Floods, Books, and a Christmas Wish - Nov/Dec -- Months 17 and 18 in the D.R.

  In November 2012 (and continuing through now, Mid- December, 2012) there was a lot of rain almost daily here on the North Coast of the

Dominican Republic.  Because of the rains we had one weekend in early/mid November when the river that runs past my little town of Montellano rose and flooded several neighborhoods.  (This was 1-2 weeks after Hurricane Sandy passed us by and headed to the states.)  The rising river swept away

several houses, including the home of my neighbor's mother. So, her mother came to live in our building and despite losing all her belongings, she has been a wonderful neighbor and has planted

a beautiful little veggie garden in the flower bed here.

 

Above is a photo of a part of the river where the water rose, then came 3 streets inland, and destroyed the classrooms and library on the 1st floor of the Makarios Elementary School.  With 4 feet of water filling the library and downstairs classrooms, the school lost almost all of their books, and I and other neighbors went over to help clean up.  Below is a short video of some of the clean up process.

 

The smiling neighbor man seen here pleasantly

washing mud off of everything from the school doctor's medicine

bottles to laminated posters and lego blocks, lost many of he and his family's

belongings in this same flood that hit his home at the same time it hit the school. 

Yet, he and his wife spent most of the week after the flood donating their time

and energy to clean up the school so that it could re-open.  What an amazing

example of "giving of yourself" for others this holiday season!

 

I'd like to give a shout out and huge thanks also, this Christmas, to the Youth

Group and families at Raleigh Mennonite Church who have supported Makarios

School in their rebuilding efforts after the flood by sending the money from

their annual Christmas cookie sale, this December, to the D.R..

Part of the money you guys raised will go to buy new elementary school

books in Spanish to restock the library at Makarios. The kids and staff are

excited to be able to restart school again! So thanks for your

wonderful donation to help them out this Christmas!

 

Below is a little mini video Christmas card to all of you!

It features two of my co-workers -- HHI Community

Health Workers Carlito and Estela, on the left -- and some of Estela's

family and a neighbor, wishing  all my friends in North America a

"Feliz Navidad - Merry Christmas" - from the small mountain

community of Negro Melo, one of the communities where I work.

 

At the end of the short video, in the distance, you will see a brief second

of a large brown and grey cow who "fell down and couldn't get up."  : )

He eventually had to get helped up by 5 neighbor men. It was so funny.

One minute he was standing up like normal and the next minute he just

fell over sideways!  Apparently some invisible being over there was

doing some cow-tipping! : ) 

 

All the neighbors and I had to stop the video to go watch the drama play

out because it was such strange behavior for a cow here. Hee Hee hee. (And

in all the excitement my Spanish grammar on the video was rather dreadful).

But the cow is fine now! :) On the video after the Merry Christmas you'll

hear me say "Negro Melo esta muy linda (Negro Melo is beautiful)," and

right after that one of the ladies in the video says "and there are cows!"

Ha ha ha. And indeed there are!

So, without further adoo. Here is our very brief but heartfelt

Christmas video wish for you! Love you all. Merry Christmas! 

 

And so it was not snow or ice that fell in Negro Melo this Christmas, but rather a cow.
Perhaps we should rename him "Snowflake."

Merry Christmas to you! :) May the God of Peace who loves the whole world
be with you this holiday season!

Thankful During Back to Back Trips to the States - months 15 &16

September, October, and the beginning of November brought two trips to the States – an unexpected blessing.   Since I had not left the Dominican Republic for nine months -- since Christmas 2011-- it was a bit strange to be gone for two weeks in September and October to North Carolina, and a week to Boston at the very beginning of November. But it was great to see friends at home in the US, to visit Boston, (New England is the home base for Health Horizons International where I work), and see my parents and family, and to be home in the U.S. for the presidential election day.

