WALKING ECUADOR
Since 2018, Colorado State University undergraduate students have spent a week each summer volunteering with a nonprofit in Quito, Ecuador, to build and deliver prostheses for locals who need new limbs.
By Christopher Outcalt | Photography by Brian Buss | Sept. 23, 2025
EVERYONE IN THE CONSULTATION ROOM WAS SMILING. It was a sunny morning in early June in Quito, the dense, sprawling capital of Ecuador, and Mason McClellan, a CSU senior in biomedical and mechanical engineering, had just presented his first patient of the day with a new right leg. McClellan had meticulously molded, measured, cut, and constructed the prosthesis on site during the previous three days. The device was for a woman in her early 20s, Johanna Llumiquinga, who lost her leg at the age of 3 when she and her mother were hit by a bus while crossing a street in downtown Quito. McClellan crouched on one knee and began to double-check the sizing, length, and fit. Throughout the process, Johanna’s smile grew wider. “I’m very emotional,” she said. “Very happy.”
Johanna had been lucky to receive a series of prostheses during her childhood. A single device can cost several thousand dollars, and the resources available to Ecuadorians for this kind of health care are limited. Whenever possible, the government prioritizes providing prostheses to younger individuals. Many people who need artificial limbs, particularly older residents, are forced to go without them. When Johanna turned 18, she was no longer eligible for a new device, and the one she had was deteriorating. The leg had become rickety and painful to wear, and would occasionally buckle without notice, causing Johanna to fall unexpectedly.
None of this – the accident, the challenges of adjusting to life with an artificial limb – had held Johanna back. As a kid, she realized whatever limitations she had in her lower body did not exist above her waist. She found joy in lifting weights, eventually entering and placing well in local and regional powerlifting competitions. Her goal is to represent Ecuador in the Paralympics, competing in the bench press.
It was at her local training gym in Quito – a welcoming place frequented by other para athletes – where Johanna first learned about the Range of Motion Project, or ROMP. Founded in 2005, ROMP provides high-quality prostheses at no cost to underserved populations across Ecuador, from big city centers to small villages in the far reaches of the Amazon. (ROMP also operates an office in Guatemala.) Johanna’s mother contacted the group, and in early June she and Johanna arrived at the ROMP headquarters in Quito for an appointment.
That same week, 11 CSU students and two employees traveled to Ecuador to volunteer at ROMP. The trip was an immersive, weeklong education abroad program, which the university’s Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering offers to CSU undergraduates. Students work alongside experienced local prosthetists and are closely involved in every aspect of providing patients like Johanna with new limbs – casting precise molds, building prostheses from scratch, fitting the devices, and guiding patients in learning to walk again. In many cases, ROMP patients are putting one foot in front of the other for the first time in months, even years. CSU was one of the first universities in the country to launch this kind of partnership with ROMP and is one of only two schools to send engineering students there each year.
McClellan heard about the program from a friend. The idea of working with prostheses appealed to him. He was raised in a family of tinkerers. His dad was a mechanic, and his grandfather was a woodworker. “I grew up with this mindset of really trying to understand how things work,” McClellan said. Yet, he wasn’t sure the trip to Quito was for him. As a first-generation college student, it had been difficult to picture himself pursuing higher education at all, let alone enrolling in a hands-on education abroad program in South America. But when McClellan mentioned it to his academic adviser, the adviser convinced him to sign up.
CSU students participating in the Summer 2025 trip to Quito, Ecuador, include, from left, Morgan Roscoe, Mason McClellan, Stephen Ritschard, Hannah Katzer, AJ Atkinson, Bella Oliver, Ceder Herring, Sreya Karumanchi, and Zach Rost. Not pictured: Ellie Koehler and Sean Bolon.
In the weeks leading up to the trip, McClellan felt a mix of fear and excitement. He was looking forward to the work, but he spoke very little Spanish and was concerned that having to communicate through translators might prevent him from learning and contributing as much as he otherwise could. Those concerns quickly faded. “I knew there was going to be some level of emotional connection between myself and the people I was working with,” McClellan said. “But it turned out to be a lot more than I had anticipated.”
