My name is Ana Bustamante, I am 17 years old and I was born in Seattle, USA. I have lived in Ecuador my entire life. For the first 2 years of my life I lived in the amazon with my sister and parents. Then I moved to Quito where I live today. My grandfather has always been amazed by Ecuador’s amazon; he came to Ecuador when he was twenty years in search of an adventure. He fell in love with my grandmother and had two lovely daughters, my mother and aunt. When my mother was seven, unfortunately my grandmother died. My grandfather decided to go to the amazon to live; here he constructed a hotel “La Casa del Suizo”. This hotel has been like a second home for me, a place where I could be my true self. I’ve always been inspired by the amazon; it has always been a part of me. I remember visiting La Casa del Suizo once or twice a month. The jungle, animals, and the people that live there have made me who I am today. Being raised in such a diverse place has taught me things that you cannot learn from a textbook. Things such as being kind to everybody no matter where they come from. A hotel in the middle of the amazon attracts people around the whole world, this has made me realize that every single culture is different, every single language is unique. Due to my childhood I have always been opened to new ideas and cultures. This is why last year I went to an exchange program in Belgium for six months. I was amazed at how different our cultures were.
|
My sister, Andrea Bustamante is on the 1st generation of Beyond Lagartococha. I had the opportunity to go to Lagartococha for the first time when I was 14. It was the first time that the 1st generation travelled to the Secoyan Community. It was truly an incredible experience; I knew that I wanted to form part of this amazing group someday. Even though the project had recently started I could see a future on it. Everybody was willing to do anything to help the Secoyan people and that motivated me. My sister talked about building a school for the children in the community; it was going to be a long journey. I never thought that the project would have so much success. On my latest trip to Lagartococha I was amazed at how much had changed, the project was helping not only one community but two, there were schools on both Communities. The children actually had the opportunity to learn something new every day, and it was all thanks to Beyond Lagartococha.
|
|