Five Missouri State University students, including three from the Reynolds College, traveled to Ecuador July 3-6 as part of an Education Abroad program.

The students were graduate student Kinli Miller and undergraduate students Bailey Meesey, Kai Schiller, Ryan Ziegler and Brynn Kayhill.

They were accompanied by Jason Shepard, senior instructor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology.

Multi-faceted curriculum emphasized experiential learning

During the three-hour credit course, “Andes to the Amazon,” the students learned about Ecuador’s cultures and societies through experiential learning, according to Shepard. The curriculum included community tourism development, traditional medicine and agriculture.

As part of the course, students conducted interviews, participated in field trips and kept daily field journals. They will use these field notes, Shepard said, along with lectures, interviews and additional research to construct presentations and posters. The students will then present their findings at an approved conference or public forum.

Itinerary focused on four major sites

The group’s itinerary included Ecuador’s capital, Quito, as well as rural households of Kichwa families, a permaculture farm and a community-run ecolodge in the Amazon, Shepard said.

While in Quito, the students spoke with the founders of EcoMinga, one of the largest environmental NGOs in Ecuador, Shepard said. They also visited botanical gardens, museums and the Temple of Man, established by Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasamin.

“Emotionally powerful” experiences

The Quito activities helped anthropology major Bailey Meesey gain a firmer understanding of Ecuador’s racial past.

“I went to many museums where the treatment of indigenous people [by] the Spanish was openly talked about,” she said. “They were not going to let the past define their future.”

“These experiences are designed to inform students about the history of Ecuador,” Shepard said. “These are emotionally powerful experiences involving issues of class and race and help students contextualize contemporary Ecuador and its challenges and opportunities.”

Local pride seen in language and culture preservation

For the second part of their itinerary, the group visited the indigenous highland communities of Otavalo and Calera, Shepard said. While there, the students lived with Kichwa families, exercising their skills in Spanish and learning more about the Kichwa language. Trilingual translators were on hand to facilitate communication.

The group also learned about tourism development, studied with a local midwife and visited artisan families whose products are sold in local markets.

“I met many people on this journey, all different and inspiring in their own right,” Meesey said. “But what I learned was a common link between all the indigenous people — their pride in who they were and where they came from.”

“After being oppressed for so long, the [Kichwa] were proud of who they were and worked to learn their language and keep their culture alive through the younger generations,” she added. “It was inspiring to meet people with such strength and fortitude…you can’t help but listen in awe of all they have worked for and continue to reach for.”

Hands-on agricultural training

The third stop on the trip was an Andean cloud forest. During their visit, the students toured farms, practiced pollinating vanilla bean orchids and learned more about the chocolate production process.

Finally, the group visited the community-developed ecolodge Mandari-Panga, located in the Amazon rainforest. Here they learned about the lodge’s history and visited the school funded by proceeds from the lodge.

They also took wildlife tours and learned about the uses of local plants for construction, craft materials, food and medicine.

“Students…learn about the preparation of various medicines and other compounds and have an opportunity to participate in that preparation,” Shepard said.

“We hiked every day and were constantly learning about the plant and wildlife there,” Meesey added.

Unique challenges become valuable lessons

Both Shepard and Meesey recalled challenges during their visit that enhanced the educational experience.

As one example, Shepard described the sudden change of itinerary brought on by a mudslide at El Placer. The mudslide occurred a week before the group arrived.

Instead of staying with host families in El Placer, the students found themselves assisting Ecuadorian college students, sorting and processing donated relief items for the mudslide victims.

“This gave the students an opportunity to work with local students their own age and practice their Spanish skills while learning about local disasters, disaster relief and Ecuadorian college life,” Shepard said.

Meanwhile, Meesey gained knowledge through her own personal challenges.

“The entire time I had an infection on my foot,” she said. “When we traveled down elevation to a more humid climate the infection only grew and worsened. While it was extremely uncomfortable, it gave me an opportunity to experience Kichwa medicine in the Amazon.”

An affordable and informative education abroad

Shepard described the Ecuador program as one of the more affordable of the Education Abroad options Missouri State offers. Meesey agreed that the length and affordability of the program dovetailed nicely with her career goals.

“I have always wanted to study abroad,” she said. “I loved how it was short-term, over the summer and way more affordable compared to many of the others, as well as pertaining to my degree — both my major and my minor.”

Meesey hopes to use her anthropology and Spanish language training to work for Convoy of Hope. “Having a study abroad in a Spanish speaking country shows that I have experience and drive to do those kinds of things,” she said. “It is a significant steppingstone and a spotlight for employers — at least I hope so.”

She added that she “absolutely” would recommend students enroll in an Education Abroad program.

“I think [Education Abroad] will push some people out of their comfort zones and allow them to grow and experience life from a different perspective before they graduate,” she explained. “Not only will you learn about all the people you meet and how they live their lives, but you will learn about yourself and how you want to live your life.”

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