Flip Flops for Friends - 'Tis the Season

Tis the season to be thankful - for family for friends, health and happiness!  Everyone has a different definition of what family, friends, health and happiness is!  Over the past few days I have seen so much joy, appreciation and happiness to fill a whole year!  

Traveling to the DR with my daughter, parents and friends has been such a heartwarming experience.  The smile has not left my daughter's face since we arrived.  Seeing her do the work that she did to collect the flip flops and seeing how excited the children were to receive them.  Talking to the children on the bateys and at the school, then getting in the car and saying "I love it here!"  Having the opportunity to show my parents the work that I have done in the past and what they have taught me has paid off, was amazing for all of us to share.  Taking the time to share with two of my Rotarian friends, who are Dominican and whose families are still here, the love of a country that they are so connected to, has been extremely moving. But most of all I am thankful for the experience to be able to come and share not only with my some of my family and friends, but to provide some small  assistance to children and families in need.  There are times we take small items for granted like getting "another pair of flip flops or another shirt" but to the people we saw over the last few days, this was a gift that will last for a while.  My hope is that this experience will be the beginning of so much more for all of us.

Over the past few days we distributed over 600 pairs of flip flops, 70 soccer shirts and received the best gift of all - hundreds of smiles and more gratitude than we could have ever imagined!

Thank you for the support of us and this project!  To Be Continued in February!

 

Flip Flops for Friends - Day 2

Today was another wonderful day!  A day filled with the knowledge that both my daughter's empathy and thoughtfulness for others came to fruition!

We started our day going to meet the children in La Romana that were in desperate need of soccer jerseys! Lily had collected 70 jerseys and we were able to give them all out!!! They were perfect!  Amazing to see all our friends and our soccer shirts going to good use!!

Our next stop was delivering bubbles and 90 pairs of Flip Flops to the Family AIDS clinic.  The bubbles and flip flops are going to be given to the children as part of their Christmas presents!  We met up with Centro Romano Rotarians to give this donation.

Next stop was two schools to deliver flip flops. This is where Lucy was in her glory! She kept telling me how awesome and wonderful it was to be with the children at school.  She was ecstatic when she went into the fifth grade class and they were learning English.  Lucy started speaking to the class and asking questions!  She gave all the girls in the class rainbow loom bracelets and each of the 4 classrooms a jump rope!  

After lunch we went to Batey 105 and Batey Brador to distribute more flip flops!  In total today, we passed out 400 pairs of flip flops, 70 soccer shirts, 12 jump ropes, 24 rainbow loom bracelets and 72 bottles of bubbles! And what we received back were hundreds of smiles, hugs, and sincere THANK YOU's!  Not bad for a day's work!

Again, none of this would be possible without the help of some very special people!  We had the assistance of Daniel, Fernando, and Jeisy from the Good Samaritan Hospital, Marta Victoria from the Centro Romano Club, and several other members of her club assisting at the Clinic! Of course a huge thank you to Lucy, my parents and Chris for getting all of the flip flops on all the little and big feet today!

Outstanding!!! Bueno Dia!

Flip FlopsFor Friends Day One

Thursday was our first day here in the DR and it was such a amazing day!  After a very long journey on Wednesday, my parents, daughter, Lucy, my amazing friend Chris, and the one and only Wascar started our journey to distributing some of the 1200 pairs of flip flops that were donated by our friends, family, Rotarians, Girl Scouts, classmates, and community members!  

It was a day that made me proud in so many ways!  We began our delivery of the flip flops and gave out at least two hundred flip flops to the children and families of batey 106!  To see the idea that my daughter came up with, come to completion and see her interactions with the kids of the batey was priceless!  She jumped right in and was chatting with the kids, and giving them the flip flops.  I don't know who was more in awe, the kids, Lucy or my parents!  The saying a picture is worth a thousand words, is so true...  Here are a few from our visit!

 

After the distribution of the flip flops we made a quick stop to see our friends at Batey 105.  We will be returning there tomorrow with flip flops!  Wascar and I needed to see that our water station still had running water!  The good news is that there is still running water!!!!

Final stop of the day was the Centro Romana Rotary Club!  We are so thankful for our friends in this club for assisting with the distribution of the flip flops and soccer shirts!  They could not stop thanking us at the meeting for making so many people so happy by our small contribution to this little corner of the world!  Rotary International's theme this year is "Light Up Rotary" and they told us that our light is shining very bright!

