Promises

"No se vaya!" 4-year old Jori latches onto my leg, making his irresistible puppy dog face. I turn to his positive deviant mother, Paola, and notice her eyes swelling up a little.

We have a little over a month left, and our Ecuadorian families are already beginning to worry about missing us after our departure, and vice versa. I don't think it has settled in how fast the next month will come by... and just how much I am going to miss Ecuador and the numerous friends we have made along the way.

I made a promise to Paola, and my other hijitas y abuelitas, that I will one day come back and give them free health services once I am actually qualified to do so (that is, on a professional level). So now you have it. It's posted. And I am not one to go back on my word.

Nos vemos :)


Jori being a ferocious tiger



Paola, fellow PD Holly, and Jori

Papa and Margaret made it!

My dad and my lil sister (who is now taller than me FML) have made it past customs!!!!!!!! That in itself is worth a blog entry.

And they brought an entire suitcase full of goodies.

Goodies = Sour patch kids, swedish fish, Dove dark chocolate, hot chocolate mix, hot and regular cheetohs, cheese-itz, honey nut cheerios, cinnamon toast crunch, garden salsa and french onion sun chips, goldfish...to name a few

First thing my dad does when he gets into our itty-bitty hostal? Takes out a yellow, red, and blue (Ecuadorian colors) horn from his suitcase, honks it about 3x in my ear. Then tells me (well, more like shouts at me) that he's ready for the soccer game we're going to next Wed. I think my ear drums are temporarily impaired.

Love you family.

No...no puede quedarse embarazada si esta encima del hombre durante el sexo...

This past Sunday, 5/31, MPI had its first joint health fair slash 2nd annual *marathon with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health. And it was, to say the least, extremely successful.

With the help of two summer volunteers, Perry and Priya, hundreds upon hundreds of Ecuadorian men, women, and young *marathon runners now know how to correctly put on a condom (apparently, many Ecuadorian women are taught how to put condoms on with their mouth so they can put them on discreetly without their male partners' objections); how to pin various artificial contraceptives on the correct anatomical region; how to utilize a string of beads as a standard method of birth control; how and where to insert an intrauterine device; the relationship between cervical mucus and fertility, and also the fact that you are just as likely to get pregnant if you're on top relative to your male partner than if you're on the bottom.

Public reception was incredibly warm and positive, which made us feel accepted and welcomed. People were actually interested in what we had to say and offer (granted we did give out **free t-shirts thanks to Jens and Healthechildren as well as Cycle Beads). I'm very thankful to the MoH for trusting us with our own tent, giving us the freedom to whatever we wanted with it, and letting us participate in their grand parade. All the hard work was well worth it in the end :)

*kids ages 6-11 racing in a 4k "marathon"
**IF they answer their question correctly



Perry, Holly and I proudly representing MPI and Healthechildren at the MoH parade



"Choose a question. You will receive a free t-shirt if answered correctly. Good luck!"



Our Family Planning (by Perry and Priya) + MPI posters (by Holly)



Our tent was PACKED the entire duration of the health fair



We were pretty popular, relatively speaking



"Yes, your pene has to be erect when you take off the condom."



Me with some of my favorite MoH staff


Proudly marching in the parade



Perry is quite the crowd pleaser :)