LOCAL MEDICAL TEAM TO HELP AMAZON BASIN KIDS.

Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - More than 20 local residents will join Los Angeles area physicians and nurses this week on a medical mission to Santa Clarita's sister city in Ecuador.

The team of 22 volunteers participating in the Santa Clarita Valley International Program will land Friday outside Tena, a city of 20,000 near the Amazon basin, to assist in a series of operations on cleft lips and palates of children from villages in the area.

``We are expecting to see a number of children from Tena and some of them from the indigenous regions,'' said Elena Galvez a management analyst and a board member of the Sister City program. ``This is our first sister-city mission trip. The doctors have all volunteered their time. The board members have all contributed to pay for the nurses, and all of the rest of us are going as volunteers.''

Planning for the trip, coordinated with Tena's government, ensured that the local hospital would be prepared for the team of physicians.

``One of the things that's exciting about this trip is that local doctors will be in the operating rooms, and they will be learning from the U.S. doctors how to do the procedure,'' Galvez said.

Without volunteer help, Galvez said, few Tena-area families would have the means to get the surgery for their children with cleft lips.

The area was chosen after a delegation from Santa Clarita visited there years ago.

Tena was once a colonial trading post in the Amazon, and it is now the commercial center and capital of the Napo Province. The city is located about five hours southeast of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and is surrounded by rain forest.

Tena is known for the lush forests and the rivers surrounding it. It attracts white-water enthusiasts for outstanding rafting and kayaking.

Galvez said the trip is both a medical mission and an opportunity to develop ties between Santa Clarita and Tena for future economic development.

``You hear about globalization and world neighbors, and this trip will open the eyes of our youth,'' Galvez said. ``We're also looking at sister cities in terms of economic development.''

The Santa Clarita Valley International Program is the local nonprofit sister city organization. Sariaya, in the Philippines, also is a sister city. The goal of the program is to create and maintain sister-city relationships for education, economic development and cultural awareness.

Susan Abram, [phone]

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com