Two Years in the D.R. -- Looking back and Ahead -- Month 24 in the D.R. (June 2013)

             Here's a photo of me in Pancho Mateo, one of the communities where I work.

Well, I initially signed up for one year of working at Health Horizons International (http://hhidr.org/), as the Clinical Programs Director, in Montellano, Dominican Republic, in June 2011.   I always assumed that that one year might turn into two years, and of course it did.

Now, as of June 11th, 2013, I've celebrated 2 full years of living in the D.R, and now I'm signing on for another (3rd) year.  

So this month I'm just going to share a few of my favorite photos and memories from the work and life I've experienced here over the past two years.

Still one of my favorite photos of the last 24 months, this picture above  shows 100 kids from Pancho Mateo (including one of my favorite groups of siblings standing in front -- my little friends Francia on the right, and her brother baby Alexandre being held by another sister on the left.)  This was during the kids camp that I and the Raleigh Mennonite Church teen girls, and the teen girls from a church in Pancho Mateo organized in Summer 2012. I love this photo because it shows one of the Dominican teen girls (Nina) taking a leadership role and sharing structure and God's love with the children of a local Hatian family -- her neighbors.  It is God's love that breaks the barriers of racial conflict in so many places, and it is love and structure and older mentors like these teens from the community who can help all these 100 kids grow up to be wonderful women and men who can be leaders in their communities for the future! (I love the RMC teen ladies working hard in the background loving-on the children as well!  I was so impressed with all the teen leaders from both countries! It was a hot, exhausting, and great week!)

I took this photo during one of my first weeks on the D.R. and it is still definitely one of my favorites.  It shows the road we take on motorcycle to get to Arroyo de Leche -- our farthest away community up the mountain -- to check on patients there.  The Dominican countryside is a beautiful place -- especially along this, the sugar cane road, flanked by acres of tall green sugar cane on either side.  But it is a difficult road, sometimes impassible, and sometimes I've had to walk up in rain and mud when trying to go up on moto was just not safe.  So this road reminds me of our journey in life. It can be difficult, sometimes next to impossible, almost impassable.  But there is beauty all around us on the journey -- if we look.

I love this photo of 6 of the 19 Community Health Workers who I supervise and who I have helped train, and who continually share their love, friendship, and knowledge with me.  I will always be proud to know them!  I'm so impressed with how they spend their time, energy, and resources without hesitation to help others in need in their communities, and I hope to grow to be more and more like them.

This photo shows a note that was stuck to the side of the fridge in the house we borrowed from missionary-from-Canada Rachel Stickley when I first arrived in the D.R.   I was glad to see this important reminder as I sat in the dark in the evenings those first few weeks here, with no electricity, (the generator broke while I was there,) being eaten by mosquitos, (I was still learning to use my mosquito net!) and trying to flush the toilet with just a bucket of water, and cook on a gas stove that I was sure was about to blow up in that borrowed house. : )

In this photo I'm visiting the river with my friend, Community Health Worker Dania, to learn about the dangers of unclean water in the river around the time of our cholera outbreak in fall 2011.

Here we are going door to door with co-workers, friends, and neighborhood children delivering cholera-prevention information and hand-soap called "Harmony" that same month, Fall 2011.

Here missionary women from the surrounding area gathered at my and my housemate Julienne's house in December 2012 for a Christmas party. We made ornaments and sharing stories.  We hope to do it again in December 2013!  It was great to have everyone over!

Here I and one of the medical students, Kate, are accompanying "Awesome Community Health Worker," Estela and her youngest daughter on home-visits to her patients in Negro Melo, on a rainy day when the roads had flooded. :)  That rain never stops US! :)

And...

I'll end with a video that is old -- it was actually made before I came to HHI -- but it shows a little bit of what we do here and some of the experiences that I've had the opportunity to be a part of here. (I'm now responsible for the field clinics, and for doing the work that "nicole" did -- working with the communities, patients, and community health workers. So this video definitely shows a lot of what I do).  Note: The address for donations in the video is wrong, so please disregard that and go to the link above for the HHI website if you want to learn more about where I work or feel like making a donation).:

Here's the Video: HHI Field Clinics Video

Thanks so much to all of you for the prayers, visits, and support over the past two years! And thanks for the continued support and prayers as I move forward into the 3rd year here in the Dominican Republic!  

Tu Nos Botaste? (Have you thrown us away?) -- Month 23 in the D.R.

FRIENDSHIPS

In the Dominican Republic, even more than in the U.S., relationships definitely make the world go round.  I've found that friendships are extremely important not just on weekends or in the evening after work, but they make or break you here, in the professional world as well.

