Local teen touches lives around the globe

September 16, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Mark Pavilons
The middle class in Canada takes so much for granted. In fact, we don’t think twice about water and sanitation.
And yet, the bulk of the developing world would see a well, a visit to a doctor or a school as godsends.
A King Township teen has reached out to her counterparts in the Amazon, and learned a great deal about the precious nature of our natural resources.
Mackenzie Cameron travelled to Ecuador recently, staying in a village near Tena, an eight-hour bus ride from the capital city of Quito. Located within the Amazon rainforest, this area is known as the “cinnamon capital of Ecuador.” Tena is also a launching point for jungle tours. Mackenzie spent two weeks there as a volunteer, through development projects funded by Toronto-based Me to We and Free the Children.
After learning about the delicate nature of the rainforest, Mackenzie has become a bit of an environmental advocate. The major issue facing countries in the rainforest is massive deforestation and clear-cutting by companies using and exporting wood products. Mackenzie said she learned that every time one of us takes a deep breath, a football-field-size swath of trees is being knocked down somewhere in the Amazon.
The largest rainforest on our planet (covering 1.4 billion acres) is disappearing. Experts believe if current trends continue, we could lose all of our rainforests by the end of the current century.
The Amazon rainforest offers the richest biodiversity on earth and also impacts climate. The deforestation is eliminating more than 100 plant species every day.
Mackenzie now has some faces and places to put next to those statistics.
She found the area beautiful and breath-taking. “It was so much more than I expected,” she said. She even didn’t mind when a tarantula fell from a tree and landed on her hand.
It’s a bit of a catch-22, balancing environmental concerns against the jobs and economic boost the rainforest provides.
The two dozen volunteers worked in two villages, helping to dig the foundation of a new school. In the second week, they helped with construction of a new health clinic, which will service more than a dozen nearby communities.
The primarily agricultural area may seem to be self-sufficient on the surface, but Mackenzie noted the reality is many residents don’t have adequate housing.
Experiencing such a lifestyle and culture changes one’s perspective. She said she didn’t think she’d build such strong relationships with the people and become so passionate about the environment. As well, her consumption habits have changed dramatically. She no longer leaves the water running at home.
She received a lot of support from her community, to help her raise the money for the trip. Pitching in were La Maison, Trisan Construction, Main Street Power Sports, Schomberg Sheet Metal, Schomberg Pharma Choice, Highway 9 Auto Collision, Jessops Auto, Intentions Yoga Studio, Cando Woodworking, Phil’s Auto Shop and Port Soiree.
This isn’t the first time Mackenzie has been abroad.
She spent more than two weeks in Kenya in 2014, staying in a rustic, military-style camp with no running water that relied on generators for electricity.
They had a chance to sleep in a typical mud hut, in which Mackenzie had one of her best sleeps ever.
There, volunteers built two schools and visited a girls’ school previously constructed by Free the Children. The African students are so passionate about learning and excelling at their studies, Mackenzie observed.
We North Americans are so caught up in trivial things and yet the people in developing countries seem so happy and content, bolstered by their families and their faith.
“They’re the First World in terms of happiness,” she observed.
Mackenzie, currently in Grade 12 in French immersion in Aurora, has already set her sights on India as her next destination in 2016.
She finds India a land of extreme contrasts between the very poor and the very rich. She wants to get a first-hand glimpse into their challenges and learn about child labour in that second-most populous nation in the world (1.28 billion).
The trips, through Me to We, have provided experiences that cannot be learned in any other way.
Mackenzie may take a year off after finishing high school. She has plans to teach English at a school in Peru. One day, she hopes to find a career in international relations or public service, complementing her passion for global issues.
To help Mackenzie in her work, visit her donations page at https://fundraise.metowe.com/c/mackenzie-camerons/#/