Easter

I'm still American and I like to dye Easter eggs. Yesterday we had friends over and colored Easter eggs in the afternoon. It was hard explaining exactly WHY we dye Easter eggs, I had to make up some story about the Easter bunny and leaving eggs around for the kids to find and then realized...I don't know why the bunny is leaving eggs...you're right, it makes no sense at all. Anyhow, we had fun dying eggs though and then had a dinner of them aftewards! Some traditions I'm just not willing to let go of!

Safari day

It was Semana Santa (Holy Week) this past week which meant lots of outings and hanging out. On Saturday, 31 of us piled into a Safari truck and went to the river then to the church retreat for the afternoon. It was an amazing day! We brought a big lunch of rice and potato salad and swam in the river, sang songs in the safari truck and got to spend time together!

The family photo

Dear Mom,

I LOVE getting mail from you, it is what I look forward to. Your notes, mail from home, treats...it makes my day. Just wanted to let you know though that I probably have enough family photos for the moment. It's just that I have one in every room, every classroom, the kitchen, bathroom, the ceiling, and the fishtank and I'm running out of places to put them! I love that you include a photo with each mailing, it makes me smile to open the envelope and see yet another family photo! I love you.

Jessi :)

Santiago sleepover

I went to Santiago on Monday night to stay with one of my friends from Montellano. Perla is going to university there now and so I got to see her new apt and roommates, friends and university. It was a really nice time to be with her and she was so proud of it all.

And then I became more Dominican. Perla put my hair in a "tubey" which is wrapping your hair around your head to sleep at night. This keeps their straightened hair straight for the next day...obviously something I was in need of. Still fun though, even if my hair was the same as if I hadn't tubey'ed.

Ojo Rojo

I got pink eye. Itchy, red, burny, eyelids stuck together like a newborn baby kitten. It's gone now...a few days of antibiotic drops sorted me out. I'm glad.

Classrooms, Phase 1

We are officially growing! We now have 6 classrooms ready and being used (1 still as an office). The school is beautiful and it seems to change overnight. It's nice to look back at the photos of what we used to be like before we had 231 kids! The expansion continues as we are into construction on the next 2 classrooms, then hoping to get a basketball court, a parking lot, eventually an office block...and then go upstairs on the classrooms for a total of 12 rooms full of kids (maybe about 500-ish!) Big dreams but it'll be here before we know it.

Bathrooms

Hard to believe how far we've come!!! How easy it is to forget that we used to just be one building of 4 classrooms. Here's a look at the befores/afters of our newly finished bathrooms!

New bathrooms have 3 stalls in each boys/girls side, 3 sinks, 2 showers, running water, the boys get a urinal...it is AMAZING!!! What a difference this will continue to make for us.

Little man

My life has been changed forever by a little guy named Juancito. He's 5, maybe 6-no one seems to really know. He likes to cuddle. He holds on like a little monkey. He throws really good tantrums. He doesn't speak to white people. His eyes are amazingly big and beautiful. He wears the same clothes everyday. He has a horrible cough. He always has a fever. He is extremely malnourished (under the 3rd percentile on all my charts). His mom died of AIDS 2 years ago. He tested positive for HIV after that.

He breaks my heart because I want to help him and don't know how. Is it more of a help to leave him with whatever family and structure he has or to try to meet his medical and physical needs by bringing him to our house? He's extremely sick right now, possibly due to AIDS, so is it better to have family take care of him? Do we risk taking him in during his last days...days he could have spent with his family? But what if he is just sick and needs some intensive care that we could offer him? His dad said that today he's so sick he's refusing food.

It's all so hard to take in. It's hard because I want to take him in. I want to make it all better and my heart hurts because I can't make it better. I can't make him better. I can't take his AIDS away or his cough (TB??) or his fevers. I hurt because he must feel miserable. I hurt because he doesn't deserve this. Oh, little Juancito, what I would do to just take it all away.

I tell these stories not to dramatize life here, not to publicize the bad, not to take advantage of these kids, but to open eyes to another world. A world where HIV positive kids can go for years without receiving any medications because they aren't sick enough. A world where the realities of death and poverty and sickness and hungry kids are in your face daily. A world I have come to love and embrace and a world that continues to challenge me. It's a world that, even with the hurts, I am thankful to be a part of.

Birthday

The BIG birthday has come on gone...I turned 28 on the 28th, in year 2008. Candace sorted out an amazing taco dinner and birthday cake with friends!!

Flowers

Are these not the most amazing flowers ever??!! Birds of Paradise are about the weirdest and coolest flower, huh? Alberto (Dominican dad) came over with a huge bouquet this morning-I ended up with two vases full of flowers!

