Week 3 - Julie Martin

My second week in the Dominican Republic became busier. Some days even exceed 10 hours. This was the most organized week as the team of two ladies had a schedule and I joined them. Karen (owner) injured her arm so I gave her an extra hand. That made me become more of a leader to the two ladies with what was going on during the day. At the beginning of the week, our time mainly consisted of organizing for the week. They brought a lot of donations that needed to sorted. They also had several crafts in mind for the children to make and even something to teach the widows. One of my highlights this week was going to the Children's Program. There were four different Children's Programs that I got to interact with and two of them actually had two different classes within their program. Each one was unique. I loved getting to mingle with so many children. I did not to all of them this week, but a good amount. The two ladies taught and I helped with the crafts. Grace and Peace Missionary Fellowship has a Widows Program of 60 women. We held several sessions this week in different towns where the widows would come to one place (usually a church or some one's house) and we would provide all the material to teach the widows how to make hot pads and rugs for their homes. Another factor that made this week so fabulous was that Traci (one of my best friends) arrived. She is so loved and well respected in the Dominican, it is a blessing to see because I know how much of her life she has dedicated to those people. It was amazing to see her passion and light up in a new way, especially towards the end of the week when we went to a hospital. One of the ladies was a doctor and want to visit a Dominican hospital. There were two young children who had been burnt really bad the day we went. Everyone was wondering if the little boy would survive. The two children had been playing outside and knocked over the boiling pot of beans. It poured all over them. The biggest concern was the fact that they were Haitians and the reputation Dominicans have with treat Haitian patients. They tend to not want to help them and literally will let them die. I had a hard time hearing this, but I needed to learn the reality of their culture. The two ladies then left at the end of this week.