Serena Sharma

Something Old, Something New:

This past month has been a rollercoaster of emotions. We had our site-assignment day, swearing-in ceremony, and finally, I moved to my new home for the next two years (drum roll please…): the province of Morona Santiago in the southern Amazonian region of Ecuador!

The end of training was bittersweet. I was excited to finally learn where I was headed and who I’d be working with, but it was sad to leave the friends I’d made throughout training. They had become my home and my comfort in Quito, and I think we all relied on each other more than we realized. I was sad to leave my host family too, especially my little host brother, who I played with every evening. And of course, it was hard leaving the comfort of the Peace Corps staff who had held our hands through the whole process. It really felt like we were taking the training wheels off and being sent to roam free.

Our swearing-in ceremony was one of my favorite days here. It was the day we swore in as volunteers, promising to uphold the values of peace and friendship during our service — and, for some reason, also to defend the constitution and protect against all enemies foreign and domestic. But regardless of the actual ceremony, the air was filled with excitement and love. Everyone had a smile on their face, cherishing this last moment together. We frolicked through the botanical gardens, got amazing Mexican food, and all went to a café afterward, where we played cards, or whatever card game could accommodate 12 people, and took far too many pictures trying to hold on to the moment. I remember one of the other volunteers saying she didn’t want to go home, because that would mean it was over. I think we all felt it. So we stretched the day out as long as we could. In that moment, I felt like I’d made a family here, one I’ll cherish even now that we’re all scattered across the country.

I came home and had one last evening with my host family, filled with hugs and tears. I kicked a soccer ball around with Salva one last time until we were both exhausted. The last thing I wanted to do was pack, so of course I packed in a frenzy right before bed. We said our goodbyes, and the next morning, we all headed off to our sites. The drive to site felt final, like I was traveling to my new home forever, not just taking a trip. We arrived at midnight, exhausted from the day and the journey, and were welcomed with hugs from our new host families.

It’s been a month at my new site, and every day is a little different. Slowly but surely, I’m getting adjusted to life here. It’s strange to think that this is where I live now. I don’t have much of a structured schedule yet, but I’m hoping that improves with time.

My counterpart organization is the Red Cross, and I’m excited to work with them. They already have real projects underway, along with resources and expertise I can add to. So far, I’ve taught CPR to a handful of communities. In an odd way, being back around paramedics and first responders has felt like a throwback to when I was a fresh EMT at the fire station as a teenager. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I know I’m doing it. Before my first demonstration, one of the medics pulled me aside and told me not to use too many technical terms. He said to explain CPR in only broad, general strokes. I laughed and told him he had nothing to worry about, since I didn’t know any technical terms in Spanish anyway.

I was nervous going in. I hadn’t prepared at all, and only found out I’d be demonstrating on the car ride over. The medic I was with told me he’d step in if I felt uncomfortable at any point. I was only supposed to cover adult CPR, but by the end I’d gained enough confidence to demonstrate on a baby too. At a separate time, at a community fair, I did the whole thing, including signs and symptoms, compressions, and the AED. It was a good reminder that I could hold my own giving a talk in Spanish, especially on a topic I knew inside and out.

I want to focus a project on sexual and reproductive health education here in Morona Santiago, which has one of the highest rates of child and teenage pregnancy in Ecuador. It’s a delicate topic to raise here, which I think makes it even more important to. I’m not yet sure how I’ll bring the vision to life, but for now my job is to build a community diagnostic tool and report, so the community itself can help define what needs addressing most.

When I first brought up wanting to work on SRH with the Red Cross, they immediately recognized how important the topic was, and how much of a problem it is here. But after taking a beat, the conversation shifted to how to approach it in a culturally sensitive way. It’s an important topic, but it also needs to be well received, and that’s a delicate balance to strike. We’ve been talking it through a lot since, and we’ve landed on a couple of ideas, though we’re still working out the kinks.

I’ve learned that things move a little slower here, and I’m trying to take each day as it comes. The city I’m in is small enough that it feels like everyone knows everyone, and I’ve already been to more birthday parties than I can count. Zander and I took a weekend trip to Puyo, a bigger city further into the Amazon, where we hiked out to a 70-meter (about 230 ft) waterfall and visited a monkey sanctuary that protects Amazonian monkeys from trafficking. The monkeys were hilarious. They love climbing all over people, especially using them as bridges from tree to tree.

It’s only been a month, and I still have so much to learn. But I think for the first time, it’s starting to feel less like a site placement and more like a life. Slowly but surely, I am adapting to my new home here.