Day 3: Work, work, work, work, work (Monday, 11/19)

To the team's big surprise, we didn't just divide up into three work groups... we divided up into five!  Although this wasn't on our original agenda, the DR requires a certain level of flexibility.  The only certainty is uncertainty!  Fortunately, we are more than ready to adjust our expectations to meet the needs of the people we serve.  And so, here is a recap from a team member at teach of the five sites from today. 

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My day today was awesome! We went to Batey Papita, and our job was to fill in the floor of a church with dirt. Even though that sounds like a small task, it involved pickaxing, shoveling, wheel barrowing and leveling! Also I was playing with a young boy. He wasn’t very talkative, but we played hide and go seek and I got him to smile and laugh. That was the highlight of my day.

-Cora  

Batey Papita

Pictured: Matteo & Dave

Photo Cred: Avi

Today I went to the hospital, and it was really fun! I was with a group of six people and one chaperone. We painted the walls and lifted sheet rocks, which we then nailed in to the frames to make new walls for the fourth floor of the hospital. During our break, we went up to the fifth floor of the hospital, and we could see all of La Romana and it was beautiful! All of the workers were really nice and they were helpful when we didn’t know what or how to do.

-Rachel

View from the top floor of the hospital 

(Fun fact; this hospital was built entirely by volunteers from the mission over the years.)

Photo Cred: Beonce

I went to La Lechosa today, and it was amazing! This is my first time on the Dominican Republic trip, and I cannot express how happy I feel when seeing the work that we do here. La Lechosa is a school, and our jobs were to paint the fence enclosing the – soon to be -  garden,  and to remove concrete and rubble from the enclosure. The children greeted us with a song and then rushed to give us hugs. It was so heartwarming. The sun was out, but working to improve this school was worth every drop of sweat. The kids also had an afternoon assembly, in which they sung their national anthem and welcomed us to the Dominican Republic. Overall, the day was productive and eye opening, I can’t wait for the days to come.

-Ananya

Fleance, Ananya, Kim, Mya, Priya & friends

Photo Cred: Ananya

Today was my first workday, and it was awesome!  I helped with the med clinic that we ran in one of the bateys.  During some of the free time I had, I got to interact with a lot of the kids.  Although my Spanish might not be the best, it was so great asking them questions, like how old they are and what’s their name.  It was also rewarding seeing the smiles on their faces after giving them a sticker or a stamp on their hand.  They also loved putting stamps on some of my friends and me… we ended up getting covered head to toe in them!  Most rewarding of all was being able to physically hand someone in need a pair of shoes and seeing how appreciative they were.   I can’t wait to go back again!

-Emily

Emily & friends

Photo Cred: Emily también

Today I went to the Joe Hartman School, and it was even better than everyone else’s day! We plopped our bags down and rushed to start working. After creating a system of work and establishing our roles, we started moving dirt to help level the ground of a new building for the kindergarteners to be taught in.  While this was happening, a separate group of our members was painting the cafeteria that we helped build last year.  After a while, our painting team finished their work and started helping with the wheelbarrows but encountered an issue of congestion. This was solved due to some quick thinking and the establishment of a bucket brigade.  After a delicious lunch break, we reunited and finished our work almost completely laying down the foundation of the new floor, ready to have cement laid in the coming days.

-Samm SR

Shoveling dirt to be transported via wheelbarrow / bucket-brigade to the site of the new kindergarten

PS - these boys were absolutely relentless!  MVPs of the day.