Jordan Howie, who was born and raised in Estevan, embarked on a volunteering mission to help those in need, in rural Peru. Howie has returned triumphantly from his trip which took place from May 22 to June 5, having put in solid, substantive work, creating much needed infrastructure for villages in the Andes mountains of South America. While in the rugged South American valleys and mountains, Howie also fit in some time for adventure in the city of Cusco and the Andes themselves.
In a phone call with the Mercury, Howie said one of the main goals he set out to accomplish with Reach Out Volunteers Charity, was building a dining hall for a rural village located in one of the many valleys in the Andes.
“When we started out, it was kind of the bare bones of the building (were in place) already,” said Howie. "It was made out of bamboo and there was a roof on."
In order to complete the structure, Howie and the other volunteers worked to continue fabricating the building, crafting the remainder of the structure, utilizing materials from the very landscape around them.
“We started making plaster out of mud, dirt and cactus juice,” recalled Howie, describing the materials and method they used. “We mixed all those things together, and made a sticky plaster that we made the walls with."
Howie noted that creating a stable, flat floor for the building was also among his responsibilities.
“They had us take pickaxes to the ground. We kind of mixed the ground up, got it wet with water, mixed in some cement dust and smoothed it out,” said Howie. “We had a nice, smooth floor."
After the walls and floor were crafted, Howie said local carpenters put the finishing touches on the building, by installing windows.
Howie added, “It looked really nice at the end of the week, with all the finished work."
Howie said the work itself was a bit of a surprise, since what he was doing varied from what he and the other volunteers were told they'd be doing.
“At first, going out there, none of us knew exactly what we were doing,” he said. “On the program list, it said we would be building greenhouses, but they told us, when we got up there, that it was just whatever each community needed."
Howie explained that there are six different communities affiliated with Reach Out Volunteers Charity, for which the organization arranges volunteer work.
“Whatever they need at that time, we provide it to them. So, at that time, we were building a dining hall/restaurant for them,” he said.
One of the things that stood out most about Peru for Howie was the fact that it was different than any of the places to which he’d travelled before.
“There weren’t too many differences in etiquette and all of that, but they definitely have a different way of living,” said Howie.
He noted that the most striking difference between Canadian and Peruvian culture is the general attitude toward time.
“They tend to do things a whole lot more slowly in their lives, time-wise. You could say they are a more laid-back type of people there,” said Howie. "My group leader was saying how we were going to meet for supper at 6:30, but in ‘Peruvian time,’ that means around 7:00. They tend to take their time when they do things."
Another adjustment Howie had to make was to the altitude they were at, high up in the Andes. As it turned out, the one time altitude sickness affected them was when they were in Cusco, the main population center in the area.
"The lower air pressure wasn't as bad as I thought. Most of us were fine, and not too many fell ill," said Howie. "We only stayed in Cusco for the first day and that was the highest point," said Howie. "Once we got into the Sacred Valley, where we were working, it was about 4,000 feet lower (than Cusco), so that wasn't bad. During the last few days of our trip in Cusco, most of us got sick for a little bit. It wasn't too major, though."
Howie was able to raise about half of the needed funds for his trip, through crowd funding. He said he was satisfied with the results of crowd-funding his trip to Peru. He noted that if he were ever to undertake such a trip again, he would definitely use crowd-funding as one part of a fundraising plan, but "would probably also use some different fundraising methods, like bake sales, and stuff like that."
When asked about the most memorable moments of his trip outside of the work he did, Howie noted there was a wealth of exciting activities in the Andes and that he made many memories, with one standing out among them.
"I really liked the nights we stayed in the village we were working in. We woke up early in the morning around 4:00 a.m., and we climbed the nearby mountain to the top. There was an old Inca ruin up there, and we'd watch the sunrise from there. It was really beautiful."