 In the U.S. good friends or relatives may not talk to each other for months on end, and then one Friday night they can get together for coffee and feel fine about their relationship, and chat like they just saw each other yesterday.  Here, if I don't communicate with professional friends or neighbors from the other side of town for several weeks in a row they feel they've suddenly become unimportant to me, and they bluntly ask "Tu nos botaste?" "Have you thrown us away?"  This is a commonly-used expression here. "Hey - I haven't seen you in 3 weeks. What is the deal? Have you thrown me away?

In the U.S. we would probably never say such a thing. We have many friends who we rarely see but still love, and both sides of the friendship or professional relationship are ok with that. We just acknowledge "everybody's busy," and we don't take the sometimes limited contact as a problem in the relationship, necessarily.

In the D.R. I've learned to stretch myself a bit on that front; to really make sure that people know they are important to me. (For a person who is moderately introverted, and likes to have some evenings and Saturday mornings to myself at home, this can be a real challenge.)  But I've learned that relationships come first here -- and having friends and collaborative business colleagues here requires being "Friend-tentional."  Just a few minutes ago -- at 7pm after the sun had already gone down, while I was in the middle of dinner, a friend (colleague from another organization) of mine came by the house on her way to church to ask me "Hey, we haven't seen you down at the hospital in a couple of weeks trying to help us improve our medical services there.  Have you thrown us away?" I apologized and explained that I've been out in the countryside helping those in the communities that don't have clinics get medical consults. She said "Oh, ok." We hugged and I promised to come by the hospital within the next couple of days to move forward on the work she and I have been doing there together.  Similarly, the 19 Community Health Workers who I supervise often say "have you thrown us away, Janelle?" if I haven't been to eat dinner at their house within the last month. The 400 patients in our various medical programs see me on the street and say "Hey Janelle, I haven't seen you in my community or at my house in awhile.  Have you thrown us away?"  I tell them I've been trapped in the office writing grants to get more funding for HHI so we can help even more people with medical care in the local communities, and that I've been in meetings with D.R. health leaders trying to improve the medical system (all true). They shrug and acknowledge.  "Oh, ok. So we're still important to you?"  Then we hug and I say "I wouldl never throw you away," and I promise to come visit soon, and they say the same, and then we're all ok.

It's been an interesting learning experience -- living in a country where every person emphasizes relationships and friendships as the most important element of life, and where sitting on your neighbor's porch chatting is not so much a fun vacation activity but rather a daily expectation, privilege, and responsibility.



It's a challenge for the introverts. But it's also a beautiful thing. And I'm glad to know that the many friends I have here -- whether co-workers, local partnering agency personnel, patients, neighbors, church friends, and even quasi strangers -- will also try hard not to ever "throw me away."  They'll be here if I need them.  That's a wonderful gift - especially for a single person living abroad. (Although I have many life-long tried and true, will drop everything for each-other friends in the U.S. too,) I still think that many of us from the U.S. can perhaps learn a bit more from this "friend-tentional" way of life...

So this month I want to share some photos of a few of the friends (Dominicans and also foreigners living here) who offer such essential "friend-tentional" support to me in the D.R., and in the work that I am doing here.

Here are some of the Community Health Workers' kids in the Community of Arroyo de Leche.

They always yell at me when I don't come 45 minutes up the mountain on a motorcycle to visit them often enough. :)

Here are some of the 19 Community Health Workers who I love and who I work with every day.

They are an inspiration and consistently extend true friendship to me (and also many lunch invites) for both of which I am eternally grateful!



Here (above and below) are some of my Clinical Programs Team Co-Workers who I work with in the office.  We have a wonderful team and I'm honored to work with them! They teach me new things every day -- even though I am the one whose supposed to be teaching them :). (Above and Below).



My office and CHW Co-workers : )

Then there are the Neighbors... : ) who always want me to sit down on their porch if I pass by -- even if I'm in a hurry to head off to "an important meeting for work..."

 

 More Neighbors :)
Since I work in 4 different communities, live in a 5th, and go to church in a 6th, I am delighted to say I have "neighbors" living in each and every one of them!  I am always humbled when families in our farthest-away communities see me on their streets and call out "Hey Janelle, it's great to see you," and they welcome me into their homes with open
hearts and arms.

I also want to take this opportunity to share photos of 2 groups of international volunteers/missionaries living here who are wonderful "friend-tentional" friends to me and who I regularly thank God for.

