(Sept. 3, 2014 - by Ruth Pike)  When nursing students Hannah Borsheim and Trisha Carr signed up for a summer internship in Shell, Ecuador, they were prepared for new experiences, but they never imagined they’d be helping teach computer classes in a remote jungle community.

In most of the 12 places they visited during their six-week placement in Ecuador, the two women took vital signs, observed doctors and taught personal hygiene, but one village had a rather different interest.

The jungle community of Suraka in eastern Ecuador’s Amazon region had recently been given a government grant for laptops, but the locals didn’t know how to use them. They asked if the team of interns and missionaries from Reach Beyond (formerly HCJB Global) could give lessons on how to use the computers, powered by solar panels.

“That’s not exactly what we had in mind when we came,” admitted Carr. “But this is a need that they have and we came here to serve them to the best of our abilities.”

At the beginning of the computer class, led by Reach Beyond’s Dr. Joe Martin, there were just six students. As the week went on, word spread to other communities, and by their final session they had 22 students.

“Each day more and more people came for the computer class, and each day more and more people were exposed to the gospel. It was an unexpected thing that was really cool to see,” said Carr.

In addition to the computer classes, the team delivered health education to the community. The interns used every spare moment to get to know the local people and play games with the children. In the evenings, after teaching sessions, the team held activities such as singing worship songs, praying, giving short talks and showing evangelistic videos.

“The reason it was successful from the interns’ perspective was due to their flexibility and willingness to adapt,” explained Martin, reflecting on the internship as a whole. “They were asked to do a lot in non-ideal circumstances and never missed a beat.”

On a recent return trip to one of the communities they had visited this summer, Martin said with a smile. “They didn’t ask how I was doing, just how the interns were doing.”

In addition to the nursing students, five engineering interns learned about Reach Beyond’s community development philosophy of letting the community set the pace of the project as they traveled to jungle communities to assist in building clean water systems during a 10-week placement in Ecuador.

“Sometimes we got everything done we planned on,” noted engineering intern Chris Damron. “And sometimes we only got a few things done.”

“You go in there and make sure that it’s the community’s project,” added intern Kevin Prol. “They have ownership over it.”

“You’re in this with them but you’re not over them,” chimed in Danielle Neighbour, another intern.

While their internship experience was at times challenging and unexpected, for nursing and engineering students alike it provided the opportunity to apply their studies in a mission context, building on their skills and learning more about missions.

Borsheim and Carr shadowed missionaries such as Dr. Martin and worked alongside Ecuadorian medical interns as they traveled to communities, venturing gradually deeper and deeper into the jungle. The first places they visited were accessible by road. The last could be reached only by plane or canoe.

The two nursing students noted that they met only a few believers, and those they did encounter appeared to have little support. Many people in the communities suffered from parasites and worms from drinking contaminated water and practicing poor hygiene. Many also suffered from muscular pain resulting from a physically demanding lifestyle.

As team members attended to people’s physical needs, they also sought to teach good hygiene while sharing their faith. Equally, they found that the people had much to teach them.

“I was really amazed how strong the community was and how strong the family ties were,” said Borsheim.

This was also something that also struck Neighbour: “One of the things I noticed most was how different community looks to them than it does to us and how intensely community-based they are,” she related.

For the engineering students, a particular highlight was visiting the jungle community of Washintza where they helped residents complete work on their new clean water system, installed with assistance from Reach Beyond.

“It was such a great experience,” said Emily Sotelo. “It was amazing and I came out of it different than I went in.”

“It was cool because we got to see the end of the project,” added Damron.

The students also enjoyed worshiping God alongside members of the community. “Just to know that I’m out in the middle of the jungle of Ecuador,” he said. “But I have brothers and sisters in Christ out here.”

As the summer program drew to an end, the interns said they sensed God speaking to them in different ways as they prepared to continue their education.

“It’s been a lot of fun here,” said engineering intern Sam Hodges. “Now that I’ve had a taste for what real missions is like, I feel even more strongly that this is something God has for me in the future.”

“I appreciate all the experiences I’ve gotten,” concluded Borsheim, “just being able to grow in my faith and just being with medical personnel.”

“It’s definitely impacted me for life,” summed up Carr.

Source: Reach Beyond