Dominican Independence Day

     Yesterday was Independence Day and the office was closed, but today they had a celebration which was so fun - this was the first time that they have done this, so we were glad to be a part of it.  

Rob not only was wearing a red and blue tie, but, as you can see,
he was waving the Dominican flag during the singing.

    Juan Pablo Duarte, Matias Ramon Mella, and Francisco Del Rosario Sanchez  are considered the three Founding Fathers of the Dominican Republic, and on February 27, 1844, they and their supporters declared the independence from Haiti. The Dominican Republic's first constitution was adopted on November 6, 1844 and was modeled after the US Constitution.  For a number of years afterwards, Haiti kept trying to re-invade them and eventually the country was returned to Spain.  The country suffered many other years of repression including the 31-year rule of the dictator Trujillo. In spite of his repression, terrorist attacks, the command that caused the slaughter of around 35,000 Haitians living on the Dominican side of the border, he was supported by the US as the lesser of two evils.  He was assassinated in 1961.  We are more than a little embarrassed to know that the US supported this tyrant.  

     Now that you've had your history lesson, let us add a couple of important things that we learned today.  In a brief talk at the beginning of the program, Daniel Almeida, who is the Director of Temporal Affairs for the Church in the Caribbean, pointed out some important things about this country.  In the Bible, Isaiah talks about the gathering of Israel from the islands of the sea, and Dominicans count themselves in those islands.  In addition, the Book of Mormon talked about the coming of Columbus which would result in the establishment a choice land above all other lands which we know to be the United States.  But for the Church members living here, we know that Columbus came here in 1492, and visited Hispaniola every time he journeyed to the New World.  So we feel that this country was important in helping to bring this about, and we love it, too. 

     They are very proud of their country and sang their national anthem at the beginning of the program with such enthusiasm.  It's a beautiful song and was first performed in 1883.  The singing was so fun and the dancing was performed by four of the office staff.  The folks here love to dance, so it was fun seeing these otherwise very serious fellows dance with such spirit.  

Katty's lovely voice led off the National Anthem

We love this choir of co-workers who always sing - and sing well 

The dancing

The Dominican guia and drum are part of their traditional music. 

                                                                               

After the program, the luncheon was what is called here, "El Plato del Dia" or plate of the day, consisting of rice, beans, chicken, fried platanos, yucca, and salad.  The candy was so fun to try as well.  

       

Little cookies that had a slight ginger flavor

Candy- the darker red ones are sort of like Rice Krispie treats;
the round ones are just a sugar candy.  

 

     As you can see, everyone, including us, enjoyed the activity immensely.  

Humanitarian Projects - Hospitals and Clinics

     Today’s post covers a few humanitarian projects for needy persons in the healthcare field in which we have participated:

 Low-vision equipment - Centro Cristiano de Servicios Médicos

     Centro Cristiano de Servicios Medicos, Inc., or Los Americanos Hospital as the locals call it, is known throughout the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean as a premier teaching hospital for ophthalmology and has the only school for optometry in the DR.  Half of the residents are from the Dominican Republic and half from other countries in the world, including India, Bolivia, and Ethiopia. Besides their work in the hospital, residents are expected to spend time serving in the rural clinics before returning to their home countries to practice.

Some of equipment that has been donated.

     After learning of the needs of the hospital, low vision training was delivered by a team of LDS ophthalmologists from the United States over several visits and necessary  equipment was delivered, including refraction lenses and a tonometer, a device to determine the intraocular pressure (IOP), or the fluid pressure inside the eye.   The hospital is making plans to expand their vision clinic area, and this equipment will allow Los Americanos Hospital to continue to treat low-income people with vision problems in the Dominican Republic.

Prosthetic Devices – Innovación Ortopédica

     Our church  partners with other organizations such as Innovación Ortopédica, located in Santo Domingo, to provide patients with orthopedic prostheses and physical therapy who do not have sufficient resources to obtain them on their own.  These donations of high-tech prosthetic limbs (mostly legs and feet) go to needy adults and children who are invariably extremely grateful for this assistance, as they would not otherwise be able to get work or attend school without it.

This young man lost his legs through frostbite -
 obviously not here in the DR

Mr. Gutierrez, two of the recipients, and a friend

Three more recipients - this is the second one for this little girl as she grows. 

       

     Approximately 100 donations similar to those pictured here have been accomplished with Innovación Ortopédica since the program began several years ago.  Mr. Freddy Gutierrez, one of the owners/designers of the prostheses said to Rob in appreciation for the Church’s efforts, “In reality, although we are in the business of rehabilitating others, this work is really rehabilitating ourselves.”

Echocardiograph Machine- Heart Care Domincana 

These are some of the patients and their mothers.

