El Corazon

This past week, Steven (a fellow summer intern), Adeline (a working visitor here for a year from Northern Ireland), Bruce (one of the people who heads up Community Development/Water Projects), and I joined a veterinarian team in the town of El Corazon. Adeline was in charge of meals for our group, so the days before we left were full of shopping and chopping. It's amazing how long it takes to prepare, serve, and clean up after a meal for 30! My hands smelled like onions for days but Adeline did a great job feeding us all! While in El Corazon, the only engineering work we did was water testing. But we were definitly kept busy in other ways! The veterinarian students doctored several peoples' cows, pigs, and dogs. We often went with them. Coming from Warren County, I thought I knew my fair share about animals....but I sure have a lot more to learn. It was interesting to see them at work in the community and I learned a lot about how to care for animals in a very rural setting. In the afternoons, we led a vacation Bible school for the kids. That was the highlight of the trip! These kids are adorable. And even though I had difficulty communicating - please pray that my ability to understand and speak Spanish will improve - we had a lot of fun. At the beginning of the afternoon we played soccer, jumped rope, and simply ran around with the kids. After that their was a Bible lesson and usually a lesson in hygiene - hand washing and tooth brushing for example. We finished with a craft. It was always hard to let the kids go home, but by that time, most of the group was pretty worn out.

In El Corazon I learned about life in a different culture. Many of the cows that the vets saw were not reaching their potential milk production. One of the huge limiting factors in this is lack of water. The people in El Corazon have water near their homes to drink, but it is not enough to supply their animals with as much water as they need. Because the area is mountianous and it is a terribly long trek to bring the animals to water, they only get watered once a day. In El Corazon, cows were producing on average 3-5 liters of milk a day. At this altitude good production is between 20-30 liters! Also, in Ecuador, everyone is required to vote. However, many people are illiterate or ill-informed about their choices in the election. Candidates will drive through towns like El Corazon promoting themselves. Without exposure to information about the other candidates and their platforms, these people are easily taken advantage of. Related to water projects, the government will not help a community of less that 200 families (I think it's families, but it might be people) design and build a water system. I think this is because with so few people able to vote, they don't deem it an area worth helping. Thankfully this is where HCJB often steps in. Not only does HCJB help the community build a water system, but they often have the opportunity to share the Good News of Christ....which the government surely wouldn't do!

Adventures in Mindo

On Saturday we took a trip to a little town called Mindo. It was a touristy type of day. After a 30-45 minute hike up a mountainous road (we opted to walk instead of drive) we got to a cable car that took us from one mountain side to another. One on the other side, we hiked through the rain forest to a gorgeous waterfall. It was so powerful that you couldn't get anywhere close to where the water crashed into the pool below. We did swim around and the water was freezing! Once we couldn't take the cold water any longer we hiked back up to the cable car and returned to the other mountain. Then, we got to ride the ziplines. Not 1 zipline, or even 2 or 3, but 13 consecutive ziplines! It was amazing. We zig-zagged between mountains, soaring over treetops, roads, and rivers. I even got to go upsidedown once! After so much activity we took a lunch break. But we didn't stop for long. Even cold tempertures and drizzle didn't keep us from our last event of the day. We went rafting down the river. This wasn't an ordinary rafting trip. We were on a series of intertubes tied together in a flower pattern. Each of us sat where 3 intertubes met and held onto the ropes tying them together for dear life. This river was crazy! There were rocks -- extremely large rocks -- everywhere. Somtimes our guides navigated around them, but other times we went right over them. It was one of the coldest experiences of my life (most of us were shivering uncontrollably) but the thrill of the ride and the beauty of the river were completely worth it!

