Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Dave Scott Dave Scott, left, and Thomas Aaron Ebner stand on top of a mountain in Peru. The two long-time friends, along with two others, decided to help construct a kitchen and a library and other amenities for a community in Conquecancha. [Click to enlarge]

Books are a cost some college students might categorize as a "necessary evil."

But Marshall senior Thomas Aaron Ebner helped spend $1,200 on books he wasn't planning to keep or use.

Ebner, along with his brother and Cornell graduate Ethan Ebner, Marshall junior David Scott and CMU alumnus Sean Duffey, spent that money for a library for a small town, Choquecancha, in Peru.

The four volunteered their time to help the members of the Peruvian community.

The then-students did all the organizing and planning as well as fundraising, including pancake breakfasts, for the trip.

"The experience was amazing," Scott said.

While in the small town, northwest of Lima, the four renovated several buildings of a school, built a new cooking facility and turned one room of a building into a functional library that hosts the books they bought.

Aaron Ebner said the school was responsible for providing meals to the children in the community, all of which were prepared over an open fire.

"We provided them with a decent place to make the meals," Aaron Ebner said.

Aaron Ebner said there is a massive shortage of reading materials and other learning resources available to the people of the community.

"Books were hard to come by," Scott said. "Their books are all in Spanish. It was hard finding good quality children's books."

Both CMU students have done several different volunteering trips in the past, including trips to Alaska in high school by Scott, and medical mission trips to Honduras for Aaron Ebner.

"I've had a lot of experience abroad doing volunteer stuff," Aaron Ebner said. "I definitely plan on doing it again in the future."

The trip to Peru proved to be rewarding for them. The members of the community welcomed them warmly, Scott said.

"They are really welcoming. I felt it from everybody in the community," Scott said. "It definitely sparked my ambition to learn the Spanish language."

For the five weeks the crew spent in the Peruvian community, they camped out on the school grounds and cooked all of their meals over open fires.

"We had to cook all of our own food," Aaron Ebner said.

If given the opportunity, both Scott and Aaron Ebner said they would love to make a return trip back to Peru - to see the people of the community. Both also are looking for more volunteer work to do in the future.

Their project was facilitated by The Becky Fund, an organization set up by Aaron Ebner's aunt. For more information about the trip, or the fund, visit thebeckyfund.org.



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