I stayed up until midnight in my U.S. hotel room the night before I returned here to the DR at 3am on November 7. I held my breath with the rest of the nation as the votes for the presidential election came in.  As "winners" and "losers" were chosen, I was struck by the fact that as citizens of the U.S. we've pretty much all already "won" to some extent. There are many issues. But the U.S. has cutting edge technology, clean water for drinking, indoor bathrooms in almost every home, laws that protect women in domestic violence situations, a public school system that mostly works (though of course there are some issues,) police that respond quickly to emergencies, medical hospitals in which the doctors are well-trained (though again, there are issues), and the right to vote for the generally-not-corrupt people who we want to lead our nation.  Overall, these things are all things to be thankful for as this holiday season approaches, because many people in many countries do not necessarily have these things. I'm reminded of this every day during my work in the Dominican Republic.  So, for me it was great to be in the US to be a part of that election, and I hope that people on both "sides" of the voting will be able to work together, and be grateful for the wonderful and diverse country in which they live.

Here's Ben Franklin out encouraging U.S. residents to vote, in Boston, on November 4th.

But watching the election unfold was just one small part of my visits home to the U.S.
I was thrilled to have the chance to get together with many important people who continue to support me and my work in the D.R. Thanks guys!

Here are some photos of my trips to the US this fall:

I'm always inspired by how beautiful the ocean is as I fly between the Dominican Republic and the U.S.

I was very glad for the chance to reconnect with friends at Raleigh Mennonite Church who have been a huge support to me even though I'm far away.  Here's a photo of dinner with some of the folks who I consider a part of my "support team" from the church. They've given me great advice and help both when I was seeking God's guidance about coming to the D.R., and they continue to be  a huge support. Thanks guys!  It was great to get together!

  I was thrilled to have the chance to go to lunch with all my wonderful friends from

the young adult group (IDR) at the church, too, and to reconnect with various youth from the church who came to Montellano this past Summer and w ho have a special place in their hearts for the Dominican Republic! I was so glad to catch up on your lives and to hear hopes from several
people about perhaps coming to the D.R. or Haiti to visit or serve in some way.

I found this great book for kids among a box of old books I was sorting through while home in the states, and thought it was a great example of two worlds coming together. I definetly recommend it for kids who want to learn about children from another culture and how they are so similar, even though there are differences. I kind of identified with this picture too.
 As a person with home-towns now in two countries -- the U.S., my original home and the home I plan to return to in the future, and the Dominican Republic, which is my home for now while I’m working at HHI -- this book really resonated with me. I now understand that feeling missionaries get moving between their two countries for visits/sabaticals and then going back to work or service. It’s an exciting and somewhat linguistically confusing adventure having a foot in two different countries, two cultures, two home churches, and two groups of friends, speaking in two different languages, and following customs in two places…  It takes a few days to re-adapt to the other country when you go “home” again – whichever way that trip “home” takes you. : )  But it’s a wonderful blessing  feeling at home in 2 countries; getting on a plane and no matter whichever way you’re headed (whether to the U.S. or the D.R. now, in my case,) always being able to say “I’m going home.”

Summer 2012 brings a Teen Intercambio and Kids Camp to the Pancho Mateo

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve written on this blog, and so much has happened in the past five months, from June to November, here in the Dominican Republic, then I’m not sure how to summarize it all. This will teach me not to forget to do my blog posts every month in future! :-) But let me share a few of the wonderful highlights.

 The biggest highlight of the summer for me was the week that I took off from work, (though I still love my job at HHI,) and welcomed six teenaged young women and my friend Amy from Raleigh Mennonite church, my home church in Raleigh North Carolina, into my home here in the DR. They came on a missions trip, to learn what I call my one of their prior use leaders, was doing and seeing and learning here in the DR, and to get involved themselves. We did a wonderful friendship with five Dominican teen young women from two local churches in Poncho Mateo one of the communities where I work. We learned about each other’s cultures, interests, families, and dreams and plans for after high school. Most importantly the girls from Raleigh and the girls from Poncho Mateo planned together a kids camp for what ended up being 100 children ages 2 to 11 in the community of Poncho Mateo. With so many children of so many different ages, in a tiny Haitian church in Poncho Mateo, the first day was a challenge, until we got into the swing of things. But it was a wonderful week, in which the teens from both countries, led singing, Bible stories, and did education on dental hygiene than tooth-brushing for all those enthusiastic kids. 

