Day 4
Breakfast and devotions at 7am again and then off to our first workday at Lote Tres. A couple members of our team headed directly up to the church to begin setting up the medical caravan and to open the doors for patients. The rest of the team was able to stop at the school for about an hour. While at the school we were sung the Ecuadorian National Anthem in Quichua (the native language spoken by many in the indigenous communities) and the student body leaders gave us a welcome. After introducing ourselves we were able to break open some new playground toys for them… Soccer balls, jump ropes and sidewalk chalk. The children had a blast playing with all of us. I think some team members were worn out before reaching the church from all the playing. We learned that the children usually wear uniforms to school but on Mondays they dress in their more traditional clothing. We also learned that the children could start school as young as 3 and go for half days until they are 7!
After our goodbyes we headed to the church to begin helping wherever we were needed. There was not a lot of help needed when we arrived, however. The women who would usually be cooking us our noon meal were all in the clinic waiting to be seen, and there was very little to do on the construction Minga. Minga is a Quichia word that means all of the members come together to work on a project. They have Minga to fix and build roads, and they have Minga to build big projects in the community as well as church Minga to work on church projects.
Once construction was underway there was a lot to do. We hauled cinder blocks, mixed concrete (BY HAND ON THE GROUND WITH A COUPLE SMALL SHOVELS) hauling it with full buckets to fill forms, fabricated trusses for the roof and more. Inside the church the medical caravan stayed busy with patients and once the ladies from church were done seeing the doctor, there were lots of potatoes to peel in the kitchen. Many of the men on our team were humbled by being out worked by these tiny 4 foot tall Ecuadorian women and many of the women were humbled by the speed at which Ecuadorian women could peel potatoes with a knife. Our American women were kind of asked to leave the kitchen so the Ecuadorian women could quickly finish making lunch! We all had a good laugh at that.
After lunch of light soup with rice, potatoes, vegetables and a few chewy chunks of beef, we headed back to work. There was a lot of work done on the construction project and once school let out for the day at about 2pm the clinic was bursting with parents who brought their children to be seen. I believe we saw 65 patients today and we have a half day of clinic tomorrow too!
The team headed back to the hotel very dirty, tired and unfortunately sunburned. We were all putting on so much sunscreen, but it didn’t seem to protect us quite enough. Fortunately, it mostly faces, necks, hands and arms and not entire bodies! We made a stop for ice cream and explored the small section of street the shop is located on… there are several bakeries along this stretch and many of the team ate some baked goods along with the ice cream. Unfortunately, dinner was ready and waiting for us when we returned… But it was so delicious that most of us did not have a hard time eating a plate full of aroz con Pollo and fresh tomatoes and cucumbers! We spent a little time after dinner talking about any culture shock moments we had experienced over the past 2 days and then most of us headed to our rooms for showers and our beds.
We are having a wonderful time!