On the morning he worked with Johanna, after making sure her prosthesis fit well, McClellan stood off to the side while one of the ROMP prosthetists, Mireya Moreno, talked Johanna through the mechanics of using her new device. “I want you to visualize kicking your leg out in front of you and bending it at the knee,” Moreno said. After a few wobbly attempts at walking across the room, holding onto a railing, Johanna started to get the hang of it.
“Gosh, that’s so impressive,” McClellan said, looking on. “I kind of want to ask her for her autograph now – before she makes the Olympics and is famous.”
Johanna Llumiquinga lost her leg when hit by a bus at the age of 3; she tests a new prosthesis, which replaces an artificial limb that often malfunctioned.
THE ROMP ECUADOR OFFICE IS ON A QUIET BLOCK on the outskirts of the La Floresta neighborhood in Quito, a lively art district dotted with cafes, restaurants, small convenience shops, an independent movie theater, and a film and acting school. Formerly a residential property, the converted building has a central waiting area, several consultation rooms, a powered wheelchair that can carry patients up the front steps, and a workshop out back fully equipped with the tools needed to build prostheses, everything from circular saws to power sanders.
Since its inception, ROMP has delivered nearly 6,000 prostheses. During the fiscal year ending in 2024, the group helped 449 people. Almost all of ROMP’s patients live below the poverty line, earning $6.85 a day or less. When it comes to health care data, there is very little information publicly available, making it difficult to determine the full scope of the problem facing amputees. A 2021 survey identified a broad category of 421,000 Ecuadorians living with disabilities but did not include information specific to amputations. Anecdotally, the need is significant. Traffic accidents, often involving motorcycles, are by far the leading cause of limb loss, according to ROMP; complications from severe diabetes are the second-leading cause.
ROMP staff are passionate about meeting the demand. The organization receives prosthetic parts almost entirely from the U.S. – lightly worn pieces recycled from clinics and other prosthesis users. ROMP also occasionally receives new pieces directly from commercial companies. There is a storage area at the ROMP building in Quito filled with metal legs and joints and plastic and carbon fiber feet sorted onto shelves by size, function, and quality so staff and volunteers can easily find what they’re looking for based on someone’s specific needs.
“We believe in a right to mobility and independence for all our patients,” said Sara Caizaluisa Córdova, project coordinator for ROMP Ecuador. “There is so much technology in the world. We’re taking people to Mars! It’s not acceptable that we’re leaving some people sitting in chairs thinking their life has ended at 40 years old because they’ve had an amputation.”
Left: Sean Bolon, a CSU student in neuroscience, helps place plaster strips on the amputated leg of a patient — the first step in creating a mold that will form a new prosthesis. Right: Ceder Herring, a CSU senior studying health and exercise science, perfects the mold for a prosthetic socket in the Range of Motion Project workshop.
Top: Sean Bolon, a CSU student in neuroscience, helps place plaster strips on the amputated leg of a patient — the first step in creating a mold that will form a new prosthesis. Bottom: Ceder Herring, a CSU senior studying health and exercise science, perfects the mold for a prosthetic socket in the Range of Motion Project workshop.
Each month, ROMP aims to deliver prostheses to about a dozen Ecuadorians. When the CSU students arrive, however, output skyrockets. “We’re able to double our monthly production in one week because of the help from our student volunteers,” Caizaluisa Córdova said.
The CSU partnership with ROMP started in 2018, born out of conversations with engineering undergraduates. While speaking with biomedical engineering students, Deb Misuraca, an academic adviser, noticed three things that came up often: Students felt they didn’t have time to go abroad during the semester; they craved real-world experience learning from professionals in the field; and they wanted to help people. Misuraca came across the ROMP website and began exploring a partnership. She worked with an instructor in the School of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Ellen Brennan-Pierce, as well as CSU International Programs, and eventually launched a class: Prosthetic Innovation in Ecuador.
