How to Build a Road in Ecuador

1. Dig up the whole 12 km at once and make as much mess as possible.
2. Watch the buses and trucks slide off the road into the ditch, as the road becomes awash with mud. 
3. Make all the houses built along the road suffer months of choking dust coming into their houses, while the road is unmade.
4. Pile up stones in the entrances to people´s houses, with no prior warning, making access impossible repeatedly for days on end.  (Our friend had to hire a lorry for a week as he was unable to get his out of his gate to do his normal business! No refund for that expense!)
5. Break the water pipes as many times as possible, leaving the villagers without running water day after day after day....
6. Make access to our farm impossible for normal cars... we are glad we have a 4x4 at the moment!
7. Put clueless men in the road with Stop/Go signs to direct the traffic.
8. Put guards on the machinery at night who do not have any way of defending themselves against the armed robbers who then tie them up and steal equipment.
9.  Work day and night, banging relentlessly with dumper trucks, driving the local residents slightly potty from insomnia.
10. Make local traffic drive right under the swinging diggers... I have been certain I was about to be hit on more than one occasion...

... and it isn´t due to be finished for another year....  

A Supply Problem

I was puzzled when I went to the supermarket a couple of months ago and found the shelves bare.  Some products, such as washing powder, only had one or two brands available, instead of the usual ten.  Other products such as soya cooking oil or liquid for sterilising fruit and vegetables, had disappeared altogether.  Aromatic Colombian coffee and mouthwatering European chocolates were prohibitively expensive.    

It was an inconvenience, but not the end of the world.  I had to buy sunflower oil instead, and am scrubbing the fruit well in plain old water in my attempt to avoid eating worm eggs.    

It turns out it is a result of the new government policy that all products have to be made in Ecuador.  The aim is to help the economy.  The problem is imports have been made all but impossible through red tape before Ecuadorean replacement products are being produced. 

More worryingly the same has happened with medicine.  For several months there was no low dose aspirin available.  This is a cheap, effective drug for reducing stroke and heart disease and maintaining the circulation an preventing gangrene in the feet of my diabetic patients for example.  Thankfully this now appears to be being produced in Ecuador.  My arthritis patients are not faring so well, as the supply of cheap and easily monitored methotrexate has also dried up and no alternatives are available.  Likewise a cheap, effective drug for nerve pain, also common in diabetic patients, has vanished from pharmacies here.  Alternatives are outside the budget of my patients.

I hope essential medicine supply is made a priority.  

Patient with Arthritis

 

For the beauty of the earth

This morning I woke and listened to John Rutter´s For the Beauty of the Earth.  What an inspiration to worship as I went about my Saturday morning.  

"For the beauty of the earth
For the beauty of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies Lord of all to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise"

I stepped outside my door to go and feed the baby tilapia fish in the pond and spotted the magnificent cascading yellow orchid hanging from the tree.  The red and yellow trumpets of the neighbouring plant announced the beauty of God and the rainbow coloured butterflies fluttering in the wild flowers whispered His kindness.  

Above and around me the hummingbirds reflected His glory and the tiny yellow canaries flocking to the bird table churped His praise.  I was surrounded by evidence of His love and joyful hymns of praise.  

"For the joy of human love
Brother, sister, parent, child
Friends on earth and friends above
For all gentle thoughts and mild
Lord of all to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise" 

Returning to the house I spoke to my Mum and then my Sister on skype.  These (along with the rest of my family) are the people I can share everything and anything with.  These are the people who laugh with me, cry with me and are always there for me no matter what.  These are the people who give me the amazing, wonderful gift of human love.  I thought of friends near and far, friends on earth and friends above.  I thought of those who have been kind to me, those who have whispered words of comfort, and those who have shouted words of encouragement.  They are the people who nourish my soul, who keep me looking onwards and upwards.  Because of them I lifted my joyful hymn of praise and gave thanks. 

A Simple Kindness

Daniela´s Mum brought tears to my eyes today... tears of happiness.  Daniela is nine years old.  She has been sponsored so that she can attend primary school for 3 years now.  This year she came top of her year.  I was delighted to reward her with a holiday grant so that she could do an extra-curricular course of her choice.  Daniela immediately chose swimming.   It is her passion, but she has never had any formal classes. She has simply learnt splashing about in the river. 

Today Daniela´s Mum came with the receipts of the cost of the course, swimming costume, goggles and bus fares.  After completing these formalities she laid her hand on my arm and leant forward. 

"Doctorita, Thank you so much for giving us this gift.  It has truly been an inspiration to us to see what Daniela is capable of doing.  She has had such fun these holidays.  She has made new friends, enjoyed a new challenge and been brought out of herself.  I have enjoyed taking her on the bus each day, watching her swimming, and taking her home.  The experience has given us wonderful one-to-one time.  Our relationship is so much stronger, and I am so grateful." 

