Tena

So, I am here in Tena, one of the largest cities (and really it feels like a town) in the Amazon region of Ecuador. My new host family is wonderful - my host sister is eleven, Karina; she is super friendly, but talks really fast. My host dad travels a lot, so I have not met him yet. My host mom, Rocio, is also my supervisor at the hospital. She is a clinical social worker and so far it has been really interesting to observe her work - I just wish I knew more Spanish. My room overlooks one of the largest streets in town, but at night I can open the doors and there have been cool winds and thunderstorms - a welcome relief from the heat. Our first night the storm was strong enough to come through the skylight and we had to move the table while we were eating dinner.

At work there are two other students from the program, Allie (from Grinnell) and Emily (from McAlaster). I have been helping to take people´s information and it is challenging to spell the names correctly. It has been truly eye-opening in terms of the struggles and poverty that many people in this community experience. Often the social worker comes into the picture at the moment of crisis, meaning that the situation is ususally pretty bad. I spent part of today in emergency and the patients need to purchase their own saline and gloves when they come in. We watched a minor toe operation and a doctor diagnosed this kid with a parasite from water. Each day here will be very different and I am working on learning all the new Spanish vocab for medical and social work related words.