BYU College of Nursing has been going to Ecuador for Global & Population Health Nursing Clinical Practicum for almost 20 years. Professors Scott Summers, Jennifer Rigby, and Hiromi Tobe made the trip with 13 students this spring.
BYU students saw two faces of Ecuador, one in the more urban communities near the capital, Quito, and another in remote villages. They learned about healthcare in both environments and offered healthcare education to residents.
Several of the BYU students spoke Spanish, but even those who didn’t jumped right in and did their best. Dr. Tobe, a visiting professor from Japan, taught Ecuadorian children to fold origami and say a few words in Japanese!
The students took an extremely active role in leading medical training for skills like CPR, and they spent time teaching teenagers about reproductive health. Ecuador has a high rate of teen pregnancy, and nurses gave special training about managing healthy relationships, reproductive health, and more.
BYU students also served in an orphanage. They simply spent time with the children, playing games with them and letting them know they were seen.
Fourth-semester nursing student Sydney Goodman recalls blowing bubbles with one toddler who “had the whole world in her eyes.” Remembering how she laughed as they played together, Sydney said that “it was probably just a fun day for the kids, but it changed me.”
Throughout their work across these communities, the students were exposed to many different cultures. Catholicism was very common in the more urban areas, and the native Quechua culture shone through in smaller villages. As such, students got front-row seats to ancestral Quechua medicine.
“They had a leaf for everything,” said Dr. Rigby in reference to the vast array of medicinal herbs used by the Quechua people. In addition to physical remedies, they used several chants and symbolic rituals to heal the infirm.
Dr. Rigby noted that some things the BYU group observed clashed with what they’d been trained on. For instance, an infant that had the symptoms of an ear infection was treated by cultural healers who rubbed a shelled egg on them and “cleared them of bad air.”
At first, this didn’t sit well with some students. They wondered why the healers didn’t do something they thought would be more effective. However, as they pondered on it further, they considered the role that belief plays in medicine.
Did putting an egg on the infant heal them physically? Perhaps not. Nevertheless, students recognized the intrinsic value in the healer’s appeal to a higher power. Pondering the rituals in their own culture, they realized that even though people recognize God in different ways across the planet, He loves them all equally and unfailingly.
They embraced this Quechua culture more fully at a spring of water, where a cultural priest who served as their guide walked them through an ancient ritual. Each was given a candle and was encouraged to take time to meditate. They were also directed to light their candles later that night and say a prayer.
This practice carries special religious significance for the Quechua, connecting them with mother nature. While the BYU students may not have resonated with every practice or belief, learning to appreciate and understand them gave the group a more informed perspective and greater respect for the culture.
Spending time with people of diverse backgrounds taught Sydney one very important lesson: charity and service are not conditional on beliefs, rituals, or language.
“No matter what language you speak, everyone is entitled to kindness,” she stated.
BYU College of Nursing is continually working with communities in Ecuador, not just for the Global and Population Health Nursing Practicum, but on myriad projects such as prosthetic support for amputees. As faculty and students continue this multi-faceted partnership, the bridge between Provo and Ecuador will grow ever stronger.