Erin in Ecuador

A 23-year-old member of the Springfield, Massachusetts’s community, Erin Duffy, is currently volunteering with United Planet to provide invaluable support to a community in Ecuador, while immersing deeply in Ecuadorian life and culture.

Erin Duffy left the United States in April 2006 in order to spend a year to work in an elementary school in Tonsupa, Ecuador. She teaches English and cultural fisica (physical education). For grades 2-7, there are a total of three teachers, each in charge of a pair of grades in one classroom. The walls of the school are made of bamboo with dirt floors and an outhouse for a bathroom. Before her trip, Erin was fortunate to gather four large boxes full of donations, which she recently distributed to her students.

Here is what Erin thinks about her experience in Ecuador with United Planet:

“This is absolutely a once in a lifetime experience. I really wanted to do something for someone in the world who wasn’t born into the same fortunate circumstances as we were. Nobody asks to be born into poverty. As much as we like to think we are giving something to the people here, we are receiving so much more. We have been welcomed with open arms and are absolutely enjoying every minute.”

What has she learned so far? First of all, Erin improved her Spanish right away! Working with so many children, she has also learned to be much more patient. In Ecuador, people live at a different pace than in the United States... Her host father says "time is not running," and that is certainly the case according to Erin. Erin has learned so much about the culture and the people of Ecuador as well as the intricacies of how to teach English as a foreign language in Spanish. Most of all, she has learned that a little bit of kindness can go a long way.

Erin had to face the challenging cultural differences, especially related to the language. This experience is important to her because she is gaining more perspective on her own life every day, while being able to give something to the people here. She was greeted with smiles everywhere she went. “There’s so much more to life and happiness than I ever could have imagined before this trip."