“I’ve heard from several students who attended this program that it helped them determine whether biomedical engineering was the right path for them,” Misuraca said. “For those who found it was, the experience made all the hard work they were putting into their academics feel worthwhile – by allowing them to see the real-world impact of their efforts on people’s lives, while also gaining a deeper understanding of a new culture.”
Students frequently apply what they learn in Ecuador to their research and work back on campus, incorporating prostheses into design projects or shifting their thinking about what it means to be a successful engineer.
For example, McClellan realized the value of constructing something dependable as opposed to fancy – newfound thinking he plans to apply to his engineering work in the future. “You can have this really elaborate contraption, or you can have something that’s far more simple and more reliable and serves the same function,” McClellan said. “Those were the things people in Ecuador needed and used the most – something they could clean themselves and that they understood how it worked.” He added, “That’s something I’m bringing back, and I’m noticing I’m thinking about more and more.”
Caizaluisa Córdova has seen the impact of these trips on her end too. “For our patients, it’s very interesting to have someone come from abroad,” she said. “They get very deeply connected with our students. And we’ve also seen throughout the years, students get very deeply connected with the mission and our patients.”
Marlon Chinchin, who was awaiting a new prosthesis, works as a mechanic in Quito, Ecuador.
FOR MANY OF THE CSU STUDENTS WHO TRAVELED to Quito this summer, those deep connections formed quickly and produced countless heartfelt moments, a kind of weeklong emotional boot camp. When they first arrived at the ROMP building on Monday morning, after a brief orientation, the students were split into four groups. Each group was led by a local who specializes in prosthetic care. Patients began arriving for their appointments shortly thereafter, and the students immediately went to work.
In a consultation room toward the back of the building, Ceder Herring, a senior health and exercise sciences student, one of two non-engineering majors on the trip, followed instructions on the first step of the prosthesis-making process: Building a precise plaster mold to fit an individual’s amputated limb. ROMP prosthetist Pablo Constanza observed as Herring carefully covered the thigh of their first patient, 22-year-old Carlos Beltrán, with wet plaster strips, pressing firmly against his leg as the strips hardened.
Carlos entered the room on crutches, wearing a blue Los Angeles Dodgers hat, flat brimmed and backwards. He’d been in a motorcycle accident about a year earlier and had his left leg amputated above his knee. Carlos’ mother accompanied him to his ROMP appointment. Teary eyed, she explained that the accident had been devastating for her and her son. Carlos had to take a leave of absence from studying at the Central University of Ecuador in Quito. He’d always been active, playing soccer and DJing electronic music at local clubs. He couldn’t do any of that after losing his leg. His mother didn’t want to accept that a part her son was gone; she hoped having a high-quality prosthesis might reignite him, that this new device might bring some of the old Carlos back.
Once Herring had completed the casting, it took about 10 minutes for the mold to harden. After that, Herring removed the mold from Carlos’ leg; that was it for the day’s first appointment. “I’ve never done anything like that before,” Herring said. “I may end up working with para athletes in my career, and it was really fun to try and understand this process.” Later that week, Herring and other students would build Carlos’ prosthesis in the ROMP workshop. On Friday, Carlos would come back for a follow-up to make sure the device fit and to receive physical therapy and guidance on how to walk using his new leg.
The Range of Motion Project headquarters in Quito is a busy spot, as prosthetists see patients and CSU student volunteers help build more than two dozen new prosthetic limbs during a weeklong visit.
The rest of Monday unfolded similarly. All four groups of CSU students met with patients, heard their stories, and casted molds to fit their limbs. Sreya Karumanchi, a senior chemical and biological engineering major and first-generation college student, worked with a young man named José Miguel Mero; a year earlier, on his birthday, José had been in a severe traffic accident. Two weeks later, doctors told him they would need to amputate his leg. Thinking back on that moment, José described to the students how he felt at the time. “The world crashed down,” he said.
Now, though, as Karumanchi wrapped plaster strips around his residual limb, creating a plaster cast that would eventually become his first prosthesis, José explained that he hoped the new device would give him a kind of second chance. He wanted to get back to work on becoming an elementary school teacher, a profession he’d planned to pursue before his accident.
