Second Clinic: The Community of Moncayo

We woke up the next morning to the sound of shuffling, the smell of cooking and the morning sun seeping through the blinds.  I couldn't sleep anymore so I started getting ready for the day.  I took my bed apart and stacked it with mom's in the corner. I got my shirt and scrubs on and sat myself at the table again.  You know, the normal morning ritual.  Joyce had made us potatoes, scrambled eggs, an assortment of store brought bread, fruit and an array of juices, coffee and milk.

I grabbed pretty much the same thing as I did the morning before.  At one point I think everyone was in the kitchen at the same time.  It got crazy.

Amy felt better this morning and decided to go out to the next clinic with everyone.  She was going to be careful what she ate though.  Lots of water.

We helped Joyce clean up the kitchen, gathered everyone and all of the suitcases and containers and walked them down to the gate.  Joyce had called in the truck taxis to take us to the community of Moncayo (and the surrounding areas) which was northwest of Cotacachi, up the hill, where the pavement ended and the dirt roads began.  We all piled in with our heaps of luggage and headed up.

We stopped because the drivers thought we were there but it was the school and so we turned around and headed further up the hill to the daycare.  In this area, the people who live up here are strictly farmers and they drop their children off at the daycare while they go tend their fields and animals.  The trucks pulled into the lot and we unloaded all the bags and equipment.

We had roughly fifteen minutes until the children started to arrive.  The arrived by truckloads.  The daycare staff sat some of them outside on the stairs and in chairs while we finished getting ready.  Today was going to be all about the children.

The children ranged anywhere between 3 and 10 years old.  The older kids went to school or helped their families out on their farm.  We got a tour of the main building while some of  the kids were having breakfast.

They were adorable in their little outfits, hats and shoes.  We got a few pictures of them getting ready for their day before they walked across the lot into the small classroom building where we had all of our stuff set up.

The daycare staff has instilled good habits with these children.  Every day after they are done eating they grab their toothbrushes and take turns brushing their teeth.  A group of them were really excited to show us.

I helped with the medication again at least getting it set up for the morning.  There was also a table being manned by Myrna and Jenny with second hand clothing, blankets and shoes for people to take home with them.

By mid-morning someone else was in charge of the medication table (we most likely won't need a lot of meds because most of them were children) and I was helping the prophy area with all the children.  We had to have a quick turn over from kid to kid or we weren't going to be able to see all of them.

We had one little boy who did not want us in his mouth.  He screamed, kicked, swung his arms, it was not going to happen.  We did manage to get some fluoride painted on his teeth before he was taken away by Maritza to calm down outside.  She spoke to him in Spanish and he eventually stopped crying and started to play with his Beanie Baby we gave him earlier.

A little while later, Khealynn asked me if I could take pictures and videos of all the stuff that was happening.  I spent about an hour walking around the property taking pictures and videos of the kids, all the stations, the buildings, the surrounding areas and the indigenous moms working on their sewing projects.

Joyce had figured out lunch with the locals for us again.  Around 1ish a bunch of bagged food in clam shell Styrofoam containers showed up.  Everyone finished up what they were doing and took a break.  We started out with some chicken and beef soup and then we were given beef, potatoes, avocados, corn on the cob, rice and these delicious corn bread pieces wrapped in banana leaves.  They were my favorite homemade thing I ate the entire time I was in Ecuador.  They were so good everyone was trying to trade food for them.  I ate mine and mom had a bite of hers and gave me the rest.  We had to move our picnic indoors due to a late afternoon thunderstorm.

Since I was wearing scrub bottoms and it was very humid outside, my pants started to rub on my legs in the not so pleasant way and my no-see-um bites were starting to itch and of course I scratched them to the point where I had turned them into seeping bloody scabs.  Ugh, this was miserable.  It was almost like having chicken pox again.  I tried really hard not to scratch them but the pants would rub and I NEEDED to scratch them.  I knew I would regret it because some of them were probably going to leave scars.

A group of people came rushing in with a little girl who was bitten by a dog about a day ago and it was getting infected.  Josh and Joyce (Atlanta Joyce) teamed up by getting the dog bite cleaned up.  It took a while to clean it all out.  A large group of people were gathered around to watch...mostly because it was fascinating.  They sutured it with stitches that should dissolve in a few days.  We gave her a stuffed animal and some of the Amoxicillin to take home with her.  You could tell she started feeling a lot better a few minutes later.

I finished out the afternoon helping with prophy and taking pictures and videos.  At the end while cleaning up, I helped Josh with sterilization.  It took a while to sterilize everything but we managed to get most of it done and in bags.  The rest we would just finish at Joyce's house.

We grabbed all of the unused supplies and put them in their designated suitcases, threw away a lot of garbage and biohazard materials.  We had to wait a bit for the trucks to arrive so a few of us got together and played some cards.

The trucks pulled up and we piled all the supplies in the back and stuffed ourselves inside.  On the way back down to Cotacachi, our driver noticed we were trying to get a picture of the sunset so he pulled over for us and let us out for a few minutes while we took our pictures.  It was very nice of him to do that.

We got back to Joyce's house and unloaded all of the luggage.  I probably made the back and forth trip at least four times.  I got sweaty.  Everyone got ready to go out to dinner and again, mom and I just decided to stay behind.  We really didn't want to spend the money and we had a large lunch around 1ish today.  We just ate our snacks we brought with us.  I got a shower and before everyone left the house I got their work clothes so we could get those clean for tomorrow's clinic.

While those washed and dried, mom and I found the Oregon Ducks game against Wisconsin and watched that while we did some Facebooking, posting pictures and talking to people back at home.  The Ducks beat Wisconsin to move onto the next round of the NCAA tournament.  Everyone got back and we started getting ready for bed.  Mom and I unstacked our mattresses and made up our beds in the dining room area.  I got my teeth brushed, my phone plugged in and of course, my ear plugs.  No one has time for snoring.

Next Adventure:  Third Clinic:  Cotacachi, El Baton, La Calera