Working group with the community leaders

Hike in Boliche on our train trip

Presenting about preventative health

Winners of the food pyramid challenge

Before leaving on the train

Life as a PCVL

It’s hard to believe that it is already the end of October! Transitioning into the life and work in Quito has been extremely easy and the time is going quickly. I couldn't be happier with the work I am doing, the people I am meeting, and the connections being made.

I had a lot of work with Sister Ruth during the month of October because we had our Saturday workshops with the Caritas leaders from the communities around Quito. The group consisted of about 30 people, all of whom were great participants, very interested in the topics and actively contributing to the work. While I absolutely LOVED my work with the kids in Chibuleo, it was really refreshing working with a group of adults who were there on their own incentive and very willing to learn. We had a great time together and I think they took a lot away from the workshops. We are currently in the second phase of the project in which we are coordinating with the participants and planning dates when Sister Ruth and I can go to their neighborhoods to help them replicate the workshops with their various groups (youth groups, church groups, schools, senior citizens, etc.). Hopefully this works smoothly and we empower them to continue teaching hygiene, nutrition and HIV prevention in their communities!

Sister Ruth gets invited to many different events, both in and outside of the church. Today we attended a working group meeting hosted by the Ministry for Disabled Persons, which included representatives from both the public and private sectors. The new ministry is trying to improve access to information and resources for people with disabilities and we used the time to network, share all the resources that each group has to offer, and brainstorm the needs and the areas in which improvements are still needed. I met a lot of neat people and one woman in particular who is a mother who founded a support group for parents of children with autism. Not much information exists here about autism and diagnoses are often not made for many, many years, so the kids miss out on therapy during critical times. I really liked the woman and her passion for her work, so am going to see if I can help out every once in a while when I have time.

Peace Corps work is also going well. I spent the past few days doing site visits with my boss Veronica to visit volunteers in their sites. I tagged along to get a better sense of how I will conduct the visits when I go on my own, and just to accompany Vero. It was really fun to get out and see the volunteers in their communities, hear about all the work they are doing, the things that are going well and the challenges they are facing. I feel like I can relate to a lot of it after my two years in the community.

I started working in the garden at the office with Kristin, and I hope to plant sometime next week. We are going to grow a little organic vegetable garden to share with staff and hopefully teach them a little bit more about our food security goals in the Community Health program. I am also planning my sessions for the reconnect meeting for Omnibus 110. They will be at the meeting in Tumbaco in a few weeks, which means they have almost been in site for 3 months. I am excited to be able to plan and lead some of the sessions!

Apart from work, I have been having plenty of fun! Last week I got to go with Sister Ruth on an office retreat and we took the train from Quito to Boliche in Cotopaxi National Park. The train is a significant monument in Ecuador’s history and has been restored for tourism purposes in the past few years. It was fun to spend more time with people from the office and it was a beautiful ride. Tomorrow I am flying to Guayaquil after work because Carlos’ best friend is getting married on Friday. For various reasons the date suddenly changed to this week, so it was a last minute trip, but it should be nice! It is just the legal marriage and the church ceremony will be sometime in December. Since Carlos and I are the only ones going from outside of the family, we will be going to Cuenca after to celebrate with the bride and groom and enjoy a day at the fiestas in Cuenca. One month from now I will also be enjoying to Caribbean with my mom on our little “work” getaway to Jamaica J

That’s it for now, hope everyone at home is doing well!

Un abrazo,

Kerry

Colorado to Quito

After leaving my chilly home in Chibuleo, I got to enjoy some Colorado summer for the first time in a few years! I spent a wonderful month at home, full of visits with family and friends and just soaking in the Colorado sunshine and beauty.

During Liam and Jamie’s wedding parties, I got to see a lot of family (both local and from out of town!) and good family friends. It was a fun and joyous occasion to celebrate the marriage of two people who are perfect for each other. It was so nice to have Darcy there too – it was the first time the three of us have been together since I left for Peace Corps 2.5 years ago!

