Coco Hotel Sosua

... guys, who actually lives in New Jersey, offered to go up with him. It was funny, because clearly no one thought he would jump - after he walked away, there was a chorus of, "Look! The gringo is going up to the cliff! Snicker snicker snicker.." Shen is definitely not one to show off, but the poor expectations made it totally necessary, so he did a back flip off a 35-foot cliff. The group made several comments about how the gringos never jump, they had ...

... seen. They almost have a strip-mall feel to them - shop after shop, power cables criss-crossing the street all over the place, and no real center. There's nothing pretty about them. The towns we've seen do have a Plaza Central, but life doesn't seem to revolve around it as it does in many places. I can't seem to find the town's anchor. One thing that does give a sense of character is that everyone is out on ...

... the next six months.  The
comforts of home with the people I love, will surely see me through. That I
know for sure-
I hope you have all enjoyed the blog.  I have loved sharing some thoughts,
albeit probably a bit superficial at times, as feelings are often difficult to
retrieve-

Thank you for following my journey.  
Please look for more pictures in the days to come.

Love,

Lani

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Hi everyone,
Just when I thought I had seen what living in destitution represented, I walked into a neighborhood this morning that redefined the word "poor" for me.  It seems that this redefinition is a consistent happening here.
This community lives in squalor, not only in ramshackle "buildings" but in filth.  In fact, their homes are literally built upon a dump. So, you ...

... never get dessert,
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
Who watch their parents watch them die.
We pray for those who can't find any bread to steal,
Who don't have any rooms to clean up,
Whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
Whose monsters are real,
Whose nightmares come in the daytime.
And we pray for those who will eat anything,
Who have never seen a dentist,
Santiago, Dominican Republic lstockwell

Hola Todos-
Have you ever thought of how fortunate you are, just because you were born in a certain geographic location?  We went to a Haitian Batey today.  The Bateys in the DR are kind of like a no-man's land, not recognized by the DR, or by Haiti.  Consequently, the people who live in them are literally without a country.  These people live very poorly, and are rarely allowed out of ...

Hi Everyone!
Very busy Monday.  We started out doing home visits with the International Child Care Center.  My group saw two children.  One child was so neurologically unstable, that he really wasn't a great candidate for "therapy" per se.  He is being raised by his grandmother/father, who told us that he has at least nine seizures a day.  In fact, while we were assessing him, he had two.  Not a pleasant sight, and as you can ...

... from Days 1-4 on this blog, and then, with less than 2 minutes to spare, managed to get it sent out! So I hope my efforts are appreciated! It's after midnight now as I write this and I just heard another bout of rain outside (which didn't seem to last very long). Tomorrow we are going to Ocean World, where all of the kiddies, except for Jonathan, will be swimming with dolphins. Jonathan, on the other hand, will be eaten by a shark tomorrow. (poor guy)

... waves. The huge, stormy waves had made a huge indentation into the sand into the beach so that it had caused about a 3 or 4 foot "wall". (My dad said they will have to groom it when it gets to be swimming weather again.) The beach was closed today - a red flag was erected. It would have been VERY dangerous to go out swimming today! Leanna and I went back to the room after that and we slept. There wasn't nothing else much to do, but I wasn't feeling ...

... any pesos and nothing smaller than a $20 bill in US dollars, but then Leanna had had the "bright" idea to give him a Canadian quarter, just to appease and get rid of him, but he refused it and gave it back to her saying "no bueno, no bueno". Finally, I mustered up the intelligence to say to him "No tengo pesos, solomente dinero Canandian" (I don't have pesos, only Canadian money) and as soon as I said that, he went away!! Finally, we arrived back to the ...