Moses Brown Dominican Republic Service Trip 2010

Hi, So this is actually Noah, not Zoe


Today all of us were really tired in the morning from an entire week of working as scribes, pharmacists, and blood pressure takers etc...The bus ride to the batey was silent because we had all just passed out. We really haven't been getting enough sleep because there has just been so much going on and so many exciting things to do. But when we got to the fields, a shift happened and we were all suddenly awake and ready for our last day of service. I think that made us work especially hard today. But it was interesting the reaction that all of us had when we walked into the church where we set up our clinic. This batey, unlike any other, had one generator, fans in the church, and some glass on their windows and we considered this an incredible luxury. This gives an idea of how much poverty we experienced over the course of the week. We were so thankful for the fact that this church had a stone roof (as opposed to the ones made of tin). This trip has truly been a life changing experience, one which I really did not see coming. The bateys were nothing like I expected. I did not think the children there would wait outside of the church where we were set up for hours just to receive one single toy car. This is probably one of the only personal possessions, where as I have thousands. This made me feel a little guilty not having enough toys and pencils for everyone in the bateys. Finally, the most amazing thing about our trip is that the doctors we were with in combinations with the donations we handed out helped about half of the people in only 5 bateys. There are about 300 in the entire DR. There is still so much more work to do and so many more people to help. I look forward to doing that in the near future.


Noah Jennis