Change In Plans

Spanish for Gringo's by Miss Katty. I had a four hour Spanish lesson today (two on the way up and two on the way back). Unfortunately, I don't think my Spanish has improved much. Katty did get a lot of laughs in.

Military, Doctor, and Translator

Ladies of the village with Katty

We had planned on two more days in Pachancho, however, when we showed up and only 10 people were waiting to be seen, plans changed. More people came throughout the day. We saw approximately 60 people, but will not be going back tomorrow.

I had a new translator today, Isaac, who was amazing! His first time translating for medical. He didn't bat an eye at the questions I had him ask and things that we had to do. One of my favorite parts of these trips is getting to show/teach the translators and non-medical people something new. It's fun to explain how I got to the conclusion that I came to and fun to show them things like my ear drum (and the dinosaurs that live in my right ear per Daniel).

We were able to tell a young woman that she was pregnant with her first child. Kim explained to her the whole process, educated her one nutrition, and gave her condoms. It was a fun and very educational experience for all involved!

In previous trips shoes were one of the clinics that we provided for the children. There are multiple groups that work with One Heart Global Ministries that have shoes as their primary focus, so, we no longer bring shoes. There were a few suitcases of shoes left over in the U.S.A that got brought and a few bags that we had previously left at Kattys house. Many of those extras were distributed today in Pachancho. It is always fun to see the beaming faces of kiddos up here getting shoes that fit.

Fitting Shoes

On the way back to Riobamba we caught Chimborazo without clouds. The wind was howling (understatement). Please don't mind the wild hair.

Chimborazo In All Her Glory

Until next time Pachancho

 

Pachancho and Ecuadorian Vampires

P.S. From Yesterday: With all the rain and mud in Alao, walking around the village was a little tricky. Even the military struggled to stay unmuddy. On they way out, Madison, Amanda, and Iulia stopped at the snack stand (selling cookies and lollie pops). Well, when they stopped Madison did not. She took out the table, scratched Amanda on the neck, and covered herself in mud. It looks like Amanda was bitten by an Ecuadorian vampire.

Pachancho
Elevation 14,000 ft

This village is a two hour drive from Riobamba. A much less eventful drive; no cliffs and mud. It is windy, cold, and windy, and cold.... We drive by the beautiful Chimborazo. Chimborazo volcano is Ecuador's highest active volcano and the highest in the Northern Andean Volcanic Zone. We did not get to see this beast on the way up due to clouds, but did catch a glimpse or two on the way back down. There is a protected species of lama type animals called vicunas that hang around the base of Chimborazo. They look like a cross between a deer and a lama. They are super cute!






Vicunas

 
We made it most of the way to the village before we had to take a pit stop. There was a truck right in the middle of the one lane (that's a bit generous to even consider it that) gravel road. How many military men/women does it take to fix a car? Seven. It takes seven to fix a broken town truck.... or just push it to the side of the road so that we could pass. I am actually not totally sure if they truck was fixed by our guys, but it wasn't there on our way home tonight.



Please Park Your Donkey Before Coming To Clinic

It is so much fun to see the progress that this village is making. I have had the pleasure of going each of my trips to Ecuador. Each year they seem to grow! My first time in Pachancho (the second year One Heart Global Ministries had been in this community), people were very sick, ears stuffed full of wax, teeth rotting, church nonexistent. In fact, they had run the pastor out of town. Now, they are in the process of building a community center/church. Construction should be complete by October. We saw very few bad teeth. We had almost no ear washing; in the past it was rare to NOT have a patient skip ear washing. And, most of the children we saw were truly "well child" checks. In the back of my mind I have always wondered if short term missions actually work. Can a week of work really change anything? Yes, yes it can. Pachancho is changing, every year I see the fruit of short term mission work.

Children's Clinic

Cold Conditions In Pachancho

In our short day we were still able to see 52 patients! Yea!!! That means tomorrow will be crazy. It was a lot of fun seeing people from last year in clinic again. There was one lady, whom Katty and I taught how to use condoms last year (a really funny story from last years blog if you can find it) that was back in clinic this year. Well, they either did not work too well or they ran out, because she is five months pregnant!

Checking In For Clinic

One of the things that the providers and pharmacists struggle with is leading questions and the answer yes. If you were to ask the patient if he/she has pain, the answer is yes. If you ask them if they have diarrhea or constipation, the answer is yes. If you ask them if their skin is green, the answer is yes. I was very surprised when I was palpating a patient back today, when I asked if it hurt she said, "nnnnoooo it feels good." That's the translated version of course. So, I gave this nice Ecuadorian lady a massage. I love when we can provide non-medical remedies for ailments in these villages, because what happens when the medications run out?

The Pachancho Pharmacy

The pharmacy was rocking today. They had about half the space of the previous pharmacy. However, I think they were able to make it run even smoother than before!

Mudslides

Day 2 in Alao

Today is my birthday! The ripe 'ol age of 27. To start the day off, Katty's sweet nephew brought me flowers in the shape of a dog. What a sweet little man!!!

