I'm originally from Kansas but grew up on a farm in mid-west Wisconsin, near a small town (population = 508! fewer people than lived in my freshman dormitory!). Such a small community can be both comforting and isolating (from opportunities, from people with more similar perspectives...). When I was younger, this sense of isolation from a larger world/community made me want to "get out" and experience "bigger and better things," but, as I've grown up a bit, my childhood community has shaped how I perceive and appreciate community. This idea of community has become an ever-present point of speculation recently, in classes and ideas of development and health...
Beginning in high school, I was passionate about Spanish and Latin culture. This obsession grew when I studied/lived in the Dominican Republic for a short two months (summer 2009)...I have missed the DR ever since. As I neared the end of my undergraduate career and anticipated graduating in December, I felt as though the time between graduation and grad school (fingers crossed!) would be a chance to do something. I felt as though I couldn't wander too far from my career goals, so the challenge was to find an opportunity where I could improve my Spanish--which has been rather dormant since the DR--and do something that would relate to and help focus my career goals. Which, by the way, are to work with infant and maternal nutrition programs in Latin America...I know, a bit vague. After spending three weeks in Ecuador in summer 2011 doing a community development project and some independent travel (with two other fine ladies), I realized I could do something like that alone...I was ready to embark on my own adventure.
Ecuador seemed like the right place...mostly because I knew a doctor at the UW Hospital and Clinics who established a hospital in PVM and had connections with my project adviser from summer 2011. AND because it's a beautiful country with so many possibilities for adventures. (AND my brother spent time in Ecuador, both studying for six months and traveling for three...so, you know, being the little sister, I always have to try to out-do him... <3).
Learn more about what I'm doing in Ecuador in the next tab...