Hi again,
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, there is no signal from where we stayed this weekend in Maderos.
With some of the money for our trip that otherwise would have been spent on hotel accommodations for our team, we have been able to erect a missions structure in Maderos, Ecuador for a missions base to do many things. It will host missions teams to work in this area, it will be a missionary home, it will be a training center, and it may well be a refuge and orphanage in the long run.
Our group of dentists (five Ecuadorians and two Americans), nine students and three Hope sponsors along with Pastor Alejandro Mejia and his son Santiago went there this week to set up dental clinics for the people of Sardinas and Maderos. The rest of the team is still there, but Terry Heisey, our high school principal, and myself drove back to el Coca and then flew back to Quito. He needed to return to the USA and I needed to be the sponsor of the Quito team for this second week of ministry.
What we saw in this region was really humbling. One of the big priorities in setting up this mission house is to have a home base for evangelizing the Indigenous Quichuas of this region (Sardinas). So the first dental clinic we set up in the Sardinas school on Friday morning. Although Alejandro had coordinated with the leaders of the community to announce this clinic, very few people were there in the beginning. We had to send runners out to tell the people that we had come and by the end of the day, we had treated 40 people in the clinic. It was at times interesting, at times very fun, at times heart breaking, and always amazing how God works. Dr. Cloud pulled lots and lots of teeth that were rotted back to the gums, literally no tooth protruding but painful and infected abscesses where the partial root of the tooth remained. Some of the children were terrified, but in the end they were glad to have the pain in their mouths taken care of. Some of the older people had to have two translators, English to Spanish to Quichua to Spanish to English. It was really incredible.
At one point I listened to a conversation between Alejandro and one of the leaders of the community. Alejandro and he were discussing why not many people were there at the beginning of the day. The leader insisted that Alejandro had told him a different date. But Alejandro very firmly told him that no, the problem was that when he was trying to arrange the clinic last week, every last one of the community leaders and all of the teachers were drunk. They had been drinking fermented yucca root called chicha which these people drink every day. Alejandro asked the man if that is what he wanted the children of the community to learn, to finish every day drinking until they pass out. The man honestly confessed that he did not want that for his children. Alejandro explained to him that it would take courage and self discipline, but that he himself could lead a different lifestyle and teach a different way to his children. He explained that we want to help him do just that. The man was quite humble and apologetic for the mix up. In spite of that and of a very low current of electricity to work the dental equipment, they day was really amazing. One boy came in with a badly infected ingrown toenail. We brought Dr. Cloud out to see it and he said that if it is not treated soon, the boy would lose his big toe, and possibly his foot. So the boy agreed to let him remove the toenail. Dr. Cloud removed all of the putrid yuck from the boy's toe and gave him explicit instructions for how to care for it and gave him a round of antibiotics. I have a strong feeling that he saved this boy's life. He said that he is now a dental podiatrist:) These people do not have medical care. The closest government clinic is two and a half hours away. They just deal with sickness and death. We saw several children with fever and dehydration, and they explained to us that this is the "flu" and that they lose some children every year to this disease. All of the doctors were doing everything they could, and Alejandro was making a pharmaceutical run to el Coca to bring back much needed medicines.
It was very interesting learning more about this indigenous group. You can look around and see that they have orange trees and coconut, and mandarine, and banana, and so you would think that just from the natural resources, that this would be a thriving healthy people. But that is not the case. The don't go out and gather the nutritious foods, they use the yucca root that grows close to their homes and live almost exclusively on that. We saw all kinds of skin diseases and swollen, parasite infested tummies. You could see the nits of lice in the children's hair. It is almost incomprehensible why with so many natural resources this people would live so poor. One of the Ecuadorian dentist explained to me that that is how they have lived for generations, and with no motivation, they just keep on living in this same unhealthy rut. Even the children live on the chicha and have a hard time concentrating because of it. At one point I had a boy of about 12 years who needed to have two teeth pulled. As the registrar brought him back to Dr. Cloud's station where I was the translator, she told us that he had to have numbers 37 and 46 removed. I told him to remember 37 and 46. Then I asked him what numbers, and he could not tell me. I told him again and made him repeat it, but then he still could not remember just a few seconds after. He did not look retarded, but his mind was definitely impaired. It struck me that these people are in a death trap. How can they possibly live any differently, they cannot even concentrate for long enough to remember two numbers.
I saw other disturbing things, but the rest will have to wait for another night. I am headed to the airport to pick up Kasey Floyd who is flying in to be with me and the rest of the Quito group this week.
Everyone is having a very blessed time and we are learning so much. Please continue praying for the teams as we are all very busy with work and ministry.
May God bless you all richly,
Julia
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