Monte Plata journal pages part 4

July 7

Today we went to El Chirin. We worked in a health clinic alongside a Dr who was doing her internship and some nurses who also work there. We saw so many people in the clinic today. It was busy and I saw some very very simple people. One man didn’t understand Barry and he made all the people in the waiting room laugh when Barry tried to weigh him and he wanted to sit down on the scales. He had very few teeth and was older.
I helped a boy brush his teeth and I saw he had very bloody spittle. I suggested that he brush his teeth more often. He told me that the blood was because he had just had a tooth out. I asked him when, thinking he had just been to our dental clinic and I should not have been brushing his teeth. He told me he had pulled it out himself yesterday because he was in so much pain. I asked him what tool he used and he told me a nail clipper. This made me so sad. Our dental clinic had already registered their last patient of the day. We also ran out of tooth brushes today. Alex is going to buy us some tomorrow. We did 14 flouride treatments on kids today. I didn’t take many pictures. We had a sancocho for dinner, with platano frito. It was very delicious.

July 8

trouble makers in Anton Sanchez

Candace, Stacy, Carly, my new friends from Austin, TX

Today we were in Anton Sanchez. IT was a school. Robin and I traded jobs today. She took my place with the kids and I interpreted for Candace, a nurse practioner. I really enjoyed the day. It was nice to talk with adults for a change and get a bit more sense of the lives of the families that we are seeing. This town has been my favourite so far. I’m not sure how to describe it, but there was a feeling among the people that was so kind and generous and grateful. At lunch Barry and I went for a walk and just went down the road a bit. We were invited in to two homes. It was so lovely. We were offered pineapple, a bag of chinola and fresh huevos criollos. (eggs) We politely said no. It was so beautiful to be inside their home. They offered us chairs in front of the tv that was showing the noon hour soap opera. I told them we had to get back soon, but I really wanted to see their kitchen. We went out the back to the kitchen-shed. She was cooking over an open fire, the stove part made of clay. Lunch was to be chicken soup. It looked very watery. She explained that she wanted a better kitchen, but there was no money for that in these days.. Life is tough. The little girl of the house was thrilled to have us there. We took lots of pictures together. She was so precious. Back at the clinic I joined Alex outside under the almond tree to catch some breeze. There were two little precoucious boys there. Boy, did we have fun together. They thought it was the most hilarious thing that an ant had fallen on my camera and I was trying to blow it off. They laughed deep belly laughs. I did too. Then they thought it was funny that they stepped on my clean shoes with their muddy shoes and got me dirty. They were getting into trouble all day. When we took pictures with their mom I heard her tell them, “Ay, mira, vamos pa’l feisboo!” transl: "hey look , we’re going to be on facebook"... there are a few changes that catch me off guard. These people who have dirt floors know what facebook is. Seeing patients in the waiting area on their cell phones. Seeing women driving motorcycles. Internetear is a verb. Lato=laptop.

Tonight barry took me on a date to go buy ice cream at helados bon. Before dinner he went out on his own and bought hilo dental. I am so proud of him. There was a strong thunder and lightning storm this evening but we made it to ice cream without getting caught in the rain. The power went out tonight and the generator had to be put on. It’s so loud when it’s on it’s hard to hear each other. Barry and I stood out on the sidewalk so we could talk and stay cool.

My ankles are swollen tonight. I am tired. I am looking forward to a day at the beach tomorrow. We breakfast at six thirty and will get to the beach at nine. We will get back for six thirty, dinner time. Then Barry and I have been invited to the home of Ramon and Juana Prensa, friends of my parents. I am really looking forward to meeting them.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to four of our team. I am sad to see them go. Three are my roommates.