We arrived to the village later than expected due to heavy rain in the night. As you would expect, the muddy roads became even muddies. It was a bit tricky. But, once again our amazing drivers got us to the village no problemo!

As we were setting up for clinic today, Alecita, one of our translators, grabbed me by the hand and dragged me into the clinic area. The military and translators lined up and sang some form of a birthday song. What a treat!

Houses In Alao

Clinic was not as busy as yesterday; we saw 52 patients in total. Multiple villages that had planned to come were unable to make it due to mudslides. I am telling you, I have no idea how the soil stays in place! The pictures and words cannot express the grandness of these hills. Have you seen Jurassic Park? I'm sure they could use this area for an alternate location if they needed one. Ayayay...

Although clinic was not as buys, we still had some rocking patients. Generally, the people are pretty healthy. Ears are fairly clean, teeth are mostly there (not mostly rotten per the usual. We had one lady in the beginning of the day, she complained of not being able to hear well out of her left ear, vision problems, and her back hurts. After a little digging I discovered she had experienced some head trauma a few years back. Head trauma like a big rock fell on her head. When I asked to look at it I could feel a divot the size of a silver dollar and about a half an inch deep. Holy crap. I have no idea how she survived that incident. She really should be dead. Thankfully, the skull healed nicely and she has had no major consequences from it. She was not please that we could not help her with her hearing though.

Minor Surgery

Our other crazy case was a little girl. She had stabbed herself with a pencil (the would 1/4" in length), she did things as normal; cleaned the house, played in the mud, handled raw pork. That happened two months ago. Now she has a nice pussy, oozy, seeping abscess in the meaty part at the base of her thumb. Dr. Hall did minor surgery on that trooper, who did not shed one tear. He took all of the dead and decaying flesh off, cauterized, and cleaned it up. Our amazing translator, Anna, distracted the girl the entire 30-40 minutes of the procedure. I think she will make a full recovery.

My Boys

Then, there was a party. I mean pretty princess hat, pretty princess piñata, streamers, and of course a face cake. The Ecuadorians have this great tradition, which I have witnessed a few time in the past, where there is a cake for the birthday boy/girl's face and one for everyone else. Well, I got a face cake (pictures to follow of Facebook). And, everyone loved the piñata. I felt like a fool and actually thought I was hitting the pillar that the piñata was hooked too. Way more than I expected! Such a special day!!!

Riobangbang - Day 1 in Alao

Day 1 in the village of Alao (sounds like allow)
Altitude 10,200ft

Up early! Breakfast and our military people tripled. From three to ten.

Happy Villagers Waving Hello!

Off to the village. It was a solid hour and a half drive. Over half was gravel/dirt. Which isn't a big deal, except when there is so much moisture. The bus got stuck multiple times and we literally drove overtop of waterfalls breaking over the road. There was also the fun parts of the drive where the road wasn't visible when you looked out the window down the cliff face. And, the three bridges we crossed. Guarantee those are not up to code. Just close your eyes and pray. Thanks to the skill of our amazing military drivers we made it.

Our BIG Building

One of Many "Water Over Roadway"

The space they had for us was amazing! It was the largest I have seen in my time on these trips. Medical, lab, children, and the eye clinic were all in one building. While pharmacy and education, were in another. It was a huge pharmacy! Huge like 6'x7'. It was like being on the Oprah Winfrey show, except with drugs, "you get mebendazole, you get mebendazole, and yyyyyooooouuuuu get mebendazole!!!!" Mebendazole is used to treat worms from the unclean water. Our group did a great job. During the half day at Alao, we were able to see 72 patients.



The Line

Pharmacy (AKA a bedroom)

Alao is on a loop, so, we did not have to flip the bus around, thank goodness. But, we did manage to get stuck and slide around a bit on the way back down.
Katty is attempting to teach me the story of the spiritual bracelets in Spanish... yea, that's not going great.

Driving and Organizing

Most of today was another day of sitting... Up early, in comparison to what time most of us went to sleep, and on the road again! The trip from Quito to Riobamba is a four hour journey. It was mostly uneventful. Well, except when we stopped for lunch and Thao got locked on the bus, while the rest of us were eating. She thought everyone was getting out to stretch our legs and we would eat on the bus. Naturally, the bus driver locked the bus up tight, so that all of our belongings would stay safe. Poor girl.

The Crew At Breakfast

We picked up a few translators along the way too. It's pretty funny. I think it looks like we are picking hitch hikers up. No warning; the bus stops and someone jumps in!

On The Road to Riobamba

A Few Of Our Military Friends

Once we got to the seminario, it was straight to work. The daunting task of sorting and splitting; labeling and counting. We will be visiting three villages while we are here.  Every team member and every translator helped! We cranked it out in no time at all.

One Week...

Well, it is less than seven days until wheels are off the ground! I am so excited!! There will be a final packing of the bags today. Got to top all the bags off so that they weigh 49.9lbs.

There is word from Ecuador that it will be extra cold this year. We're talking 50-70 in town where we sleep and most defiantly 50's up at clinic. I think I may need to repack my backpack...

While we are out of the country I will (as long as there is internet) update this everyday.