 Washing Hands every day before snack time. Ritz Crackers and Water were a huge hit in this community where clean water for drinking is difficult to come by in many households.  Here little kids love water, and actually ask for refills upon refills.  We gave out lots of water on those hot summer days of playing.

                                                    Singing and Bible Story

 Coloring pictures of toothbrushing, friends hanging out, families hugging, and God's love.

                                                             Bonding

This is my little friend Alexandre, one of the kids from one of the families from Pancho Mateo that I've had the opportunity to build a special friendship with since I've lived here. He's a sweety, as is his older brother and his sisters -- all in Elementary School.

 Part of our planning group of teen girls at the Basketball court in Pancho Mateo, where we played games with the kids each day.

             Co-leader Amy playing "hair salon." : )  The girls always took this game very seriously.

                                                     Handwashing before snack again.

 The boys playing basketball while the girls jumped rope, played tag, did hair, and the younger kids colored and played with a puppy and Erin's camera.

                                                               Coloring!


Coloring pictures was a big hit, and we noticed that our crayons tended to go home one by one in the pockets of small children each day – a little prize to take home and play with with their siblings. We actually had to go buy new Crayons halfway through the week! So, if you ever want to come to the DR and give a gift to children, crayons and coloring pages are huge hit.

The kids taught us games they love: we played tag, hair salon, basketball, and at the end of the day we walked each child home so that the young women from the US and the local Pancho Mateo churches could get to know their families, and so the kids would get home safely. My favorite part of it all was how the teens from the U.S. and teens from the D.R. were able to work together and build friendships, while hugging little kids and playing ball!

Our Theme of the week was Matthew 6:33

"Seek First God's Kingdom"

It was a great week!  Thanks God! Thanks Ladies! Come back soon!

Medical Students, Presidential Elections, and Leaving it all on the Pavement. Month 10.5

It's been another month of new things here in the Dominican Republic. 
For the first time in HHI's history we've had 3 Physician Assistant students (who are about to graduate and be full-fledged PAs,) with us for an entire month, finishing their clinical rotations.  Since I'm the Clinical Director I got to supervise them, which was a bit unexpected since I'm not an actual MD, and I was a bit nervous :), but overall things went great. The PA students Kate, Lane and Rob are leaving today, to return to the U.S., and Kate told me this morning that when she filled out the HHI Internship evaluation form she "ran out of room in the box where you write good things about the experiene."  So, I'm happy to hear that they also felt that things went well.

We accomplished a lot in a short period of time this month -- the PA students, several other clinical interns, and I -- as we pounded the pavement, completing community-wide Blood Pressure and Diabetes Screenings in our 4 partner communities - in both Spanish and Haitian Kreyol, staffing clinics in all 4 communities with the HHI visiting American MD's for a week in which we treated 400 patients of all ages and medical conditions, and visiting almost 100 of HHI's chronic care patients in their homes to help them understand their hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy or asthma better. 

We had several weeks of rain during this time, and the PA students and interns did a great job wading through new, unexpected "lakes" and rivers with me on the roads to get to patient's houses, slip-sliding through muddy roads, riding motorcycles up steep mountains where the dirt roads were partially washed out - without hesitation. We took patients to the emergency room on motorcycles and in borrowed cars when they presented with heart attack symptoms or the injuries sustained by 2 teens and a child injured in a motorcycle wreck.  We spent the night in the hospital with a woman who had just lost her baby and had no family to sit with her in the hospitals here where family members and not nurses are responsible for your care in the hospital setting. It was a completely exhausting, overworked, overwhelming, and yet wonderful month with the PA students and other interns, and I feel like we left all of our energy, sweat, and love for these patients right there on those mountain roads, and the floors of their houses, and the heads of their pets who we petted, and their children who we hugged and we played with, and we fell into bed each night tired but feeling we'd accomplished something. We "left it all on the pavement" on might say.  And now the PA students, and interns Sarah and Andrew are leaving. : (  But here are some fun photos of our past 4 weeks, here in the Domincan Republic.