monte plata journal pages part 3

July 6,  2011

Today clinic was in Don Juan. It was in a church. The church was dirt floor, with bare cement walls. The roof was ½ finished it seemed, open in the middle. I had wondered what it would be like when it rained, and boy, did we find out! It poured in the afternoon, and the floors flooded. The patients needed an umbrella to go from the sala de espera to the consulting area and the pharmacy and the integrated health area. There were a lot of patients. The singing before we started the clinic was beautiful. I got a video of this one woman, who had her eyes closed and swayed along with the song of praise to God. We got our integral health box for children and we were able to do teeth brushing and fluoride treatment for 18 kids. They were beautiful and kind. I met Dolores, whose brother was Lino Gomez. He worked with dad back in the days of Santiago. It was really neat to meet her. She is trained as an optometrist and has worked for MMI for 11 years. 28 years as an optometrist. She said that dad gave her the money for transportation so that she could get her training. I was so sorry that I didn’t bring my pictures with me, but I will see her again on Monday. I must remember to put those in my day pack, because it’s the second time I could have given some away.

clinic in the church in El Dean. The sun roof is always open.

an audience looking in on our health education area

the dental clinic worked out of the neighbouring house's front patio

Dolores, optician

Tonight after dinner Barry and I went into the town center, about 3 blocks away. We went to Helados Bon and had a treat. It got dark pretty quickly, so we didn’t linger in the park. Tonight in the dining room the young people are playing a loud and boisterous card game. I don’t fit in at their table. But it reminds me so much of all those years of playing nertz after dinner. So many fun memories. 

monte plata journal pages part 2

July 5, 2011

Today’s clinic was in El Dean. It took ½ hour bus ride to get there. I loved the ride. We crossed several rivers. They were chocolate brown because of all the rain yesterday. We worked in a school. The classrooms were better stocked than some of the schools I had been in before. The children’s intergral health unit was in the five year old’s room. It was beautiful, with little tables and chairs. It had a bathroom and a kitchen in it. We were busier than yesterday. It was not as tiring as yesterday. There were some beautiful children. Beautiful in looks and smiles, as well as their character. There were three different kids who did not want to leave. Their mums had to wait for them. The stories today were the Prodigal Son and the Healing of the Paralytic. I loved it when the boys who were about 8 or 9 chime in to the stories, especially about the forgiveness of God and how it is real to us today. There was also one little boy who seemed so disinterested in everything. He didn’t want to colour or talk. He had a deep sadness about him. He told me he lived in the capital and he was just here for the summer holidays to visit his dad and grandparents. I wondered why he was so despondent. Today it poured rain just as we were packing up the pharmacy to get back on the bus. It was a hard, hard rain. It bounced back up off the sidewalk just like it used to when I was little.

Monte Plata, first days

July 3, 2011

Today was a day of re-acquaintance. Woken up in the night with the rain pounding the street outside and running down tin roofs. Roosters crowing in a uniquely Dominican way. Church with new friends, alabare, sharing and praising God together. Walking through the town, greeting people and watching their stares turn into beautiful smiles and response. Finding gorgeous colours of paint on homes, clusters of adults and children sitting on porches and under trees. Motorcycles with toddlers hoisted in front of a dad, gramdma sitting side saddle. Limones hanging from trees. Buying limonsillos from the sweetest girls on their front porch, while their little sisters sat on matching rocking chairs, colouring in their exercise books. Remolacha, arrepitas de maiz. Joy for today- walking with Barry, hearing him greet people.

Eliu, Deborah, Deborah's kids, outside of El Templo Biblico

Barry, weighing two year old twins.

