Home Again

I totally agree with the sentiments expressed in Bev's post of yesterday.  Being home and in my own comfortable bed with no noise....in Ocoa, the partying lasted well into the night sometimes waking me up at 3 am.  Considering the roosters started crowing at 4:30 am, there was little quiet time for the light sleepers like me. Apart from the other comforts of home, that is the one that I really appreciate!!

As I stated before, I am totally pleased with the ways in which our team functioned.  My experience in the DR was interesting and stimulating.  Not only did I have the pleasure of helping others, I was treated to our students from CVCEC strutting their knowledge and showing what they were made of on the proving grounds of real life.

I am also so please at how well our blog turned out.  There was great buy-in from the students and our larger community of family, friends and school was pleased to have the insights each of us could offer through the forum of the blog.  In fact, at last look, we have have 5058 hit on the site, so that more than surpasses my wildest expectations!

Congrats to the whole Ocoan team, from the administrators of the School Board (Bonnie and Caroline), our supportive colleagues from CVCEC (especially Debbie and Danielle) and the rest of the school community including students who checked out our efforts on the blog.

Thanks to everyone for their support!

Home Sweet Home

Tonight we are all back to the luxuries of our Canadian homes.( lots of food, good drinking water, hot showers, flush toilets, electricity , comfortable beds and lots of room).

Tonight we will look at what we have through different eyes and appreciate how lucky we are to be born in Canada.

Congratulations to our students who made us proud ( Lisa Davis, Eric Blair, Daphne Carpentier,  Sandra  Laird, Beatha Kayitesi and Stephaine Robson.)

They worked many hours in the heat, poor conditions and with little equipment.

They bought smiles and hope to the Dominican people. They held the hands of the elderly, carried around the babies and gave medical help to thoses who needed it. They did an amazing job.

I would like to thank my colleges Kim Tannahill, John Hodges and Tamara Niven.

They worked side by side with the students to guide them, encourage them and helping them to get though long hard days. What a great team!

Also a big thanks to Sheila Wojcik and Rosie Healy from Georgian College who welcome us to join them and work with their students. Many friendships grew from this experience.

Thanks to all of you who supported us. You are the reason we reached our goals.

To all a good night!

Supper

Last supper together!

Heading home tomorrow!

The Pink House

Today we went to a orphanage for HIV/AIDS children called "The Pink House". We took a taxi out of the "Old City" into the less touristy parts of Santo Domingo, crossed the river and found ourselves watching the activities of the average Dominican through the car windows as we drove past.  It is certainly a very busy place with all sorts of economic activities being carried out from mechanic shops, fruit sellers, metal recycling, barbers, garbage sorting, and other things that you might expect to see on any street in Montreal with the exception that everything happens right on the street and that there is no seeming rhyme or reason to the organization of the businesses. Apparently, there were no town planners when the city was set up!

We arrived at the Pink House without event, but I have to say the taxi was quite modern and I used a seat belt for the first time while being here.  It felt good! 

The pink house is a refuge for the children of AIDS parents (specifically, mothers) who give them up for adoption because of their own circumstances. The "house" is actually a rather large compound which boasts its own dental clinic, medical examination room, school, library, basketball court, festival area, sleeping dorms, outside play area, computer room, etcetera.  It was build entirely from donations and is run with the help of the church, but there are paid employees who deal with the day to day operations. We brought a large hockey bag filled with gifts for the kids that was most graciously accepted.

I have no photos from inside the compound, as that is a strict rule.....children are not to be photographed under any circumstances. I took two shots of the outside before we left:

These pics should give you an idea of how large the place is - and it has to be as they care for 228 children at a time.  Architecturally, it is a very impressive structure with areas designed to give maximum light and airiness and a sense of being out side.  This is because the children stay in the building until they are 18 so as to protect them from the rough and tumble world outside the house. Attitudes regarding AIDS are improving, but it is tough in this environment to get a fair shake at life.  The children are hopfully adopted by people willing to take up the challenge of providing a decent life for the innocent in the hopes they can provide a stable home environment. A really impressive place!!!!

Bird-Nerd Alert, May 12

Those of you who know me, know that I am a bit of a bird nerd; actually those of you who really know me, know that I am A LOT of a bird nerd! I knew that on this trip, I would not be able to satisfy my nerdiness because I knew that we would be occupied most of each and every day and there would be little time left over for that activity.

