Strikes, Bikes, and Flights

The nation of Ecuador has been in a bit of a mess since Tuesday. I don't know too many details about it, but there are currently strikes in my city and much of the surrounding area. People have piled dirt, stones, tires, trees, and other things into the streets and have lit them on fire as road blocks. Currently, getting from here to Quito is basically impossible via car. Our town, Shell, is even separated from Puyo, the city about 5 miles away. I do know, though, that some of the nurses have been able to come here by bike.

The main effects we feel here are basically what you would expect from an isolated town. Although not everyone is participating in the strike, there are several places that are closed because the workers can't get to work. The schools are closed, and even the American school is closed due to safety. Here at the hospital, we're open, but we have very few patients coming in. The last few days have been quite slow. I'm a bit scared to find out how busy we'll be when the strike finally lets up.

From what I can gather, the main point of the strikes is over free trade talks with the United States. Many of the indigenous people (which are most of the people around where I am right now) don't want to see an agreement take place. Part of the problem, though, is that although the free trade talks were the initiation of the problems there have since been added many parts and addendums to their demands. You can find out some more information from http://www.cnn.com (in the World/Americas section) or at http://www.bbc.co.uk (in the Americas section).

For the most part, we're not overly concerned about our safety here. The strikes have generally not been violent, as far as we have heard, and especially not here in Shell. In Puyo, I guess, there was a little scuffle yesterday, but we're generally not that worried.

Please pray for Ecuador. There is a lot of uncertainty and restlessness right now. It is not necessarily likely that anything drastic will happen, but there is always that chance. Pray also for the missionaries down here, especially for the short term missionaries and missions trips. I know several people have trips back to the States or to other parts of the world, and they can't take them unless they can get to Quito. There might be the possibility of flying there but that is unlikely to happen unless a last resort. As far as we can tell, the strikes could be called off tomorrow, or they might go all the way into next week. We just don't have anything certain.

Generally, I'm still doing very well down here. Since we haven't had many patients, I haven't been able to help out or learn a ton this week, but I still have been able to do some. Thank you for your prayers!

Kevin