My Fulbright Scholar

Josh received news last week that he has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to work in Ecuador! This is quite an honor for him to receive and I'm so proud of him! But it also means our life has the potential to change quite dramatically this fall. First, here's a little info on what the Fulbright Scholar program is (http://www.cies.org/about_fulb.htm):

"Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception, approximately 279,500 participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential—with the opportunity to exchange ideas and to contribute to finding solutions to shared issues."

About 800 people from the U.S. are selected to go abroad each year. As part of the application for the Fulbright Grant, Josh had to find, develop, and propose his own project to work on in the country of his choice. After spending a couple weeks in Central America two summers ago, Josh had met people that led to a contact at a health center in rural Ecuador. They desperately wanted volunteers, and Josh has had the desire to work in a rural setting in Central or South America for as long as I've known him, so this was the perfect project for him.

The specific place of this health center is in northwestern Ecuador, in the community of La Y de La Laguna, in the region of El Paramo. This place is so rural that it's not really even on any maps or internet searches! (The closest town you can see on a map is Rosa Zarate, also known as Quininde, in case some of you wanted to look it up.) Foundation Human Nature is the organization that coordinates all the projects and volunteers at this location. Their website gives a pretty good description of what goes on at this health center: http://fhnusa.org/

So....Josh has been accepted and we're excited, but the timing of things isn't the most convenient with a baby on the way in August! The beginning of September is when he's supposed to start. If we go, Josh would definitely have his start time pushed back a few weeks and I would go to Ecuador even later. Ok, I know that obviously we are crazy people for even thinking this would all be possible with a newborn in the first place!!! And I know most people wouldn't even consider it. But I guess I married a guy who isn't like most people, and I guess I can consider myself somewhat adventurous. Josh wants to do this so badly, and I've been the one being very cautious and hesitant but trying to be supportive of him at the same time. Before we knew he was accepted we got to the point where we avoided discussing the situation because it often turned into disagreements and arguments. But now that we need to make a decision we have to discuss it. We've obviously thought of all the pros and cons, and there are plenty on both sides.

It would be the adventure of a lifetime, we'd be living in a beautiful country, we'd be surrounded by great people, Josh would get to do medical care, he'd get to use his Spanish, it would give him so many opportunities and it has the potential to open so many doors, it's give him a needed break from medical school (he'd finish his last year of med school once we've returned), we'd get to travel to the surrounding countries and see lots of South America, I might learn a little Spanish. But we'd also be without so many luxuries and conveniences, we'd be far from family, we'd only have a small space to live in, transportation would be difficult, we'd be without or far from hospital access, we'd be living in a malaria zone, we'd have to boil all our water before drinking it, living in a "hut" (as I call it) in the jungle isn't an ideal place to raise a baby, I'd have to adjust to motherhood in a foreign country without friends and family around. Both lists go on and on.

We've been talking with people who have volunteered and who are currently volunteering there to get a better idea of what it would be like, what our options are, and how feasible it all really will be. They know we have a baby coming, and Josh proposed the idea of perhaps spending some time in an area that's not quite so rural. They mentioned that we could spend part, maybe even half, of our time in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. It's large with over 2 million people, and has all the modern conveniences of a large city. We'd even be able to live in a nice apartment (with a dishwasher perhaps!!). I, of course, love this option! It makes going to Ecuador with a baby seem sooo much more possible, and more exciting. Josh would still end up doing some time in the rural village, hopefully we'd be able to manage ok.

At this point us moving to Ecuador is probably 90 to 95% certain. The other 5-10% is dependent on me giving the final go ahead. So, wish us lots of luck! Here are some pictures of where we'd be. I took them from the blog of a girl who is currently living there, working on her PhD. (There's a link on the side of my blog if anyone wants to see more pictures of Ecuador.)

This is the health center.

It serves La Y de la Laguna, plus several smaller surrounding communities/villages.

The brand new volunteer house, still under construction. This is where we'd likely live. The bottom floor is an open area with kitchen and bathroom. The top has seven bedrooms.

The bottom floor of the volunteer house, completed.

A view of the village. Once seeing this you realize that the new volunteer house is actually quite nice.

The view from the volunteer house. Pretty!

We'd get to see gorgeous sunsets!

I'm sure we'd also get to see lots of waterfalls like this.

This is Quito. It looks like a beautiful city. It's surrounded by tall mountains, even active volcanoes!