For Karumanchi, it was a lot to process, and it was only the first day. “It’s very humbling to be part of someone’s life like that,” she said. “This is a stranger, and we get to be part of something that’s very influential and will impact them for a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something like that before – to that degree within such a short amount of time.”
Left: Bryan Loor, who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, returned to basketball and other activities after receiving his prosthetic limb. Right: Blanca Morocho waits for an appointment at the office of the Range of Motion Project.
Top: Bryan Loor, who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, returned to basketball and other activities after receiving his prosthetic limb. Bottom: Blanca Morocho waits for an appointment at the office of the Range of Motion Project.
BOTH HERRING AND KARUMANCHI HAD BEEN ANXIOUS in the days leading up to the trip. None of the CSU students knew each other prior to signing up to go to Ecuador. They’d all attended a series of informational meetings about what to expect and plan for but otherwise hadn’t spent any significant time together. The trip also landed right after finals week. “I was definitely excited,” Karumanchi said. “But I think at that point it was just kind of surreal.”
The program appealed to Karumanchi, in part because she was heading toward her senior year and had been thinking through what she wanted to do with her degree; she thought the practical, hands-on experience in Ecuador might provide her with valuable insight into herself and what a future career could look like. “What drew me to this experience,” Karumanchi said, “is that I really want to use my engineering degree to make an impact in health care in some capacity.”
For Herring, the trip presented a few opportunities. Herring’s mother grew up in Puerto Rico, loved traveling, and had instilled in Herring the value of experiencing different places and cultures. She wanted Herring to take advantage of the chance to go abroad while studying at CSU. Although Herring had always loved traveling, they were hesitant to leave campus for an entire semester. But when they learned about the two-week program in Ecuador, it seemed like a great fit. “I saw this, and I thought it looked really cool,” Herring said. “I want to be an athletics trainer – and para athletes are amazing. To be able to make prostheses and learn how they work I thought would be a really great experience.”
After handling each individual’s initial appointment, the students spent the better part of the next two days in the ROMP workshop, building prostheses for 25 patients. They created solid plaster molds from their initial plaster casts and melted colorful designs selected by the patients onto the molds, forming prosthetic sockets to fit over patients’ residual limbs. The days were lively, with students streaming music in the open-air workshop. They learned each step from the local specialists and helped each other through any difficult moments. Applying the design was a particularly tricky maneuver that required pulling a nearly melted piece of hot plastic out of a large oven, quickly draping it onto the mold, and smoothing out any creases before it hardened into a prosthetic socket. From there, students began the assembly process, using pieces from the warehouse and connecting them to create complete prosthetic limbs.
“It’s very humbling to be part of someone’s life like that. This is a stranger, and we get to be part of something that’s very influential and will impact them for a long time.”
Throughout the week, German Parada, an assistant professor in the School of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and one of two CSU faculty and staff on the trip, was continuously impressed by the students. “This group has been incredible,” Parada said. “They’ve been very easy-going, very engaged. Very happy to ask, ‘What can we do next?’ From my standpoint, it’s been a successful program because we have incredible students.”
The most impactful moments came toward the end of the week, when the patients returned to ROMP to receive their devices. The consultation rooms were buzzing with activity, and the hallways were busy with patients practicing walking. One patient, Marlon Villa Rodriguez, came with a few friends from his neighborhood in Quito and caramel popcorn balls to share with the ROMP staff and the students.
Marlon had lived without a prosthesis since he’d lost his leg 11 years earlier. From Colombia, Marlon had hitchhiked across South America and was spending a few months in Quito when a member of the ROMP staff approached him on the street about coming in for an appointment. Unfortunately, after that meeting, Marlon lost his cell phone, and ROMP had no way to reach him. But a few weeks before the students arrived, another ROMP staffer bumped into Marlon; this time, the scheduling worked.
