Ecuador trip meant life lesson for local student

Corinna Lunsford – Mustangs Ahead

(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) – On Feb. 22 I boarded a plane headed to Quito, Ecuador. I had decided to travel across the country with Occupational Therapy Doctorate students for that groups level one field work.

Click here for more about this story from the author.

We provided services in many different places, including an adult disability center, a day care, and an outpatient center. We were associated with an organization based in Ecuador to get connected with all these locations.

One location that really had an impact on me was the daycare. We planned crafts that focused on the fine and gross motor skills of the children. One craft was a frog puppet out of a paper bag; this activity was early in the week and a turning point for me and my group.

To do this activity we needed to give directions, but since we couldn’t speak Spanish we had to try and explain it visually. Even with that boundary, the children were so excited to do anything new and foreign, and it was heartwarming. Their faces just light up and I saw some of the biggest smiles I have ever seen on kids’ faces. A smile is the same in all languages.

At times activities were not going as planned so we were forced to improvise. This was very testing to myself and the students I worked with. Despite the challenges, it was amazing to see the children were happy to participate and enjoyed our efforts.

Within the daycare there were different age groups and rooms. In the room with the younger children under 4 there was a very young girl age two who we had suspected had onset cerebral palsy. She was very neutral and unresponsive to any emotion. To see something like that and to know that there is not the care available to help her locally was very difficult to leave. The group I traveled with provides the limited care we can, but we are limited by time and resources. There was nothing more we could do to help her and that really touched my heart.

Communication was a very difficult challenge we had to overcome. Most of the people in our group had little to no Spanish speaking ability. The kids we were working with at the daycare spoke no English, but luckily the staff there were flexible and willing to cooperate with us.

Even though there were many hardships that arose it was still the one of the best experiences of my life. I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Ecuador and make memories I will never forget.

Stay updated on important LRHS news and share what you like by following our Twitter @LRHSNews1, Instagram @mustangs_ahead, and follow the Mustangs Ahead Podcast on iTunes or Soundcloud.