As the tears of gratitude welled in Daniela´s Mum´s eyes, they did in mine too.  It was such a simple idea - such a simple kindness to a talented and lively young girl.  I never dreamed it would have such a positive impact and outcome. 

So go on - do  someone a kindness today.  You never know where it might lead. 

School Holidays

School holidays have begun here in Santo Domingo.  The old school year has finished and the new one is set to begin in May.  The weeks of relaxation stretch out as the torrential rainy season storms do their worst and children play in the muddy puddles.  Time passes slowly as the children play carefree with their neighbours.  

At least that is how the holidays will appear to some children.  Others have failed to pass their end of year exams, so they have to continue attending classes for another month.  They have to go one hour a day for each subject they have failed in for revision.  At the end of the month they will face retakes, as they are given another opportunity to increase their grades.  If they fail they will have to retake the whole school year. 

Other children do not have the luxury of play.  They are needed by their families to help with the work to put food on the table.  Marcos is ten years old and a little scrap of a boy.  These school holidays will resemble his weekends and previous holidays, seeing him helping his father to pack bananas ready for transportation.  Marcos has five younger brothers and sisters.  His mother is mentally unwell.  His father is in his seventies.  Marcos has to help earn money so that there is food for the family to eat. 

This year ten of the sponsored children look forward to the holidays with great excitement.  These ten have won participation in a course of their choice during the vacations.  When told of their prize all ten immediately knew what they would like to learn.  They had just never had the opportunity to pursue any extra-curricular activities before.  I like to think of them catching the bus to their keyboard, swimming, dance, first-aid and hair dressing classes, imagining their delight.  I cannot wait to hear them recount their experiences. 

Carneval

The last four days have been full of water and foam splashing around in all directions.  This is Carneval Santo Domingo, Ecuador style.  My daughters seem to be permanently soaked and covered in foam.  They are a menance with the foam cans.  The rivers are full to over flowing with people enjoying water fights.  We cannot get out along our road because of the queues of traffic coming out our way to the rivers.  It is happy mayhem. 

The festival originates in pagan festivals to pagan gods, but was renamed Carneval in the time of the Spanish Conquistadores, meaning "No more meat".  It was a time to enjoy all excesses before the lent fast.  Today Carneval is a time for families to have fun.  Tomorrow the Catholics will celebrate Ash Wednesday then life will continue as usual. 

In other parts of Ecuador there are brightly  coloured parades with traditional dancing, flowers and fruit displays.  Many people head to  the beaches to play in the sea.  Families gather buckets and hose pipes and stand outside their houses spraying the passing cars with water.  Water balloons may catch you unawares. 

Ecuadoreans are amazed when I tell them we do not celebrate Carneval in Britain, until they think a little and imagine everything covered in snow.  Water fights in the cold would not work so well.  In the interests of cultural exchange I am contemplating cooking the extended family some pancakes for tea.  (They are at present all getting wet in the river.)  I wonder what they will make of crepes a la lemon and sugar.  I fear it may seem a little tame in the face of the local exuberance.    

Just a Typical Morning

It was a typical morning in Santo Domingo.  I drove to the car park without incident and walked to the Notary Office.  This was now my third attempt to obtain a document for my daughters.  The first time they took copies of their ID cards.  The second time they said they needed their birth certificates (plainly ridiculous as the ID cards are produced from the birth certificates).  This  time they wanted a certificate I do not owe the country money.  In the end I managed to obtain the document I needed.  

Next job was doing a test about dengue.  This is obligatory this year in the long process of renewing the annual health centre permit.  I did the test but will have to go back  another day to get the result as there was no one around qualified to mark a multiple choice test (!!)

The queue in the bank was out the door, but thankfully moved fairly quickly, so I thought I was still going to get home in good time for lunch, when I discovered a car had parked in the car park blocking me and the journalist next to me in.  We had to sit and wait until the owner returned.  There was simply no way out until then, no matter how much we protested to the car park attendent.  

Now running late, I was none the less driving carefully through the busy town traffic when I heard a sickening thud next to me.  I was horrified to see the yellow taxi in the lane next to me had knocked down a middle aged woman.  As the traffic ground to a halt the woman stood up apparantly unharmed and stumbled off into the crowds.  As I glimpsed her face and manner it was obviously she had learning difficulties.  Shaken, but relieved no harm seemed to have been done I continued home, driving past the local schizophrenic man who lurched towards me wildly gesticulating to thin air.  

Our farm seemed pleasantly calm after the chaotic morning, despite the gobbling turkey and clucking chickens.  That´s Santo Domingo for you!