This is also an interesting time in the D.R. because the Presidential election is tomorrow, Sunday, May 20th, 2012.  We'll be staying inside tomorrow after church, and likely through Monday, as the elections take place and parades and demonstrations are expected in the streets. We will wait to see whether the white party (previously in power) or the purple party (currently in power) will win, and how that will affect the country. Keep the Dominican Republic and all of it's leaders and citizens in your prayers during this time of transition and change!

Sugar Cane, A Visit,and Some Easter Eggs (Month 9.5)

In this region of the Dominican Republic, and here in my little town of Montellano (population reported at 10,000) and in the surrounding smaller communities we've had 90% un-employment for the past 7+ years since the main employer, the local Montellano Sugar Cane Refinery, shut down, with no employer to replace it. Since then, with a lack of other employment opportunities in the area, communities full of fathers who are cane-cutters, cane-factory workers, truck drivers, etc, have struggled to feed their children. Some young adults who are now married, were in middle school when the sugar cane refinery closed. They've grown up, finished school (if their unemployed family could afford to buy their books and uniforms) and even gotten married and had childen of their own, without any hope of jobs, watching their fathers, uncles, and friends try to eak out a living with part time labor, for most of these young adults' lives. This is one big reason why HHI (www.hhidr.org) the organization that I work for chose this region. The lack of proper health care for poor families here has been a serious problem for years.

But now...there is more hope. It started as a trickle, a rumor, the same rumor that has been circulating (without a shred of truth) for 7 years or more; the rumor that "someone" was buying the sugar cane refinery and would re-open it and provide jobs. Now, it turns out that an American Company has purchased the plant and intends to make Rum (which is made using sugar cane.) They plan to provide hundreds of jobs, and to build a health clinic which will likely collaborate with HHI in some of the health work we have been doing here. So, our little town's situation is changing a bit, and with it, HHI's work will change and adapt. We're excited to see what will happen! The sugar cane refinery is pictured above in it's current rusted, abandoned and boarded up state. We look forward to watching it come to life again... Thank God for Sugar Cane!

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This Easter season my friend Karin Shank came to visit me. I was delighted to have my first visitor from the U.S. since I moved here to work with HHI last June, 2011! I took the week off from work and we went to the beach, I showed Karin the local places of interest, and we visited my friends and co-workers in several of HHI's partner-communities. We introduced the American Easter tradition of dying and hiding eggs to the extended family of one of my co-workers, Dania, a Community Health worker in Pancho Mateo. It was great fun. We started with 3 colors but most of the eggs ended up being green or blue - and so did most of our fingers.

The adults -- who had never seen such a game before -- had a great time hiding the eggs, and the children ran full-speed to go find them. I've never seen such a rough and tumble, full contact, Easter Egg hunt in my life! : ) Once each child had secured an egg, they all immediately ate them and moved on to a happy game of Dominoes, the Dominican national table game. It was a wonderful afternoon!

We tried to go to a candle-light catholic Easter service outside in the center of town with this same family the next night, but unfortunately it was cancelled on account of rain.

Also this week Karin and I went to HHI's farthest away community Arroyo de Leche. We visited two of my community health worker friends/co-workers of mine who live up there and learned more about Dominican Easter foods! We had to get off the motorcycle and hike up the one hill because the severe rains the week before had washed out too much of the dirt, making the road impassible. Below are photos of our time in Arroyo de Leche.

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Cooking HABICHUELAS CON DULCE at Mercedes' House.

This special Easter dessert that everyone eats here during Easter week is made from sweetened brown bean juice with cookies floating in it. Karin and I went up the mountain (4o minutes on a motorcycle) to learn how to make it from my friend and co-worker, HHI community Health Worker Mercedes, in her home in the Campo.

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This Purple seeded fruit is Cacao fruit, which when dried and ground into powder makes cocoa to make chocolate! This, and bananas, and other fruits and flowers grow in my friend and co-worker Corina's garden high on the mountain in Arroyo de Leche. Corina's the woman in the white clothes with the tall plant. : )

Here's Karin and I in the garden. I love all of Corina's plants and try to visit her garden and her household of kids every month!

