Hi, it's Caroline G.! I woke up at ~6:20 to get ready and make the electrolytes for the team. The team slowly trickled down and we had breakfast together by ~7:15. We had scrambled eggs, bacon, bread, and fresh fruit.
After breakfast, we had a quick team meeting and then got to work. Before we went off to our respective work crews, we had to pack MannaPacks(packs of food we give out at the med clinics). I was on med, and the bus ride was about an hour to get to Batey Polo Blanco.
After unpacking in the two classrooms we were running the med clinic in Batey Polo Blanco, Olivia, Will W., and I began working at the blood pressure station. there was no waiting area so it was a bit congested, but everyone was very patient with our broken Spanish.
In the slower moments, we would take turns going outside to play with the kids, blow bubbles, and hand out stickers. We had a fantastic lunch of empanadas, rice, vegetables, and cookies(!). After lunch, we had some time to play with some kids that had gathered outside.
It was a lot of fun but we had to go back inside to see the last of the patients. It began to start pouring rain outside, so when we had to pack up and get everything back on the bus, we got absolutely soaked. We rode the bus back and met up with the rest of the group to head to Jumbo. Overall, it was a very meaningful experience, and I'm excited for our "Day of Play" with the kids at the Joe Hartman School tomorrow.
Hey everyone, It is Caroline K. I was on the team with construction (Although not much construction was done on my end of things. I was set to take care of the children on Batey 50 for the afternoon) The rest of the team was hard at work, shoveling rocks to make concrete and painting the houses of the locals.
everybody worked so hard, and I am so grateful for the connections we made during our first day. The people were lovely, and precious. Everybody was grateful we were there and so were we. The concrete we were making was to add support to the foundation of their community, which was in extremely bad shape. The homes we painted, were of long time residents of Batey 50.
Once the rain started, we said our goodbye for the day, headed for the bus and took off. after we begun, we had our lunch for the day which was chicken empanadas. SO GOOD!!! We got back to the compound and got ready to head to Jumbo, the Dominicans big target! The walk their was quite a journey. It was down pouring the entire time with no coverage or rain coats. We made it inside and got snacks galore and headed back before the rain begun again. The plan for the rest of the night was dinner at a hospital in La Ramona, that is intertwined with the Haitian church that helps make this trip possible. The dinner was amazing. And of course, the cakes of the day!
We had 3 guest speakers join us and tell us about their experiences and struggles living in the DR. Two brothers spoke about their process they are going through in order to get documents from the country that gives them access tio colleges.
Overall the day was amazing and I cant wait to experience more tomorrow!!
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