Update

Man, it is difficult to get my hands on a computer here! I will update as much as I can before I get kicked off.

May 9, 2008

I am no longer in the Veranza hospital. I spend 2 days in the Gilbert Pediatrics hospital here and was very impressed. Although the poor kids don't get the luxury of private rooms like the rich kids do, they still get fantastic care. The facilities are well equipped and the kids get all the care they need regardless of pay. It is very similar to Primary Children's hospital in SLC. I spent the first day touring the hospital. The nursing program put together little bags of toys and we went to a sala and distributed the toys to some of the kids. I put up a picture of me with one of the girls. The bad of toys had a ring in it so I gave it to her and told she was a princesa. She already had a ring on and took it off and handed it to me. She told me that it was a ring of sickness and the ring I gave her would help her heal. She wanted me to keep the old ring as a token of remembrance of her. SO SWEET! I will keep it always!

Many of the children here are abandoned when they get sick. The Junta will still pay for their care until they are well enough to be taken into government custody. You can "buy" a child for only $300. It is sad to see their dirty little faces line the streets. I have tons of pictures of the sweet children that I will post in a tribute at the end.

That night we went to the ward party in celebration of Mother's Day. It is an odd celebration here. All year long husbands abuse and are unfaithful to their wives, yet on mother's day women are praised. It just doesn't sit right with me. Women cannot afford to take birth control here and their husbands refuse to use condoms. Many women tell me they are beat by their husbands if they even ask. Consequently, by the age of 20 women often have 2 or 3 kids... which in turn are abandoned. It is heartbreaking. The ward party on the other hand was a blast! I so enjoyed serving the ward member and playing with the kids. We taught them the classic American dance moves... you know... the fish, the robot, the sprinkler. It was great.

May 10, 2008

Today we went to Playa Salinas. This is a beautiful beach about 2 hours away. We spend the day be hounded by vendors. We couldn't even see the water from our "hut". They sell the same stuff they do everywhere else in South American and Mexico. So, I didn't buy anything...but, oh man... some of these Gringas went crazy out there! Haha. The town of Salinas looks just like every other Latin beach town... glorious on the coast and poverty inside. But, we had a wonderful lunch at an international hotel where they had SPAGETTI! I can't tell you how grateful I was for that spagetti. I miss American food!

Afterwards, we went on a boat that took us out a ways for 20 minutes and then brought us back. I started to get a little queasy when the driver rocked the boat "for fun" towards the end. Forty minutes on a boat in the ocean is plenty for me, thank you.

Although I slathered myself in 45 sunblock I still managed to fry like a little egg. I didn't show any signs either until about 5 hours later... when I progressively began to bake. There is a reason the country is called Ecuador (equator for those of you who still didn't get it).

May 11, 2008

Church with the ward was great as usual. I attended the Primary which was a huge mistake, and will never be repeated. The 2 kids were so loud I couldn't hear a single thing the teacher was saying. She kept asking me questions and all I could see was her mouth moving. I felt like a true gringa and just pretended like somehow I no longer spoke any Spanish. I spend the rest of the day doing what good Sunday is for... and rested.

May 12, 2008

Well, today was what you call a wasted day. I spend the entire time in the bathroom. Yes, all day. I know it is hard to believe but Montezuma's Revenge was at it's best. I started antibiotics and will probably get to add an antifungal. I spent the day fighting dehydration and counting down the time when the 24 hour antibiotic mark would hit.

May 13, 2008

Today was my first day out in the community. It is a whole different world out there. All the times I mentioned poverty before don't compare to what I saw today. It is tear jerking, life altering stuff out there. We taught a group of 40 women in a Centro de Salud about STD's and that they need to remember it is their body, not their partner's. It is a difficult topic to teach since sex is viewed as a taboo here. We pled for the women to take charge of their bodies and to teach their daughter's... I think they agree but live bound by their culture and fear. Out of the group, at least 5 couldn't read or write. I was a scribe for one and I could tell she was so ashamed to have a gringa write for her. It broke my heart.

The perimetropal has a certain smell I will never forget. There are no bathrooms and few outhouses. Garbage lines the streets and accumulates in piles until the floods come in January and February to sweep it out. The houses are mostly on stilts, the ones on the ground are sinking and partly washed away. Often, houses do not have roofs and are missing pieces of the floor and wall. Furniture is scarce and consists of old frames of couches with cardboard pieces to sit on. Bugs are abundant due to the swampy roads. You have to watch every step so you don't walk in a "sewer" (the stale liquid along the road). Dogs and pigs roam the streets. Water is scare and expensive for the people. There is no running water to families purchase 55 gallon barrels to fill from the tanks that drive through the barrios everyday. The open containers breed mosquitos and thus further the spread of illness. Vendors gather at the entrances of the perimetropal and have pollo, carne y frutas ready to be sold in the terribly hot and humid weather. It is amazing what these people make with the little they have. The are kind and proud of their country. The first thing anyone asks me is how to I like their Ecuador? We drove out to the community on a series of vans, buses and an ambulance (that has only been used eight times for transporting the critically ill). It is a bumpy and hot one hour ride. The roads are completely unmanaged and have pot holes as large as a car. It is a game of chicken on the road... the loser falls in the pot hole.

I am impressed and discouraged as I teach the people in their homes. Although they know so much, they do so little. Merely living is a chore here. The conditions are not sanitary and do not foster a good environment to raise children. It is heartbreaking and seems to me that no one breaks from the walls of this poverty.

I miss home and the comfort of my life. I am so grateful to be a witness of the strength of the people here. I hope to be of encouragement for them and to gain encouragement from them. Truly, it is wonderful and terrible here at the same time.