Tyler's Story

I spent five years trading stocks and options, the last two of them at a professional firm. On paper, it was everything people chase — money, status, the number going up. But a feeling had been building for a while: a growing sense that I was made for something bigger than chasing money at a finance job.

That sent me looking for something different — a world without the grind of money and status, where people lived off the land the way humanity did for centuries before screens and spreadsheets ran our lives. Traveling led me to local connections, and those connections led me to Peru for the first time — just two weeks.

I came back to the U.S. and tried to go back to my old life — but I couldn't unsee what I'd seen or unfeel what I'd felt. So I left my trading career behind and went back to Peru, and I ended up staying for a year.

The community became my life. Over 10 hours on boat from any major city in the middle of the jungle. We fished, we hunted, we built what we needed with our hands. I saw poverty and suffering up close, yet the people I lived among were some of the most genuine, joyful people I have ever encountered. Here, we have almost everything and still aren't satisfied. There, they have almost nothing and are content. It reshaped how I view this reality.

Through the relationships I built during that time in Peru, our organization now has direct contacts with local suppliers, boat transportation, and the community itself — which is what makes our next phase of outreach possible.