Why I love working at Eco-Leaders
Conny and Jose in class
Hello! My name is Conny, and I have been living in the Sacred Valley for nearly three years and started working with Valley Camp this year. I grew up on a small farm in the countryside of East Germany, which is where my fascination with nature began: from harvesting strawberries with my grandma to horseback riding through our forests when I was young, to climbing, hiking and biking in the Alps years later. When I began traveling throughout South America three and a half years ago, my love of nature heightened -- seeing stunning lagoons, glaciers, and wildlife in the rainforest. I was in awe so many times, trying to grasp the magic nature creates every day. It is such a precious ecosystem, perfectly aligned, which provides so much for us human beings. Yet, on the other hand, we treat the earth so badly on a daily basis often without even thinking about it for a second!
When I decided to stay in Peru and create a life in our little village in the Andes mountains, I knew I wanted to share my passion for the environment and for sustainability here -- to try to protect what I love and to inspire others to do the same! Valley Camp’s new project, Eco-Leaders, seemed like the perfect fit.
Eco-Leaders group, April 2022
How can we create change? How can we facilitate education in a way that creates the conditions that lead to epiphany, not merely transferring post-epiphany information? For most of my life, education meant sitting in a classroom at a table and listening to a teacher's monologue, being told what to do. But it doesn’t have to be like that -- education can take place in a fun, interactive atmosphere at eye-level with the intention of sharing with and learning from each other. And most of all, through hands-on experiences and by witnessing our impact. Exactly this type of education is what Valley Camp stands for and what we aim to provide at Eco-Leaders.
Conny showing us her Eco-Brick
Twelve teenagers came together to spend a fun weekend in an Eco-Lodge in Urubamba, learning about the environment and focusing, this time, on “trash.” The group could not have been more diverse as there were kids from Lima, a 10 million person metropolis, and also from communities high up in the Andes, which hardly ever produces any trash. Some receive quality education while others have not been to school during the last two years. Some were very aware of the realities of climate change, while others didn’t know what this term even means. There was so much to learn from each other, which was incredibly enriching! Lots of fun activities, excursions, and workshops were lying ahead of us. We visited a landfill, a homemade recycling and up-cycling center, and picked up trash along a hike. Everyone was shocked by how fast we filled up all our garbage bags! All weekend we talked and shared and discussed, but overall we experienced, saw, felt (and even smelt) what consequences our actions really have!
Eco-Leader participant, Cayetanna, picking up trash on a local hike
My absolute favorite part (besides the bonfire with marshmallows and teen-music which made me feel like my 15 year-old self again) was our community project. After having seen so many negative impacts of trash, the youth sat together in groups dreaming up projects that they could implement in their neighborhoods. I was fascinated seeing them brainstorming and creating real action plans on how to start tomorrow. At the end, they presented their projects, giggling and super excited, taking on the rolls of the CEO or the environmental engineer of their ‘newly found NGOs.’ We, the jury which was made up of all the staff, asked critical questions afterwards and announced the winner with a big applause. I am convinced that this is key to creating change: look for allies and start with something, no matter how small!
A message from all the Eco-Leader participants
We don't need one perfect environmentalist, we need thousands of imperfect ones taking action every single day. Valley Camp planted lots of beautiful little seeds this weekend, and I hope our new Eco-Leaders will plant more in the future. Leaving on Sunday with big smiles, renewed motivation, and a bunch of new friends, we agreed that this weekend was over way too fast and definitely needs “to be continued.”