Day 4 - Work day at Batey 50 & Med Clinic

Hello from the DR! (Ja Seng Ra N. and William H.)

Ja Seng Ra: Today, the team woke and got ready for a 7:30am breakfast with oatmeal, bacon & sausages, fruit, and bread. Once breakfast was over, we hung out and got ready for our second work day until the buses, for our respective medical and construction teams, came. 

For the day, I was a part of the construction team, working at Batey 50. Getting there, we had to drive through a harsh dirt road along the sugarcane fields, going through somewhat of a maze, until we got to our designated area. Our assignment for the day was to continue painting and hauling cement to the houses. I began with the painting area, specifically working on the windows, and others painted the walls of the houses. The other group walked over to the pile of cement and shoveled cement onto the back of the loading truck. 

After a couple of hours of working, we took a break for lunch, which was empanadas, rice & beans, and meat. Once we finished eating our delicious meal, we had a special surprise for Elizabeth, a kid from Batey 50, as it was her 12th birthday. We sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and her reaction was priceless!

In the second half of the day, I joined in with the shoveling crew, where we continued loading cement onto the truck, and finished the day off with painting. 

Towards the end of the work day, Caroline, Caleb and Darren headed over to the school to meet the kids and handed out some toys!

After a challenging and rewarding day, we headed home to shower and rest up!

Will: The med clinic team departed La Romana at around 8:30 AM and spent an hour or so driving through sugarcane fields and enormous hills covered in grasses and trees.

Once we arrived at the batey (at around 9:30), we carried the meds, shoes, food, and water (what was sorted yesterday) from the bus into the church and organized the space so that patients could flow through efficiently.

My assignment was shoes, so I unpacked the majority of our mens, women's and kids shoes, and slightly organized them by size.

There were plenty of women's and kids shoes, but not many men's. Within a few minutes of the clinic beginning, patients had filled the church. I did my best to ask what shoes the patients wanted with my limited Spanish, and there was a mix of US and European sizing responses. Most of the shoes did not have a displayed size, so I had to guess, and the patients frequently rejected my offers because of the wrong size or style. The most fun was finding tiny pairs of colorful sneakers (and correctly estimating the size) and offering it to young kids who smiled and looked at their parents with joy, appreciating their new shoes as a gift. Unfortunately, we ran out of men's shoes very quickly, and later on we ran out of larger sizes of women's shoes, which the majority of the women were hoping for (instead, the translators offered shoes for their kids who weren't there with them). There were limited unisex flip flops, which were primarily given to men and women who otherwise wouldn't be able to get anything. Nearing lunch, we mostly had shoes for kids and teenagers or smaller sizes of women's shoes. At around 12:15 we began our lunch break and ate until 12:45. Delicious! We also met a cat who climbed under a bench, into a drum set, and then scrambled backwards out of it.

The action started up again at 1:00 PM. With the shoes depleted, I helped hand out food and hygiene kits with Caroline K. while occasionally handing out a pair of shoes if they fitted anyone. Everything eventually ran out, but we found a massive bag of toothbrushes to give to everyone until the end of the clinic at around 2:30ish. We drove back to La Romana, showered, and then relaxed until dinner. We had another cake for dessert.

Cake of the day:

To finish the night we went on another group trip to Jumbo and packed food packs for tomorrow. We are all proud of our work today and are super excited for the next 3 work days!

Day 3 - Sorting & day of play at Joe Hartman School!

Hi everyone its Autumn W. and Judy Q.! Today we got to have the luxury of waking up late (between 7:30 & 8) and came down to Tata's delicious signature pancakes, fruit, bacon, and sausage!! After breakfast we got right to work on separating shoes, making hygiene kits, sorting and counting meds, and packing food.

Our sorting entailed: separating Womans, Mens, and kids shoes. Separating and counting out medications. Packing toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, body wash & other hygiene products into bags to make hygiene kits, and making bags full of rice, cornmeal, beans, sardines, pasta, and oil to make food bags.

