Rolling up our sleeves, May, 3 2015

Well, today was our first work experience. Last night we prepared the bags in the packing room for the day, and ended up having about ten bags for each of two clinics up in the mountains.  That was hot work as the packing room is a secure room about a ten minute walk away from the compound.  The room is on th second floor under the roof so it was hot in there!

This is a shot of the students and leaders hard at work sorting and organizing.  Each clinic gets clothes, toys, personal hygiene items and of course, medications and vitamins, glasses and other extremely useful items for people who have so little.

After an early breakfast, we headed up into the mountains about an hour out of town.  We were herded into the backs of trucks and pick-up trucks (totally illegal in Canada, but there appears to actually no rules or hiway codes here, at least none that are reinforced!) we had to have complete confidence in our drivers as the general rule of driving is "first come, first served"!  At first the roads were pretty decent given what we are accustomed to in Quebec, but suddenly they deteriorated into a gravel road: not the gravel road that comes to your mind, but one made up of a mixture of sand and small stones all the way up to rocks and small boulders with serious wash outs along the way.  Serious washouts are probably common around here, but considering the DR is going through a serious drought right now (no real rain for about 1-1/2 years), these washouts have been there along time.

The photo above gives a little idea of the mountains ....it is hard to get a good one when you are hanging on the the back of the truck and trying to stay in it over the bumps and steering around the varios object in the road!  The mountains are very much like those in the upper Laurentians around Mt. Tremblant, so pretty serious in size (no snow, though!)

Once we arrived in the community of Lachina, we were installed in the school house, the only building in town with a trickle of running water. We divided ourselves into the two rooms, one for assesment and one for treatment and dispensing of medications and other goods.  I was assigned to the door for crowd control, which sounds very easy, but when you do not speak the language, it is very hard!  I was assisted by the Padre who took pity on me and I spent my time moving people to the assessment tables using my Spanish hand signals.  Everyone was extremely patient and forgiving, although I think they must be having a good laugh tonight.  

It is really hard to imagine the lives of others, and sometimes the only way to understand them is to experience it first hand.  The extreme poverty that is the lot of the people in the mountains is hard to explain.....the houses are really little more than rudimentary, the luxuries of life that we expect on a daily basis non existent.  I hesitate to describe it as the people seem to be more content and happy than many of us who have all the riches.  They accepted the offerings we had brought with us and allowed us to practice our medical abilities with grace and openess.  Something to consider next time I complain about high taxes or other issues of modern life.

This is the road that continues into the mountains. With a typical mongrel resting in the shade:

And Bev and Stephanie ready to head home!

Tomorrow, clinics in town!!!