Once things settled down after the wedding party, Carlos came to visit. He saw Colorado for the first time, met Liam, Jamie, extended family and a lot of friends, and got a little taste of where I come from. We did all sorts of touristy and Colorado-y things, including the Denver Zoo, Botanic Gardens, Rockies game, Sky Sox game with fireworks, Garden of the Gods, Air Force Academy, State Fair and rodeo, Red Rocks Canyon and of course the outlet mall. It was an amazing week having him there and getting to know more about my life and the people I always talk about.

I spent my remaining two weeks in Colorado doing lots of shopping and hanging out. It was so nice to be home and not feel completely rushed, but rather enjoy everything about my time there. It was even easier coming back to Ecuador this time since I enjoyed being home for so long, knowing I will be home again shortly for Christmas, and looking forward to starting everything in Quito.

So far, Quito has been all I had hoped for and more. I live in an absolutely beautiful apartment with Shannon and Kristin, the two other PCVLs in Quito. It is a 4-bedroom place for the three of us with a big kitchen, dining room and living. I have my own balcony off my room that allows me to look out over the city and see the volcano Cotopaxi. The apartment is 25 minutes walking from the office, 5 minutes walking from a huge park and mall, and about 15 minutes down the trolley from my counterpart. It is so nice to be independent, creating my own schedule, making my own food and just living how I am used to.

My work as a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader is good. I work in the office 3 days a week and really like my two bosses (one who is with me in Quito and one who is in Guayaquil). My work consists of calling and checking in on volunteers, holding cluster meetings for the volunteers in the two provinces I am responsible for, making newsletters and bulletin boards, developing training sessions, doing site visits to volunteers in the field and any other jobs that pop up.

Apart from my PCVL responsibilities, I am working with a new counterpart 2 days a week. My official counterpart is Sister Ruth, a nun with the catholic organization of Caritas. She is in charge of the health portion of the organization and we are currently holding Saturday trainings for community leaders from around Quito. Sister Ruth provides the spiritual, religious health training and I give talks about hygiene, nutrition and HIV prevention. We have only had our first meeting so far, but it went well! When I am in their building I have my own little office with a computer and supplies and everyone who works there is incredibly kind.  There are a lot of international workers, so people from Italy, Mexico, Argentina and more. It is a great environment to work in and the organization is well founded, so there is plenty of work to be done.

I am certainly kept busy between my work with Peace Corps and Caritas, but I am enjoying them both immensely and still have time for myself. I have been back to visit my host family once and have spent most weekends in Ambato with Carlos and his family. We have lots of visitors passing through our apartment as other volunteers travel to or through Quito for various reasons. We have already decided to host Thanksgiving dinner, which will be made complete with pumpkin pie from the pumpkin I brought back with me. It is a lot of fun having roommates, including Shannon’s new puppy. I couldn’t be happier with my decision to extend for a third year into the city and I think this is a great transition from my two rural years with Peace Corps into whatever comes next.

I hope everyone is doing well at home – I see that the cold weather is moving in, which I’m looking forward to over Christmas!

Un Abrazo,                                                                                                                                             

Kerry 

As the time continues to fly…

I have consciously not written in a while as I have tried to find the right words to sum up my time here in Chibuleo. Well, I have still not found them, so here is just another update of things that have been happening lately!

I have been officially accepted as the new Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (PCVL) for the community health program, which I will be extending my service for 13 more months and moving to Quito! I am really excited to live in Quito, stay in Ecuador, and have a different Peace Corps role for a while. Last week I finished my PCVL training with the country director, which has left me looking forward to the position even more. I have been placed in charge of the Tungurahua and Cotopaxi cluster, which means I will hold quarterly meetings with the 8 volunteers in these two provinces, one of whom is replacing me in Chibuleo.  Aside from the meetings, I get to do site visits with all of them, site development in the region for potential new sites, etc. I am also in charge of technical support for the all volunteers in the community health program across the country, so I will provide them with requested materials, visit them for specially training, and support them in any way needed. Working in the Quito office, I will get to see and participate in the more administrative side of Peace Corps Ecuador and will get to help prepare all of the pre-service and in-service trainings during my year. Aside from my new Peace Corps duties, I will also be working 25% of the time with a counterpart agency that is trying to increase knowledge on sexual and reproductive health among families in the oriente, sierra and coast! It sounds like I will be busy, but it should be wonderful work.