“We brought him in, no appointment,” Caizaluisa Córdova said. “We didn’t really have time, but we made time because otherwise we might not have found him again.” She added, “Marlon is living in a very vulnerable condition, and his amputation was making that worse, but now he wants to work again – he’s a barber, and he’s very talented.”
Marlon Villa Rodriguez had not walked unassisted in 11 years before receiving his new prosthetic leg.
The night before his fitting, Marlon was so full of anxious excitement he couldn’t sleep. That day, for the first time in more than a decade, he took his first steps on two legs. No crutches. “It feels different!” Marlon said with a big smile. “I feel like I’m a little kid learning to walk again.” His friends huddled nearby, capturing the moment on their cell phones. Karumanchi, Herring, and Parada all watched too.
Karumanchi was surprised by how natural Marlon looked, but it was the happiness she could see on his face that stood out most. “It’s hard to put this experience into words,” she said. “It just means a lot to see him smile.”
Sreya Karumanchi, a CSU senior in chemical and biological engineering, gathers prosthetic components from those donated by individuals and medical offices in the United States.
THERE’S AN EXPOSED CEMENT WALL in a corner of the ROMP workshop, tucked under the shade of a mature avocado tree. The wall is covered with another kind of evergreen – a giant mural painted in black. Spindly branches twist up from the trunk toward the top of the wall, and there are dozens of small, colorful ovals, red, green, and blue, stamped onto the tree’s limbs – thumbprints of people ROMP has helped over the years. Near the top of the wall, there’s a Spanish phrase written in cursive: Movilidad para todos. Mobility for all.
The last thing each patient did before leaving ROMP that week, before returning to life with their new limb, was to visit this wall for a brief ceremony. They were joined by the CSU students and ROMP specialists and staff. The patients dipped their thumbs into small jars of paint and chose spots on the wall to leave their imprints, a symbolic connection to the broader ROMP community. The patients then spoke about what the week had meant to them, and the rest of the group did the same.
Aside from Herring, who is nearly fluent, none of the students spoke much more than beginning Spanish. It was not a requirement of the program; the ROMP staff provided each group with a translator. Even so, the language barrier was noticeable throughout the week. What was abundantly clear during these mini ceremonies, however, was that the language barrier had not prevented patients and students from connecting.
Again and again, patients thanked students for the care they had provided. In return, the students expressed gratitude for the chance to be a small part of patients’ lives. Some patients teared up. Others expressed thanks with a hug. Almost everyone recalled something from the week that made them smile. “I know there’s a barrier because of the language,” Caizaluisa Córdova said. “But a smile crosses that barrier. A hug or even tears cross that barrier. And that helps the students learn not only about prostheses and engineering and the challenges in terms of resources – but also to be more empathetic and to have a different society, a fairer society.”
Left: The CSU delegation gathers with staff representing the Range of Motion Project, a nonprofit in Quito, Ecuador. Right: CSU student Ellie Koehler adds a thumbprint to the mural of a tree that celebrates patients and volunteers involved with the Range of Motion Project.
Top: The CSU delegation gathers with staff representing the Range of Motion Project, a nonprofit in Quito, Ecuador. Bottom: CSU student Ellie Koehler adds a thumbprint to the mural of a tree that celebrates patients and volunteers involved with the Range of Motion Project.
Although McClellan had enrolled in CSU as a biology major, he later switched to engineering, and his time at ROMP confirmed for him that he’d made the right decision. The trip also helped him realize he might have a future as a prosthetist. “This week,” McClellan said, “has kind of proved to me that this was my calling.”
Throughout the week, McClellan felt the power of those moments at the tree. “It was really cool,” he said, “because they kind of attributed some of that newfound, I guess, independence – they kind of attributed that to us, which was really special.” The ceremony with Johanna had made a particular impression. “At the end, when she was thanking us, she gave me a big hug. I just had to take a step back and think, ‘Wow, I really helped her out in her life moving forward.’”
Photo at top: Joshua Gonzalez learns to walk with his new prosthetic leg at the office of the Range of Motion Project as CSU students Mason McClellan and Sean Bolon encourage him.
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