March 5 - 6, 2004

The school we went to was called Fundación Proyecto Salesiano Chicos de la Calle. Driving into the school, we passed by their houses, which were shacks, where pigs and dogs rummaged through filth and sewage. Their homes were inceredibly small, made of rotting wood and even had cardboard to cover places where the wood had completely rotted through. At night, when we were leaving, the streets were full of barefoot people, pigs, dogs, and roaring fires. The community also has a river that runs along the boundaries of the school and homes. This river is their main source of water and also serves as their garbage dump.

Our team joined with a few memeber of the Peace Corps. There were five, who helped us on the first day, and two on the second. Samantha, Christina, Teisha Smith-Harrison and Heather Brenelson were just a few to name. Their help was greatly appreciated.

We worked from 3:00pm- 8:00pm on Friday, and later stayed at Eliseo`s Hotel in Atacames. We had a late dinner along the beach at a pizza place. From the long day of both travelling, and working in Esmeraldas heat, we were all ready for bed! Saturday we started to work again at 8:45am and stopped at 2:15pm. After cleaning and packing up, we had lunch with our team remaining Peace Corps volunteers, said our goodbyes, and we once again were on the road. Our two dentists, Dr. Washington Zambrano and Dr. Fernando Zurita worked hard serving over 95 children and adults, with the help of assistants, Anita Zambrano, Keirly Morris, Maria Mercedes Vandenberg, Jaime Vandenberg, Jessica Butkovich, Hugo Cere and Mesias Celin. Our nurse, Jina Arevalo served 198 patients, primarily giving out anti-parasites and other medications. For all those who we were unable to see, we handed out 170 toothbrushes and toothpastes. Dr. Zurita also performed one surgery at the end of the day, on a young lady who had a tumour on the top of her outer ear.

Most of the children came to us with no parents present. We were told that most of the kids look after themselves. Violence is a common occurance, and it is not unusual to hear gunshots at all hours of the day. It was a wonderful experience for all those involved in this project. Our help was greatly needed , and it felt so good to do just that.