#7 Hickory Dickory Dock, The House Upon the Rock

Each day we followed a carefully planned schedule of meals and work, which flowed surprisingly well considering that Dominicans aren't known for their punctuality or even necessarily their awareness of time.  At our orientation Sharyn warned us to expect Dominicans to observe time in a rather slushy manner, but that she expected the Americans to be respectful of the agenda that had been prepared for us.  A local resident might show up to an appointment 45 minutes late and get away with it, but that kind of leeway wasn't an option for us.  This here time sensitive lady appreciated the imposed structure!

 

Sometime between 6:00-6:30 every morning our wonderful cook, Nena, entered the kitchen and began preparing breakfast, which was then served at exactly 7:30.  We would go through the food line, fill our plates, and take them out to the charming covered dining patio.

Nena

 

 

 

At 8:00 the hired driver was waiting for us with his van in front of our villas, ready to transport us from Jarabacoa to Pedregal, a ten minute drive away.

 

A few of us, however, preferred to start each day with some exercise to kick-start our engines and get them revving before the work projects began, so the walking club set out at 6:30 each morning and watched the sun rise while getting the kinks out.  We enjoyed the convenience of walking 4 or 5 abreast right down the middle of the street thanks to a local ordinance that closes one side of the divided road for walkers and runners every Monday through Friday from 5:00-8:00 a.m.  Jarabacoa is actually a resort town for wealthier Dominicans who can afford to leave the oppressive heat of the low lying areas and escape to the mountains during summer.  As a result there are many beautiful houses in this town, side by side with the more typical modest Dominican homes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon our arrival at the clinic in Pedregal we would get our work orders from Paul and then head off to our work sites.  I happened to be part of Team A, aka Alpha Team, whose job it was to tear down and then rebuild the kitchen walls at Mechi's house.  In addition, some of the A Team spent time next door at Mila's working on a porch railing.  On the other side of the village the B Team was building a closet on the back of a house that this same team had built for Christina in 2011.  The vast majority of the work being done on all 3 projects was concrete.  It was pretty obvious while tearing down the lumber from the old kitchen walls why concrete is the preferred building material.  The local termites would need a good orthodontist if they attempted to feast on a concrete railing, and rumor has it that there is a scarcity of such medical personnel in the area, so homeowners are pretty safe from that particular kind of vandalism when they build everything out of concrete.   

At noon we stashed our tools in a safe location and walked back to the clinic where there was a cooler full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ham and cheese sandwiches waiting for us on the porch each day.  The little colmado across the street did a hopping business while we were there, selling cold drinks like crazy for a whopping 15 or 20 pesos, equivalent to less than 50 cents.  During our lunch break Dr. Wendy was whisked away on a motorbike by her husband for her own siesta, the gates to the clinic property were closed to keep the local children on the other side of the fence, and we enjoyed our humble meal and our naptime. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2:00 meant getting back to work for another three hours, or mixing it up with the locals if there weren't enough tasks for everyone to do on the worksites, and then at 5:00 we made our way back to the clinic in all our sweaty glory, more than ready for the showers that awaited us in our villas in Jarabacoa.

 

 

 

 

 

#6 Over and Out

 

As promised, we welcomed girls and their moms to the gazebo again Tuesday morning for one hour, and again they came like a flood.  By this time there were very few dresses left in larger sizes, as the overwhelming majority of dresses donated were for the little ones.  This meant we had to turn away a lot of disappointed ten, eleven and twelve year old girls, and I suspect we felt worse about it than they did.  But for those we could accommodate, whether school age niñas or bebés in the arms of their madres, the gratis dresses were a blessing to both the givers and the receivers.  And while there wasn't time right then to make a fuss over each girl due to the press of others waiting their turns, we knew we'd see them around the village in the days to come.

 

 

 

Names of some of the recipients of dresses

 

Before the trip, in anticipation of this happy event and wanting to show some love to the moms as well, I had prepared a letter that was printed on beautiful paper and folded just so, resulting in a lovely handout that they could read and then use the pretty paper for some other purpose if desired. 

A message of salvation through Jesus Christ

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"

 

 

At the end of the second day of passing out dresses, our supply was depleted.  The few that were left were stashed in the storage corner of the clinic to be given to patients as they come in with their moms for medical care in days to come.  But what a delight to catch sight of a girl wearing one of the Dresses of Hope dresses as we walked through the village!  It would just light up my eyes and melt my heart, thinking of all the love that went into collecting and preparing them, praying that they would be a blessing to children who have so little.  Even more thrilling was to catch sight of a girl wearing a dress that was donated in 2011!  I found myself wishing that every person who donated dresses or participated in preparing them could have the blessing that God so graciously gave to me, of being there in person and experiencing this firsthand. 

 

 

 

 

The little cards pinned to the dresses were a delight not only to the children but to some women as well.

Card has been recycled as a brooch for an older woman

 

In spite of the poverty and the dirt underfoot everywhere, the people of the DR take great pains to keep themselves clean and tidy.  Those who are well enough off to afford mechanical maids to do the laundering for them will still need to find ways to get them dry.  Freshly laundered clothing might be draped over a bush, slung over a barbed wire fence, or possibly flopped over a clothesline wherever such a luxury could be suspended, allowing the sun to do the rest.

 

Tiny washing machine

 

 

 

While the ladies were involved with girls and dresses at the clinic, the men continued on with the  construction projects at three locations, digging, measuring, cutting, mixing, hauling, learning, blessing.  Soon we would be back to the shovels and trowels as well.