Alumni Spotlight: Bethan Ward

I have wanted to volunteer abroad for a number of years and was very pleased to find a project where I could come as a studying Occupational Therapist. Within my project in Quito, Ecuador I was able to provide general assistance in care for the children in the kindergarten, as well as directly using the skills I had gathered from my first year of university studies. I also choose the project as the kindergarten was connected to therapist facilities, including Occupational Therapists. Within the program I hoped to be able to provide assistance and support to the project, in addition to providing myself with a greater insight and understanding of healthcare provision in Ecuador. Aside from the program I also came hoping to broaden my understanding of different cultures, which I hoped would be more possible through staying with a host family and working within the community.

Outreach International was my program provider who I found to be extremely reliable and informative in making sure the program I had selected was best suited to me. I had researched and contacted a number of providers and projects before coming to Outreach. The process before departure involved me reading the information they had provided and contacting my host family. During this time I had two meetings over Skype with Outreach to discuss any questions I had. Collection from the airport, assisting my connection with my host family and informing the project was all conducted by Outreach.

My program was ABEI in Quito, Ecuador. I arrived with probably what is safe to say as no Spanish. I used my first week of Spanish lessons to cover basic sentences but found myself quickly learning key words like command words (e.g. eat, drink, here, share) as well as words that encourage the children (e.g. description of food as tasty, question words like where, how, how are you). Quite a few of the children were not speaking but it is important to still engage them in language and making sure non-verbal communication is highly used as well.

I alternated between being in the kindergarten of my project and in the OT department. Within the kindergarten I started at 8:30 where the children had breakfast, then there was an activity in their chairs still and then snacks, followed by either an activity or general play. At 12 there was a lunch and then the children were put to sleep or parents picked them up. I would usually finish around 1. As a volunteer I would assist in meal/food time by encouraging children to eat or guiding them and tidying afterwards. Within the activities I played a key part in engaging each child, as many needed one-on-one attention to engage. After snacks it was often left for me to choose how to engage each child and I worked to put some interventions in place over the month. Within the OT practice the OT would often see more than one child at a time which meant that often I would need to take over an intervention session. After the first few days I was also starting and finishing these sessions independently at times.

Going into any country there are risks but I was aware from information I had read online that Ecuador was extremely risky for personal theft. I have already gained from previous travel knowledge about keeping belongings safe and not having objects on show. My knowledge of this increased by discussing with Outreach prior to departure (such as what bag was common in Ecuador so that I wasn't using a rucksack which seems obviously touristy) and with my host on arrival who in their debriefing pointed out when or where I should take a taxi and how to avoid theft.

During my time in Quito, Ecuador I stayed with Monika (who was also my in-country coordinator) and her family. I would go as far to say that staying with a host family was the best part of the experience. I really got to know more about the culture and to immerse myself into their way of everyday life which was interesting and exciting. Monika also hosts other volunteers; meeting and discussing all sorts of topics with everyone I had met was also really interesting and insightful. It also allowed large groups of us to explore Quito and at weekends take trips to other areas of Ecuador. It seemed everyone wants to explore the country and it was a lot more fun being a large group of us.