The Dominican Republic is actually not a great bird watching destination, especially at this time of the year.  This is because:

1) the population pressures are pretty hard on the natural environment, and the indigenous bird population is under pressure from agricultural practices and other human endeavours like hunting and habitat destruction; and,

2) a great deal of the resident birds have gone north to their breeding grounds at this time of the year.  In fact, Canada is the place you want to be in May if you like to watch birds. Nonetheless, I brought my binoculars with me "au cas où" ("in case of", in French - pronounced "oka-zoo").  

(Selfie alert!!!)

I fortunately was able observe in passing a number of species and I was also lucky to discover that there were a lot of birds in a little forested area behind our compound in Ocoa.  I was also pleased to discover another person in our group who was interested in hanging out the window with me - thanks, Susan!!!! 

For those of you interested (read: nerdy, like me) here is a list of what we saw:

Antillean Mango 

Hispanolan Emerald

Hispanolan Woodpecker

Antillean Piculet 

Loggerhead Kingbird

Hispanolan Pewee

White-Necked Crow

Starling

House sparrow

Cave Swallow

Palmchat 

Northern Mockingbird

Rufous-throated Solitaire

Red-legged Thrush

Bananaquit

Black-crowned Palm-tanager

Yellow-faced Grassquit

Greater Antillean Bullfinch

White-collared Swift

Antillean Palm Swift

Black Swift

Antillean Nighthawk

Hispaniolan Lizard-cuckoo

Hispaniolan Parakeet

Hispaniolan Parrot

Mourning Dove

Common Ground-dove

White-winged Dove

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Turkey Vulture

American Kestrel

Cattle Egret

Black-crowned Night Heron

Magnificent Frigatebird

Brown Pelican

And a lot of "sp" meaning I saw a bird but, whatever....

Not too bad for occasional birding!

Santo Domingo

Today we are waking up in Santo Domingo, having been dropped off at our hotel by the gang from Ontario before they made their way to the airport.

We spent the day recovering, resting and relaxing.....and of course, buying gifts for family and friends back home.  Here are a few pics that give you a sense of the old part of the city where we are located.

 

 

Today is our last day of our trip and we will all have the morning free.  This afternoon we head up to the "Pink House", an orphanage for girls who have HIV/AIDS. We will bring gifts and messages of support and see the way the place is organized.  I will write a post about that experience later.

Our team is relaxed and peaceful. There are a lot of laughs and jokes as we make fun of one another and as we debrief our experiences of the trip to Ocoa, even when Tamara launched her glass of wine at me over dinner yesterday! I am so pleased with each and every student who fully engaged in this special opportunity and who gave of themselves, their skills and personalities. Although I am not a health care teacher, I have felt included in the entire experience and have had no regrets while I have been here.  

I have to admit I was quite conflicted in the weeks and days leading up to our departure from Montreal, partly due to sense of being overwhelmed by the business of life (lots going on in my personal life), and I have to admit, a sense that the students as a team were not ready.....Well, when you are wrong, you have to admit it, so here it is Sandra, Eric, Daphne, Lisa, Beatha and Stephanie:  

You pulled the whole thing together, congratulations!  You have shown what you are really made of. You were emotionally, professionally, spiritually and SOCIALLY ready for the trip.  You conducted yourselves in a mature, competent, humerous manner.  You chose to dedicate yourselves to the business at hand with enthusiasm and grace.  You showed that you have learned the skills necessary for this trip and were able to use them as needed.  You have been great team members.  You included me in your time here, and taught me a lot about your profession, you shared of yourselves and proved yourselves to me. 

WARNING: Do not let these accolades go to your head.....keep your eyes on the prize and do not let the feeling of having been successful tempt you to be less dedicated to your education.  Still lots of work to do.  I will be watching you all and cheering you on......and giving you a hard time when needed!

Reflections

It was a somber morning as our group went separate ways from the Ontario group. 

A bittersweet moment as everyone hugged and said their goodbyes, but I am leaving San Jose de Ocoa with fond memories that lead to an experience of a life time. I'm going to miss all the wonderful faces and  beautiful souls that I got to work with, converse with and have a great time with. 

This experience has really pushed us to our limits to use our skills to the best of our ability for we assessed and treated a few hundred in the span of 5-7 hours. Seeing how Ocoans live, eat and overall survive has put a new perspective on everything and I can honestly say we shouldn't complain about the services we receive, regardless if we have to wait in the emerg for 12 hours because some of these people get seen once a year and it's probably when these humanitarian groups roll around. And we have to realize how very fortunate we are to be able to afford what we get. 

I'm very proud of the group and I believe we're all going to come home having a different vision of the world around us. 

And finally, a big thank you to everyone who could make this dream a reality!! 

San Jose de Ocoa, I'll be back!!!

