Rainbow Families Foundation Newsletter - September 2002

September 2002

I am safe and watch CNN when time allows and we have power to hear about the security levels in the US.  Actually the weather and power outages have prevented previous attempts. Hope this one goes through.  I've read all your messages and happy to hear the good news and sorry about the accidents and problems.  I spent some time this morning to update you on what I've been doing. Jacobo always says hello.  His family is always sick so this is a perpetual cycle for those who live in the countryside.  Yesterday Nena and her husband Andy were sneezing and catching gripe.   I am doing fine and have been very busy as you can imagine. I apologize for the long delay in writing and returning. We have had a lot of rain and thunderstorms lately and hence more blackouts of electricity. I got a complimentary copy of "Mapa Profesional" para el seguimiente de Ciclones Tropicales (Depresiones, Tormentas tropicales, Huracanes). I haven't had the time to read it but it looks interesting. Today I am trying to catch up with things I've been putting off, i.e, emails, washing clothes in the sink and cleaning up a little. It's thunderstorming and raining off and on and the power is flickering so I hope to complete this and go to the internet café to send. Last time we talked I was trying to finish with the donation lists and distribution of clothes, shoes and toys and other supplies. I think I mentioned that a lady who lives here receives clothes from tourists coming from Canada. She asked me to pick them up and add to the distribution. Turned out she had two loads of various sizes of bags, duffle bags and suitcases full of things that her Canadian friends and friends of friends had donated. As much as I'd like to make big packages for the families to expedite the dissemination, I always fear that the people will sell the excess that they don't want. I always keep this in the back of my mind as a precaution. It would be dreadful if this happens and someone reported it to the local officials. Nena and Riza (Grimaldy's sisters in law), Corina (Grimaldy's mother), Kenya and other ladies of the church have been helping. Kenya is a college student who speaks a little English and helps tremendously. Grimaldy isn't around much so she's a big help when she's available. Last Tuesday Jacobo and I went to the public hospital in Puerto Plata to donate toys to the kids again. This task gets me so emotional that it's hard to keep my composure. Only the poorest people come to this hospital who can't afford the private hospital, which is not expensive. Many times the children are there because they are malnourished. Two young boys were scarred from head to toe from an accident on the motorocycle taxi. Many, many children are transported to and from school by the motorconchos. They are so dangerous and pull out onto the street without looking. I have enough toys to go once again to the hospital to donate toys just before I leave. Now that the political campaigns are over I asked Jacobo to invite the area newspaper to come to take a photo and write a small article of me giving toys to the children. It is published once a week on Friday's. Unfortunately it didn't make last week's edition. Jacobo visited the director yesterday and he said the photographer never submitted the photos or article. The director will ask him for the photos and get them published in this week's edition. We'll see what happens. Another project that has kept me very busy is arranging for surgeries for women to not have more babies. When I interview the families for the needs in the home and if the woman is young and has many babies, I'll ask if she would like to have surgery so she can't have more babies. Always the woman says yes. So, I've gone through the lists and narrowed down twelve candidates. Jacobo had been asking me to make an agreement with a doctor that did the surgery for Jonny so she can't have more babies. Finally we had an opportunity to go to his house and talk to him. Of course, Jacobo translated since the doctor was too shy to speak English and my Spanish is not good enough in this area to communicate. The doctor agreed that if I can provide the things he needs he will do the surgeries for free. Otherwise, the surgeries will be 1,500 pesos. He explained that this is basically a small donation to help with the cost of the supplies he needs. I then talked with Grimaldy to learn how the church and his family feel about this. He said his family and the church do not have a problem and the catholics in the DR do not have a problem like in the US. I then explained that I donated many of the supplies the doctor needs to the maternity hospital in Monte Llano. I asked if maternity will perform the surgeries. Corina called the hospital and was told that one lady died from this type of surgery because she was allergic to penicillin she received. When she was asked if she was allergic to any medications she said no. Apparently this happened in the public hospital in Puerto Plata as well so both hospitals have halted this type of surgery for now. In addition, I asked if the maternity could donate the supplies that this doctor needs for 8 surgeries. Corina and I went to the maternity and they gave me everything I needed except nylon stitches and anesthesia. The doctor requested that the ladies get tested for AIDS, blood sugar (glucose) and blood level (glycemia). If they have AIDS then he won't operate. If they have high or low glucose he can adjust the medication during surgery. I don't know what happens if they have low blood level, whether he will perform the operation or not. So, I learned these tests will cost about 300 pesos each. Corina called maternity once again and they do the glucose and glycemia tests but not the AIDS. Corina talked to the man that was the mayor of Monte Llano (Monolo) and he suggested talking to a man at the Sanitation Department, who is also a friend of the family. Manolo asked that we meet at Corina's house on Monday (yesterday) at 8AM to go to the sanitation department in Puerto Plata to speak with the director. I arrived at Corina's at 7:45AM and we waited until 11:30AM and Monolo never showed. As of last night nobody knows what happened to