Christopher

July 4, 2011

First project day. Today we pulled up to the Templo Biblico in Monte Plata. I was thrilled. I met Eliu and Deborah Prensa. Eliu is a deacon in the church and Deborah, his sister, is the director of the Eva Russell school. I hope to visit the school later and the orphanage. Deborah and Eliu are the grown children of Juana and Ramon Prensa. They know my parents. They were greatly influenced by Eva Russell, and became missionaries. They have an amazing ministry with the school and the orphanage. Deborah thanked Granville Chapel for the years of their support and prayers for the work of the Brethren assemblies in this country.  It was a small clinic day- not many patients. I was sitting around most of the day it felt like. Dentists were busy with lots of extractions. Some of them were surgical extractions that took a long time. We were waiting for the dental staff at the end of the day. I don’t think they even got a decent lunch, they were so busy. What a joy to be with the children. Joy of the day- holding baby Christopher. He just nestled into me and had fun, first with the scale, then looking at the rain.  Such a cutie. Cindy and I were working in the children’s health education. We taught about the importance of washing your hands and brushing your teeth. Most of the kids knew already when to wash hands and brush teeth, but as Milton told me, it’s always good to say it again.  We used a large teeth model and large toothbrush. The kids were so amazed at the size of the toothbrush and helped to brush the teeth on the model. Then we handed out colouring books, today it was Noah and the Ark and Adam and Eve. We read the stories and looked at each picture. There was a brother and sister who had never heard the story of Noah’s ark and they loved looking at the pictures of the animals and naming them. They took time to let the story sink in. Today it was also torrential raining. We kept joking about how it was a rainy day like it was for Noah and his family. It rained for most of the day, torrential downpours. The lights went out and during dinner we ate by candlelight and then had tremendous thunder and lightning storms. The thunder was so loud that it made me jump. I took lots of pictures today and can’t wait to really look at them later. So precious to see Barry weighing babies and adults and helping them get from the registration area to the doctor’s consult area.

The Last Day of School

Today, I said good-bye to the best class I have ever taught. I'm not sure what made this particular year so special. They're all special. But this class was a particularly special one. Someone very close to me wrote a letter to my class. I read it to them today and gave them each a copy for their scrapbook. Before I read it aloud to them, I told them I might cry while reading it. I said it's not because I'm sad, it's because it's coming from my heart. So I read it. I cried. I couldn't help it. Here it is:

Dear students in Mrs. Jung's class,
Congratulations on completing grade 4! This is the first time that I’ve ever written a letter for any of Mrs. Jung’s classes. There are many reasons why am writing to you.

1. I feel as if I know each one of you because of the many times I’ve seen the iMovies that Mrs. Jung created and produced about your class
2. Mrs. Jung has been taking lots of pictures and videos of your class and showed them to me
3. Mrs. Jung talks about you almost every school day at dinner
4. All of you helped her in completing her Masters of Education study at Simon Fraser University

I think the most important reason that I want to write to you, is that your class IS the BEST class that Mrs. Jung has ever taught. 

How do I know that you’re the BEST class?

I hear about your amazing accomplishments and the good character that you all possess and are still developing and the commitment you all have shown to work through challenges with school work and with friendships. I also hear about your willingness to learn and your enthusiasm to become a life-long learner. I also hear about how you have inspired Mrs. Jung to be a better teacher. I know that she has treasured the relationship that has developed between you and her. Relationships are important! I know that Mrs. Jung has loved teaching you this year and sincerely believes that each one of you is special and precious. 

As you go on to different teachers and higher grades, each year of school will get a little more difficult, but I know that you will all do very well. I want to encourage you to work hard at your studies, and to build strong and lasting friendships with your current and future classmates. You all know that learning is done both inside and out of the classroom, so I want to encourage you to stay in touch with teachers and staff of this school. They like that, especially when you go on to high school and then onto work or university and come back to visit. Teachers like that and Mrs. Jung especially likes her students to visit her.… not because she feels important but because she enjoys rekindling the relationship she has with each one of you and wants to see your development as you grow into maturity and character. Staying in touch is a good thing! 

Well done class…. You’re truly the best!

Way to go,
Mr. Jung

One of my students came up to me later on and said, "That was a great letter."

I agreed with her and told her I would tell Mr. Jung.

I love a wedding...

...especially when purple is involved!

the handsome groomsmen!

the cake

the happy couple!

Saturday breakfast at friend's home

For the last while I have been unable to load photos onto my blog, so this has been waiting in the wings. Recently, we had a beautiful Saturday morning breakfast in the new home of our friends. Here is how we were blessed:

What a wonderful table! Surrounded by friends, good food, and a garden.

It felt like we were eating in the garden!

Delicious homemade bread.

Toppings for the steel cut oats. 

Add caption

bleeding heart

lilac bushes and rhodo's- both the size of a house!

single peony