Items

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  2021-11-03

  Oral History: Clare Acosta

  Through this oral history, Clare Acosta and I develop a conversation about both the Community Engagement office work and the program of Empower: Ecuador. The conversation was specifically focused on the before and after of COVID-19 and also what was learned from the process. It is a very deep conversation that I really enjoyed and know that Clare also did.
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  2021-08-14

  "Ways to Connect Despite Social Distance: Empower Ecuador"

  When being part of the program Empower: Ecuador at my school, we were preparing ourselves to travel to Guayaquil, Ecuador to be present with the families in the community. The families in the community were called our neighbors. Prior to traveling and meeting families in person, each person from the class was given a bookmark with a picture of a neighbor and a brief description of who they were. We were supposed to pray for the person selected and have him/her in our hearts until we meet them in person. Due to COVID-19, we were never able to meet these people whom we felt very close to and it was very sad. Therefore, we were tasked with the beautiful idea of writing letters to them about our prayers and best wishes for them in times of trouble. After a couple of months, I received a message through Messenger, and to my surprise, it was the person I wrote the letter to. She was thanking me for the letter and for how happy she felt when she received it. Also, she shared the desire to get to know me more through social media. It was a beautiful moment and proof of how we could connect with each other despite the social distance. To express this story I am sharing a screenshot of a conversation through Facebook (messenger) with a neighbor from Guayaquil, Ecuador. She is telling me that she received the letter I sent and how grateful she is for it.
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  2020-03-15

  Empower: Ecuador - Canceled (Personal Experience)

  I was part of the group of student that was preparing themselves emotionally, spiritually, and physically to go to Ecuador and be present with a community in Guayaquil. During this class and for the entire semester we were in retreats together, reading, journaling, and sharing our hearts with each other. We built a community and were deeply connected with the mission of the program and the desire to go to Ecuador and meet the neighbors. However, exactly a couple of days before traveling the lockdown happened, and the plans were canceled. We did not know that the world was going to change so suddenly and immediately. I clearly remember the meeting we had to announce that the trip was canceled and how most of us were filled with sadness and crying. Afterward, we kept being in connection to Ecuador with our prayers and writings. We even wrote some letters to our neighbors in Ecuador. So, this story is to reflects how we can be in connection and engagement with others even during times of depression and distance and how in specific this program had to adapt through COVID-19. To express the story I chose the screenshot of an Instagram post from the Community Engagement Office at St. Mary's University.
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  2020-03

  Riding the Covid Wave from Quito to Sydney

  The pandemic was declared as I was en route to Ecuador. I was trapped in a strict lockdown isolated from any other travellers. My book describes my reactions and rescue. As a doctor I was not surprised that a pandemic was occurring as I knew that epidemiologists always say it is not an if but rather a when.
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  2020-03-17

  2020 Pandemic

  I was exposed to the Coronavirus almost immediately after the initial outbreak. I was already feeling sick in the middle of March. I felt a constant throbbing in my throat, sometimes I would wake up to a burning feeling in my lungs and felt pressure as though someone was standing on top of my chest. The first two weeks straight, I went from freezing cold to burning hot every few minutes, accompanied by a constant throbbing headache. The most menial of tasks would cause shortness of breath and my heart to pump excessively. I honestly felt I was going to die. After about a month, my breathing became less labored. In three months, I felt I recovered enough to start exercising again. By exercise, I mean the ability to walk a few blocks without having the wind knocked out of me. I began checking in with my family and found out that I had lost over 30 family members in Ecuador. I also lost a coworker, who was one of the kindest people you could meet and who was loved by her students. The amount of horrible and depressing individual stories of my family dying are too much to repeat, so I will say if there was ever a living nightmare, it was experienced by them. If I could describe what living through hell is like, I would say that it is the last six months of my life. Americans, as a whole, could have done better. To the people who have pretended that nothing is wrong, you deserve everything that is coming to you and I have absolutely no pity.
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  2020-05-27

  Coronavirus pandemic exposes inequality in Ecuador's Guayaquil

  "Ecuador Indigenous community fears extinction from coronavirus (1:48)"
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  04/16/2020

  The Landscape of Emotion Series #3

  A graphic image combining screenshots of the news and direct quotes from my aunt facing the pandemic in Cuenca, Ecuador.
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  04/16/2020

  The Landscape of Emotion Series #2

  This graphic art image displays a combinination of some quotes from my aunt, Dora Cumanda León, about the things she worries about the most during the pandemic with images that she sent of her household in Cuenca, Ecuador.
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  2020-04-11

  Coronavirus en Perú: FAP utiliza drones para mayor control en la frontera con Ecuador

  De acuerdo con el Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas, se detectó 22 puntos de cruce ilegal, es por ello que se ha reforzado la seguridad y control de la frontera con el país vecino. Con el apoyo de drones que permitirán monitorear mejor las zonas con cámaras de alta resolución. Asimismo, se cuenta con la vigilancia de personal militar con su respectivo equipamiento, incluso los vehículos del Ejército son blindados con visión nocturna para enfatizar el resguardo durante la noche, cuando existe el mayor riesgo. Por otro, cabe indicar que la FAP sigue cooperando con el traslado de los implementos y equipos médicos para bioseguridad del personal de salud, Fuerzas Armadas y la Policía Nacional, además de distribuir las pruebas de descarte a las regiones del país.
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  2020-04-11

  Coronavirus en Perú: FAP utiliza drones para mayor control en la frontera con Ecuador

  De acuerdo con el Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas, se detectó 22 puntos de cruce ilegal, es por ello que se ha reforzado la seguridad y control de la frontera con el país vecino. Con el apoyo de drones que permitirán monitorear mejor las zonas con cámaras de alta resolución. Asimismo, se cuenta con la vigilancia de personal militar con su respectivo equipamiento, incluso los vehículos del Ejército son blindados con visión nocturna para enfatizar el resguardo durante la noche, cuando existe el mayor riesgo. Por otro, cabe indicar que la FAP sigue cooperando con el traslado de los implementos y equipos médicos para bioseguridad del personal de salud, Fuerzas Armadas y la Policía Nacional, además de distribuir las pruebas de descarte a las regiones del país.
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  04/02/2020

  |ECUATORIANOS PASAN COMO A SU CASA AL PERÚ. 👉¿DONDE ESTA EL GOBIERNO?

  Ecuatorianos están cruzando a pie la frontera de Peru por montones, se les puede observar por las calles de Zorritos, Mancora, Los Órganos, cuando ambos países por cuestiones de seguridad sanitaria decidieron cerrar sus fronteras.