I know understand why people with cholera have a cot with hole in it...definitely not a pleasant experience. Now, I did not/do not have cholera but for a few hours on Wednesday I was pretty sure that a bucket under my cot would have been very useful. The strength that it takes to walk to the bathroom and to sit on the toilet, and to be so dizzy every time you stand up...not a nice experience. I have had diarrhea more in the past month than I think I have ever had in my life, I haven’t changed anything or eaten anything different, my body just seems to be rejecting certain things more often. Today I am fine, lets hope that that continues.
Next week two volunteers will be arriving to work with me! They have experience in building organic gardens and in teaching people how to eat what comes out of their garden. They will do one on one cooking classes with the families, in their homes to help them better utilize what they are growing. Right now the things that they are growing are dying or going to seed cause they just don’t know how to use them. Hopefully we can change this very soon!
These girls will also be working with the kids in the daycare and with the elderly. I am super excited to have them come and work with me for a short time!
Two weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting Alicia and Dan Gheorghita in their project in Quito called Casa Victoria! Dan is a friend of my dad from Transylvania and is married to an Ecuadorian woman. They began a project 11 years ago in a very poor, unsafe part of Quito. Today they run an after school program where they teach children about Jesus, help them with their homework, teach them computer skills, among other things. An awesome experience to be able to meet Alicia and get to see this project that I have heard quite a bit about. You can check out their work at casav.org!
Carnaval wasn’t quite as eventful as last year but I did go to Coangue and get painted and covered in flour and freezing water! It was super sunny and warm, thankfully since the water from the river is like ice. After the day in Chota I returned to Pimampiro covered in all sorts of colors of paint and flour, flour that did not come out of my hair for almost 3 days!
I continue to work with the elderly one day a week, helping with an art class and also just listing to them and their stories. I have an elderly man with Bells Palsy who was super frustrated and did not understand why he has always been healthy and now suddenly the left side of his face just “won’t work”. His wife came up to me one afternoon and asked me if I had something to help her husband see better. I was confused with the question and asked her why. She proceeded to tell me that since New Years her husband suddenly was having problems blinking completely, I hadn’t noticed since he was wearing dark sunglasses. He was seen in the clinic here and was told there was nothing they could do for him. With one look i realized that he was having difficulty seeing because his eye was drooping and he was unable to close to all the way, causing his eye to be dry which in turn causes the vision to be blurry. Losing sight completely is a complication of Bells Palsy if they eye is not properly taken care of. Since this was almost 2 months since this problem began and he was doing nothing for it I bought some steroids and explained to him how to take them. After 7 days of steroids and bringing up the skin under the eye with tape every day, he can see normally and the drooping has decreased to an extent. This is something that sometimes takes 6 months to heal, but we are definitely more on our way and he is not as discouraged as before. Hopefully he will be encouraged and continue to take care of himself.
We are in the process of updating the website, thanks to Drew McKechnie and Pioneer Mule Inc., hopefully it will be up and running in the next few weeks! You can check out new photos, the blog, opportunities and everything all in one!
Thank you all for your prayer and support!
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