Quakes, Whales, and Shriners - (Month 7.5)

Mid-February has arrived, and our “cool” refreshing 70 degree rainy weather here on the North Coast of the D.R. has turned back into sweaty mid-80s with too much humidity and lots of sun. Some bigger-than- usual things are happening here in addition to my normal work of monitoring patients and supervising and collaborating with the Community Health Workers. So I’m going to highlight those things this month.
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A Medical Service Team of Doctors from the U.S. joined our team in the D.R. for a week in January, 2012.

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1.) DOCTORS IN THE HOUSE
In January we had one of our 3 annual Medical Service Trips in which Doctors
and Medical Students from the U.S. came to spend a week treating more than 400 of our HHI patients in 4 local communities. It was a busy, exhausting, but great week.

2.) INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL EMERGENCY:
One unusual thing that’s happened this winter is that I have a 19 year old patient (slash-baseball lover) named Jansel who will be coming to the U.S., (Boston), to receive life-saving leg surgery at Shriners Hospital in March. Though my job is usually to link HHI’s patients and clients to doctors in the Dominican Republic, we’ve consulted with a number of Surgeon’s here and found that the treatment he requires to save his leg from amputation and likely even to save
his life, is not available here. So, after weeks of phone calls, emails, and months of accompanying Jansel on doctors’ visits, Jansel (and hopefully his mom) will be traveling to Boston for several
months of free medical sugery and treatment at Shriners Hospital. Huge thanks to Shriners for their wonderful generosity! I hope everyone will support them the next time you see them in a parade! Though the medical care will be free, HHI still needs to raise funds for the family’s plane travel back and forth between the Dominican Republic and the U.S., as well as providing housing, food, and winter clothes for Jansel (who is hilarious; has never seen the
inside of an airplane, nor snow, and who certainly isn’t prepared for cold weather clothes :)) whilehe is in treatment. For more info. onJansel and how you can donate money,
clothes, Spanish sports books, or other items to help him while he is in the U.S., check out HHI’s newsletter which will be posted this coming week. http://hhidr.org/newsletter/

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3.) EARTHQUAKE!
In January our little town here experienced 4 or 5 small earthquakes, one of which (a 5.4) woke me straight out of my sleep one night. We all decided we were “Shaking but we weren’t Quaking” (in fear :)) and we’ve been pleased to note no more quakes in the past few weeks. Word on the street is that little quakes sometimes are just correcting problems in the fault-lines so that big quakes don’t happen in the future. It’s amazing how a little thing like a baby earthquake can bring neighbors together, though. I had some great conversations with strangers after the quakes, and that was great!

4.) INTERESTED IN WATER?
If anyone’s interested in coming to the D.R., HHI as looking for a summer intern!
The link for more info and the application are here. Come visit me for the summer!

Here’s a synopsis:
The 2012 HHI Public Health Internship Program aims to improve water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH) conditions in HHI partner communities by facilitating a community-driven
latrine project along with clean water and hygiene education and promotion. The internship provides a valuable opportunity for up to 2 students or professionals to develop and lead a community WASH project in the challenging yet rewarding setting of the Dominican Republic.

5.) SURF AND WHALES
In the midst of quite a number of medical
emergencies that I and my co-workers have been dealing with here among HHI’s several
hundred patients, I’ve been able to sneak a few weekends here and there for short
weekend trips, to experience more of the D.R.’s beautiful coastline as
well. Here are some photos of those great experiences this winter.

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Watching the Christian Surfers International Surf Competition in Cabarete (100 surfers competed) with local missionary and expat friends... And a photo I snapped of a whale jumping in Samana.

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Boat Trip - Watching the Humpbacked whales in Samana. They travel here from all over the world, each year, to the warm waters of the Atlantic, to give birth.

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This was the first trip I’ve been on with a private rented car, instead of public transportation, since I arrive in June! :) It was awesome!

Everyone Needs a Support Network (month 6.5 in the D.R.))

I have always wanted to be able to make a prayer
card. You know, they’re the little postcards
that “Christian missionaries” send out to their prayer and financial supporters each year, showing photos of what they are doing in their work and lives in their “foreign land”, so that their supporters know how to pray, and how to encourage them, and how to be a part of their work – whether that work be
medical care for people in war torn countries, teaching soccer as a way to build community in South Africa, or starting a church or a school or a foster care system in Bangladesh or Morroco or Laos. I always thought – `what a neat idea.’ People who receive the little postcards then put them on the fridge and keep the missionaries in their prayers and thoughts throughout the year. Sometimes they even send “care packages!” Hooray!

