Tuesday at Guazabal

Dominican Republic Nov. 2010—Journal Entry #4
Tuesday the team divided into two groups—6 members headed to the hospital to build water filters and the rest of us went to Batey Guazabal for our second medical clinic. Our second day was significantly less chaotic since we all had a much better sense of the process, how to organize the space, and communicate essential phrases in Spanish (here—aquí, there—allá, I’m sorry—lo siento). One of my most special moments at Guazabal came when I looked out the window and I saw Hayden playing wiffle ball and frisbee in the rain with the boys from the batey. He was loving every minute of it. He made a special friend and they played for much of the rest of the day. The curious moment of the day came when I found a boy without shoes. I knew we had a bag of shoes with us so I went to find where they were stashed. They were tucked under a bench in the pharmacy area of the clinic. When I asked one of our hosts to pass me a pair of shoes for the boy in question, I was told that the ones that we had were too big and they wouldn’t give me shoes. I didn’t understand it, but didn’t dare challenge them. I didn’t want to be rude or too aggressive. I have regretted that choice ever since. It was a very smooth day; we treated 64 patients and distributed about 90 food kits. The residents were sweet and very hospitable to us. On the way back to Casa Pastoral, we picked up the water filter team that included Paul and Turner. They had a good day; Turner particularly enjoyed working alongside the Dominican men (T particularly enjoyed Benjamin) who work on water filters year round.

Tuesday night we went to a Toros baseball game. While it was fun, and very good baseball, I found my mind wandering to the work that was ahead for the next day and what preparations I needed to make. My leadership responsibilities kept me from fully enjoying the experience. Probably the most notable moments of this outing were not on the field: we got mobbed by vendors when we got off the bus and no one was prepared for that, and there was a 30 piece percussion section that was a pep squad that played incessantly and at deafening decibels.