Flip Flops for Friends

Beginning in May, my daughter Lucy and I came up with an idea to collect Flip Flops for the children on the bateys in the Dominican Republic.  This idea came from Lucy after looking through my pictures from my last trip, where she noticed that the children in all of the pictures, did not have any shoes, and the ground was filled with trash, debris, waste, and so much more.  She could not understand how the children could live like this and wanted to do something to help them.  She brought the idea to the her Girl Scout Troop and her Elementary School and I brought the idea to the Providence Rotary and the Rotary Club in La Romana - and everyone loved the thought and idea! And so it began... Over the last 6 months we have collected over 1200 pair of flip flops for the children and families on the Bateys (sugar cane communities) of La Romana!

A huge shout out to the following groups for their participating in the Flip Flops for Friends Campaign!!!  Providence Rotary Club, Coastway Community Bank, St. Elizabeth's Home, Scott Elementary School, Park Elementary School, Girl Scout Troop 186, The Highlands Assisted Living Community, Providence Picture Frame, The Regency, Robert Anthony Salon, Salon Extreme, Natural Essence Salon, USI Insurance, DeLeonardo Properties, Pocho Express, the Flip Flop Queen at Women and Infants Hospital and all of our amazing family and friends!  We could not do any of this with out all of these important people!!!  Thank you!!

 

Jenny and the Flip Flop Queen

Coastway Community Bank

Robert Anthony Salon

14 Boxes of Flip Flops Packed and ready to go!

We leave in less than a week to deliver the flip flop along with 60 donated soccer jerseys from our friends and teammates!!!  Thank you to all and hope that you follow the blog for this exciting adventure to distribute the flip flops and soccer jerseys!  Stay Tuned and Thank You Again!!!

Overview of week - La Romana (2/8/14)

I wanted to take a minute first to say thank you for all your support and 2^nd just give a quick overview of what we did this week in the DR.  Our group of 4 Providence Rotarians joined with 5 other Rotarians from Maine and Canada to work hard, and make a small difference in the lives of many.  This past week we visited 6 bateys to test water filters that had been installed over the last 4 years, to make sure they were working properly.  We visited one batey to install 20 new water filters to people who would have clean drinking water for the first time on their batey.  We visited batey 105 and saw an unfinished latrine that needed to be finished and made that happen by plastering the floors, painting the walls, hanging new doors and painting those doors, installing porcelain toilets and connecting those 4 toilets to the water source, and installing a hand washing station.  We were able to make it possible so that the residents of batey 105 (totaling 100 women, men and children) could use a working toilet instead of going to the bathroom in the fields, or in a small plastic bucket, and then wash their hands with running clean water and soap.  We also gave the children on the batey balls, jump ropes, Frisbees, bubbles, notebooks, crayons, pencils and pencil sharpeners so that they could do something different and have fun! Many of the children did not have underwear and through our Rotarians and friends we were able to provide new undies for the children, some of whom had never ever worn undies… We went to batey 106 and assisted with building 2 new latrines and one new hand washing station.  More bubbles and balls were passed out for the children on this batey to play with and enjoy!

Our group visited two separate schools (one private church run school and one public school) to make donations that are the beginning of a great relationship of friendship and educational growth!  At the Hartman school, we visited the students in the 1^st grade and donated a notebook, pencil and colored pencils to 40 students, we also donated countless school supplies to the school for the use of children in kindergarten through 3^rd grade.  We also made a monetary donation – thanks to all of you that totaled $736, which will afford the school to get next text books for each of the classrooms and children at the school.

 

Thanks to the generosity of our club, the Dominican community in Providence and most of all to our member Tony Mendez we were able to deliver 60 dictionaries to the students at the Mercedes Laura Aguiar School, and in addition they will be receiving 900 more Spanish English Dictionaries from the above groups!  When we gave the dictionaries to the students they all clapped and thanked all of us!  It was a truly unbelievable and heartwarming experience!