 First, (above) are some of the women of the New Life Church Women's Bible Study which I have had the privilege to co-lead over the past 8 months.  They are such a huge support and blessing to me - sharing their lives, their stories, their experience, and their wisdom as we study the Bible and pray together every Thursday night, and attend church together on Sundays.  I love having an inter-generational, and intercultural group of women to fellowship with.  This group has been such an unexpected blessing in my life over the past 8 months and I can't stop thanking God for their friendship and honesty.

And here's one group that should not be left out at all -- They are some of my closest friends in the D.R. (though not everyone in the group is actually pictured here).   These are some of the other missionaries and humanitarian workers who I know through church and a local Bible Study that I've been privileged to be a part of on Wednesday nights for the past almost 2 years.  We support each other spiritually, emotionally, socially, and in whatever other way is needed -- giving each other advice when complicated questions or ethical issues come up in our lives and our work here.  I spent much of my day on Sunday with one of the women pictured above, helping her get treatment at a local hospital because she's come down with an unfortunate case of Dengue. But hanging out with her in that context was a pleasure because she's my friend, of course. It is a reciprocal relationship. Many of the other people in this photo have also done 8 hour shifts at the hospital with that same friend over the past 4 days as well -- making sure she's ok there in the hospital; or they've given advice from their own prior experiences with Dengue. We live our lives together -- week in and week out -- even though we all work in different places. Each one of us benefits from the support of the others, which is indescribably wonderful, especially for a group of people like us living and serving others in Jesus' name, while far from our "home countries," our original languages, and the friends, family members, and churches we left behind at "home" to come and serve here.

In the style of the old Visa commercials I might say
1.) Living and serving in the Dominican Republic = $400-600 a month.
2.) Having other foreign missionaries living near you who can support you, pray with you, and understand you in your daily struggles here -- PRICELESS.

I'm so very thankful to God for each of these missionary friends above, and for those not pictured. Together this group of friends consists of Christian missionaries serving in the following organizations here in the Dominican Republic:

La Tienda -- Standing Behind the Dignity of the Poor
Makarios International - International Educational Development
The Samaritan Foundation  --  Building Communities
Christian Surfers International -- Surfers Reaching surfers
Health Horizons International -- Health Care/Health Education -- where I (Janelle) serve and work
Kids Alive International -- "Rescuing Kids Around the World."
Mission Direct - Volunteers helping the World's Poor
A Serving Heart - Spiritual, Educational, and Economic Growth in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Go Mad Ministries -- Fighting Human Exploitation
and more.

So, as a final thought, I encourage us all to do what the Dominicans as a culture do.  Let's be "friend-tentional" with our friends, colleagues, and neighbors. 

It's easy to "Understand" the importance of this idea, but harder to "Do" it, (though certainly some of us are better at this than others). Whether it comes easy for us or not, putting our relationships with others at the very top of our priority list -- even though it takes time that we might otherwise have used for something else -- can make our little corners of the world  better, more supportive, and more supported places -- places where less and less people feel abandoned or alone :)  At least that's what I'm finding here in the Dominican Republic!

Medical Students, Community Health Workers, and Green Hills and Music -- April, 2013 -- Month 22 in the D.R.

April, has come around again -- a time of flowers, humming birds, medical students, patient home visits, and preparing for the field clinics we'll be doing in 4 communities during the 1st week of May.

I've had 2 medical students here working with me and with the 19 Community Health Workers for the past 2 weeks.  They're here for a month total and we've been walking house to house to see patients.  It's been fun for me to get out of the office and back out into the communities more frequently this month. I've been stuck in the office more and more lately with administrative tasks and grant-writing. But in the past two week's I've enjoyed being back in the communities where we've helped the Community Health Workers bandage injuries, check in on patients who have been having trouble with side effects to meds, etc.  I've been glad to see how quickly the medical students have come to understand the sense of community that exists in each of our villages. They've made fast friends with many Community Health Workers and neighbors already!

                             Here the medical students Brad and Meg sort charts with Community Health Worker Dorka, in front of her home in Severet, before heading off with her on visits to her patients.

This month has also been the month of preparing for the May 2013 mobile Field Clinics.  We have 3 MDs and one more medical student from the States coming to see patients with us during those field clinics. 

In the photo above, I and my colleage Tracy and the 19 Community Health Worker from 4 communities all came together to plan and divide up appointments to give out to sick residents in the four communities. 




 Here, Community Health Worker Catherine in the rural community of Severet, heads out of her door, with patient medical charts in hand, to go visit her patients and to give out appointment cards to sick neighbors, inviting them to next week's field clinics.



Below (in a scene that made me accidentally start singing ..."The hills are alive with the sound of music...") Community Health Workers Fones and Yajaira and Yajaira's toddler aged son, take Medical Student Brad and I around to check in on their patients.

