Connection #38

Helen Bicknell

38. Helen Bicknell

Ecuador, Quito, 29 years old, religion: n/a
Gift received: January 10, 2008

Helen grew up in England. She studied a bachelor in theology and made her master in environmental issuess. She lived for five years in Kenia, where she worked in development projects. For one year she is living already in Ecuador and currently teaching English as a foreign language. Her dream is to buy private land in Ecuador for growing organic fruits and vegetables in a small living community.

Remarkable about Helen is her will to safe our environment by living her life the least damaging to our nature. She washes her clothes always by hand, rather walks to work than takes a bus, is vegan, separates trash in a country where it is far to establish any trash related concience about the environmental damage it causes, is hitchhiker and traveler by heart, prefers a simply life with few things to stay as free as possible, and in general has such a relaxed attitude that she made us feel part of her life from the very beginning.

Gift: 2 hearts made of stone with felt and of plastic

2 hearts made of stone with felt and of plastic

Gift given: January 11, 2008

"You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."
[Max Ehrmann, Desiderata]

We don't have many possessions. Life is simpler that way. But I want to give to you two hearts, that were given to me by very special people. The red one is from a friend in Germany. She found the stone on a beach and covered it herself with felt. The other is from friends in England from their wedding day.

These gifts were given to me with love and have already travelled far. And I wish to send them on, to continue their journey, and to carry love to you - their next destination.

Whoever we are, wherever we are, whatever we do, we are all children of the same universe and thus we are all connected.

How we met Helen Bicknell

Helen is like us a member of CouchSurfing. She together with her three friends stayed with us in Cuenca in Dezember 2007. We enjoyed their visit in our house so much that in return we visited her in Quito. Instead of only one we kept occupying her space for four days, and we had loved to do so longer, but our time was over in Ecuador. We had to leave for our trip to Peru.