Puerto Plata Beach Resort and Casino

... can't wait to see them.  My little Ellie Grace has
grown at least one inch, is beginning to give up her bottle, and is saying new
words.  She grew up some while I have been gone--I'm going to eat it all
up when I get back!
I haven't been able to reflect on this experience.  I've heard that
reflection comes in bits and pieces, interwoven during normal daily routines--a
thought here, an image there.  What I do know, is that this ...

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 ...

... so inspiring to see them gather to celebrate. Dancing, singing, lots of tambourines and drums. The children are so happy.  I spent a portion of one evening teaching four of them English.  They thought English words sounded funny, and they would laugh, which would make me laugh.  I loved that moment-
Attached, are pics of the Campo experience.  Look how happy these people are.
I'm glad to be back down from the "mountains", just ...

... being done with street kids who can get adopted into better families... an interesting concept. The school is for vocational stuff for poorer children that can help them get honest skilled jobs later and they have a current enrollment of 250 kids. The clinic is on the same property but is funded by the Clinton Foundation and was interesting to see, but was fairly empty while we were there. This along with CEPROSH (also funded by the Clinton's) help to ...

... the city, with merengue music blasting from the car speakers. The van proceeded to drop us all off at our homestays. I was paired up with a girl named Katelyn as my roommate, which was very lucky for me since she is a Spanish major and I don´t know any Spanish! When Katelyn and I arrived at our homestay it was about 8pm (ish) and there were tons of people outside drinking and partying with merengue music blaring (the music and ...

... by the time we get there, it will be over for sure. The bus came to pick us up at the hotel at 8:35am and it was STILL pouring. We arrived at Ocean World about an hour later, and it was still pouring torrential rains that were not giving up! This was to be the theme for the day, but despite the nasty weather, I think we still all had a good time. When we first got there, I went down to see the dolphins right away and was delighted to watch them swimming and coming ...

... approach. For example, in the stove workshops I will address topics such as air pollution, deforestation, food preparation and kitchen sanitation, etc. For the water filters it will be water pollution, waterborne diseases, methods of water treatment, etc. All of this is a bit far off in the future right now, as I still have to write the grants to get the money, but I am trying to plan ahead so when the time comes I am not completely ...