him. Nena's brother knows the director and came with us instead of Monolo. The Director agreed that they had money to pay for the tests but requested the doctor write an order (prescription) for each person and that the women also be tested for Hepatitis A&B and blood type. Jacobo was to speak with the doctor last night. I will go to Jacobo's house tonight so we can share notes. I am really excited about this and anxious to get started with the tests. Sunday's the boys play baseball in the afternoon. This past Sunday we won one game and lost one game. They are improving and most of them are still excited and come to practise almost every day after school. There are three Haitian boys on the team. I see such discrimination with the Dominican boys towards them. A couple of the boys are always picking fights with the Haitian boys. Willie is one of the Haitian boys I gave a donation to his family. His mother died of aids a few months ago and his 14 year old sister is caring for him and two younger siblings while the father works in the sugar cane fields. Willie and a younger brother go to school but the sister cannot attend school since she has to stay home to care for the two year old sister. They live in the government housing consisting of one room. The room has one double bed and one single bed for five people. None of the beds had pillows, sheets or blankets so I gave them a big donation of everything. The 14-year old sister builds a fire outside the door on the dirt and cooks whatever is available for dinner. They are lucky to get one meal a day. All the children are very skinny and sickly but this does not take away the enthuasiam Willie has for playing baseball. Jacobo would like to find somebody to sponsor the family. Sometimes after practise he will invite Willie to his mother's house to eat with his nephew, Cesar. Jacobo bought school supplies for the three children so they can go to school. Last Wednesday Jacobo and I went to a school in Arroyo de Leche Abajo. It was a little shack far into the countryside. The teacher lives in Cangrejo, which is about 45 minutes away so she sometimes sleeps in a family's home. We spent about 2 hours asking questions. This day was a day for teacher's conference and the schools were supposed to be closed but she kept the school open for any kids who wanted to come. There were 6 in the class. She seemed a bit lazy so my opinion is that she didn't want to attend the teacher's conference. The community members built the school but located it in the path of a running stream. When there are heavy rains the school is flooded and then is closed so it can be cleaned. They are looking for another piece of land to build in a better location. One local person is a cattle farmer and has a lot of land and money but will not donate a small piece for a school. The school has about 56 kids total for morning and afternoon classes. Since it has no electricity they do not have night classes so the high school kids go to Arroyo de Leche, a little further away. This Wednesday (tomorrow) Jacobo and I will go to the Arroyo de Leche school. I have many school supplies to donate and want to find a school with the most need. I think this school has a need but is not secured and dry. We visited the director of the Mozavi school to learn how her supply was holding up from last year. She said she didn't have anything to give the kids on the last day of school in the summer so she gave them each a pencil. I asked Jacobo to tell her that the gift for the children is they have the summer free without school and no homework and that they didn't need pencils during the summer anyway. I asked him to explain that I was not happy that she used poor judgment in this regard. Of course Jacobo translated much more gently that I could have explained in my broken Spanish. I am told the schools in Severe and Carraballo get more funding from the government since these schools have more Haitian kids. I don't know. This seems to be a criticism from the Dominicans that the government is not stopping the Haitians from crossing the border and allowing the sugar cane companies to pay the Haitian workers less than minimum wage. The Dominicans complain that once the men are here to live in the barracks they later bring their wife and kids. If a Haitian kid is born here he is then “Dominican”. I personally see that they work very hard in the hot sun and many Dominican men just simply won't work. Many times the mothers will clean in homes or do dishes for other families just to feed their kids. Two weeks ago I donated a package to a mother, father, three girls and one boy in Severe. The family was so grateful that they offered a chicken to show their appreciation. They had many. Always I refuse but the mother insisted. Chi Chi killed it and Jonny prepared it the following evening for dinner. Often times the families have fruit trees in their yards and offer fruit. I normally pass it on to the volunteers or whoever is preparing dinner that particular evening. Avacado season is in so I receive many avacados. The Dominican cherry trees are bearing fruit so we always take a moment to stop and pick cherries. Last week Nena, Kenya and I were delivering packages in Pancho Mateo and I saw an elderly man sitting in a wheelchair under a tree. His one leg was amputated below the knee. I asked if he was diabetic and he said yes and the doctor said he needed a wrap for the other leg. Through many questions I learned where he lived in a one room shack with dirt floor. Asked if he needed crutches to assist in getting in and out of the wheel chair and into bed. He said he did. I prepared a package of shirts, pants, shorts, couple of baseball hats and toothbrush. We went back later and delivered the package. He was so grateful he cried. He said for God to bless me and that I had no double. So many times I walk away in tears as well. He wanted to know when we were returning because he wanted to give me fruit. I didn't see any fruit trees in his yard and asked where he was going to get it. He said he would spend a few pesos and buy it. I asked him to not spend his money. Well, as I mentioned I meet with Jacobo tonight to coordinate the next step in the surgical process. I will try to keep you posted on what happens.