, yes, I am completely petrified. I realise that I am not half the independent, confident and unfazeable young adult I thought I was, and my literal and metaphorical journey of self-discovery had not even begun.

However, although the thought of feigning illness or ‘losing’ my passport frequently crossed my mind, I know the disappointment that I would feel if I jumped ship at this point would greatly outweigh the anxieties which I am currently experiencing.

As Jersey shimmers in a glorious heatwave, it is obvious that until this point, I have led a charmed and extremely privileged life. I have also been very naive; seven months ago I saw my Ecuador trip as a simple rite of passage enjoyed by young people the world over at some point in their lives. It would be a chance to escape the monotony of essay deadlines and parental nagging, and to let loose for two solid months.

Nevertheless, as I ponder what might await me when I arrive in the slums of Quito next week, it is already clear that I have let myself in for more than I could ever have imagined.
As Baz Luhrmann said: ‘Do one thing every day that scares you.’ I have a feeling that I will more than achieve this over the next two months.