Back to Santo Domingo

We are on the bus back to Santo Domingo. It is early, the group from Ontario has a flight to catch this morning so we were all rustled out of bed and after a quick breakfast, piled into the buses and headed down route 41 to the capital.

Everyone is tired and sleepy (except Eric, who is talking up a storm with a pretty girl from the other group). 

The scenery is pretty amazing as we head out of the hills into the lowlands by the coast. 

It's hard to do it justice from the back seat of the bus through rain-streaked windows (yup, it rained last night for the first time on this trip!). 

I asked a lot of questions to my seat mate on the way up here. I am sure she was rolling her eyes inside, as she tried her best to answer! I have even more on the trip out.....the experience has provoked many thoughts and feelings about wealth and affluence and our place in the world and how we live it. The people here have so little, yet for the most part they are content. They have much to teach us about living in the moment. Our lives start in a random fashion. We do not choose our moment or place of birth. Nor do we select our parents and neither did they. We seem to have fortune or luck to have been born in a rich country with all of the comforts of the rich, even if we each struggle to pay the bills at the end of the day. 

Let us put all of this in perspective as we return home to our obligations and busy lives. 

Perhaps this is all too heavy for this forum. Too much time on my hands on a long ride sitting by myself in the back of the bus!!  And yet, it is important to review these ponderings on an ongoing basis.

A big thank you to the translators

Without these guys who translated we wouldn't of gotten very far, they were ALOT of help. It was very much appreciated

Today's the day

Today's the day our group is slowly packing up, we are happy to be heading home soon however sad that we have to leave the wonderful people of San Jose de Ocoa. We have also made lots of friends with the other Canadian group from Ontario this trip would not have been complete without them, they to were all amazing people who all had the same goal.

Tomorrow we head back to Santo Domingo to visit the city and get to see great monuments within the area to complete the end of this great learning experience.

Our time here has been truly amazing, every single person in our little group will return home with a story and will feel like they have accomplished something. We could not of done this without the support of all of you back home.For some of us who will not get the chance to do something like this again you gave us a once in a life time experience and we our are so greatful. Thank you all so much for everything once again.

Packing room clean up, May 10

Today is the big clean up and reorganization day.  We all trouped down to the packing room, a room we have become very familiar with over the past weeks.  Our mission: to empty and clean the room for the owners.  This room had been lent to us by the church to use while we were here, but they were anxious to have it back as a meeting room, so we had to make it spick and span.

Just in case you don't remember, this is what it looked like at the first day of our trip:

Tons of stuff, all to be distributed to the people of the DR.  Only what was left would be cleaned up today. 

With a little muscle grease, in a couple of hours we organized, sorted disbursed and stored the remaining stuff.  By noon the room looked like this:

The satisfaction of a job well done!  Now to prepare our personal luggage for the ride to the airport at 6:30 tomorrow

Mother's Day, May 10

Being in the Dominican means that we cannot be with our mothers, so this is for all of you who who can't see your kids and be honoured by them today.  Know that we are thinking of you and wishing you the best....

Knowing that you are reading this blog and in lieu of our presence, please accept this flower as a token bouquet and symbol of our love, affection and respect:

This is for you, Mom!  I love you!

More happening, May 10

I know it seems as if I am always posting something up on this blog, but truly, it is not just because I long-winded, but also because there is so much happening in a typical day....even when we do not have scheduled activities, just wandering around town or reflecting on what we have be doing starts to provoke a desire to share it.

Yesterday was busy - in the morning we did community visits ( no worries, I will not talk about that again), and in the afternoon, we hosted two parties.  The first was in celebration for International Nurses Week, and since the crew of students and teachers here are primarily nurses, it has become a tradition on this trip to invite all the nurses from the hospitals and clinics in town to a party where the profession is honoured and the nurses acknowledged. There was cake and drinks, and what is a party without speeches?

The nurses from Ocoa were given gifts as thanks for their hard work and for allowing us to participate in their work as part of our visits and training.

The second party was in honour of the group of translators who have be working with us and accompanying us on our various trips and activities.  These guys are a great bunch and take time from their lives and work to be with us as volunteers.  Sme of them have been doing it for many years and all of them are loved and respected by the Ocoan group.  They have saved our proverbial butts on numerous occasions, as not only do they assist in interpreting conversations, the explain the reasons for activities and cultural motivations for behaviours. They help calm crowned when things look like they are getting out of control, they help keep things organized......and other things to numerous to mention.they do all of this with grace, humour and patience. Hats off to them!

Again cake and speeches. Also hugs, and a few tears....

