Hodelpa Centro Plaza Santiago

... he said, "I don't have the money or the time."  It was maddening.  I truly believe in my heart that this child will not survive this illness, just because of his living situation.  It was difficult to walk away-
Please offer your positive thoughts, good karma, prayers, or wishful thinking to this little one tonight.  Maybe they will help.
Missing all of you,
Love,
Lani

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 ...

... wear and tear from daily activities!
This morning we went to church, then were able to see about 10 more patients.  One patient (who lived across the river) just wanted to be able to access the community, independently.  It sounds simple, but in reality was not.  This patient has only one arm, no legs.  She mobilizes by using her hand to walk on.  She is completely independent, other than that mentioned previously.  So, you think ...

... very needed.  I have quickly learned that Dominicans do not have a sense of personal space, nor do they allow that for others.  Case in point, we were riding into the city in a Guagua, which is like a Taxi, but less expensive (about 20 cents per person).  The trade-off is that you get crammed into a minivan with 20+ other people.  I'm not kidding, and mom, I'm not telling you this to worry you, but it is so unsafe!!  Imagine a ...

I made my first trip to the supermarket today. It was quite the adventure, but I learned a lot of cultural lessons & the resulting healthy food made me SO happy. I got shredded wheat & whole wheat bread...which was way cheaper than the other breads...and fruit and yogurt and to curb my incessant sweet cravings, a bar of super dark chocolate. All this time I thought that the ...

... most fun I've had on the adventure tour so far! It felt like we were rafting through Jurassic Park because of all the beautiful greenery on all sides of the river. There were 4 rafts full of us and my raft was the only one that nobody fell out of. Yay us! I can't believe I have less than a week left here. I'll be home at this time next week. It's kind of sad, but I'm ready to come home and stop pushing myself like I have been. See you soon!

... disappeared from few ahead, dropping about seventy feet down to a large pool before continuing on. This was the last rappel, and we undertook it with much gusto. We swam around in the turbulent waters beneath the water fall, and hiked back to the truck. We got back to the tour operator compound, ate lunch, and met up again with Negro and Juan, and they took us back to downtown Jarabacoa. We gathered our packs up from the hotel after quick showers, and left got a bus headed north, to Monte Christi.

... third, a sewer grate, while home was a small block which used to support a lamp post. Two kids were designated captains, and chose up teams. Brian and George were on one side, Steve on the other. The game commenced, and they played solid defense on the ancient cobblestones, and for the most part hit well, everyone collecting extra basehits and driving in runs for their teams, but in the end, Steve's team prevailed, 7 to 4. After the game, they roamed the rest of the Zona ...

... be until October. Another volunteer will be leaving then, and I will be moving into her apartment, so as ready as I am to have my own place, it“ll be worth the wait. The rat situation is still going on and to add to that, there have been tarantulas in my bedroom. I“m assured that they are not poisonous, but seriously people, rats and tarantulas, for the love, what else is hiding out in there. Ah, life in the campo.

... poverty, Racism, Hunger, and sever others). I am guilty of this as well, but as much as we support the main stream music industry it should sometimes be those groups that are teaching the right lessons not because the beat is awesome. I must comment on the definition of family here in this country. First, you are not family unless you are blood. This is way over my head because marriages do not seem to matter. I am just going to explain a situation that ...