The hills are alive.... la la la...  la la ....la... :)

They paused to pick some fruit along the way to share it with Brad, and to teach him about local trees. 

Below Fones and Brad are checking pulse on my friend Sipuen (in Severet).

Brad and Meg, the medical students, also helped us do a refresher course on first aid (Wound Care and Burn Care) for the Community Health Worker Class. 

Here Meg is drawing our different types of "wounds" on our hands with a red marker...

We had great fun (and learned great skills) bandaging fake wounds and burns all over each others heads and appendages! : )

 Nice bandage job, there, Yudi!

Here I am (yes, I'm the one pasty one with no tan,) with friends during our day in Severet. My friends are (right to left): Community Health Worker Catherine, Our two motorcycle taxi drivers Alex and Chubadu who brought me up the mountain, and Pastro Pedro of the Evangelical church of Severet, in the back yard of Pastor Pedro, CHWs' Dorka and CHW Catherine's home.

As you can see, Severet is Beautiful.

It's been a beautiful, very busy, but also fun month at HHI.

One a separate note, I want to leave you with one more thing this month:

I wanted to share with you one of the sounds of the D.R. that I hear every day. Here is a Batchata song called El Golpe Aviso! By a singer named El Chavel. This song was apparently released in 2012 but over the past month has become one of the most popular songs that I hear playing in public transportation vehicles and in homes and business here in our part of the D.R. I spend half of my days singing "Sigue, Sigue, Sigue Caminando" Which means -- keep going, keep walking. :)

So, I'm sharing this with you so you can "hear" some of my daily life. : ) Enjoy.

Snapshots of life in the D.R. -- March 2013 - Month 21 in the D.R.

This month, instead of writing about particular experiences, I just want to take the opportunity to post some photos highlighting some fun and interesting aspects of life here in the Dominican Republic. Hopefully this will give you a little snapshot of daily life in the D.R. : )

We do laundry by putting the small plastic washer/spin-dryer in the bathtub. (So that when the water drains out of it, it doesn't pour all over the floor. If you know Anali Martin you can ask her about this washer. She's an expert. :) )  Now, why in this photo I'm washing laundry by candle-light, I'm not sure.  We do actually need to have electricity on the days we use the washer! :)  But sometimes our electricity goes out and the generator fails and then... out come the candles!

Motorcycles are the primary means of transportation for most families.  Here my little neighbor boy is trying our other neighbor's moto on for size.  Luckily his mom and I both agree -- at 6, he's still too young to drive.

But he can dream... :)

This IS a reasonable number of family members or friends to put on one moto (motorcycle.) :)

Actually, if that guy in the blue shirt didn't have that black back-pack in front of him, they could totally stick another toddler or a baby in his arms in there -- no problem.  Then again, to do that they'd have to make a new plan for the white jugs of some house-hold liquid that he appears to be carrying on both sides.

Classy women in dresses or skirts often ride side-saddle on motos, legs elegantly crossed -- for example, if they're on their way to church.  Since I'm not nearly so classy as this, I ride sitting normally, wearing jeans. :)

If you're on a moto in the rain, it's only polite to share your giant umbrella with the driver. 

And...Though it's generally sunny and hot with blue skies here in the D.R., when it does rain, it POURS!  Here you can see the sun still trying to shine down on the little yellow church where we were holding our field clinic in Negro Melo in January 2013. But wow -- look at those black storm crowds rolling in and taking over!  The guy standing on the chair on this side of the church is quickly tightening the ropes on the tarp over the waiting area as the wind begins to blow and the rain starts to fall.

Here in the D.R. it can be sunny with blue skies on one side of a building, and pouring down rain with black sky like this on the other.  This has happened at my house a number of times.
The storms roll in  -- and often back out - pretty fast. The strength of the rainstorms here is wonderful. They bring a brief respite from the heat, and the drops drum like music on the tin roofs. The power of the downpours definitely make me pause to think about the unparalleled strength of their Creator!

Haiti Trip - Kids, Trash, and a Hug before Dinner - Feb 2013, Month 20 in the D.R.

As promised, now in February, I will share some photos from my Thanksgiving Week 2012 trip to Haiti!  (Sorry it took so long to get these posted!)  Below is a little section of the City of Cap Haitian, Haiti that lies in a valley at the feet of these mountains.  You'll see more photos of Cap Haitian in a minute.  On the mountain on the right, and the very top, you can see that the top of the mountain appears square. That Square is not actually a part of the mountain, but rather, it's a giant stone fortress on the top of the mountain, called the Citadel - definitely worth a visit!