     Heart Care Dominicana donates its services to the poor. They even go to poor communities, where people cannot come to the city for services. The portable echocardiograph machine shown here was donated by the Church to allow Heart Care to properly diagnose patients with heart problems, especially children,  in these smaller communities. 

Elder Cornish, doctors, Hammons and Haws (Humanitarian Missionaries

     Although the Mormon Church donated most of the equipment cost, HCD sought other donations for the last third of the cost. The hospital expects that this machine will benefit more than 3,000 people annually.

Wheelchairs  - ADR Asociación Dominicana de Rehabilitación

Some of the recent recipients of our wheelchairs

    The LDS Church has been donating wheelchairs through ADR (Asociación Domincana de Rehabilitación) for several years. A new variation of this ongoing project provided funds for ADR to form a production plant with tools and parts for the manufacture of wheelchairs to provide work for those who are in need of rehabilitation. The Church then buys chairs from the plant for distribution through our partners.  Another 1200 wheelchairs were donated by the Church in a closing ceremony last week.  These wheelchairs are then given to those in need throughout the country.

Hopefully, you can see what nice chairs these are.

 Instrumentation for Opthalmalogy - Inden

Dr. Jacobs giving training the Inden director
of this department

     We were privileged to record the handing over of $50,000 worth of equipment for cataract, strabismus, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy  to the National Institute of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Nutrition (Inden), located in the Los Ríos city of Santo Domingo.  The Church not only provided the equipment to help poor patients, but LDS ophthalmologists donated their time to perform surgeries on patients with diabetic retinopathy and gave training to students and residents of the area.

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     We count ourselves extremely privileged to have been able to participate in these kinds of humanitarian efforts that bless the givers as much as the recipients.  We believe that this way –where everyone involved is blessed - is indeed the way the Savior intended that His needy children should be helped.

Our one year mark!

We entered the MTC one year ago on the 6th and arrived in the Dominican Republic one year ago on the 18th.  Someone once said that the days travel slowly but the years fly.  That is so true - it really is hard to believe that we have been gone this long.  And, because this is a 23 month mission, we had our "hump day" (or half way mark) sometime last month.

Then!
Here we are at the MTC pointing to the Caribbean and knowing little or nothing about it!

There are so many things that we have learned this past year.  One of the most important is just learning to work together as a companionship.  We thought that not having some unknown companion every few months, like when one serves a mission at 19 or so, would make that a breeze.  It hasn't been difficult or anything like that, but we have had to decide who takes care of what in the apartment (Rob does the night dishes, empties the trash, and often helps with sweeping or mopping - I do the cooking, clothes washing and general cleaning - we kind of share everything else).

One of the things that Rob has learned is to be a good sport about is shopping.  He used to hate going shopping (not that he loves it now), especially when there were things to look at and decide on - he's always been a "just go into the store and buy it" kind of shopper.  But he has had to learn to wait for me while I try to figure out what brand to buy at the grocery store where everything is new or to accept the fact that we have to go shopping AT LEAST once a week.  I've learned to try to hurry a little faster.

Rob has become the best Dominican driver and can hold his own with all of the crazy motorists on the street.  I appreciated that even more during the short time after his hospital visit when he wasn't allowed to drive!  He knows to never just drive into an intersection because the light is green - you have to look both ways for the folks that try to run their red light just because they can or be aware of the fellow to your left you has been in a left-only lane who suddenly decides to turn right by pulling in front of you!

We've learned to figure our schedule out a little so that we're not working 60 hour weeks.  That has meant not going into the office every day where there are a hundred interruptions and to just work from home in peace and quiet.

We've met the most wonderful people all over this area from Trinidad, Guyana, and Barbados in the south to Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, and Antigua in the east, and the dear folks here in the DR.  People are so kind  - when we don't know where some place is located, we just ask someone in the town, and they will either give us directions or jump on their moto for us to follow them.  They are friendly and are always saying "Buen Dia" to us.  We love their abrazos (hugs) and friendly hand shakes.

But most of all, we've learned how the Lord is in the details of our lives.  At our Church's last General Conference in October, our leader, President Thomas S. Monson said he has constantly had reinforced "my knowledge that our prayers are heard and answered. We can communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer, and those prayers will be heard and answered — perhaps not how and when we expected they would be answered," he said. "But they will be answered, and by a Heavenly Father who knows and loves us perfectly and who desires our happiness."

We have seen prayers answered, both ours and yours, as Matt has gone through his cancer treatment and now is cancer-free.  There are not words to express how much your love and friendship has been for us and for our family.

And now!

We look forward to the coming months to see what else the Lord would have us learn.  We hope that we can serve Him well.