After sorting everything we had lunch which was burgers (sooo delicious) and had about an hour to get ready before we made our way to the Joe Hartman School for our day of play!! Below is both of our reflections of our experiences at the school:)

Autumn:

We rode the bus into Kilometer Six, one of the barrios in La Romana with high spirits! Before we had arrived we had planned lots of games for this kids such as: basketball, baseball, a huge rainbow parachute, face paint and so much more. Once we got to the school the kids greeted us with hugs! For the first hour or so we brought out all of the games however at first it was a hit we all ended up doing games and dances the kids taught us. Gaby R., Darren G., Pia S., Maria A, and I were able to serve lunch to the kids which was a really cool experience! We learned later that the kids don't normally have lunch at school, so it was amazing that we were able to serve them today! After serving lunch some of the

kids pulled me aside (and many others) to paint my face with the face paint we brought along. With our new stylish look we took to the dance floor. The kids loved to dance and get piggy back rides from all of us so for the majority thats what we did:) I met a some girls that taught me some new hand games to play and Gaby and I taught them how to play concentration! My favorite part of the day however had to be meeting this girl named Tatiana. She keep stealing my sunglasses and doing the most sassy poses with them it made my day! Overall the experience today was one I will never forget! meeting and playing with all the kids was the best experience and just made me feel like a kid again!

                                                                                                

 

Judy: 

Starting from this morning, me and the team are sorting meds and shoes, the process is long and hard but with joy. The team that I’m with was organizing and labeling ibuprofen. Soon the label runs out, me and Autumn start to write on the 200 bags that’s left on the table . I feel overwhelmed by writing “ ibuprofen 200mg 15 counts” with different expiration days. By writing labels overtime, I could clearly see the results within full bag of ibuprofen. “No pain No gain”

When we played with those kids at school.I really like the energy and enthusiasm within the kid and see the smile on theirs face. During the activity, I was in charge of frisbee game. At first, I wasn't convinced that any kids wanted to get involved in a game of frisbee. Until one kid pointed to my Frisbee and asked me to throw it to him, which really surprised me. Until I played with them before lunch and gave them stickers.

I think the most touching part was when one of Joe Hartman's students wrote "Love" on my arm. I had tears in my eyes. As the only Chinese student, I often feel like I don't belong in this group, and the kids were not very positive about me during today's activities. This really made me feel happy and that all the effort I put in today and on this trip was worth it.

I really feel that this trip will be memorable for the rest of my life and will allow me to learn about different cultures.

.

And now for the cake of the day:

Overall we had a great day and can't wait for a fun work day tomorrow!! 

buenas noches!

Day 2 - Construction at Batey 50 & Med Clinic at Batey Polo Blanco

 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.

Day 1 - Traveling to the Dominican Republic!

Hey everyone, it's Julia!

From a hardy start to everyones morning at 3:45AM, to navigating through an action-packed airport, our DR team this year had a great day of travel and fun! 

This is my first time on this trip and even though naps were needed throughout the day (whether that be on the plane or buses), we made it through with smiles on our faces!

 

After each of us spent the day carrying TWO 50 pound bags of donations and necessities, made our way through bag checks, TSA, and bus rides, we finally got to La Romana, and I'm so excited to see what tomorrow brings us all! 

 
 

Hey everyone, it's Gaby! 

This is my third time coming on this trip and landing in Santo Domingo was so exciting! After getting through customs and out of the airport, we loaded two busses with all the bags and off we went to La Romana!  

The drive to the compound was beautiful and we reconnected with our friends Café and Carlos on the way! 

Once we arrived in La Romana, we reunited with our other friends Emilio and Tata who had our delicious dinner for us. 

We had Paella, salad, rice, and cherry chocolate cake. 

We spent the rest of the night unpacking and sorting meds to prepare for the medical clinic we will host tomorrow.

We are all very excited to see what is in store for this week! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the blog post tomorrow to read about our first work day! 🤗🇩🇴

One Week to Go!

The 2024 DRST leaves one week from today.  We are in the midst of finishing all our pre-trip preparations and packing to get ready to take off! Know that we are taking all of your good wishes and donations with us.  Once again, we have been astounded by the generosity of the Watkinson Community. The amount of meds, hygiene items, and shoes we are bringing with us is extraordinary!

And it's not too late to support our work.  If you are so inclined, give to our gofundme, which will support our ability to buy prescription meds, diapers, construction materials, etc. once we arrive.