Medical Plus Ecuador (Kaya Responsible Travel) - Ecuador

Final Report: Medical Plus, Kaya Responsible Travel – Ecuador

"It will be an unforgettable and once-in-a-lifetime experience." Those are the words that my Site Director in Ecuador, said to my virtual intern group before we each embarked on our different remote internships across the country. "But you are the only one with that power, you will make this experience what it is for you," she emphasized. I remember feeling both excited and nervous. I remember wondering how I would feel once my internship concluded. Eight weeks later, I know, and it can come down to these words: "it was an unforgettable and once-in-a-lifetime experience."

As I reflect on my time as a virtual intern, I have such gratitude for the opportunity to have this amazing experience. I was able to explore my interests in human rights and women's rights first-hand, learn so much about Ecuadorian culture and the humanitarian crisis happening in Venezuela, and grow as a person and discover more about the world around me. If you take anything from this final report, I want you to know how transformative this opportunity has been for me.

This summer, I had the opportunity to be a virtual intern at a local organization in Quito, Ecuador called Medical Plus, which I was connected to through the organization Kaya Responsible Travel. Medical Plus is a community medical center located in Quito, Ecuador, founded in 2020 to respond to the community's lack of public medical care and promote integral health, both physical and mental health. Although I did work closely with Medical Plus at the beginning of my internship, my primary role as a virtual intern was to help my program supervisor and mentor, Liliana, achieve her goal of creating an organization (or a community as we like to call it) for those who have recently migrated to Ecuador from Venezuela, with a focus on single mothers. Liliana, a native of Quito, identified the critical need for this type of organization. Currently, there is a large population of Venezuelan migrants in Ecuador because of the severe humanitarian emergency taking place in Venezuela, including chronic shortages of food and medicine and severe human rights violations. Liliana has witnessed firsthand the struggles individuals who have had to migrate to Ecuador face, including job insecurity, lack of health care, and discrimination. Together we created a community called Sis Help ("sis" comes from the word "sister") to provide individuals who have migrated from Venezuela to Ecuador with direct information, training, and services, as well as support in starting their own businesses. Helping to create and expand Sis Help, as well as providing support to our community members, was the focus of my internship.

My many experiences during my eight-week internship allowed me the opportunity to practice, improve, and expand my skills in many different areas. My Spanish skills were tested and improved upon, as I needed to communicate in Spanish with the women and men wanting to join our community. I also improved my communication skills, as I had to interact with local and foreign organizations on possible collaborations and opportunities to expand our community's mission. In addition, I discovered my social media and marketing skills by designing and formatting different online platforms, such as Facebook, to spread our community's message. I am particularly proud of how I developed digital design skills to create a logo, advertisements, and posts to spread Sis Help with the community. It made me realize how much I actually enjoy digital design and marketing, a field I know I would not have gotten to experience otherwise.

But at the end of the day, the core of my experience for me was not the skills I developed but the connections I was able to make. My friend asked me after my internship, "What was your favorite part?" I took some time to think about this because it is a good question and usually a hard one for me, but this time it was not. It was the people that made my internship so special for me. During my internship, I met some of the most inspiring people I have ever met. From my program supervisor, Liliana, who had such a passion for helping others and taking care of those in her community, to the incredible Venezuelan individuals I interacted with daily who, despite so many obstacles, never once let that define them. Their stories, passions, dedication, and strength inspired me every day throughout my internship and will continue to inspire me now since its conclusion. I was worried going into my virtual internship that being remote would mean I would not be able to form close relationships; however, I was very wrong.

This summer will always have a special place in my heart because of my internship with Medical Plus in Quito, Ecuador. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that has left me a different person than when I started. I look forward to visiting Sis Help in person sometime soon.