DRST 2025 - Day 2 - First Work Day!

Hello from the DRST!

By William H. & Max W.

William:

Today marked the team's first official work day at the bateys. Everyone woke up before or at 7:00am and headed to breakfast for eggs, fruit, and bacon at around 7:30.

Immediately afterwards, we began moving food packs to the buses that we would take to the construction and med clinic sites. Once the buses were full, both teams started their drive out of La Romana into the sugarcane fields. 

The med clinic team arrived at the batey where we would spend the day at 10am. After setting up the stations, our first patients began to roll in. Each patient was given anti-parasite medicine, had their basic information (weight, age, etc.) and blood pressure taken and written down, met with a doctor, and received prescribed medications, as well as shoes and food.

The morning was very slow. Patients had to wait a while until their turn with one of our two doctors. In the meantime, members of the team handed out stickers and blew bubbles to cheer the children up. We stopped for lunch at around 1:00pm, where we ate rice, beans, meat, empanadas, pbj sandwiches, and cookies. After eating, we met with a few more patients and finished the day strong at around 2:30. Then, we drove back to La Romana.

Hi everyone! it's Max here to talk about our construction team. We went to Batey 50 to visit some old friends and help out. We helped paint, and we dug up a tree trunk to make way for a new sidewalk planed. During our time we saw so many of our old friends but us first timers like me made some new ones!!!

 

After a great workday, we loaded up the rest of our food and headed back home to Casa Pastoral. A nice cool shower feels so good after being covered in paint. Our night tonight took an unexpected turn after our delicious dinner (with delicious cherry-chocolate cake). We were planning to go to the hospital, but instead we ended up at the Jumbo store to stock up on our faves, a great way to end our first workday!!