Experiencing Quito

Wow I have a lot to catch up on. Here's a summary of the past week:

Monday: El Mitad del Mundo

Monday was my first day of "work." Rather than engineering work, we had a day of orientation. There are 6 interns here this summer - three who work in the hospital and three of us who work with Clean Water Projects. After learning about what was expected of us this summer we went to the center of the world. Just outside of Quito there is a monument to the Equator. Although it isn't incredibly tall, the monument offers a spectacular view of the mountains - completely surrounded us. It was beautiful ... the pictures below do not do it justice! Inside the monument was a museum dedicated to the different indiginous people groups of Ecuador. We finished our day with a visit to an heladaria - ice cream shop. I had maracuya (papaya) ice cream and it was delicious. The fresh fruit here is incredible -- it is always available and juice freshly made from ripe, local fruit is unbeatable!

Our group at the Equator

Tuesday and Wednesday: Learning the Engineering Ropes

Tuesday and Wednesday were my first days in the water projects office. Later in the summer we will be doing surveys (topographic surveys, not questionnaires) at several sites around the country. Having had no experience surveying, I faced a large learning curve. We checked out the equipment and learned the basics. Tuesday night we (the 6 interns) all went to a "20-somethings" Bible study in the city. There were only 2 or 3 other people who spoke English as their first language, so it was a time to practice Spanish. Wednesday evening we learned about a ministry called Pan de Vida. They minister to the poor in the city by "not just talking about love, but showing love." Among several other ministries they serve 3 meals throughout the week. We helped prepare a meal and met several of the people who volunteer on a weekly basis.

Thursday and Friday: Sights in Quito

The last two days of our work week, we took a break from traditional engineering work. This coming Monday several of us from clean water projects are joining a team of student veternarians in a town called El Corazon for the week. We had to plan and prepare meals for the group of 30. To do so we visited several markets in Quito. Some were supermarkets, but one was similar to a farmers market. This was my first experience with bartering -- thankfully, this time, I was only an observer in the process. Friday consisted of preparing some of the food that we had bought. I chopped onions, peppers, chilis, and garlic -- and had the smelly evidence on my hands all day to prove it. Making chili for 30 is a big job! At lunch, another intern and I, Steve, walked into a full resturant. As we were about to go elsewhere, two women invited us to sit with them. So we shared our lunch hour with two Ecuadorian women. Although communicating in broken Spanish wasn't easy it was very interesting talking to them. Later that night I went to a play (all in Spanish) in the hopes that the more I am exposed to the language, the more I will learn. We finished the night by visiting a live radio broadcast at HCJB. A local Christian band was performing and we had the privilege to be in the studio, cheering them on, as they performed live!

Arrival in Quito

I'm in Quito! I made it here last night without any trouble....except that we had to deplane wearing face masks as a precaution against the swine flu. We arrived fairly late at night, so I only saw the city in the dark. But what I did see reminded me of sights from Peru. (I went there with my dad when I was in 3rd grade.) The houses are gated - a lot of people have a fence and/or a line of shrubs surrounding their property. Just like in Peru, shops are also gated at night - like in a mall after closing time. There's also a different smell - not bad by any means, but different.

The family (the McFarlands) that I am living with is great! They are incredibly welcoming; I think I am going to enjoy living with them. They have one daughter at home, who is about to finish 8th grade - I look forward to getting to know her too. I have my own living area, "The Cave" as the McFarlands call it. It is in the backyard, unattached from the rest of the house. I have my own bedroom and bathroom. The sun streams in all day and when it is clear, I have a view of one of the mountain ranges that enclose the city. This is going to be a great adventure!

mi casita - my little house

my room

Clean Water Projects

This summer I am working as an engineering intern with the Clean Water Projects division of HCJB Global. HCJB is an organization whose mission is to share the knowledge and love of Christ to the world through health care and media. The Clean Water Team is "committed to improving the health of rural communities through clean water and preventive health. [They] are also committed to Biblical values and community development principles." I am very excited to join them this summer!
This past semester, two of my classes were Environmental Engineering and Hydraulics Engineering. I found both classes very interesting and I hope that I will be able to apply some of what I learned to the work that I do this summer. It's hard to believe that in 12 days I will be on my way to Quito, Ecuador! I have two exams left before I head home to spend some time with my family. Then I will be on my way to South America!