.
So, this is the first Christmas that I made one – a
prayer card. I thought I’d make one since I now live in the Dominican Republic, and I am doing Humanitarian work, and definitely on most days could really use the prayer support and encouragement of at least 100 people! I waffled a bit before making the card, though,
thinking that perhaps since I’m not an “official” missionary sent by a church,
but rather a humanitarian worker getting paid by a non-profit (albeit not much J) to work in the D.R., that maybe I didn’t “get” to consider myself ‘official”
enough for a prayer card.

.

I mean, other people go to jobs all day in the U.S., and
take care of their families, and volunteer to mentor local kids in their towns
in North America – and they never send out a prayer card asking for others to remember them, and support them, and hold them up in prayer before God, so that God will guide them in their
everyday tasks.

.

But then I thought – you know, probably everybody should send out prayer cards. We should all take a few photos of our work, our family, the kids we mentor, the organizations we lead, and we should make a little collage and send it out to at least 15 people who love us and really know us, and can really use the information on the card to pray for and support us in
our daily lives throughout the year. (I think this used to be part of what happened when most families used to send Christmas letters every year. Some people still do this, but I think the practice is waning. Yet I know that during my childhood my mom always used to put 15 or 20 of the photos and letters that came at Christmas each year on the fridge, so we could remember
those families and what they were up to, and keep them in our minds and hearts throughout
the year.)
.

Well, it’s Christmas again. And we’re all having an important impact on some part of the world right now – whether big or small, and we need the support of others, and their prayers, to
help us `keep on keeping on’ in the work we’re doing throughout the year.
.
So, above is my Prayer Card, with photos of a few of the things that I am involved in here.
Thanks for your support, prayers and encouragement. (And special thanks to those of you who’ve sent encouraging facebook notes and emails, offered to send a care package, and helped
to manage my house and other life stuff in the U.S. while I am gone. You know
who you are! And you’re wonderful!) Let me know how I can pray for and remember you in the things you’re doing in your life as well!
.
A lot of new friends in the D.R and old tried-and-true friends in the US have supported and helped me in my work and life here thus far through Health Horizons. And while there is not nearly enough room in this (overly-long) blog post for all of them, I want to highlight a few here for you to see, with photos and Thank you notes :
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Thanks to my neighbors Tata (with toddlers on bench) and her mom Fefita (with Candle, above) and their entire extended family, for welcoming me and making me a part of their family when I was new in Montellano and knew nobody; for helping me learn Spanish, for teaching me about culture, food and politics, for introducing me to their entire neighborhood - now my good friends - and litterally keeping the light (er, candle) burning for me when the power went out, repeatedly.

Thanks to my Friend and Colleague Luz (laughing with me) who has shown me what it means to truly love and care for others above and beyond yourself.

Thanks to my co-workers and friends Willy, Claudia and Carlito (shown here push-starting a moto for some stranded high schoolers) who have shown me what it means to truly go out of your way for others.

Thanks to my colleagues and friends Estela (feeding a pig and laughing with her neighbors) and Dania who have taught me not to take myself too seriously!

Thanks to everyone at Raleigh Mennonite Church, especially Karin, Todd and Janet, Brenda and Craig, Amy, Anne, my entire small group, the MYF and the MYF parents and the youth team, the IDR young adult group, and all the rest of you, who have shown so much support as I made the decision to move here, and who continue to support me with prayers, notes, emails, and more.

And huge thanks to my Mom and Dad for all their help and support! Thanks to all of my relatives who are keeping in touch! Enormous thanks to the Goalies - who have bent over backwards to keep me connected, though I'm so far away! And to all my old colleagues at CAS, ATC and ACC who continue to keep in touch across the miles!

What a wonderful support team I have! I'm so grateful for all of you - those in the U.S. and also those in the D.R! Thanks for the continued prayers as HHI's work will get busy again here as Christmas comes to a close! Happy New Year to All!