Fundacion Charity Anywhere Ecuador

URCUQUI, MAY 21, 2005

We spent two days packing in preparation for our excursion to Urcuqui. Thanks to the patient help of Juan Zambrano we were able to decifer between the various dental instruments and the preperations for our trip were completed smoothly. The actual expedition began Saturday at 5:00 am. We drove three hours north to the beautiful farming village of Urcuqui. When we arrived at the church we found a group of children anxiously waiting for the clinic to begin. We set up all of our equipment and stopped shortly for breakfast. From Charity Anywhere we had two dentists, four dental students, two medical doctors, two interns, and several other volunteers. The CAF personnel were joined by a handful of local volunteers who helped in every way possible. Over the course of the day 137 people received dental care and 93 people received medical care.
We (the interns) were placed in charge of giving flouride to children ages five to fourteen. The kids were so cute and we had a great time trying to talk to them in spanish. We also made sure that the dental instruments were being sterilized quickly so that they would be ready when needed.
We were very touched at the willingness of so many people to give of their time to help out this amazing community. The local volunteers were so happy to be there and they tried so hard to make things run smoothly and to make sure that we were being taken care of.

Written by: Lisa Price and Deanna Strang

MANTA, MAY 26 - 29, 2005

Our Expedition to Manta was sponsored by the Armada del Ecuador (the Ecuadorian Navy). We left for Manta at 11:00 pm on Thursday May 26 in a small bus provided for us by the Navy. The road to Manta was long and very bumpy, but somehow we managed to get in at least a few hours of sleep. We arrived at the Manta Naval base at about 7:00 am and after a hearty breakfast we loaded back onto the bus and drove a short distance to Jaramijo, a small village on the coast. When we arrived there were hundreds of people waiting outside the school for us to begin the clinic. The people were so excited when we arrived. We got everything set up and began to take patients. We worked from 9:00 am to about 4:00. We did have a few technical difficulties due to lack of electricity, but thanks to the expertise of Mesias these problems were solved quickly. We saw 71 dental patients with 98 procedures performed, 163 medical patients, and 65 patients for the eye doctors.After we had finished with the clinic we had a few hours to relax on the beach before we were taken into Manta for dinner again provided by the Navy. We ate at a little restaurant located right on the beach complete with dancing and live entertainment. Although we (the interns) couldn´t understand most of the language, we still had a great time laughing along with everyone.
The next morning we woke up and after another hearty breakfast, we drove into Manta. Our clinic today was held at the Capitania del Puerto De Manta (the port authority). We worked outside in a patio, so we had a nice coastal breeze all day. Today we worked from 9:00 to 4:00 again, with a lunch break in between. Today we had 142 dental patients with 165 procedures performed, 194 Medical patients, and we gave out 93 pairs of glasses. All together over the two days of clinics we saw 570 patients.