I went to Haiti with my housemate, Julienne LeBrun, who is a missionary with "A Heart For Haiti Missions."  In her work as a missionary there she helps support an orphanage near Cap Haitian, and several churches in the area. A Heart for Haiti also supports young people who want to study English or other trades, and pastors wanting to go to Seminary.  I went with Julienne for 5 days in November, to visit the area around Cap Haitian, and to participate in the work that she does.

Here are more photos of life in Cap Haitian...

The houses of Cap Haitian, as seen from the slopes above the city, where we visited some very impoverished neighborhoods.

VISITING THE HOUSES ON THE HILL ABOVE CAP HAITIAN

We visited families on the slopes above Cap Haitian, which consist of poorer slums, with cement houses clinging to the mountain sides, seemingly stacked up one almost on top of the other.

Everyone was very friendly. This woman's house (the front, where she is sitting,) was about 4 feet from the edge of a cliff. 

While in Haiti I got to try out my meager Kreyol skills -- which basically consist of `Good morning,' `good afternoon,' `pardon me, madamoiselle,' `thank you,' and "M'pa pale Kreyol" which means "I don't speak Kreyol." : )!   

Julienne sharing packs of crackers with the neighborhood kids.  The girls with yellow uniforms had just come home from school.

This is the "road" that families walk down to get to town. You have to be a bit careful in narrower places so that you don't fall off the cliff. But the children don't seem to be worried. This was definitely one of the more low-income sections of town that we visited, and one mother tried to give me her small son (as sometimes happens in the D.R. as well,) because she couldn't afford to take as good of care of him as I could, and she hoped that by giving him to me, she could give him a better life.

THE HOUSES AT THE RIVER

(Photos above and below) We spent parts of 2 days down at the river that flows through the middle of Cap Haitian.  We visited with some families there.  You can see that there's an unfortunate trash problem in the river because the trash collection is generally lacking in the city, and most people have to just throw their trash along the roads and rivers.  Reportedly the government is in the process now of developing a more comprehensive sanitation system, and we did see 1 trash truck picking up trash from bins while we were there. So that was a hopeful sign!  

See the two sweet little girls who live at the house just beyond the tire (above)?  The metal box on stilts to the right of the girls is their bathroom. It drains straight into the river.

Here's a closer look at the girls outside their home.  Again, the rusted metal room on stilts is the bathroom.  My heart really was drawn to the problem of trash and the dangers it causes to the rivers and the health of the people living near them. This is certainly a prayer request that I hope you will lift before God with me, that the government of Haiti (and others working with that government,) and the people of Haiti will be able to create a better sanitation and trash pick-up system in their country soon -- for everyone's health.

Here I am with kids and families we met down at the river.

ROSAMUND'S ORPHANAGE IN CAP HAITIAN

After the Earthquake in 2010 in Haiti a number of children who had lost families were brought by friends and relatives to the home of Rosamund, a Haitian school teacher who attended a local church.

Unwilling to turn them away, Rosamund took them all in -- all 20 of them, children of various ages, from toddlers through elementary school.  When "A Heart For Haiti Missions," (Julienne) who were already supporting the church where Rosamund attended saw the tiny house she was trying to care for 20 children in, they helped her rent a bigger home, which she now runs (and lives in full time) as an orphanage, now housing 21 kids.  A Heart for Haiti Missions" has found pen-pals in the U.S. to help financially support the kids, and send them school supplies, Christmas gifts, and clothes. I had a great time at the kids at the orphanage, and enjoyed watching how much Rosamund loves them all.  I was reminded of my friends at "Hearts and Hands for Haiti," based in Raleigh, N.C, and the work they do in Haiti, too, empowering local communities to help many similar children in need!

Julienne and I spent Thanksgiving at the Orphanage.  We helped set up for a special dinner, delivered suprise gifts of clothes, dolls and trucks, from the "pen-pals" in the states, and played games.  We also got to do chalk-art with the kids all over the orphanage outside walls.  It was fun, and it was great to see the loving atmosphere in the orphanage, and how all the kids love and listen to Rosamund. 

Here are some photos.

 This is a photo of the kids from 1 year ago. So they're 1 year bigger now, : ), and there have been a few extras kids welcomed into the home. 

Here are photos from our Thanksgiving together:

Jump-Rope on the Orphanage Roof 

Chalk- Art on the orphanage walls.

A hug before dinner

It was a great trip, and I got to see a lot of the work that God is doing in Haiti, and also a lot of areas where it seems there is still lots of room for growth and change.  I met a lot of wonderful Haitian people who are going out of their way to help others, and Pastors and Pastor's wives, and others, who are serving as amazing leaders in their communities.