Heather in Ecuador: March 2016

We have now returned back to Zumbahua last week, after a wonderful 9 days traveling all over Ecuador with my parents (see previous post for pictures). Upon our return, our focus has turned to fundraising for little Marisol, who is in dire need to a heart surgery. As of a few days ago, she became too sick to proceed with the surgery at the moment, but we are praying for her, and hope she keeps fighting to get strong enough to eventually have the surgery. Here's the link to her fundraiser site, and more about her story: https://igg.me/at/KGYcOmYVFWo. Here are some of my favorite pictures of her...

Blowing Kisses.

It also seems to be respiratory season here, we have two hospital rooms full of children with bronchiolitis and pneumonias, most are between the ages of newborn to three years old. One day, out of the 13 patients that I saw, I admitted 4 of them to the hospital for lack of oxygen. It seems that the altitude here of 11,000 ft might be extra hard on their little lungs, resulting in a much longer recovery time and greater need of supplemental oxygen, than I am typically used to in the states. Then there are the typical frustrations of having parents who don't understand their child's need for hospitalization, and want to take them home before they are ready; the child won't keep their oxygen on; or the oxygen hook-up in the wall is broken, limiting what beds we can put the children in. But we do our best and work with what we have here, and try to do the best education we can.

As for visits with the Malnutrition program, Mike has been busy this last week doing active searches in each neighboring community, to get an idea of the proportion of malnourished children in each community, and enroll any newly-found malnourished children into the program. When my parents came, they donated a used digital camera to Hermicu, the program coordinator, so that she may photograph each child and family, track their growth better, and create a book sharing all the families stories about their experiences in the program. Here are some of my favorites:

View of the community Iracunga.

Sheep are the most popular livestock to own around this area. There are some llama, cows, and pigs as well.

A very small 9 year old carrying a very big baby on her back.

Potato plants in bloom.

My parents on their outing with Hermicu.

4 generations of mothers (child, grandmother, and great grandmother in the back)

Our 9 day adventure with my parents was a trip I will never forget. We started off by renting a car in Quito, and then heading back to my site in Zumbahua for a few days. We stopped by Cotopaxi National Park, the largest, and active volcano in Ecuador. They got to know my site here in Zumbahua, visited the hospital, and even went out hiking in the communities with the malnutrition program. From there, we embarked on a 7 day road-trip doing a loop from the central highlands where I am, down to the Amazon rainforest, back up through the cloud forest, and ending in the northern highlands. We had diverse accommodations, from roughing it in a modest wood walled hut with mosquito nets and bats flying overhead, to a beautiful hotel at a thermal springs spa.

The wildlife we got to see in the rainforest we incredible, and included crocodiles, frogs, many species of birds, monkeys, spiders, and snakes. Our guide kept us busy with day and night time hikes, canoe rides, and jungle handicrafts. I even caught a piranha!