Moving to Quito will be a big change from leaving my small, familiar, safe community of Chibuleo, but I am excited to have a little more independence and live in my own apartment with two fellow PCVLs, Shannon and Kristin. It will be great to have our own kitchen and time to share in more of our American customs and hobbies. Quito is also not too far from Ambato, so I will still be able to spend a lot of time with Carlos on the weekends and visit Chibuleo and my family here every once in a while.

I was recently in Quito for a medical brigade with “Faces of Tomorrow,” an organization that provides free surgery to children with cleft lips and cleft palates. The brigade was an incredible learning experience because I got see every stage of the process, including evaluating the patients for potential surgeries, pre-op procedures, the surgery itself, recovery and post-op. The doctors, nurses and staff on the brigade were all wonderful and very open to explaining everything and letting us sit in on surgeries, etc. It was also fun to just hang out with the people on the brigade because 5 of them (surgeons, nurses and admin) were former Peace Corps Ecuador volunteers from the past 15 years. It was great hearing their stories and learning more about their experiences, all of which were very different. It was also wonderful seeing them here in Ecuador, knowing that they enjoyed their time here and still care a lot about the people of Ecuador.

When I got back to Chibuleo after the medical brigade and PCVL training, I was greeted with the news that the grandpa had passed away the night before. This was the first time I have been through the funeral process here in the campo and it was something very interesting and incredible. The grandpa passed away Saturday night and was not buried until Tuesday afternoon. Those three days in between were the “valorio” at his house, which is in the backyard of my house.  The grandpa was inside the house in the casket surrounded by beautiful big lights and a huge cross at the head. There were flower bouquets everywhere and people brought candles to pay their respects and illuminate the room. The whole extended family was there helping cook over our fire kitchen in the back and they gave tea, bread, cookies and candy to anybody who came to pay their respects. It is believed that the dead cannot be left alone so that their souls go to heaven, so people were there to accompany the grandpa all through the night. The priest came on the last night and everyone prayed out loud for an hour as the priest talked about forgiving the grandpa of his sins and any bad things he did during his life. On Tuesday afternoon there was a mass in his honor with the church over-filled with family and friends in the community. After the mass, the men in the family carried the casket up to the cemetery where there were a few more songs before the burial. People then hung around in the cemetery afterwards to visit loved ones, eat the sandwiches and drink. The three days were a beautiful way to honor and celebrate the life of the grandpa.

The new trainees have arrived and this week they came to visit Chibuleo for a tech trip. In the school they helped flip tires to make organic tire gardens in the school. Afterwards they came to KNH and gave some hygiene charlas to all of the kids. It is always fun sharing the community with visitors, the kids love to have people come, and the trainees were all a little more relived/excited to see their sites because they loved the small community and gorgeous views in Chibuleo. It was nice to meet all of them because they are the group that I will be working with most as a PCVL, so to build some sort of relationship now will help me during the next year. I also went to Riobamba to join them for the HIV/Aids day during which we met and heard the stories of 6 people living with HIV, which was quite powerful. I will be doing more training on HIV in Guayaquil in August because my boss wants me to work more in that area next year as well.

I am now organizing things to go pick up the mosquito larvae and pupae being sent to me in Ambato to bring them to Quito. My mom is coming to do a workshop with the trainees and teach them about Dengue to help better inform volunteers  and decrease incidence among those on the coast and to provide them with training so they can hold Dengue campaigns in their coastal communities.  After the workshop, she, Carlos and I are going to Puerto Lopez for a few days to hopefully see the humpback whales!  From there, I have just a few more weeks in Chibuleo to organize everything, say my goodbyes and move out. Then I go home to Colorado for a month! I am excited to see everyone, celebrate Liam and Jamie’s marriage, show Carlos Colorado, and just spend some time home before starting my next year of work here. That’s all for now – I hope everyone is doing well and I am continually sending my thoughts for rain in Colorado. See you all soon!

