| Dentalgram |
May 2002
|
Journey to the middle of the earth-
La Mitdad Del Mundo
By Ronald Fritz
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| Some of the members of the LLU dental team that traveled to Ecuador stand on two sides of the equator at the same time. A line painted near Quito marks the equator |
Excitement was running high as our group of nine students
and two faculty prepared to leave LLU for LAX. We arrived three hours
ahead of departure and with check in and security lines, barely made our
midnight flight southeastward to South America. With a stop in Guatamala
City and a plane change in San Jose (Costa Rica) we arrived at our destination,
the capital city of Quito, 10 hours later (13 hours later, less 3 hours
time change to Eastern Standard).
It is often thought that the center of the Western hemisphere and the
Americas is somewhere in Central America. Realizing that Ecuador is “equator”
in Spanish, we are reminded that this coastal country lies on the equator.
South of Quito 14 miles is a monument, La Mitad del Mundo, the half of
the world—the middle of the earth. We happened to be there during
the wettest and coldest part of the year. However, this did not dampen
out spirits.
Arrangements had been made by Dr. Gerardo Toledo, (LLUSD faculty and former
missionary), coordinating with ADRA and the Ecuadorian Union of Seventh-day
Adventists. We were assisted by the Ecuadorian Union, who provided airport
transfers and lodging in the guest rooms of the Union office not far from
the airport. Additional faculty support was provided by Ronald Fritz,
SD’72, MPH (LLUSD faculty and former missonary). Our goal was to
visit an orphanage on the outskirts of Quito to take care of dental needs
of 52 orphaned children. We also spent two more days in downtown Quito
at the Clinica Adventista, treating people of extreme need.
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| The volunteers spent two days providing dental care to children at Fundacion Alinambi (Good Way Foundation), an orphanage. They also saw children from a nearby town who attended school at Alinambi. After leaving the orphanage the team worked for two days in Clinica Adventista in downtown Quito |
After becoming aquainted with Union personnel we headed
for the orphange, Fundacion Alinambi (Good Way Foundation), to serve these
beautiful children for two days, and eliminate all dental problems in
their mouths. We also saw many of the children who attend classes at the
Alinami school from homes in the community of the surrounding area.
As we prepared to leave the children sang for us, gifts were exchanged,
and through tears (theirs and ours) they begged us not to leave. It was
a very difficult thing to get into our cars but we needed to move operations
to the Clinica Adventista in downtown Quito. We took our equipment and
set up temporary operatories before retiring that night.
The Clinica Adventista is organized as a policlinica (policlinic or multiclinic)
style practice, and 12 specialties are offered. Additionally they have
20 beds available for in-patient care, of which 10 are occupied at the
time of our visit.
The organization Asociacion Pro Defensa de La Mujer represents the needy
and defends their rights. The Clinica Adventista provided support these
two days in the form of the dental department operatory as well as extra
space to set up temporary operatories. I truly believe that during this
one time contact with these individuals, Christ’s love was reflected
to them in a special way by each student. The opportunity is wide open
and the need is tremendous. “In as much as you have done it unto
the least of these…, you have done it unto Me.”
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| Members of the Loma Linda team pose for a group photo. They traveled to South America to provide dental care in an orphanage and a clinic. |
One evening after working, we were invited for a tour of the radio station behind the clinica. A live, on-air interview of both faculty members preceeded.We were able to tell the reason for our work in Ecuador and about dental education at LLU. For Dr. Toledo this was quite natural as Spanish is his first language; however Dr. Fritz experienced several tense moments speaking in Spanish with the aid of a translator. They told of their experience at LLU and provided some encouraging words.
Author’s note: A special thanks to Dr. Toledo, who organized and arranged the trip and to the students who attended: Allen Job (D3), Heather Lauer (D3), Maggie Lam (D3), Kenneth Lam (D3), Kirk Larson (D3), Marlon Peter (D3), Jessica Buenjemia (D2), Linda Valleni (D2) and Andrea Lewis (D1)
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