Our rest and few days in Mindo changed dramatically…Susan, the owner of Caskaffesu, had mentioned that we couldn't stay there after 4 nights because a Miami-based medical mission, which Susan volunteered with every year, was coming to town and would be filling up hers and other local facilities. This group of about 100 medical and non-medical volunteers would see all the students of a local Catholic school and their families then anyone in the town and the neighbouring region over a 3-4 day period.

We thought, "Ah ha! Perhaps this is an opportunity to start the volunteer work that we wanted so much to be a part of our travels". So we offered ourselves up. From Thursday to Monday we were engaged in very long days as part of this most AMAZING team of volunteers. They are a group, founded by Amanda Gaeton Chin, that began by supporting students of this school to attend college in Ecuador. They combined with a Catholic medical mission to form Mindo Futures (http://www.mindofutures.org) and have been coming to Mindo for 5 years now.

Well, work we did! We set up, operated, and took down a huge pharmacy under the leadership of our fearless pharmacist named Mercy. We sorted medications, counted pills, filled prescriptions and were constantly challenged by language, lack of pharmaceutical knowledge, and doctor’s writing. However, our challenges were nothing compared to the lovely people who live in and around Mindo and have very limited and affordable access to medical care.

A big part of the mission included interacting with the school children including sharing some meals with them, watching presentations they prepared for us, offering art/soccer/dance camps for them and a final big field day with cotton candy, sports and even a bouncy castle.

Our final meal with the team was an emotional mix of celebration, gratitude and friendship. What
a treat is was to be of service and to be received with such open arms by the team and by the people of Mindo and area. We are so grateful for this experience and to Greg and Caleb who took us under their wings! We are motivated to find other ways in which we can contribute while travelling.

We will post more pictures of the mission later.