No making fun of our "beautiful" looks in these pictures. We were in the middle of and just finished hiking 1 1/2 hours. It was very uphill and very hot! We loved celebrating with chocolate!!!
At the beginning of this week, Stella and I had to separate at the clinic. After getting over the small panic of how to function without each other ;) everything went pretty well. I spent the first day with Dr. Cristian and she went with Mercedes to the community. It was a pretty calm day with the exception of the child that had a gash in his bottom lip that went all the way through. Dr. Cristian sutured it up like it was an everyday thing and the kid took it like a champ! After lunch we were reunited and joined a class/support group that Maggie and Mercedes started for women with diabetes or hypertension. It was only the second class so they goal was to get the women's' ideas on their disease state and what they needed to do to treat it. It was very interesting to hear some of their ideas. (Disclaimer: I am not saying this in a joking manner, nor am I making fun of their thoughts. The understanding this culture has of diseases and their treatments is very interesting to me. I am just trying to give you the best examples of their true beliefs.)For example, one lady decided not to take any of her medications because she would become addicted to them and would never get better. Another drank from some fruit in the forest and it "cured her". Maggie explained that the purpose of this group is for the women to gain a better understanding of their disease state as well as develop relationships with other women to support them. After the meeting, we were visited by the lovely Craig Borie and we went with him to a orphanage for boys. I was extremely impressed with the shape that the campus was in. The boys all had certain responsibilities (somewhat based on age) and also went to school. I was also moved by the number of volunteers from the community that came to the orphanage. Many students helped the boys with homework and others coached them in soccer or came to play soccer with them. My heart broke a little when a child around 14 years old walked in to the orphanage by himself and stated that he lived in the streets and would like to join the organization. It was an incredible experience.
Today I was with Mercedes in the community. The first patient we visited was involved in an accident that broke 3 of his vertebrae. He also had an ulcer on his rear that we had to clean and bandage. It was definitely a first for me, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was interesting to watch Mercedes work with such empathy. We also saw a patient with schizophrenia, another first. He kept brushing "things" off of his clothing and was rambling with his words. It was difficult to see someone struggling so much. Hopefully we will be able to convince his mother that his anti-psychotic medication is extremely important, and he shouldn't just stop taking it like he has in the past.
This weekend is our last weekend for exploring :( We are going to go to Quito and Mital del Mundo. We are excited about touring the capital of Ecuador, however we are very sad that this is the last big adventure for these two chicas. Hopefully the next blog will be accompanied with some beautiful pictures!
