Damien House Informational Video

This is an informational video that some other volunteers made about Damien House. It gives you an idea about what Damien House is all about and you get to see some of the patients and staff at Damien House that I have gotten to know so well in the last eight months. Its also nice that you all get to see Sister Annie, who has been like a mother to me since I´ve arrived here in Ecuador. I have a short cameo washing the dishes. Yes Mom, I have learned how to wash the dishes here haha. 

 

Carnival Update and Medical Groups

So Carnival had started out slowly but quickly got crazy after that. On Sunday we loaded 25 people into the back of our neighbor´s pick-up truck and drove to a small town called Salitre about 45 minutes outside of Guayaquil .  In every town that we passed through we were doused with buckets of water by people standing alongside the road. We spent the day hanging out with Eduardo, one of our guards, and his family. In Salitre, there was a large river full of people swimming and splashing around. The river was lined with makeshift restaurants and bars made of bamboo that served traditional Ecuadorian food. We spent the day swimming in the river and smothering each other with this paint powder that was being sold everywhere. Even strangers would come up to us and just rub red or blue or purple paint in our faces.  

 On Monday and Tuesday we had Carnival parties at Semillas with the kids and retreat groups. We played games with water balloons, sprayed each other with silly string and foam, and covered each other with paint. The kids had a blast, especially because it was for once acceptable to throw things at us and the visitors. Walking around our neighborhood became very dangerous for those few days, as I would never know when a group of little kids or a random old lady would attack and smother paint all over my face. Carnival was a blast but it did get annoying eventually. I spent about two hours Monday night scrubbing myself with rough sponges and showering in the hose trying to wash the purple dye out of my ski;  and hair, and teeth, and eyelids, and ears, and nose, and just about everywhere else. I used alcohol pads to get it off my face (but it looked like I was wearing mascara for 2 days after) and floss and mouthwash to clean the purple off my teeth and gums. Fortunately, I have dark hair so it was difficult to see the purple streaks. Brendan and Christina were not as fortunate. They had purple hair for a week. I was eventually able to clean myself enough so that I didn´t look like a purple smurf, but my clothes and shoes didn´t survive. I´m glad Carnival only comes once a year.

This past week a group of doctors from the US has been performing orthapedic surgeries on poor kids in Guayaquil´s children´s hospital. I have been helping organizing the surgical equiptment and getting them finding whatever they need for the operations. I´ve also helped a little with translating, talking to the families of the patients, and doing odd jobs such as asking around the hospital for a saw to cut a pair crutches that were too big. The team is small, only five people, so I have gotten to know them pretty well. They are from New Mexico, Kansas, and Pittsburgh and performed about 15 surgeries in the past week. They let me hang out in the operating room and watch whichever surgeries I want. It is absolutely amazing to watch as the surgeon cuts into tendons and drills into bones, sewing things back together to change the shape of people´s feet or hips. They have been teaching Ecuadorian doctors how to perform the operations that they are doing and it has been really interesting to watch that process. They will leave the country on Sunday but I´ll be working with another group in three weeks. 

I´ve heard some really random English phrases since I´ve been here that have made me laugh. People in my neighorhood often yell out whatever English words they know when I pass by. One of the most common greetings I hear is "Good AAAAAAAAAAfternoon" with the emphasis incorrectly on the A. Last month, however, I was caught off guard when an Ecuadorian passed me and said "waz up nigga" in the same tone as if he were saying "hello, how are you."  I assume that he heard that in a movie and has no idea that it is not a normal greeting in English, but I can´t help but break down laughing whenever I hear it. 

Oh and if you were wondering, it is still hot here. 

Miss you all and take care.