What a great day!
It started at 3:30 a.m. I had to be at the airport at 5:00 a.m. Kathryn’s boyfriend, Joe Brown took me to the airport. There were several volunteers at the airport who made the check-in process painless. There are 46 people on the trip, but Father Bob and Jake left on Sunday to get things organized.
The plane was late because of a delay from where it originated. We took off at around 8. We arrived in Punta Cana around 1:00. Customs was well organized. We rode a chartered bus to the hotel – Hotel Don Carlos. I really didn’t know what to expect. I would compare it to a Motel 8 but it does have a restaurant and a bar.
Hotel Don Carlos in Higuey, Dominican Republic
Our room at the Don Carlos - I offered to flip a coin to see who got the double bed or the single, but Jon Lawrence let me have the double - maybe my size had something to do with it!
My roommate is Jon Lawrence. His daughter Danielle is on the trip with him. She is a junior at Gilmore. John manages the Northern Ohio offices for Merrill Lynch. This is their second mission trip.
When we got to the hotel, Father Bob and Jake were making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a late lunch so I pitched in and helped with the process.
Lunch and a short meeting at the Don Carlos
before we headed out to the Mission site
before we headed out to the Mission site
We got on a different bus and headed out to our village. Lots of motorbikes on the roads, it was raining so traffic was fairly light.
In a 20 minute trip, I saw no stop signs and only one traffic light. When cars come to an intersection, they either slow down, speed up, or just barrel on through. After 10 minutes of constantly flinching at "close calls' - my shoulders ached!
You see all forms of transportation on the roads!
We passed a prison on the way to the village. The prison is close to our mission site and arrangements have been made to get fresh water from the prison water source. The prison has been under construction for several years and has yet to be occupied. We soon found ourselves on a dirt road, very bumpy and slow. When we arrived in our village, things were very quiet and we saw very few people – maybe the rain?
Prison under construction near our village
Father Bob took us up to the door of the old community center and said we were going to go inside because it was the only building that the roof didn’t leak! When he opened the double doors, the building was filled with the village people! They had planned a surprise welcome for us. This was very significant, because it was the first time they had ever done this. Most of the people living in the village are displaced Haitians, having been displaced several times in the past few years. Most did not know each other when they moved into the village. This meant that they were growing together as a community – a significant step.
They had gone out and purchased soft drinks for us which was also a significant gesture. You should have seen the smiles – all age groups! Hugs galore. Beautiful children.
Reception by the villagers at the old community center.
That's Steph - a member of my "mission family". She called me "dad" on the whole trip.
Steph has been on many mission trips and has made some good friends among the children.
Steph has been on many mission trips and has made some good friends among the children.
We stayed for a half hour and then headed back to the hotel where we were given room assignments. We napped and met for dinner at 7:30. Dinner was good: chicken, rice beans, salad, fried plantains, cucumbers and tomatoes.
After dinner we met with our families. At the retreat a week before we left, we were placed with several other people in families.
We were given a t-shirt and asked to decorate it with the first letter of our first name and write our name on the back. This was to help the villagers with the English alphabet and our names. We were to wear them on Tuesday. It was then off to the Tiger Mart across the street, the local gas station, and snack mart. The Tiger Mart is in constant motion, mostly motorbikes buzzing in to get gas - hundreds of them per hour. 35 pesos to the dollar. We figured around $4.50 per gallon. I got a bottled water and a diet coke, and got change back from the two dollars that I gave her. There was a security guard by the gas pumps with a sawed-off shotgun. No stealing gas here!!
We met a Mormon missionary at the Tiger Mart, from Utah. His parents were born in Haiti. He was with a group called Liftalife.org specializing in dental and medical help. I promised to hook him up with my dentist, Dr. Robert Fulton, who has invented a portable dental work machine that can be carried into the field.
In bed by 11! Breakfast at 8 in the morning. It is supposed to rain again tomorrow. Shipping container has not arrived – red tape in Santa Domingo having to do with shipping in used clothing.
The Dominican government is afraid to let used clothing into the country because of the cholera scare. I hope all of the clothing donated by St. Ambrose parishioners is not thrown away.
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