Wildlife

Just a little moth that flew into the house the other night...and stuck around for a few days. The problem with these things is that they have bodies-like a real body with arms and legs and they make loud fluttering noises when they fly. I'm glad he's gone.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

These people make my days brighter.

We took a trip to the beach the other night and got to sit and chat and enjoy one of the great parts of the Dominican Republic...the beach.

Heart Day

Happy Day of Love and Friendship! I like that translation better than the simple, Happy Valentine's Day. Anyhow, we had a special day with the kids and we got to see lots of smiles. We started after lunch with the kids handing out chocolates to each other where they had to hug and hand-off the chocolate...it was amazing! So many laughs and giggles as the names were called. All the kids camed dressed in skirts and dresses and some boys even had ties on! Each kid then was given a bag with underwear and socks (thanks Derek and Dan) and some toys or shoes.

I love these days. To see the kids excited about a bag of clothes, running it home, it's special. I mean, these days I get excited about getting a bag of clothes, but I can't say at 4 and 5 years old I would have been too thrilled. These kids are incredible. I will never stop saying that. My love grows more for them each day, with each second I have with them. Sometimes I just sit staring at them, amazed at each one of their lives.

Later on I had friends over for a Valentine's dinner. We had lasagna (American style) and some vegetable made-up thing and garlic bread...it was a really nice night, one that I've needed! We played Apples to Apples (in Spanish) all evening and ate heart cakes that my mom sent!

Gifts!

Thanks mom!!! I got Chai tea and Cheetos and Valentines treats and chocolates and Splenda and Taco Bell sauce and Skittles...today was a GREAT day!!!

Hurts

The office and nursing/mini-hospital continue strong as organizing is done and boxes fall into place.

Sometimes I wonder how much my heart can be broken, when the realities will stop, when I won't hurt because of what these kids come from. One of the kids came in the other day because he was dizzy and tired and light-headed. We talked about the things that he eats. He doesn't eat when he's not at school, if he does it is very little. His head hurts because of this. My heart hurts because of this.

How can I make this better? Am I helping? Am I doing anything here? When will it ever end? Why do they grow up like this when I got to grow up like I did? So I wrap my arms around him, love him, and look forward to seeing him at school each day when I know his tummy will be filled. Then I step back from it all and try to take it all in. It is too much to take in sometimes, when the daily realities sometimes just become normal, when it doesn't shock me as much as it ought to.

I know that we are making a difference, I see it in their smiles, in their lives. Sometimes I'd just rather forget though about poverty, hunger, pain...especially when it is in regards to our kids.

Tea time

One of my favorite drinks here is tea. Tea from leaves. Of course all tea comes from leaves, but it generally comes dried in a nice little pouch that you soak in your water in the cup. Here it is different. You go outside, collect leaves from trees (orange, lime, mango, pine-just kidding!), rinse them off, throw it in a pot with cinnamon and boil them. It is amazing. With lots of sugar, there really isn't anything better. I've learned to make lots of teas, as there is a tea for any ailment. One with passionfruit and lime and cinnamon for colds, one with celery and allspice and cinnamon for bad tummies...I love learning these things. And it's only slightly off-putting to see all the leaves in the pot!

To be a nurse

We've got shelves!!! Layne has been working so hard and made 3 sets of amazing shelves for the new nurses area! I get to be a real nurse now with medicine on the shelves and labels on my boxes and everything! It's exciting to be a part of all the changes and planning and growing that the school is doing right now. More pictures will be on their way as we get settled into the new space! Oh, and the spaces on the shelves are just big enough to nap in...

Beach days

The team finished with a few days on the beach to relax, enjoy the Dominican Republic water and sand and each other. It was really nice to see old friends and so special that they all came down here. We did about 160 school physicals and a moble medical clinic where we treated about 60-ish patients in the day. Really productive week!

Jarbacoa trip

We took the team to the mountains for the day to show them Jarabacoa...the Ark (our orphanage) and go hiking at Salto Jimenoa. It was a fun day and everyone thankfully made it out alive!

Wow

We have LOTS of kids at school these days. Our new little ones are amazing, beyond words I can even describe. Huge smiles, chubby cheeks, and the newness of being at school, are all fun to be around. Our cafeteria is full at lunchtime as we try to accomodate all the new kids, but it is an exciting reason to be squished. Even though it is only one year old, plans are already being made to expand it! I can't wait to know each of these little guys more, to know their names and their stories and continue to enjoy their lives!