CIVIL SERVICE WITNESSES: GIACOMO'S STORY
“Under the equatorial sun: images from my Civil Service in Ecuador”, by Giacomo Cipolla, Servizio Civile Universale, Tena (Ecuador)
On July 21, 2025, I took a plane from Venice and left the European continent for the first time in my life. The next day, I arrived in Ecuador, where my Universal Civil Service experience began. Ecuador. A name that easily brings to mind the equator, the maximum circumference of our planet. And it is precisely on this line that Ecuador is located. Its position at latitude zero has several consequences that make it very different from the country I am used to living in. Here, for example, the sun rises at 6 a.m. and sets at 6 p.m. throughout the year, without exception. There are no seasons as we understand them, and the climate remains almost constant: humid, rainy, with temperatures hovering around 25 degrees Celsius. As the equator is the area of the Earth closest to the sun, solar radiation is more intense and gives the environment a very special vitality. It is therefore not surprising that Ecuador is one of the countries with the richest biodiversity in the world. Emblematic of this is the Amazon rainforest, which covers about half of the national territory and is home to an extraordinary number of plant and animal species.
But Ecuador's wealth is not limited to the teeming life in its forests. The subsoil conceals precious resources—gold and oil—which have been a mainstay of the country's economy for decades. However, all that glitters is not gold. When extraction is uncontrolled, it has serious consequences: rising crime, deep social inequalities, severe environmental damage, and tensions with indigenous communities, who are often the first to suffer the consequences.
These are the issues that drew me to the civil service program. I have always focused my studies and interests on environmental issues, and now I find myself in Tena, a small town in the Amazon, working on an environmental project in support of the Kichwa communities in the area. My activities are varied, and I find myself doing different things almost every day. Three days a week, I work on building water supply systems for the communities and constructing bathrooms for the beneficiary families. This gives me the opportunity to learn about Kichwa culture firsthand and to acquire practical knowledge of plumbing and masonry that I would not otherwise have learned. One day a week, I work in a community garden, helping where necessary to ensure that it bears fruit. Finally, I am also involved in a reforestation project. The aim of the project is to support the communities concerned in reforesting their fincas (agricultural properties) through the implementation of agroforestry systems designed to mix fruit and timber trees, increasing the resilience of soil damaged by agriculture and other human activities. Activities include meetings with communities, caring for the nursery where the plants are grown, and monitoring the plants that have been delivered and transplanted.
This experience represents an extraordinary opportunity for me: to get to know the Amazon with my own eyes and hands, to understand its incredible value and to feel its power.
In this first period, I have learned more than I could have imagined: not only practical skills or knowledge related to the projects, but above all a different way of looking at the land and the people who inhabit it. Living alongside the Kichwa communities, sharing work and time with them, has reminded me how essential it is to protect what we have received and respect the fragile balance that holds the environment and human life together. Ecuador, with its primordial strength and often threatened beauty, is leaving me with a deep sense of responsibility and gratitude. I know that I will carry this experience with me for a long time, as a solid reference point for my personal and professional journey, and as a constant invitation to protect what deserves to be passed on.