Dominican Republic Field Service

Following four weeks of training in Texas, eleven of us left for our field service (which is also part of Gateway training) in the Dominican Republic. We arrived to Puerto Plata in July knowing that we had several projects in front of us. We came to aid a couple ministries and were going to take part in construction, agricultural, and health projects.

Most of our work was done in a small section of Puerto Plata composed of Haitian and Dominican families called Aguas Negras or “black water” named after the sewage that runs freely in the streets. We worked with a ministry that runs a school and clinic along with a few other services. I mainly took part in health care projects and did many house visits as I was one of the main translators.

I joke that in the D.R. I will never be lacking friends under the age of ten… and it is true. As soon as we would exit the bus and step foot into the town, the children would run from all directions and gather around us. They would ask us to play with them, to hold their hands, to pick them up, and to come to their house. Everywhere we went in the town they would follow us and it was soon apparent that for many of them there was very little parental guidance as they had no time to be home or no one to answer to…

One of my most treasured times in the D.R. was with a little boy named Daniel. His little sister Naoi was one of the children that greeted us in the streets and asked us to come to her house. Having some free time, we accepted her invitation. Upon arriving to her house we found a four year old boy named Daniel sitting on a bed underneath a mosquito net with a large burn on his face and scalp and a few on his leg. The story was that he was playing with matches on his bed and lit his bed on fire, which caused flash burns to his face and leg. He got some treatment when the burns first occurred, but he was now two weeks out and not getting any care.

We were so glad to have come across him and throughout our time we made daily visits to dress the wounds and were able to teach the mother proper wound care until she was able to take care of the burns herself. The greatest thing about stumbling upon meeting this family was the relationship we were able to develop… and this brave little boy accepting us as his friend even though he knew each time we came it was time for a dressing change- something synonymous with pain.

We also taught first aid classes, took part in feeding projects, worked in medical clinics, and attended basic medical needs of people we met. I was a little nervous about doing so much translating as the Spanish I learned is very formal and the Spanish I heard in the Dominican was full of slang and spoken very quickly… but God was at work. My Spanish was the best it has ever been. I was asked many times to pray in Spanish, which is something I have never done before, but it soon became something much more natural than I thought it could be. But out of all we did, I must say that my favorite part was spending time with the children, especially the little girls. I know many of them grow up in homes where they are deprived of affection- where there is no father and many times ten other children in the home. Each time I got to hold them or hold one of their little hands I made sure to tell them how beautiful and precious they were- and I took great joy in that…