Always Time for New Experiences

This past month was highlighted by three really great experiences and one really depressing one. Starting with the good, Maria, one of the patients at Damien House, has been cured of Hansen´s disease and the doctor determined that she was healthy enough to leave the foundation and return home. Maria is from Naranjal, a rural area about an hour and a half outside of Guayaquil. She hadn´t been home in over two years, so she was very excited to pack up her bags and head back to her house and farm. On the other hand, she had also gotten very close with the rest of the women that she had lived with at Damien House for the past two years and now had to say goodbye.

Luckily, Brendan and I had the oportunity to go to drop Maria off at her house. Five of the women patients from Damien House went with us to accompany their friend on the trip and see her house. After a hilarious ride with 6 old ladies and a cat that Maria was taking home, we arrived at Maria´s house and farm. Her sister and daughter were there waiting for her and were so happy to have her back. Maria´s sister insisted that the women take some fruits and vegetables back to Damien House, so Brendan and I went with her around the farm collecting stuff. First she brought over a wheelbarrel full of oranges and through them in a sack. Then we went into the woods and gathered a nut called "bread fruit" from the ground, peeled it, and put it in a sack. Then she showed us how to dig up Yuca roots. Then she cut down some sugar cane, pulled a papaya off the tree, and finally grabbed two ducks by their feet and stuffed them in a sack. We left Maria at her house but her family made sure that we didn´t leave empty-handed. The women were a little sad to say goodbye to someone they had grown so close to over the last few years, but happy for Maria that she is able to return to a normal life with her family.

A few days after my trip to the farm, my second student group arrived. This group was from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. They were a great group and I had a blast hanging out with them for the week, translating, driving, and giving them tours (although it was tiring). They made a lot of connections with my Ecuadorian friends and neighbors and were a huge help at the after-school programs. It´s amazing how much the kids love the extra attention that retreat groups give them when they visit. Anyway, leading my last group was a great experience and I will not forget about them anytime soon.


The day after the John Carrol group left, another group of doctors and nurses with Project Perfect World arrived in Guayaquil to operate on children´s feet, hips, and spines. I spent the week translating for the group, both for the surgeons in the consult room and for a group of physical therapists and orthotic specialists that were fitting kids with braces and prostetics. I had the opportunity to watch a few spine surgeries which were incredible. I also was able to translate for some kids who were able to walk normally for the first time in their lives because of the braces that the group fitted them with. It was an emotional experience, with parents crying tears of joy and kids overwhelmed with excitement at being able to walk. It was a pleasure working with the medical group and I have been humbled by how hard they work to improve the lives of the children of Ecuador who would never be able to afford the care they need without the generosity of these groups.

And finally the bad. One morning in the end of May I was walking to the bus stop when I saw a large group gathered outside the church. I soon found out that our church had been robbed. The night before someone had smashed the concrete around one of the windows and pryed open the steel bars that cover the window. They went inside and tore the big metal door to the closet off its hinges and took all the instruments, amplifiers, and microphones, in addition to the church wine, vestments, and chalices. The instruments had belonged to Nueva Generación, a group of young adults from the neighborhood who have been playing music in the church for years. When I walked around the church and saw the mess they had left it made me feel sick. I couldn´t believe that someone would actually rob the church of the only valuable things it has. The whole community was upset but we are moving forward and focusing on raising the money to replace what was stolen.

                                                   Me with the group from John Carroll