We also continued building the relationship of Rotary by attending two Rotary meetings – La Romana Rotary Club and Rio Luce Rotary Club.  Both meetings we were able to discuss the work that we were doing on the bateys and the importance of the work that all of us are doing to continue to educate those in need of the importance of clean water, sanitation and proper hand washing!  Speaking of hand washing we also attended 3 sessions lead by past district governor of the DR to learn about proper hand washing and the importance of hand washing stations and having water filters in the homes and schools of the city of La Romana and the bateys surrounding the city!

I think I can speak for Wascar and me by saying that this year was better than last and that we saw the difference that we can make in a small batey community.  I know for Kevin and Gary it was an opportunity to see and learn about life on the bateys and have the opportunity to change the lives of those in such desperate need!  The power of Rotary and Service Above Self is alive and well and making a difference really is a blessing to have been a part of in the Dominican Republic this year!

Day 6 - La Romana - (2/7/14)

Today was the last day of work here in La Romana...  The day started with our team going to Mercedes Laura Aguiar School to donate Spanish English dictionaries to the school library and one of the 5th grade classes.  First we met with the school administrator who was so pleased to received this donation!  We went to see the library, and for a school of 2600 plus students, it had 4 book cases on one wall - that's it!  This donation truly meant a great deal to this school!  The best part for us was when we went into the 5th grade class and told them about the dictionaries, all the students started clapping and cheering!!!!  It was amazing how something as simple as a dictionary truly can change the lives and make so many so happy!!

After we left the school we went back to Batey 106 to assist with the latrine building.  We built up the walls of the latrine and did a great deal of heavy lifting and mixing of cement!  We also took a trip out to the sugar cane field on the batey and saw the workers chopping and moving the sugar cane.  Very interesting!  This batey was actually having two latrines built simultaneously as well as a new hand washing station!  A great deal of progress taking place today!

 

 

When we were finished with Batey 106 for the day we went back to Batey 105 to see the completed hand washing station outside the latrine that we built!  It was beautiful!!!! The feeling of completion was just so rewarding!  When we started the week, this batey had an incomplete latrine, when we left they had a fully functional latrine with 4 porcelain toilets and a working wash basin to wash their hands!!!!  What a gift the Rotary was able to give the people of this batey!!!!

 

Day 5 - La Romana (2/6/14)

Today was a day off for the Providence Rotary work team.  It was a wonderful day of rest and relaxation before we go back to work on the latrines again tomorrow. 

We wanted to explain what other team members are doing here on the bateys.  For the past 5 years Rotarians have been coming to bateys in la romana and installing HydrAid water filters.  As part of the rotary grant to install the filters we need to come back and make sure that the filters are working properly and that the filters are continuing to provide clean drinking water to the residents.  Recently it has also been brought up that the sugar factories are putting chlorine in the water to prevent cholera.  Therefore it is extremely important to make sure that the water that is going to the bateys and the residents are drinking does not have the chlorine in it.  For the past 4 days, 4 members of our team have been taking samples from water filters on 6 bateys  and growing the samples....tomorrow we will have the results from all the testing.  Hopefully the filters are working and doing what it should be - providing clean drinking water for all on the bateys.

 

Tomorrow the Providence Rotary Team will be going to Mercedes Laura Aguiar School to deliver the 60 Spanish English Dictionaries from our club!!! 

Day 4 - La Romana (2/5/14)

Breakfast at 8 as usual with team. Of course, scrambled eggs (breakfast staple) but also some nice oatmeal. After breakfast we are off to the school to deliver donated supplies and present money for textbooks. Students were very curious about the Americans carrying suitcases. They are extremely cute in their uniforms. One of the boys was actually sporting a bow tie (surely a future executive). Team went into first grade class to present each student with a pad and pencils.  We presented Lilianna, the school superintendent with money for textbooks.  The amazing part of this donation was that the money collected from our Rotary Club and our friends will afford them the opportunity to buy a new text book for each of the 220 school children!! Again, it was another amazing and powerful Rotary moment!!
 

Next we are off to batey 105 to continue work from yesterday on the four stall latrine. This will be the first latrine for this batey.  To date, each of the members of the batey either use a plastic bucket or the backyard.  When we arrived we find the construction crew hard at work. They have hung the two doors and are working on hanging the two other doors. They are also working on hand washing station located outside the latrine. The team jumps right in and begins painting doors, others help with rear door installation and breaking excess concrete footing and grading area around latrine. It is important to do this a many residents and children wear no shoes. They need a smooth clean path to the bathroom.

