Angie Szatkowski
From EcuadorWiki
Contents |
About Me
I am currently a junior at Alma College. I am working towards a major in Exercise and Health Science with a minor in Chemistry, following the pre-med track. After Alma I plan on attending medical school. I am involved in many things on campus including the Women's Soccer team. While in Ecuador I will be rooming with Erika Fitzgerald.
Why Did I Choose Ecuador?
Ever since my trip to Mexico I have loved everything about the Spanish culture. I love the music, the sights, the styles and the people. I have been waiting for a chance to experience the culture again and when I saw there was a spring term for Ecuador I jumped at the opportunity. Also, I took four years of Spanish in high school and I miss the language so this will give me the opportunity to expand my knowledge and hopefully become more confident in speaking. Another aspect that attracted me was, being a pre-med student, the observation week at the hospital. I am excited to observe and see how Ecuador's health system differs from the United States. And lastly, I wanted to travel.
Expectations
- Expand my knowledge of the Spanish language
- Learn the customs of the country
- Feel like part of the host family
- Become familiar with the Ecuadorian health system
- Make new friends
- Have fun!
Ecuadorian Health Care
To find out more about the health system in Ecuador see: Ecuadorian Health Care Facts
My Personal Project
What I would like to learn more about on this trip is Ecuador’s traditional alternative medicine. Specifically, I would like to look at certain herbs that are found there, in the Amazon, and what they are used for. My dad is a chiropractor as well as a holistic doctor and he buys a lot of herbal medicine from the Amazon Herb Company which has stations in South America. I would like to find out what kinds of herbs they use specifically from Ecuador. Hopefully I will get to talk to an alternative medicine doctor and ask him about herbal medicine and bioenergetics-- the energy that forms around fresh herbs/fruit.
Another thing that I would like to do is talk to a shaman. I would like to talk to him about his perception on death and dying. In America we think if someone has cancer it is the end of the world, but maybe the shaman has a different perspective on it. What would he do to help with cancer? Are there certain herbs or methods he uses to deal with it? I also would like to find out what other methods he uses for common diseases that we have in the states like atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, digestive problems, etc.
My project is going to turn out to be more of a paper, but I would like to include interviews and possibly pictures as well, maybe of a shaman ritual or certain herbs found in Ecuador or the Galapagos. It could possibly become a sort of portfolio with information and a scrapbook of pictures and interviews. I have searched the web and found one herb native to Ecuador that is used for numerous things. I found also that most people still use traditional medicine because of their distrust of formal medicine and lack of facilities in rural areas. So I would like to see just how prevalent alternative medicine still is in Ecuador. I think talking to an alternative medical doctor and a shaman would be extremely beneficial to expand my knowledge of Ecuadorian traditional medicine.
Travelog Day
Check out the travelog for updates from our trips, especially Saturday, May 12
