Reports from Ecuador

Melody and I spent our weekend seeing the sights of Quito with our wonderful guide Maria Alicia.   We started with a delicious breakfast of hornado in the valley community of Sangolquí, visited La Mitad del Mundo and the famous Virgin of Quito, wandered through the historic region of La Ronda and even happened upon a ceremony to celebrate the summer solstice!  Plus, along the way we were able to find a shop that sold the dropper bottles we need for the TB and Malaria staining kit.

But now that it’s Monday, and we’re back to work!  We’ve just started our newest project, designing a community education program about tuberculosis for the Planchaloma clinic, where Melody and I will be working for about 6 weeks.  Although Fundación has been able to decrease the presence of TB in its Guayaquil and Yatzaputzán clinics, it remains a significant problem in Planchaloma. Because we will have to travel to the next town over to get internet access while we’re staying there, we’re trying to get as much done as possible while still in Quito.

We’re still in the early stages of research at this point: looking at other TB education campaigns, finding out more specifics about the community in Planchaloma and making some rough drafts of posters and brochures.  We’ll also be starting on an education project about the importance of recycling to support the recycling program that Amanda set up last year.  We have a visit to Planchaloma scheduled for Thursday, and it would be great to get feedback on our progress while we’re there, so back to work!