Good evening,

Many of you have heard the story of Dolly.  The third child Patti accepted, born in the jungle with microcephaly (just enough brain to stay alive), blind, unable to move, will never walk nor talk...but given to Patti so that her grandfather would not kill her.  Patti has given Dolly a home, weekly physical therapy, medical care when needed and most of all love.  Dolly is a living testimony to the heart and soul of Patti Sue, the director and driving force of Casa de Fe.  This summer Dolly captured the hearts of three Concordia students who worked at CDF for three months.  Patti showed them how Dolly responded to music by smiling...they raised money and bought Dolly wireless earphones and an iPod.  

It's February 29th and we've been making the most of our extra day of 2012. The day began a little too early for some thanks to an unidentified jungle virus. Don't worry--nothing too serious, but a few of our team members were not at 100% today.
After breakfast, some of us headed to Casa de Fe and others to the hospital for shadowing and painting the laundry room. A highlight of the time spent at Casa de Fe is BABY TIME!!! Every day for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, a select few get a break from construction on the school to spend some quality time with the youngest at Casa de Fe.

Today, Sarah bonded with Diego, a wiggly ball of energy on the brink of walking. His smile wins your heart, making leaving him crying in his crib at the end of baby time heartbreaking. For some of these children, baby time is the only opportunity to leave their cribs and get the one-on-one attention that babies need. Jen and her little buddy Jacob put on a few miles strolling along the sidewalk hand-in-hand. Wobbly steps, bubbles, and big smiles made baby time pass too quickly. The best part of baby time was watching blind and handicapped Rayana's face light up as Mike doted on her with songs and smiles.

God's strength and perseverance was especially needed today as a few of the sick team members would have benefitted from a day of rest, but instead powered through. Several loads of dirt were sifted, a road was leveled with sand, muddy trenches were filled, more school walls were covered with empaste, and the hospital laundry room was prepped for painting. Despite all the tasks we have accomplished, Bob continues to remind us that the most important part of this trip is experiencing God working among us and through us. Turi, Emily (Swanson), Sarah, and Jen

Today was the first day of shadowing for pre-medical students in Hospital Vozandes del Oriente!! First up…Kristen and Mike. Both are interested in surgery and were lucky for the opportunity to sit in on morning report which was all in Spanish, but one of the American doctors graciously translated. We also scrubbed in to watch two surgeries. The first surgery was repairing an indirect hernia, and the second was taking the screws and metal plate out of a woman's femur. It was such an amazing experience to be so close to the operating table and to interact with the surgical team while the surgery was taking place. Following the surgeries, we were able to shadow a family practice physician, Dr. Kappen, and see a few interesting cases. All in all we were super psyched about this experience and can't wait until we can do it ourselves!

Here is a picture of us all scrubbed up while in the OR.

Pre-operation…excited to start.

Here is the wonderful Swedish surgeon, Dr. Mattias, that let us watch his operations. He was eager to answer questions and explain what was going on.

This is the whole surgical team, except for the anesthesiologist.
Until next time,
Kristen Ohe and Mike Rose

It was another successful day at the Casa de Fe worksite. The photo on the far left is the school that we are working on. The middle is of a crew pulling nails this afternoon. The far right is the Multi-purpose house this afternoon when we were leaving. Morgan, Arlen, and I (Jocelyn) shoveled a huge pile of sand and rocks into wheelbarrows. It was a TON of sand, Morgan and I had to keep up with Arlen, he's a beast! The sand was brought into the fish pond so the kids will eventually be able to raise and eat tilapia. The others helped with the "impaste" (not sure how that's spelled?) in the rooms of the school house. It was a muggy day…Morgan and I may have gotten burnt (whoops sorry mom). Only a few wear watches but we all know when it's time for lunch because our stomachs are growling. Lunch is…soup, rice, beans, mystery meat, and dessert. Then ice cream. Everyday. We have been eating enough ice cream to make up for all of the hard work!

Stay tuned for more progress on the school house!

Hasta luega!

Jocelyn

Buenos Noches ("Bernes terdes")!

Yesterday we got to meet the kids of Casa de Fe for the first time. We each had a buddy to spend the afternoon with. They were so full of energy and love! It was touching to see how far the simple things can go with these wonderful children. It really sheds a new light on our priorities in life and relationships with one another. After spending time playing with the kids, we were able to take an adventurous hike through the JUNGLE, which was exciting and challenging. We got to put our outdoor skills to the ultimate test and swing on vines like Tarzan!

Today, we awoke to a delicious breakfast to get us ready and energized for the day. We headed out onto the rainy path to the orphanage to begin our first whole workday. Our team is helping build a schoolhouse for the kids of Casa de Fe so that there is more room for the kids and they can separate their living space from their classroom space. Currently, the kids live in a building that serves as a home, school, and therapy center. We broke into teams and performed various tasks including digging up bricks, sifting sand, making cement, plastering walls and ceilings, and having "baby time" with the children. The maestros were so patient and kind with us, and it was great to see how much time we were able to save them by being here for a short time. In the week that we are here, they said that we will be able to accomplish the same amount of work that would normally take them two months to complete. It's great to know that we are helping the kids of Casa de Fe by making this space more cost-effective and available for them sooner.

We enjoyed an Ecuadorian lunch at Alexander's Market and an Ecuadorian dinner at Abuelo's. Mike R., Emily S., Katie B., Jacob T., and Ross T. were the luckiest of the bunch and got a chance to enjoy a delicacy of Ecuador: FISH EYEBALLS. The verdict was that they were mostly tasteless and had an odd, mysterious crunch that caused most of them to fear any further munching and to swallow the eye whole. Afterwards we were able to experience Bob's favorite ice cream place, Micko's. It really was a treat and a half!

So far, Ecuador is treating us well! We are so blessed to have this experience and are already dreading the return home. We cannot wait to see what the rest of the week has in store for us!

Thanks for reading,
Katie B., Emily D., Brittany W., and Kristin W.