At right, Taylor Carey learns how to weave with sheep's wool while on a trip to Ecuador. Traveling with her brother and 26 other Palmer-area students last month, the class experience firsthand some aspects of life in the rural highlands.
Quinn Carey helps shear a sheep while visiting Ecuador on a student trip last month. Students then were able to see how the raw wool gets spun into yarn and woven into clothing and blankets.
A pair of Anchorage-area students were able to take the trip of a lifetime last month, heading to Ecuador with their class on a service learning trip.
Mother Kara Carey said her children, daughter Taylor and son Quinn, had been planning the trip for over a year, and had been able to go through a combination of fundraising, work and savings. A significant component of those funds had come from the community of Wrangell, primarily through a pair of fundraisers the Carey family had held during July 4 last year.
Born and raised in Wrangell, Kara said she still has a connection to the community through her mother and friends, and her family often makes the trip down for the island's Independence Day celebrations. Before visiting last summer, Carey's daughter had learned of the Ecuador trip through her favorite teacher at Colony Middle/High School, where she attends. She and her brother wanted to participate, but would need to raise close to $10,000 to do so.
Kara Carey explained there were limitations to how they could raise money in their own community. So when the family came to Wrangell the kids helped her and husband Phil put together a to-go dinner of Chinese food, which proved a success. The Carey family also ran a games stand during the 4th weekend, and organized a yard sale. Between all three they were able to raise nearly enough to send one of the kids.
"Wrangell is the reason my kids got to go," Kara said. Along with individual donations, the community had provided around $4,000 in all. Quinn and Taylor continued to scrimp and save in the months since, and were able to afford inclusion in the program.
"It was a lot of work. Every dime they got went toward the trip," their mother said.
They joined 26 other Colony students and six adults for the trip, arranged by EF Educational Tours. Taking off March 7, they arrived the next day in Quito, Ecuador's capital city. One of the rules of the trip was that all electronic devices were left behind, so the students could focus on the experience at hand.
"It was good for them," Kara noted. But it was also their first time being away from home, and she added the lack of contact had been tough for her to work through.
The trip went very well, with students spending the next 10 days learning about life in Ecuador. Taylor and Quinn visited a farm called Yungilla, just north of the capital, where they learned about orchids, organic gardening, and how to make fresh cheese and jam. From there they traveled up into the Andes Mountains by bus, where the class helped construct walls for a new school in the village of Sablog. In a nearby community, a group of women in Sumak Awana showed the Alaskan students how to shear sheep, make yarn from the wool and weave with it.
While in the countryside, the Carey kids were able to learn about some of the hardships life poses for the communities' inhabitants, such as providing themselves with fresh water. One family they visited had to travel a quarter mile to collect it from the nearest well.
"They learned things that we take for granted," Kara said. "It was a little bit of an eye opener for my kids."
The children also had time for fun, snorkeling in the Galapagos Islands and visiting a tortoise ranch. Quinn recalled the country's cuisine had been very enjoyable, eating "like kings." Among their fare the students got to sample a local delicacy, guinea pig. They said it tasted like a cross between chicken and pork.
For both of the Carey children, their favorite parts of the trip had been the work service projects. Quinn had enjoyed helping construction at the school site, while Taylor enjoyed working with the women of Chimborazo Province.
"When I was there I met an 18-year-old woman named Eva who has been married a year. She taught me how to make string out of wool," she recalled. "It was super cool. After making the yarn, we went to her house to help her water her garden."
Returning on March 19, Kara said both students had wished they could have had more time. Quinn and Taylor both created some close friendships on the trip, getting to know fellow students better during their adventure.
"They're very close, now that they're home," said Kara.
"Wrangell was very generous," she said. "They had the trip of a lifetime."
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