Things on Trucks

This is just a quickie post that we have wanted to share about the things that we have seen on trucks here.  A little light but they cast a lot of light on how they make good use of their transportation (and also do things that would never have been allowed in the United States :-).

Can you see how precariously these logs are loaded with pretty flimsy

posts to keep them from falling off the back?  We hurriedly got

around that baby.

These are giant bags of rice with the guys just riding on top.

A truck of green bananas - we wonder how many of them get bruised

This is a whole truck of empty plastic crates - the guys loved it that we were taking a picture.

 A truck full of palm trees headed somewhere for planting-

can you see the two guys waving as they were getting into the picture. 

A giant truck full of sugar cane - this doesn't show how large it was.

This truck was overflowing, but at least they tied a few things down.

There is a little truck under all of those bales - we couldn't figure out how they got them all on.

And here's a satellite dish - again, how did they load it?

A truck filled with the little motos that everyone drives.

A truck full of furniture isn't remarkable, but it was just pouring that day -

can you see the fellow on the right sitting in the back and getting drenched?!

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.  

Rob Spends the Night at the Hospital

Last Thursday, Rob apparently had an episode of what the doctors are calling a TIA (transient ischemic attack) or TGA (transient global amnesia).

He did not remember coming to the meeting that was held earlier this morning or the meeting itself.  He was not sure where our supervisor, Rafael, was.  He didn’t know where I was and kept asking me when I happened to call him on his cell phone. 

I had to instruct him on how to go from the parking lot where he was into the building where he had been meeting.  I felt as I was telling him how to get to the office like I was talking to someone who was mentally handicapped and needed to have every detail explained to them.

Another couple, the Ruckers, took me to where he was. With Rafael driving us in our car, we followed Elder  Shaver, our mission doctor, to the hospital.  It’s actually called a clinic because it is private.  The public hospitals which are not good are called hospitals.  

Hospital Dr. Abel  Gonzalez

On the way, I kept asking him memory-type questions.  He knew that something had happened, but he kept asking us what had happened – no short-term memory.  I asked him where we had been last night (at a going away party for some other senior missionaries), and he couldn't remember.  In my questioning, he couldn't remember anything we had done in the last week. 

Then they took him for a CT scan.  By coincidence, Elder Shaver was a radiologist in his former life, so he was able to read the scan.  He said that there were no big masses, and just a spot on the left lobe.  No leaks as well.

Then the neurologist came and checked him out.  The neurologist, apparently, is probably the best in the city according to Rafael.  He had Rob admitted overnight and ordered a carotid artery scan and a heart scan to see if there was debris being kicked off which was going to his brain and clogging things. 

Our room - I slept there as well (Hmm, sort of slept there)

He will also be getting an MRI next week at another facility which has that needed equipment.  He slept pretty well, and his memory was getting better.  However, the five or so hours on Thursday when he was a little lost have not yet returned.

Rob saw the neurologist Friday morning who said that he wanted to monitor him. He couldn't drive for four days, so I had the privilege of driving in Dominican traffic for the first time.  It’s really not that much worse than Atlanta except that no one signals or stays in their lane and there are a thousand little motos running in between everyone.  Actually, it wasn't so bad, and I made it through the next few days. 

He was really tired, and slept a lot on Friday. Of course, I was exhausted, too, partly from the lack of sleep on a little 18” max wide couch in his room that night.  

But he seems to be fine.  We are so grateful for all the prayers that people said and for the Priesthood blessing he received.  It just wasn't fun!  We'll keep you posted.

Humanitarian Projects - Schools

One of the things that we have enjoyed here and haven’t really shared with you is participating in Humanitarian projects.  The Church does all kinds of projects throughout the world, including wheelchairs, water, medical equipment, school equipment, etc.  The projects have to be proposed by a leader in the ward or branch (the names for our Church’s congregations), presented to the Humanitarian Senior Missionary couple, and passed by the Area Presidency before they are approved.  The Church does not build buildings, but they sometimes donate the paint or other materials to help in the building.  In addition, the local congregation also has to do a service project to bless the organization.  We thought that you might enjoy learning about and seeing some of our projects this past year.  This will take more than one blog post, so we have divided them by the kind of receiving organization. This one is on schools.

As Public Affairs missionaries, we are responsible for the coordination of the closing ceremonies where equipment is handed over to the receiving organization, and a local Priesthood leader speaks about the Church’s desire to help others.  Often the organization does something like put on a program if it’s a school.  

Right after we got here, we went to the closing ceremony for Hogar Mercedes de Jesus (Home of the Mercies of Jesus) – that was the orphanage that we went to again the day before Christmas.  The Church had donated computers, fans, a stove, and other equipment.  Although it is an orphanage, it is also a neighborhood school in the daytime with about 100 students who all came to the ceremony. After the speeches, the kids put on a cute program thanking us.  Seven of the kids each said a little speech, and then held up a letter which ended up spelling “gracias.”  Then all of the kids sang a wonderful song about having helping hands towards one another.  It was so great!

The outside of the school - no clue as to the wonderful
things that happen behind these walls.

Here's one of the school classes in their uniforms.  

A group of the girls that we really enjoyed talking with.
 (A couple with glasses like two of our granddaughters).

Here's the Gracias group.

One of the bedrooms in the orphanage.

Another school was Liceo Minerva Mirabel.  Here in the DR, a neighborhood who wants a school has to put together their own resources to acquire a building and start a school after a year or so, and then the government will provide them with equipment, pay the teachers, and recognize it.   This school was amazing because the neighbors found an apartment building to use for the school, and our Church leaders contacted the Humanitarian missionaries.  The Church provided paint which local members and the parents of the school kids put on. They tore out walls, put in electricity.  They graded a large area in front which became a playground after the Church added cement.  The first year, the kids had to bring their own chairs.  But then the Church provided desks which included chairs, blackboards, computers, and water storage.  The school has about 700 students, elementary kids in the morning and high schoolers in the afternoon. 

Here's the outside of this school    

                                                                             

 A view across the street - this is such a poor neighborhood   

Another neighborhood view from the school's roof

This was the courtyard before the work began (Thank you Elder Hammon)

Here are the students sitting in their new desks (Again, thank you EH)

Here we are with director, her husband, the counselor
in the stake presidency and the Hammons

A final one that we want to mention is Reyo del Sol, which is a school for children with Down’s Syndrome.  Again, the Church in that area contacted the school to learn what they needed.  The Church gave them tables, chairs, shelving, cassette player, fans, plastic containers, and some other things.

A group who sang to us.

At the closing ceremony, a number of the kids did dances and songs

 to entertain those in attendance.  

The older students are taught how to roll newspapers and form baskets 

which are then painted or varnished and sold. This is to teach the 

students skills that they can use to support themselves in the future.  

They are so pretty- I would love to take one home.

After we admired a lovely centerpiece that the students had made, 

they insisted that we keep it – it will be one of those things that we’ll take home. 

Those circles are the rolled newspaper, and the angels are made from rolls as well...

Next posting, hospitals and medical clinics…