We had an early breakfast this morning, followed by a visit from Kristy Engel, an American Baptist missionary and pediatric nurse practioner who works at the Good Samaritan Hospital. She gave us a good sense of what to expect when we visit the bateys, and she also told us about her recent trip to Haiti and the cholera epidemic.
Most of the group then took long and bumpy bus ride through sugar cane fields to visit and deliver food to Pilar and Francisco, who used to be a foreman in one of the sugar cane plantations. Their batey was relocated, but because they live in a cement home built by another team, they stayed where they are and are now completely isolated. The couple responded very differently: Pilar hugged and kissed everyone; Francisco was very quiet and reserved until the end of the visit when he wanted to pray with and for us. The land around their house is filled with papaya, orange and lemon trees. They plant sweet potatoes and corn, raise several goats, chickens and a donkey. It sounds very plentiful but they are quite old so caring for it is challenging. They lost their children to AIDS and are now trying to care for their two grandchildren with few resources to do so. We prayed in circle with Francisco and Pilar and it was a long goodbye.
Much of the afternoon was spent organizing the donated meds -- sorting, dividing, labeling, counting -- in preparation for our trip to Batey 50 tomorrow. We continued to work together like a well-oiled machine using many different but equally efficient systems for getting batches of 30 aspirin or children's vitamins or ibuprofen or tums into small plastic bags.
The highlight of the day for many of us was a visit to Beraca Iglesia for their Sunday evening service. This church services a large Haitian community that lives in a barrio called "Kilometer 6" right outside of La Romana. We were warmly welcomed by the entire congregation but especially by the children who had no hesitation greeting us, sitting with us, even climbing into our laps and falling asleep. They loved our digital cameras -- seeing instant photos of themselves, taking photos of each other and of us. When Kevin asked one little boy if he liked having us there, he replied, "Yes, it's like Christmas because you're here to help and make a difference." There was wonderful singing through the service by the whole congregation and a choir of 40 men and women in robes and very special hats for the ladies. A band accompanied the music with sax, trumpet, drums, keyboard, and 2 electric basses that kept blowing the fuses and leaving us clapping and singing in darkness. The show did not stop. What a night!
We're back on the ground again, filling tiny plastic bags with more meds for tomorrow
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