Spring Break – Part II: UNC and Duke

In addition to being one of the two leaders of the first Iowa Medical School group, I was lucky enough to also lead a mixed group for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. At first glance mixing students from these two rival universities may sound like sacrilege, but this group, composed entirely of freshmen, did not understand our shock at such a combination as many of them have a special service scholarship where they are required (giving the opportunity?) to take classes at both schools and together. The only thing I can imagine that even comes close to this Duke and UNC partnership would be that ESPN commercial from a few years ago with a guy, in a Michigan shirt, and a girl, in an Ohio State shirt, making out. I remember being completely grossed out by such a horrific display of humanity, until the caption comes that says “Without sports…this wouldn’t be disgusting”.

Seriously though, once I got over my initial confusion as to the formation of this group, I cannot say enough about the preparation and quality of work that they put into their projects. More than any other group, they stayed in constant contact with us from as far back as November as we organized their activities here. These students proposed two major projects, both of which were carried out more successfully than I could have ever imagined. Their first project was a health education campaign among our students in our principal after-school program. They planned three courses in the areas of exercise and physical fitness, nutrition and hygiene, and sanitation and parasites.

What impressed me the most, however, was not their understanding of these topics, but rather the manner in which they presented them to our 30 some kids between the ages of 4 and 11. Teaching is not an easy task, especially when trying to present to such a group as diverse as ours; nevertheless, they managed to create activities which not only engaged and entertained all kids at all times, but also were highly educational. Not only did they highlight the most important and useful aspects in each of these three areas, but the kids actually learned what they were taught. This learning was clearly evident at the end of the week: As an incentive to encourage kids to attend these presentations we offered a party for all kids who came to each of the three class sessions. Although this was a party with cake and games, the games served as a review of all the content presented throughout the week. The kids not only seemed to enjoy the games, but they also demonstrated a clear understanding of the content as they made their way through the various “party” games.

Their second project, and what will be most important for our long-term work here in Ecuador, was a “Community Profile” within the frameworks of Social Capital and Asset-Based Community Development. These are two complementary frameworks that really attempt to reevaluate the entire process of community development worldwide. Traditionally community development has been based on the idea of identifying what a community needs and then initiating programs and activities that respond to these. Throughout history the data has shown that such a model is completely ineffective. In order to effectively develop communities a paradigm shift is required; simply searching for problems and then reacting to said problems will do nothing more than provide a quick-fix those problems, not to mention you are left in state of only realizing what is wrong with a community. These approaches ask you, rather than to look at what does not work, to look at what does work. They ask you to start from what the community already has, rather than what it lacks. The real drivers of community development are not good-intentioned outsiders (often times with money), but rather committed people, organizations, and institutions from the actual community. These approaches, I have to admit, are relatively new and poorly understand by many and may or may not be effective; nevertheless, focusing on the needs and problems and then throwing dollars at these problem has proven ineffective and something else must be tried.

We are currently in the process of mapping the assets and strengths of the communities where we work, specifically by completing an Individual Capacities Inventory. We recognize that seven gringos cannot effectively develop a community, but a community with individuals mobilized to work for themselves and their neighbors in a way they want to while at the same time doing what they themselves say they are good at is the only way we see that communities can build themselves.

As you can see from my run-on sentences, this is something that we are passionate about. The MPI-Ecuador team had talked several times about the imperativeness of this paradigm shift, but had never really done anything about it until we were provided the impetus by this group of freshmen from the Triangle in North Carolina. We may now have added a substantial amount of work to our activities here in Ecuador, but we really believe that we have finally started down the road that will allow for the people in the communities where we work to use their strengths to build their (not our) community.

Finally, here is a link to more pictures from their week here.

Safe Arrival

DUKE and UNC are here!

We are eating dinner, it was a long day of travel, but everyone seems really excited to be here!

Spring Break – Part I: Iowa

One of the classic aspects of the Manna Project International model is the fact that we host university spring break groups. Our first group came for nine days in February from the University of Iowa Medical School. I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with behavior and work ethic of this group, not to mention the extreme joy and humor they brought to the Manna house. I have to admit that I was slightly worried how a group of students from Iowa would be able to handle life in Ecuador, but Abbie and I (the MPI group leaders for this trip) never ceased to impressed by these students.

As these are all medical students, their principal project involved volunteering in local hospitals. We focused our efforts at three major urban hospitals in Quito: Hospital Tierra Nueva, Hospital Eugenio Espejo, and the Isidro Ayora Maternity Hosital. The first of these hospitals is actually private, but they are famous throughout the region for their quality of service as well as their affordability. Insurance through this hospital is a mere $3.00 a month, with which patients receive medical attention considerably superior to that which is provided in the public hospitals at comparable prices. Though this is a small hospital, they do their best to provide as many services as possible to local Quiteños. I get the impression that are students all thoroughly enjoyed their experiences at this hospital, being provided the opportunity to observe and assist in the Emergency Room, Surgery, Pediatrics, Psychology, Physical Therapy, Radiology, Dentistry, Obstetrics, and General Hospitalization.

The other two hospitals are large public hospitals that serve thousands of patients a day. Espejo is a specialist hospital located in one of the tallest buildings in Quito with just about every possible speciality available in Ecuador at an extremely low-cost. The Maternity Hopsital is also public and, due to its clientele, is a very exciting place to care for mothers and babies. Because so many of these mothers cannot afford quality pre-natal medical attention for themselves and their children, many babies are not born fully healthy and immediately have to go into intensive care. Although several of our medical students are not planning on going into maternity care and obstetrics, I think they really appreciated the experience of understanding just what it takes to bring life into this world.

With each trip we provide a weekend excursion that serves two primary purposes: (1) relaxation and diversion after a strenuous week of work and (2) a chance to reflect upon and evaluate the experiences gained and knowledge learned during the week. Iowa chose to take their excursion to Volcán Cotopaxi, a majestic glacier-capped volcano towering above Quito at 5897 meters (19,460 feet). What most of the group chose to do was drive up to 4500 meters and bike downhill some 28 kilometers through Cotopaxi National Park. I have to say that this was a great bike road surrounding by the amazing scenery of Volcán Cotopaxi, Volcán Rumiñahui, and the Limpiopungo Valley filled with Andean grassland and wild horses and llamas.

Fortunately for me, two students chose to not only ride bikes down the mountain, but also attempt to summit the mountain. Because we are so close to the equator, this climb must be done during the night; therefore we woke up at 11:45pm the previous night to complete this climb. We were on the trail by 12:45am and continued the climb, complete with gaiters, boots, ropes, and ice axes, for the next five hours. With about 25 people leaving the refuge together between 12:45 and 1:00, I was the first person (of only nine) to reach the summit just at sunrise at 6:00am. I will not deny that this is one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but I would not have been able to accomplish it without my guide. He did an incredible job of setting a very, very slow pace, but a pace which required minimal breaks. Although I have never walked on such a steep slope for such a long time, I never felt excessively tired or too sick to stop moving and I attribute this to the pace that my guide set for me. I will always remember what it felt like to reach the top: the view, of course, is breathtaking, but more than anything, you just feel like you are on top of the world. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but after completing a climb like this, one really feels like he or she can do anything.

I have included several pictures from the week here, but the entire album (along with pictures from the Carnaval parade) can be found by clicking here. Oh, by the way, did I mention that I did this on my birthday. Yes, I had a great birthday topped off by a night of dancing with my MPI Program Director friends and new-found friends from Iowa. I actually made it to the point of being awake for all 1440 minutes of my birthday (midnight to midnight)!