Day 2: Let It Rain

Team 1:  Joe Hartman School

We returned to Joe Hartman School today to finish the work we started yesterday.  After two truckloads of dirt had been delivered to the school, at least one and a half of them remained for us to haul into place today.  It seemed unthinkable to finish it all in one day, but our work crew was adamant.  We couldn’t accept any more shipments until a space was cleared.  Bucket by bucket, we filled each wheelbarrow with the mud that had been soaked with the overnight rain.  The mud was stickier and heavier than yesterday, but we weren’t deterred.  

Intermittent showers periodically interrupted our work, but honestly, this was probably a blessing.  We were so focused on our goal that we hardly remembered to take breaks.  Fortunately, whenever it started to rain, our crew leaders demanded we take a little descanso until the rain let up.  Those little rests certainly helped us maintain our stamina throughout the difficult work day.  Just as we transported our last wheelbarrow full of dirt, the bus arrived to take us back to Casa Pastoral.  With impeccable timing, we had accomplished a goal that had once seemed impossible.

Team 2: The Dream Team

Our Dream Team was all fired up to return to Batey 9 on Tuesday to pour concrete into the newly dug trenches and begin constructing the foundation of the house. We arrived at turn-off to Batey 91 and discovered the road was impassable due to flooding, which prevented our construction crew from delivering the cement mixer and other heavy machinery to the work site. We will have to wait at least until tomorrow to pour the foundation.

For the meantime, here is a photo of the trenches at the end of yesterday’s workday on Batey 91. Note the dilapidated houses in the background, which eventually will all be replaced with new concrete homes like the one we are building now.

Instead of working on Batey 91, we traveled to a suburban neighborhood outside La Romana to continue construction on their new school (not Kilometer 6 and the Joe Hartman School). One team prepared the concrete walls of the second floor for painting by smoothing out the walls with rocks while another group worked in the courtyard to remove large concrete pillars that had been set in the ground. The process took team members with a combined weight of over 1,000 lbs to tear each pillar out of the ground and transport it to a dump site. Much of this work was done during a Caribbean downpour, which only strengthened the team’s resolve to remove the pillars.

Our wall sanding squad. 

At the end of the day, we were soaked and tired, but happy with our work.

Team 3: Medical Clinic

We had a yuuuuge day at the medical clinic. Despite the downpour, we treated 152 patients, many of whom waited outside in the downpour. Today's spectrum of cases included but were not limited to; Flu, cold symptoms, infectious abscesses, muscle dystrophy, malnourishment, dehydration, hypertension, diabetes, glaucoma, parasites, acne, and scabies. 

Doctor Lys holds an extremely malnourished six-month-old infant has had the development of a two-month-old. She was incredibly small and could not sit. According to our doctors, she was at least 6 - 8 lbs underweight.