Then, yup there's more, we practice singing a song and the Canadian national anthem as after supper, off we went to mass in town where we sang out tunes in front of a packed church.  Didnot do too badly, if I must say so myself!

Our time here is drawing to  a close.....today one last rip to the packing house where we cleanup the vestiges of the donations and either pack them away for next year or donate them to various places in the community.

Day 9 spent at the nursing home.

Today I went to the nursing home with 5 students.

It gave students a chance to interact with the residents.

They played dominos, soccer and balloons.

A good game of soccer.

Resident playing with balloons

Dominoes is a very popular game here.

Big hugs when we left.

Lots happening, May 9

Today was a pretty busy day.  We were up and at 'em by 8. I know this is getting repetitious, but off to the packing house we went to, you guessed it, packing bags (again) for the trip to the barrios.  This time we split up into 4 groups two of which walked to their locations, and two hopped into the back of the pick ups to get a lift to the other side of town.

Waiting for the lift:

Once in this particular barrio, we quickly realized that it was a Saturday and the tone of the place was very different from our previous visit to the shanty town.

The houses are really run down, I actually thought this was a chicken coop as the chickens were running in and out under the door before it opened and I saw tables and chairs inside......unless, of course, those chicken were really well trained....

Other scenes:

On the other hand, the location was beautiful, with a wonderful view

Well, our experience was really different from our first visit to the barrios; this time there were a lot of people, especially kids.....of all ages......we were pretty much swarmed and they went to great lengths to try and steal things from our bags and even managed to unzip my backpack before I realized what was happening.

We each took turns hanging out in the street to lure the little devils away from the homes we were visiting.  Here they are swarming Zoe, one of our team.  The children were of all ages and there was a lot of heavy duty rough housing going on.....a little scary for the western sensibilities.

We did manage to extricate ourselves and get back by 1 pm to change and get set for international nurses week celebrations and also a min party for the translators, but that is anothe post! See you then!

Home visits

We went into the community today. My group Emily, Cass, Treva, Arlene and Daphne went to Bella Vista. 

One group got lucky and got to cruise to their location. 

Daphne doing an assessment

This horses living quarters. 

Daphne giving away bracelets to little girls

Donkey valet service, May 9

Yesterday we again split into two groups and headed to communities north of Ocoa. We climbed higher and higher into the mountains and as we did so, we gradually saw the forest and landscape become greener and greener. 

Instead of dry rivers and wilting crops, we began to see a richness in the land that is more typical of the island in normal rain conditions. We even saw a rushing river, a small waterfall and cows that looked well fed and round - no bones sticking out. 

The group I went with went to the village of Mahoma (pronounced mayoma). As we arrived, we saw a line of donkeys and horses tethered nearly in a row. Eric (you know, the guy with the abs of steel - or at least that's what he nicknames himself) promptly said "Look, a donkey valet service!"  Yet another of his quips we are constantly subjected to!

The neat line of animals was a great indicator of the attitude and behaviour of the people we met there....generally kind, funny, patient and friendly. The food we ate at lunchtime was great with stewed chicken, rice and beans and two types of fresh salad. 

After a wonderful day we headed back down to the dry conditions in and around Ocoa.

We are all getting tired, but are still enjoying our time here. The students of CVCEC have been great - true ambassadors of home!!! I am so impressed and proud of all of them!

Hey! Someone hijacked my iPad, May 9

This is what happens when you leave your iPad on the coffee table and Eric is around to talk people into things:

Eric, Eric, Eric........what will I do with you?

Great day on clinic

Mom, Beatha and Maggie on glasses 

Lisa having a great time on vitamins

Sandra consulting a new found friend

Day 8 Clinic in Monte Megro

Today was our last day to visit clinics in the mountains.

Eric and John are ready for the day.

My new friend Arlene.

Our experience here has given us an opportunity to meet some wonderful people.

It feels like one big family.

This is where we set up shop today.

Some of us worked out in the hot sun.

Kim and I at the end of a long day.

Day is done and it was a good one.

DR banking

Every corner of ever town with Internet has a little one of these:

This is a little private bank where monetary transactions can be done, or more common, peso can be transferred to a cell phone for dispersal in another shop or store without cash changing hands. Perfect for a developing economy which does not have the big infrastructure we are familiar with at home. Profits go to the small business and not to the big banks. Hmmmm.....there may be something in this.....

They almost seem unreal

I've taking about a thousand pictures of the scenery, the montains here are incredible! when I'm sitting on the back of the truck I look up and it almost looks like a painting in front of me.