Wrap Up

Otavalo is famous for its Saturday open-air markets, which dates back to pre-Inca times.  The streets are lined with hundreds of booths – selling hand-crafted silver jewelry, watercolors, wood carvings, and clothes made with traditional backstrap looms. Two-thirds of the area’s population are indigenous, and come in to Otavalo only on market day to sell their crafts.  Workshop participants spent a few hours wandering through the colorful streets and attempted, often succeeding, in bargaining prices on souvenirs for friends and family.

The group traveled north to visit the Otavalo indigenous market to buy souvenirs. After lunch in a fancy restaurant located at the shores of Lago San Pablo, the group got together to talk about what have been learned from this two weeks.

Comments ranged from the value of witnessing first hand the reality of a developing country, to the contrast between the beautiful scenery and the harsh living conditions, to desire to stay longer or coming back to work with the communities and help the people, to how it is inspiring to see people work so hard for what they believe.

One thing is clear: The experiences lived during this two weeks have left a deep impression in all the participants. Their view of their own lives in the USA and their view of the world has changed in a profound way.

The Virgin of Quito stands on the hill El Panecillo (little bread loaf) overlooking the city, where we enjoyed a final city view on the workshop’s last day.  The capital of Ecuador is known for its architecture, beauty, spring-like climate and mountainous vistas. Dr. Grijalva  also led a tour of Old Quito, pointing out the 16^th century Monastery of San Francisco, cathedrals, and the president’s mansion.  And as every visitor must do, we drove 20 kilometers north of Quito to jump between northern and southern hemispheres at the Equator.  As a departing gift, the clouds broke and for the first time we viewed the snow-capped volcano Cotopaxi. 

 Most of the participants boarded a plane late that night, stopping in Guayaquil and Houston, with a final destination of Columbus. 

Reflection by Bethany Donhal, Communications Specialist, Central Ohio Region Blood Services

In Macara’, one in ten people have malaria, and organizations including the army, schools, and ministry of health and are working together to improve public health.  We visited this town located near the Ecuadorian/Peruvian border, where we met Lt. Colonel Jose’ Luis Castillo, Battalion Commander.  He was given the task of leading our workshop on a tour of Macara's clinics and city slaughter house, and I was given the task to ride along with him because I can speak some Spanish.

The Lt. Colonel was not thrilled to embark on this cultural exchange with a young American, nor was he impressed at my attempts to converse in Spanish. He hardly spoke, and I feared that I would break some army etiquette rule that would result in a total silent and offended response.

My attempts at conversation, ‘your country is beautiful - how long have you worked here - I'm impressed with the clinics - do you have family here," all received responses of "si," "no," or just a nod of the head.  But, as I often do when I’m nervous, I kept talking, mostly to myself.  Until: I mentioned it was surprising to me how much English music was played in Ecuador.  This piqued his interest, and he mentioned that he liked Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, and ABBA.   Along with the Bee-Gees, my sister and I danced to ABBA on my fifth birthday - twenty years later this would make me friends with a Lt. Colonel in the Ecuadorian army.

"I love ABBA!" I reply, to which he starts singing Chiquitita. I join in and we both laugh, struggling to remember all the lines.  I sing back-up as he sings the melody, until our laughing interrupts the song and we move on to Dancing Queen.  We travel near dusk to see the country’s border, the cause of a war between Ecuador and Peru five years ago.  We talk about Stevie Wonder’s career and country music, not about the dogs running through the slaughter house, or the three hospital doctors who serve 20,000 people.

During the workshop, we all had moments of inspiration, frustration, disappointment and clarity.  We searched for kissing bugs, saw mosquito larvae, attended lectures and toured clinics without funds to buy ibuprofen.  We also discovered fresh mangos, learned Merengue, discussed the merits of Gladiator with our Ecuadorian friends and spoke in broken Spanish to elementary students.

Like any place and its people, Ecuador welcomed its visitors into a different life and asked us to share a part of its history, knowledge, and passions. We visited in order to address some of Ecuador’s greatest weaknesses in public health and came away recognizing some of its greatest strengths.  And we sometimes found shared passions that made us not so different - even if only for a love of ABBA.