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
