Adriana Ocampo

As of today I work in the Chemistry Unit and I have since 2007; where I am responsible for performing trace chemical analysis for pesticides in agricultural and food products, organic crops included. All my life I have had a passion for agriculture, I was a farmer, an Agronomist Engineer, a crop adviser, and I even did some agricultural research. After moving from Colombia in 2000 with my husband, who also is an Agronomist Engineer with a master’s in Plant Breeding and my two sons, we decided to move to Guelph close to Canada's top comprehensive research university that is University of Guelph.

I know the idiosyncrasy of Latin American countries because I am from there, but also for my travel experience. I love scuba diving, salsa dancing, and gardening, but what I love the most is helping people. When I found out about Leave for Change was love at first sight for me, because I like to help, and getting to know people, mainly to make a difference in their lives and maybe I could become a better person, and this organisation really facilitates this for me.

I am really looking forward to going to Perú. My assignment is to advice and train staff of the agricultural technical centre as well as professionals, technicians and farmers in growing organic crops and within the best environmental conservation guidelines for a sustainable farming operation. I am thrilled of all the things I am going to learn from the people there, their cultivation techniques, the different irrigation methods, soil preparation, plant protection, weed management and everything else. I am sure that I will learn a lot more from the people there that I could possible teach, but I will do my best so you will not be disappointed.

Thank you for giving me the chance to participate in this great experience.