Ecuador News

November 2003: Notes from Gaby Ordoñez, our Executive Director
We have a new rural doctor to stay with us for one year! Erin Lunde, a student from Harvard Medical School is also with us with support from a Fulbright Fellowship. She is doing a wonderful job at the health center, and in traveling to outlying communities to give much needed women’s health workshops, and she will be with us until September 2004!

The health center staff saw 115 patients during October, including two births. Guido, a community member now trained as a malaria lab technician, is working permanently in the health center. With funds from the British Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, we will build latrines in every community in November and December 2003. We have finished the health brigades in all the communities, providing vaccination campaigns, dental services, and health-related workshops. It was great to see in many of the communities that children were completing their last vaccination doses!

Britta Muller, who dedicated six months to building up the new regional library, has returned home to Germany. The community of La Y sent her off with a big despedida (goodbye party), with a painting contest and a slideshow in the main square. Thank you to Britta Muller for all of her hard work in La Y. She will be sorely missed -- especially by the children of La Y!

We have a new volunteer for the library - Martha from England. She will stay until December and then Annie Gordon from the USA and Knut Hjelleset from Norway, will come mid-January to continue working with the community library and related projects. Stephanie Adams, also from USA, has been helping a lot in the office in Quito– many thanks to her for her dedication!