Rainbow Families Foundation Newsletter - December 2006

December 2006

The car is doing ok but getting scratched up. Yes, the radiator blew a hole but I was able to get it fixed in Puerto Plata. The front left tire has a slow leak and also the spare. I must get them fixed before my next trip to Santiago or Santo Domingo. The windshield wipers are worthless but I had the guy at the gasoline station change the right side to the left side in order to see out with all the rain. The donors and their guests from Minnesota will be coming 19 - 26 January. There will be about 27 people in total, including 2 kids. They will be bringing donations for several pre-qualified families, school supplies for the kids in the public school in Mozovi, and medical supplies that I/we will divvy around, depending on what they bring. They will be renting a bus for the day and we will deliver the supplies to families in Carraballo, Severe, Montellano and Cangrejo, plus make a stop at the school in Mozovi before the morning session kids are dismissed for the day. A carload of us may go back to deliver supplies directly to the kids in the afternoon session, depending how much supplies are brought. We'll go to Sosua and spend a couple hours on the beach before we head back to their hotel. Amy, one of the daughters from the family was here in early December. She brought donations of various sorts. Four of the women will stay another week to volunteer with a medical mission that begins the day after their families leave. I will once again volunteer to work the mission sites in the countryside. It is always a pleasure but hard long days. Jacobo's cousin, Josefina, was killed by a wreckless driver. She was standing with her daughter alongside the road. They were waiting for her husband to lock up the church and pick them up. Apparently they had gone to get a hot dog at a roadside stand. A driver struck both of them and Josefina died shortly after arriving the hospital. The daughter suffered a broken ankle and I see that she is doing better. Josefina was a good friend of mine, and I will miss her. Tomorrow I take Maria Isabel (the 6 year old twin girl who had a heart attack in August) to the Health Department to review test results. We are still trying to determine what is going on with her. I took her and her mother, Isabel, to the public children's hospital in Santiago to see a pediatric cardiologist and a pediatric liver/kidney specialist. We had tests done in Puerto Plata at the health department and a private laboratory. Hopefully the visit will shed light on why she is weak with no energy, she's out of breath easily and her skin swells and turns red. Earlier tests indicated she had a urinary tract infection. The medication the doctor prescribed made her sick with diarrhea.