Un abrazo,

Kerry

RIP Good Friend

Cora Roxana Cavanaugh

November 1, 2011 – April 29, 2013

Gifted to me as an early Christmas present my first Christmas in Ecuador, little Cora was only a few weeks old and a tiny little ball of fur when she came to me. Saving her from being killed by owners who didn’t want her, the nearest volunteer gifted her to me to save the little pup with a heart-shaped spot on her side. The name Cora quickly emerged from the spot, standing for “Corazon,” or “heart” in Spanish. Cora quickly grew into my heart and the heart of the kids in the community.

Being so tiny, Cora went everywhere with me those first few months. She was conveniently pocket-sized and caused many looks of surprise when she popped her head out of my purse in the grocery stores and internet cafes when we went to in Azogues on Saturdays. She and Nayeli quickly became good friends and the three of us spent all of our free time together, trying to train Cora, playing fetch and tag, or just parading her around town on her leash.

Cora certainly didn’t stay little for long! After just a few months she was too big to carry up and down the stairs to my room, so she had to learn to brave the mean dogs at the door by herself. Beginning to take up too much of the bed, the little baby also had to learn how to sleep alone on the floor. There were exceptions of course, such as when my mom visited and Cora felt too left out to stay on the floor, so she came into the bed with me and my mom so that everyone could get a good night of sleep!

When Cora and I moved to Chibuleo, she instantly became a star and helped me integrate into the new community. All of the kids loved the clean, friendly puppy that liked to play. I think everyone knew her name before mine, but they talked to me out of curiosity about her and I quickly felt comfortable in the new community. Cora also settled in easily, becoming best friends with Precioso, my host family’s dog, and the duck, Mr. Pato.

Cora became a free dog in Chibuleo, running around on the basketball court, chasing soccer balls with the kids, eating lunch at the foundation, making trips with the host family to milk the cow or move the sheep, or following the grandpa on his walks. She wandered all over, enjoying her freedom and friends, but never failed to be at the door with her shiny eyes and wagging tail when I got home.

One of Cora’s favorite games that she picked up in the last few months was playing fetch. Unlike an American dog, however, Cora wanted nothing to do with the fancy tennis balls and squeaking balls that people brought her from the States. What did she want? Rocks. Cora loved nothing more than to chase little rocks and pebbles along the road when we were walking to or from the foundation, a game that my host family, all the kids, and random passersby would join in!

Cora and Precioso both passed away on the 29^th after a bad encounter with poison. While everyone is sad that she is gone, I would not have changed any of my time with Cora. We were both there for each other in our greatest times of need and I will forever be grateful for what Cora did for me in our short time together. Rest in peace my little Corita <3

Play and Work

So many fun and exciting things have happened in the past 6 weeks; both teams from San Pedro were the soccer champs, my host brother got married, and I have been having fun with all of my work.

The wedding was a huge ordeal at our house and was a ton of fun. I was a bridesmaid for Santiago and Jessica’s wedding, which was a very nice double ceremony for their wedding and the baptism of their daughter Rashel. The after party was held in my house in San Pedro, so everything was moved out of the first floor rooms (mine included) to leave space for us to dance the night away! There were 5 guinea pigs, 60 chickens and a full pig cooked for dinner, four cakes served, and music until 8:30am the next morning. It was my first wedding here in Ecuador and so fun to be a part of the family and festivities!

Around the same time were the fiestas in Ambato and Carnaval. Carlos and I went to Carnaval in Guaranda, which is the biggest fiesta in the country, and met up with about 30 of my Peace Corps friends. We spent two days there watching the parades, “playing” Carnaval with foam spray, flour and water, and just enjoying the company of all my friends. Two days was enough and we went back to Ambato in time for the last day of the fiesta of fruits and flowers to watch the beautiful parade with elaborate, amazing floats.

After a months of festivities (they seemed to last from Christmas through mid-February), it was back to work. I spent a week working at a hospital in Ambato with American doctors who came to give free pediatric orthopedic surgeries, braces, splints, wheelchairs, prosthetics, rehab and care. The team who came were wonderful and it was an amazing week working both with the Americans and all of the kids they helped this year and continue to help from years past.

Now I am back at work at KNH for my last few months, trying to do as much as I can with the kids. I am doing a lot of different health talks and workshops with them, mixed in with other fun activities. Just today I began to teach them how to play lacrosse because I had a few lacrosse sticks donated – we are all having a lot of fun with it! Next week I am taking two girls with me to a workshop in Quito to learn different recycled crafts, strategies for youth groups, etc. It should be interesting and the girls are really excited to go to Tumbaco with me for 4 days!

