Esperanza to Quito

We´ve returned to Quito for the weekend to gather our thoughts, materials, and a few extra volunteers. This past week was filled with meetings with directoras de educación, community governments, agronomists, and public health workers as we begin to work on the Huertos Escolares program (school gardens). The goal of this project is to work with local school teachers to come up with an integrated curriculum, where children will learn about nutrition and what is in the food they eat, while simultaneously growing and caring for plants rich in nutrients. Medicinal plants will also be cultivated in the gardens, utilizing herbs native to the region. Each section of the garden will be organized by nutrient or illness to be treated (parasites, cold, muscle aches, etc). So far, each community we have met with has expressed enthusiasm for this project, some even additionally asking for help in creating smaller gardens for each family.

I´ve been incredibly impressed by how many people I have met working on this project so far have jumped on board, offering their time and expertise to make it possible. I can certainly say that I would be nowhere without them. Things are beginning to unfold, as we have a set list of communities, and seeds to plant...the only thing that we have yet to take care of, and is likely going to be the most difficult, is designing each particular garden and figuring out what can grow where, as the terrains are extremely different. As we are high up in the Andes, most of the plots of land are on either steep or uneven terrain, making water runoff a concern.

I´ve also been working mornings at the CEMOPLAF clinic (roughly the Ecuadorian equivalent of planned Parenthood) in Cajabamba. I worked here last summer, but I would definitely say things have changed. I´ve been working in the clinic with a reed alum, who is also completing her residency as an opthalmologist. One day last week, one of the CEMOPLAF gynecologists informed us that we would have to take over the clinic for a day because she had an important meeting in Quito that day. In one day, we underwent a crash course in gynecology, what to prescribe for various infections, how to perform pap smears, administer depo-provera injections, and to take care of other family planning issues. Fortunately the resident was a licensed GP, so we weren´t totally out in the dark.

In those first two days, we had to tell two very young women that they were pregnant. Neither of them were married, and explained that they had no one to help them take care of their potential children. They both asked for abortions (one essentially begged), and we had to tell them that there was nothing we could do for them, because abortion is illegal in Ecuador. The only thing we could offer was a birth plan and if they did decide to go get an abortion at some underground establishment, to immediately come back for a checkup and to start on a family planning program. The province of Chimborazo (we´re located in Cantón Colta or Colta County) is home to Ecuador´s largest population of indigenous Kichwa Catholics and Evangelicals, so going home to one´s religious community pregnant without being married brings about a great deal of potential conflict and strife for the pregnant woman.

One of the women in the communities we work in recently gave birth to a child out of wedlock. The baby was healthy, but due to various pressures, the mother let the child die. It is relatively known by people in the community what happened, but when asked about what happened or how the mother is doing, people shrug their shoulders in effort to avoid discussion. This is only the second time this has happened in that particular community, but it is a fairly common problem in this area. Women who have their first sexual experience in this province have often received little or no sex education or information about family planning (due to community restrictions, although thanks to CEMOPLAF, this pattern is changing) and often become pregnant. I can´t imagine how difficult it must be to be told that there are no safe options for receiving an abortion.