• Over the week we conducted five medical clinics, working alongside our hosts from the Good Samaritan Hospital, and treated more than 1000 patients, providing them with at least a month's worth of meds, vitamins and toiletries that were donated by friends and family.
• One of the bateys we visited had never had a clinic before and as such our team treated more than 220 patients in one day, setting a record for the mission we work with!
• We finished our fifth hurricane-proof house on Batey 50. This batey is privately owned and therefor the government does not provide hurricane-proof housing. Prior to teams like ours building homes for them, residents lived in homes they cobbled together from found sticks, shards of corrugated tin, and weathered, discarded pieces of plywood. A photo below shows the old and new construction side by side.
• Our team distributed food to residents at all of the bateys we visited, reaching more than 1200 homes.
• La Fuerza Azul had 47 members — 19 students and two chaperons from the University High School of Science and Engineering, 5 doctors from the UConn School of Medicine, 6 Watkinson faculty, 7 Watkinson students, 5 Watkinson alums, 1 Watkinson parent and 4 friends of the school.
• We hauled 38 fifty lb. bags of donated shoes and had the privilege of distributing them everywhere we went.
• We have relationships with two different schools in the La Romana area -- one on Batey 50 and one in a barrio called Kilometer 6. We had the joy of donating more than 10 bags of school supplies — notebooks, crayons, pencils, glue, manipulatives and learning games — in both locations.
• We sponsored a teacher two years ago, Belkis, who has now finished her education and graduates December 3. We also had the financial resources, thanks to many generous donors, to sponsor a new student, Minerva, studying to become a teacher. The most interesting part of these sponsorships is that the organization that coordinates them requires the beneficiaries to pay the money back to the sponsor program after they have been gainfully employed for five years.
• The construction projects coordinated by the Good Samaritan have been using the same cement mixer for more than 25 years. It was overused when they acquired it. Now, 25 years later, it is woefully insufficient for the work they do. Again, thanks to the generous donors who support the work of Watkinson's D.R Service Team, we were able to give the Good Samaritan enough money to buy a new cement mixer. When speaking with a board member for the hospital, he was overjoyed and exclaimed that the efficiency of the 70 teams of volunteers that work alongside the Good Samaritan staff will increase by more than 30%. Our experience bears this out as we spent about one third of our week mixing cement by hand as the mixer wasn't working.
However, the total story of our work cannot be told by the numbers alone. Below the photos is a lovely reflection by one of our student travelers.
Top to bottom: New House and Old House Side By Side, Construction Team with the House We Completed, Med Team
Reflection from a Student Traveler
I had a blast working construction and painting, the children loved helping and I loved being with them because they were always happy. I also really enjoyed working at the med clinics; my favorite jobs were intake and blood pressure. The people in the bateys are so loving and amazing — a simple hug makes their day. Also, there may have been a few times where I was tempted to take a child home with me. And by a few times I mean every day the temptation would creep into me.
I have been asked numerous times: “Why would you give up your Thanksgiving to go work all the way in the Dominican Republic and be away from your family?” I would respond to them with confidence, “I would rather spend my Thanksgiving giving people that have almost nothing something to be thankful for.” I would rather give an 11 year-old boy who had tattered and holey shoes the sneakers right off my feet than pig out on a gluttonous meal. I would rather spend my Thanksgiving helping to run a med clinic than watching a football game while falling asleep from all the food I ate. The people we serve are not thankful for just one Thursday a year. They will be thankful when it rains because they now have a roof over their head. They will be thankful when they are taking their medicine because they were lucky to see a doctor. And they will be thankful when they are putting on the shoes that were donated by loving people half a continent away. And no, I did not spend Thanksgiving without my family; the team is just as much family as my actual family.
On this trip I was the happiest I have been in months. Nothing lifts my spirits like helping people that need it and making great friends while doing so. If I had to take anything away from this trip it is do what you can to make someone’s life a little easier or their day a bit more bearable. Be thankful for everything you have, including the education you have, and for the fact that you can count on it that you will have a next meal. There is no way that I will pass up this life-changing experience next year.