Dalila is getting cuter by the day and she and Cora are now BFFs. Dalila spends her time calling Cora a horse and trying to ride her around the yard! Everyone else in the family is great too. 'Indor' soccer is a lot of fun with my host sisters and Shannon, and my host mom is as sweet as ever. I am spending a lot of time with them because the months seem to be flying by and before I know it I will be leaving Chibuleo. It is still unclear what I will do once I leave Chibuleo, but I am looking into my options and trying to enjoy the present.

I hope all is well there and everyone in CO is enjoying the snow!

 

Un abrazo,

Kerry

Futbol, Familia and Friends

Sorry it has been so long since I’ve written, but things got very busy with the holidays. A last minute decision, I got to go home for a week for Christmas! It was wonderful to see my family and friends, be home for the holidays, and have a white Christmas J

I was only there for a week, but it was a great time to relax, catch up, make a quick trip to Santa Fe, and enjoy the holidays in a familiar fashion.

I am now back and in the full swing of work at KNH for the month of January. We have the big annual presentation on Tuesday that details everything that happened in the foundation during the year 2012. The authorities from the national office and other guests are coming for the presentation, which has become a mini-theatrical type performance with the kids. It has been a ton of work, so I have only been at the foundation this month, taking a break from the elementary school and high school.

I have three more days to prepare with the kids, plus get all my parts rehearsed for my 20 minutes of presentation in Spanish. The kids don’t have to present too often like this, so it is challenging to get them to memorize lines, speak loudly and clearly, and be animated. We will see how it turns out!

It worked out that I am taking this month off from the school and high school because in February everyone is on vacation for the end of the semester. That means that I have the whole first half of February free, which should be fun because during that time is Carnaval and the fiestas of Ambato. First I am going to visit Katrina in her site in the coastal region to help with some Dengue prevention training at her health center and with her group of health volunteers. I am excited to go visit her and see her site, have a little bit of warmth (although I hear it is sweltering right now…), and do some different work for a few days. The visit is long overdue since she has now visited me in both of my sites, so it should be great!

The plan right now is to go to Guaranda for one night during Carnaval to see the biggest parade/celebration in the country, which is great because I am so close to Guaranda this year. The other days I will spend in Ambato, going to the fiestas, toros, etc. It is the festival of fruits and flowers in Ambato, so I’m excited to see what it’s like!

After vacation is over in mid-February, it will be back to work. I’m excited to get back to the high school because I will begin with teacher trainings. The plan is that I will give workshops once a week or every other week about the sex ed classes and the teachers will then replicated the workshop in their classes with grades 10-13. I’m a little skeptical of how much support I will get from the high school because we have been talking about it for a long time and it still has not begun, but I’m still hopeful because this will really help make the project more sustainable and help them progress into teaching sex ed each year to the incoming students. Time is passing quickly, so I only have a few more months to try and get things going and self-sustaining.

Outside of work, there is soccer! One Sunday my women’s team and our co-men’s team both play in the championship game, so hopefully San Pedro will be all around champions this year. It has been so fun playing on the team, meeting new women and sharing in the favorite pastime on Sundays. Luckily I think the new season begins again in 1-2 months, and in the meantime I’m playing on an “indor” team in San Pedro where we play on the basketball court with fewer players and a mini ball. I am playing on a team with my host sisters, host cousins, and Shannon! Last week was the inauguration of the season which included the parade of the teams onto the court, the announcements and the election of the “Senoritas de Deportes.” I was the candidate for my team so I got to participate in my first reina pageant, which was quite something. It was fun because all the women on my team are so funny and energetic, so we just had fun with it. It was nice to participate in the tradition once, but I must say I am okay that we don’t have the reina pageants for every event in the US.

Those are the updates for now. I am just working to enjoy the time I have left here with my host family, Carlos and my Peace Corps friends, see as much as I can of this beautiful country, and continue to develop my projects with a goal of reaching some level of sustainability. I hope all is well with everyone at home!

Un Abrazo,

 

Kerry