"The Counterpart"

Mi sitio en Ecuador!

From the begenning until Now

Miami May, 2015

Finally, a year after applying we found out that our country of service would be Ecuador. Time flies! It seems like just yesterday that we were in a hotel in Miami signing documents and getting detailed information about our new adventure: Peace Corps Ecuador. Forty-one strangers got together to become Omnibus 114. We spent our first three days living together at the Peace Corps training Center in Nayón. During our time there we found out where to find a good meal, where to play soccer, and even about each other's talents. 

Quito, August 2015

We were divided into two programs Community Health and Youth and Families. Justin was assigned Community Health, and he was trained in nutrition, hygiene, and sexual education. I was assigned Youth and Family, and I was trained on life skills for youth, preparing them for the professional world , and how to increase leadership, volunteerism and services learning among youth. 

In addition, for three months we received training in Ecuadorean culture, what to do in case we get sick, and how to be safe. Finally, on August 18, after being Peace Corps Trainees we finally finished the longest job interview of our lives. 

On that day thirty -seven of the original forty-one Peace Corps Trainees attended a swearing in ceremony at US Ambassador Nam's Quito home.It was then that thirty seven of us, aspiring to help the Ecuadorean people and educate our new communities on what it is to be from the United States and still a citizen of the world, started our paths to achieve those goals. It was then that we became Peace Corps Volunteers.

Officially Peace Corps Volunteer

Ecuador Peace Corps Director and Ambassador Nam 

Ecuador Peace Corps Director and Ambassador Nam

  

Youth and Family OMNI 114 

Community Health OMNI 114

   

Brianna, Julia, Jay, and Ambassador Nam

  

As Peace Corps Volunteers,  we all went on different paths begin an individual journey. Justin and I were assigned to live in Ibarra, Imbabura. Now I am working at  HIAS a nonprofit organization that helps refugees. Justin works in Otavalo, a city about 45 minutes away from Ibarra. He works with CEMOPLAF at one of their many clinics spread throughout Ecuador. Their focus is on sexual health and family planning. 

Volcan Imbabura and view of Ibarra. 

We are lucky enough to live in our own apartment, and it has become our first project on site together. We painted it, we bought a bed and a mattress, and we built a closet. We still have a lot of things to get done. But we are very excited about Ibarra and our new projects.

Nayon a place we call home!

Twelve weeks ago Justin and I, and 35 other Peace Corps trainees, arrived to a small town called NAYÓN to start our Peace Corps adventure. Before we got to Ecuador I couldn’t find anything about Nayón on the internet. It doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. The only thing we knew was that it is located about 20 minutes outside Quito, the capital city.

Now, we feel that Nayón is our home here in Ecuador. Everyone is very kind, they tell you good morning with a smile. The lady who sells fruits in a store near the park gave us a dozen bananas for free just so we could try them. They have beautiful flowers for sale everywhere you go in town.  We even have the opportunity to take part of the town festivities that included box cars races, live music, dancing, a beauty pageant, and an event where people throw oranges at each other. It is truly an amazing town.

Justin and I have an incredible host family. They have opened the doors of their house to us, and fed us amazing food. Our host mom even takes into consideration Justin’s gluten free diet. They took us to the middle of the world and the hot springs in Papallacta. They laugh with us, and at times they laugh at us. We couldn’t ask for a better place to spend our first months in a country we have never been to, in a country that we will spend the next two years of our lives.

 On top of everything we were so lucky to share the experiences of this new journey with 35 other amazing human beings that we can now call our Peace Corps family. We went from being strangers meeting for the first time in a hotel lobby in Miami to some of the closest friends we could ever imagine which cry, laugh and share amazing moments together in Ecuador. Now we are getting ready for our new adventure, to serve as a volunteers each one in a different part of Ecuador. Now we have to say good bye to all the wonderful people have grown close to, and it’s not as easy as we thought it was going to be. We heard that after training, everyone is ready to go to their site, however for OMIBUS114 it’s not the same. We got used to seeing each other every day, to having lunch, to working-out together, to playing soccer every Thursday, to watching a movie every Wednesday night, to running into each other on the street. We even got used to hearing about our stomach problems.

Nayón makes us feel good, safe. It is a place we can call home!

Here is a video my Spanish class and I put together about Nayón.

We sincerely hope you enjoy!