the joys of internet.... just within my grasp.

As many of you may not know the internet has been in the process of being fixed for the last 3 months that I have been here. Each week it will be fixed at the end of the week and at the beginning of each new week... I DON´T HAVE ACCESS! To make matters worse I have given the house computer numerous viruses trying to use my USB to transfer info!

However, Today a man came to check out the situation. After wandering around the neighborhood for a bit he informed us that our neighborhood was inaccessible. We would not have internet any time soon. However, on his way out he seemed to have spotted a potential problem, it seems as though somone build somthing RIGHT infront of the receiver and it blocked our access for 5 MONTHS!!

He´s going to call tomorrow with the final answer.

Back from a Project

I just have arrived home from a two-week project. The first week was in a beach town called Playas the second week was in the Galapagos on the Island of Santa Cruz. This project has probably been one of the best that I’ve been involved in. We had a team of 20 volunteers; one from Canada and the rest from the states and the team dynamics were great. Everyone got along really well together, which can seriously improve the quality of a clinic. We were actually separated in two groups, one at the hospital doing surgeries; we had 2 general surgeons and 2 surgical specialties, as well as an Ecuadorian surgical team that was volunteering with two Ecuadorian med students assisting on surgeries. The other group was running clinic in town.

For me there were a couple of really great perks to this project. First, we had a photojournalist volunteering, he works freelance with lots of newspaper experience, shooting for the New York Times and other large news agencies. We had some really great conversations, and I got a break from translating twice to be on full picture duty with him, which was extremely fun. Second, Matt and Emily my really good friends from home where volunteering on this project.

There are many more stories to come with this project, but I will have to fill them in one step at a time.

The President

On the way to the Milagro hospital to take pictures of the facilities and pick up supplies, we say Dale Correa the president of Ecuador who was in town.

September wrap up

September shaped up to be a busy month, as I was involved in the planning process for the October Playas/Galapagos project. I have been working with Jone Hernández on the coast of Ecuador, unlike other MMI nationals that I have worked with, MMI isn’t Jones fully time job, she and her husband have their own Architecture firm in Guayaquil. So, she runs her projects on a volunteer bases, will less time to donate to the projects. Working with her has been a really great experience for two reasons. First, she networks a huge amount with the community. MMI almost always works in collaboration with local churches; however, on Jones projects she finds creative ways to really pull the community into the project, in many different ways. Second, I get a lot more responsibility in project organization when I’m with Jone, so I learn a lot more about the in’s and out’s of being a project director, both pre and during clinic.

With that said, I have really been enjoying being a more involved part in project organization, which has gotten my wheels turning about the possibilities of being a project director some day.

Manabi Ecuador

July marked my move to Ecuador. I’m still doing the same things with MMI, just helping now with the projects in Ecuador instead of Peru. When I arrived I headed straight off to the Province of Manabi, which is on the Coast. Part of our team was surgical and the other part clinical. The surgical side stayed and worked out of an operating room in Portaviajo while the Clinic traveled to different cities each day. This project I translated for a doctor in the traveling clinic, which was something I didn’t know if I was quite ready for, but I think I managed all right.


In this specific part of Ecuador they have a very high number of clef-lip/clef-palette patients. In our time there we saw 19 patients with this condition and did 9 reconstructive surgeries. I was able to take photos in one surgery and I was completely blown away by the procedure. Our surgeon, Richard Topazian fixed the cleft lip, the surgery was about 1.5 hours. It was a process of cutting deeper into the lip and nose to firmly attach the skin. This patient in particular, 6month old Luis, had what is called a “full complete” meaning the lip is disconnected in two places. We preformed the first and less serious of 3 surgeries this Child will need to fully repair the defect. The first to correct the lip, second to repair the cleft pallet on the inside and third will be a series of plastic surgeries to reshape the mouth, as it still looks deformed after the first surgeries. The plastic surgery phases are something that usually will never be done.