All Kinds of Busy

Here's an update of the last couple of weeks:

We've had summer volunteers here for about 3 weeks now. They've been helping with programs and have done some projects of their own. One exciting contribution is that we now have a reading club at the library. When kids read a book and do a mini book report, they earn a "piece" of an ice cream sundae. They put a construction paper banana or scoop of ice cream on the wall, and once they complete the sundae (8 pieces), they earn an ice cream. It's encouraged kids to read and take books home at the end of the day. They've also worked to improve our programs and have lesson planned for different classes.

On the weekends, the volunteers have done some traveling in this gorgeous country. Two weekends ago, I helped lead their trip to Banos. Banos is what we call a "transitional forest" (on the border between the rain forest and the cloud forest). There we mountain biked, rappelled through water falls, had massages, took a swim in thermal baths, and went 4-wheeling. It was an adventurous weekend, and I'm glad we got to make it to Banos before Tungarahua started erupting (Banos is at the base of a volcano that started erupting 2 days after we left).

Dr. Escobar, the doctor who I shadow on Tuesdays, has asked Krysta and I to attend a couple of the Diabetes Club meetings throughout the year. He has a club of a couple hundred diabetes patients that meets on Friday mornings to discuss different relavent topics, to get their glucose levels checked, and to meet as a support group. We just attended the (belated) Mother's Day Celebration. Dr. Escobar talked with me about the possibility of offering exercise classes for the club, and we are now in the process of setting that up. I think this is an awesome opportunity and I hope that these classes will be up and running before I leave.

Diabetes Club

Last Friday, our 6th graders at Alinambi gave interviews to local tiendas to ask about the nutritional value of what they sell and how that affects the health of the community. Some of them were shy, but for the most part, I was really impressed with their journalism skills.

They look thrilled, don't they