I first met Pete Stahakis back in December. He was wide-eyed, bushy-tailed and eager to get out and explore the world beyond. He hoped, that while doing so, he would find purpose and someone or something to help along the way. I would discover over drinks and tacos, approximately six months later, that he had accomplished his mission.
Pete, a native of Anderson, South Carolina, a town of some thirty-thousand people, left the United States with the intention of building upon his developed skillset. As a graduate of culinary school, he quickly became enamored by the process in which food travels from farm to table. For Pete, this led to an infatuation with animals and their natural habitats. As he soon found out, it is rare, if ever, that things function as planned. We are often thrown curveballs with which we must act accordingly. With respect and determination.
While procuring about the western regions of South American, I was able to sit down with Pete and discuss his experience. Our conversation is below.
- How many volunteers were you with?
- The least amount of volunteers were about seven or eight, no five for one week. And then the most, this past two weeks, we had about twenty-five or thirty volunteers there. A big group came from all over. There were people of Ireland, Germany, Denmark, America, Canada, England, and Scotland. They were just all there traveling. Its good to have that many people because a lot more can get done. More projects can get finished. We finished a lot of projects in the last few weeks. It’s also very hectic with all those people there. Trying to organize, especially when there is not experience and we have to teach them.
- Did you take on a leadership role?
- Yeah, exactly. That was really fun because they told me after my first few weeks there, I would be the only experienced volunteer that would be there long term throughout the whole thing. Volunteers were coming in every week so they gave me a leadership role to teach people what to do and how to do things the right way. I really enjoyed that it was a good opportunity to take on some more responsibility then I was expecting but I really enjoyed it.
- And now what was the program you were a part of?
- It was an animal rescue center. So, I worked a lot with the Ecuadorian government so they confiscate animals for animal trafficking and bring them to us. Or, if anyone were to find an animal that was hurt or on the side of the road or anywhere that an animal wasn’t supposed to be they would bring it to us and we would try to rehabilitated it and then release it.
- That was probably a mix of interesting and probably sad scenarios.
- Yeah, some animals did pass away unfortunately while we were there but that’s just a fact of life. That’s what they told us. Like seven or eighty percent of the animals that they bring in die. A lot of the animals we get are from the University. I wasn’t quite sure what they did but it sounds like they used them a lot for research and testing. Any animals they brought us would be in terrible shape. We had a few monkeys this week that they brought in from the University that was on the verge of death because they were so dehydrated and malnurished because they don’t really take care of them properly at the University. They kind of just use them for their purpose and then just pass them off to us. Which is great that they do that instead of just using them until they do die. So they try to give them a better life and a healthier life so they can be rehabilitated. Sometimes it’s just too late for some of the animals.
- Now, are you studying animal care in school?
- No, but its always been something I’ve been interested in. Its always been a passion of mine to work with animals. Originally, I graduated from culinary school and I planned on doing a lot of food related stuff. I always just wanted to experience that to see if it was something I wanted to do in the future. Now that I’ve done it its something I’m seriously considering going to school for. Maybe animal science or something along with that nature. Maybe even animal nutrition and making sure animals are on the right diets.
- Would that be a masters program or undergrad?
- Bachelors and then hopefully masters. That’s the goal.
- Are you excited to get back home?
- Yeah, I’m excited to get back. I was expecting to be gone for six months but I felt like four months has been long enough especially since now I’ve got to get back and get school stuff sorted out and get a job and start saving up money again. Plus, I miss all my family and friends.
- You switched programs correct?
- My first project was not what I was expecting. I was trying to be flexible and just along with it and learn more to see if I understood it more. The host of the project never really seemed to appreciate the volunteers or appreciate opinions or try to take criticism on how to do things differently. They were just like “we’ve been doing this for years, we know best,” which I understand that but it was kind of disheartening.
It seemed like we had good ideas that could really help the farm be what it wanted to be. They were trying to rebuild after the earthquake and then I come to find the farm was for sale so all the work we were doing was basically trying to sell it and leave. They were just trying to go back to New Zealand. The whole reason I wanted to do a volunteer project was so I could make some sort of difference and try to help as much as I could.
- How long into the program where you like, ‘alright this isn’t working, I need to do something? I need to find something that lights my fire.’
- I had a feeling right off the bat that it wasn’t the place for me. But, after talking with ICYE and then talking to Elissa I decided to give it a chance so I gave it like two or three weeks. After about the third week I found out the farm was for sale and that was the final straw for me. That was when I decided to find a new project.
So, ICYE offered me to work in a school in Amato. I was kind of for that at first but I was also looking into things on my own. I was like, well if ICYE of United Planet can’t really offer me what I want then I’m going to find it on my own even if it’s at an extra cost. I just want to find something where I feel like I belong and I fit. I actually looked at Yanococho and sent them an e-mail and was e-mailing them back and forth about just volunteering on my own dime and then Elissa messaged me and said, “we can put you in a short term project at Yanococho,” and I was like perfect. Easy.
- So that worked out.
- Oh yeah, it worked out perfectly. I’m so glad it worked out that way. I wish I would’ve been at Yanococho for an entire four months. I would have loved that.
- Would you go back?
- Yeah. I’m definitely planning on going back at some point. I made a lot of good friends there and with the coordinator and the biologist who works there, Raul. I really want to go back and visit to see how the center is doing. They have a lot of big plans coming up in the next year or two with research and helping change laws in Ecuador to be better for animals and better for centers.
- What were some of the highlights?
- The highlights were probably releasing some of the animals. We released a sloth.
- So it was a success?
- Yes, a big success.
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United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
