I arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador, last night. So, I will start with "why I am here". I am in Guayaquil with nursing students from BYU. This is their fourth year here, I think, and they wanted a professor to come who knows maternity, so I got invited. There are 18 nursing students with our group, and three other instructors. The students go to four charity hospitals, a medical surgical one, a maternity hospital, a children's hospital, and a psych hospital. In addition, we go out into the community, in poorer areas, and teach health topics, give immunizations, build houses, and things like that. We are putting on 3 health fairs, and one of the professors is speaking at an international nursing conference. She also heard the mayor of Guayaquil (a city of three million) wants her to speak as well, and hopes this does not pan out. I am glad SHE is the experienced one, and knows enough spanish to do it.
On May 24th, we fly to Quito for a 4 day tour of the city. The students fly home on the 28th.
Mike and the kids are flying down May 23rd to Quito, and we will meet him when we fly in on May 24th. Alison and Ethan are also coming down from the 23rd to 29th, since flights from JFK are a really good deal. Sam turns 8 on May 28th. We are hoping he can possibly be baptized before Alison and Ethan have to go home. The only one of us who will not be in Quito is Neil, who is going to Honduras for the summer as a project supervisor for Amigos de las Americas.
Speaking of Neil, he is planning on putting in his mission papers this week. Hopefully he will find out where he is going before he leaves for Honduras.
The rest of us, Mike, Shawn, Annie, Rachel, Ruth, and Sam, are going to fly from Quito to Cuenca on May 29th. We found an organization, Orphanage Support Services Organization, that will let us volunteer as a family. We will be staying in Cuenca for 6 weeks, working in orphanages there, helping to take care of the kids. I am coming home July 11th with Annie, Rachel, Ruth, and Sam, and Mike and Shawn are going to go around Ecuador and Peru until August 7th, seeing the sights.
So, today was Mother's Day. Mother's Day in Ecuador is second only to Christmas, as far as celebration and gift giving. Flowers were common, as Ecuador produces a lot of flowers (especially roses) for the rest of the world. On Friday, the ward had a big fiesta, with dancing, food, and a mariachi band. Today the nicer restaurants were busy, with people paying 23 dollars a plate. Outside, there were small children selling gum or candies for a quarter or two. What a contrast!!
At church the primary children (5) sang a song, then delivered sweet little Fomi flower pots with a Fomi flower and come small candies in them. They are very cute, but not as sweet as the notes and cards I received from my own kids, and not as sweet as the good-byes they gave me yesterday when I left.
Tomorrow I jump right in to the fire taking students to the maternity hospital where I have never been before. Fortunately for me, another one of the BYU instructors is coming with me, at least for tomorrow. I have a study going on, and we hope to start that tomorrow as well (I just found out I passed the IRB for this study last week). So, I will be busy, which will help to not have to miss the Mike and the kids.
Hasta luego!
Shelly
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