A Full Day Monday: School and Health Clinic
Monday was a very full day for us, and a very positive one. We ate breakfast at 7:00 and shortly after 8:00 we were headed through the busy streets of Cotui, stopping twice to pick up material and then heading out of town to the mountain village of Hernando Alonso. Our entire group of 21, plus several guest translators, first stopped at the local K-8 elementary school, the site of our library project. We assembled in the courtyard of the school, and were greeted by Juan Batuista, the Director of the school, who expressed words of welcome and gratitude. We then walked to the playground (the entire school compound is a compact one, fenced entirely on the outside) where the children were lined up to greet us. The Director introduced us, and then Rita Severinghaus spoke briefly to the children to tell them how happy we were to finally be with them. The children then sang the Dominican Republic's national hymn, and did a superb job. Many of us noticed that every child was singing, as were several of our college-age translators.
Our entire group has been split into two teams even before we came, one assigned to the library project, and one (including all six of the nurses) tasked with running a health clinic, aided by a number of local doctors, dentists and nurses. The clinic team left the school yard for the short walk to the clinic, held in a spacious two-story municipal all-purpose building. It's the only two-story building in the village. More on the clinic in a moment.
Our library team gathered together, and finally got a chance to look at the space we would be working in. One of the classrooms had been partitioned with a plywood wall, just recently completed. Two wooden bookshelves had recently been constructed for it, and we also had a number of metal bookshelves, ready to be constructed. Several of our group got to work on that project, aided by two of the eighth grade students from the school who had been chosen to work with us because of their outstanding work. One of them, Jose Manuel, seemed like a very nice young man, but his coolness quotient was raised considerably after school when he hopped on his motorcycle and headed home.
Several of our group began preparing for the job of painting the upper half of the wall and the entire partition, meticulously separating the halves of the wall with painter's tape. A third sub-group began the task of sorting and covering some of the many donated books, many of which were perfect for our purposes.
Midway through the morning, many of the children were dismissed for recess, and we dismissed our high school students to play with them. Almost immediately, the young students grabbed their new American friends and got them involved in the local version of playground baseball. Soon, Henry, Cam, Ben, Mia and Audrey were all pitching, catching and hitting. There was some verbal interaction, but most of the communication was handled with hand signals and smiles.
Meanwhile, around the corner, the nurses and their crew were busy transforming a large empty room into a health clinic, dividing the space with hanging bed sheets, setting out tables and chairs, and laying out all of the equipment necessary to measure blood pressure, vital signs, and screen for a variety of diseases. We brought many, many doses of vitamins, some specifically to target vitamin deficiencies, and also many doses of flouride to paint the teeth of the children who would be coming. By lunchtime, all was prepared for the afternoon opening.
We all broke for lunch together, and traveled to a nearby small resort known to several of us as the Treehouse, three levels built into the side of a steep hill with wonderful views of the mountain countryside and the nearby reservoir, the largest in the DR. Two of our local friends had prepared a wonderful lunch (dinner, really) of baked chicken, steamed yucca root, and spaghetti. We ate and relaxed a bit, and then returned to school and clinic for a busy afternoon.
Work went well in both spots. By the end of the day at the school, we had covered dozens of books, fully assembled the bookshelves, and were ready for a full day Tuesday for painting, bolting the shelves to the wall, and continuing the process of preparing the books. If all goes well, the library will begin to really take shape soon. Meanwhile, at the clinic, word had gotten out there there were dozens of patients waiting, many of them mothers with young children. Our nursing crew, calling upon all of their planning and skill, carefully offered diagnosis, treatment and referral, and were careful to see the patients who had traveled the furthest, promising those who could not be seen that they would be taken first thing on Tuesday. We are expecting a throng at the clinic tomorrow, and will be glad the the extra hands who will be coming, and the experience gained on a full day.
The bus came to puck us up shortly after 5:00, and we gratefully flopped into our seats and headed back to Cotui. After dinner, we gathered in teams to debrief and plan, acknowledging that process is a critically important part of our work here. When it came time to lift up individuals who had contributed to the success of the day, all of our high school students were praised for their hard work, flexibility and empathy. We have grown very close as a working group in these short few days together, and are eager for the work and excitement that is ahead of us.
Our entire group has been split into two teams even before we came, one assigned to the library project, and one (including all six of the nurses) tasked with running a health clinic, aided by a number of local doctors, dentists and nurses. The clinic team left the school yard for the short walk to the clinic, held in a spacious two-story municipal all-purpose building. It's the only two-story building in the village. More on the clinic in a moment.
Our library team gathered together, and finally got a chance to look at the space we would be working in. One of the classrooms had been partitioned with a plywood wall, just recently completed. Two wooden bookshelves had recently been constructed for it, and we also had a number of metal bookshelves, ready to be constructed. Several of our group got to work on that project, aided by two of the eighth grade students from the school who had been chosen to work with us because of their outstanding work. One of them, Jose Manuel, seemed like a very nice young man, but his coolness quotient was raised considerably after school when he hopped on his motorcycle and headed home.
Several of our group began preparing for the job of painting the upper half of the wall and the entire partition, meticulously separating the halves of the wall with painter's tape. A third sub-group began the task of sorting and covering some of the many donated books, many of which were perfect for our purposes.
Midway through the morning, many of the children were dismissed for recess, and we dismissed our high school students to play with them. Almost immediately, the young students grabbed their new American friends and got them involved in the local version of playground baseball. Soon, Henry, Cam, Ben, Mia and Audrey were all pitching, catching and hitting. There was some verbal interaction, but most of the communication was handled with hand signals and smiles.
Meanwhile, around the corner, the nurses and their crew were busy transforming a large empty room into a health clinic, dividing the space with hanging bed sheets, setting out tables and chairs, and laying out all of the equipment necessary to measure blood pressure, vital signs, and screen for a variety of diseases. We brought many, many doses of vitamins, some specifically to target vitamin deficiencies, and also many doses of flouride to paint the teeth of the children who would be coming. By lunchtime, all was prepared for the afternoon opening.
We all broke for lunch together, and traveled to a nearby small resort known to several of us as the Treehouse, three levels built into the side of a steep hill with wonderful views of the mountain countryside and the nearby reservoir, the largest in the DR. Two of our local friends had prepared a wonderful lunch (dinner, really) of baked chicken, steamed yucca root, and spaghetti. We ate and relaxed a bit, and then returned to school and clinic for a busy afternoon.
Work went well in both spots. By the end of the day at the school, we had covered dozens of books, fully assembled the bookshelves, and were ready for a full day Tuesday for painting, bolting the shelves to the wall, and continuing the process of preparing the books. If all goes well, the library will begin to really take shape soon. Meanwhile, at the clinic, word had gotten out there there were dozens of patients waiting, many of them mothers with young children. Our nursing crew, calling upon all of their planning and skill, carefully offered diagnosis, treatment and referral, and were careful to see the patients who had traveled the furthest, promising those who could not be seen that they would be taken first thing on Tuesday. We are expecting a throng at the clinic tomorrow, and will be glad the the extra hands who will be coming, and the experience gained on a full day.
The bus came to puck us up shortly after 5:00, and we gratefully flopped into our seats and headed back to Cotui. After dinner, we gathered in teams to debrief and plan, acknowledging that process is a critically important part of our work here. When it came time to lift up individuals who had contributed to the success of the day, all of our high school students were praised for their hard work, flexibility and empathy. We have grown very close as a working group in these short few days together, and are eager for the work and excitement that is ahead of us.
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