                                      The old toilet and the new toilet!  Great work Team!!

Lots of hard satisfying work on a hot sunny day (sorry to those still digging out). We take a step back and admire our days work. Sweaty and covered in paint and dirt we pack up to head back. A satisfying ride back knowing that today the latrine has four porcelain toilets, and an outside wash station to allow people to do, what we take for granted everyday,  in dignity. Some for the first time in their lives. Go team!!

Day 3 - La Romana (2/4/14)

Well today was the day that I realized why I am doing this trip, why I am continuing to come and do this work, and how I found out I have made a difference!

Yesterday before Wascar and I went with Kevin and Gary to build the new latrine we wanted to see the success of the working Latrine we built last year.  We drove to Batey 105 to see the latrine, and both Wascar and I were shocked and complete saddened to see what had come of our latrine.  Nothing had been done with it since the day we left a year ago.  Last year our team had built the latrine from the foundation up.  Cinderblock by cinderblock, mixing the cement, layering it, measuring it, putting the roof on and making sure that it was ready to be used.  Yesterday we saw graffiti on the walls, garbage and waste on the floors and nothing had been done at all.  No doors, No paint and No toilets!!!  We took pictures and left the batey saying we had to do more.  Wascar and I said that Nothing could be done until we finished this latrine. 

We came back to the house and had a long talk with the coordinator of the program.  This was not acceptable and the two of us would finish this on our own if we had to this HAD to be completed.  After a long conversation, we had made it happen.  Wascar and I were going back to batey 105!

 

Today we arrived and gallons of paint and paint brushes were waiting for us.  We had a team of 6 construction workers already started working and we were on our way to completion!  Along with the construction workers Wascar and I swept the floors, cleaned the walls, painted the outside and inside of the latrine.  We assisted in laying the cement on the floor in preparation of the installation of the toilets!  By the way the toilets are Western style toilets, minus the toilet seat.  Not sure what will happen with that, but it's a start!!!  We have made such a difference...  The health promoter told us they need this so bad and no one has assisted since last year.  People just go to the bathroom, where ever they are... This can not continue and hopefully it won't. 

 

Tomorrow we will be going back to the batey to assist with the installation of the toilets and the doors...

Additionally we brought a suitcase of the donations from all of you to hand out to the children of the batey!  Each child got a notebook, colored and regular pencils, a pencil sharpener, crayons, a jump rope and balls!!!!  Their faces lit up when they received all of these goodies!  Some of the children started drawing pictures for Wascar and I and others went and put them right away in their napsacks!  The little kids started playing with the balls and of course the bubbles.  The parents were so pleased with the goodies!!! Hopefully it will keep them busy!

 

It is amazing the goodness in the hearts of so many can make a difference that we will never know the true meaning.  Wascar and I (with your help) made a difference in the lives of 100 families on the batey, and this is just the beginning.....

La Romana - Day 2 (2/3/14)

Today was an outstanding day!  The beginning of the day we went to the Clinica de Familia.  The first part of the morning was sitting in on an education to families about water filters and hand washing.   After the class we had a tour of the clinic, which is a private health clinic that is focused primarily on assisting members of the bateys.  The clinic was started by an American, Steven Nicholas.  Steven's primary focus was to make sure that all members of the bateys were tested for, educated about prevention and care of and treated for HIV. The program was started in 1999 and the Clinic was built in 2004.  It still continues to work on prevention, education and treatment of HIV, but has grown to include other important health prevention and treatments as well.

 

After the tour our Providence crew went to Batey 106 to begin working on a new latrine.  The hole had been dug and the supports were in, and our job for the day was to mix the cement for the foundation!  This meant filling the wheel barrels with the gravel, pushing it up the hill to the area where the latrine was being built.  Then mixing the rocks with the sand and cement and putting all of that into the mixer.  Once it was mixed it went into the foundation.  This all sounds simple, but we did this 4 hours in the 85 degree sun and heat...  In addition to the work we had a great time with the kids of the batey!  We gave them jump ropes and balls, and kept them busy for a while!!!  The kids also loved the bubbles we gave them!  So much fun!!!

Tonight was a joint meeting with one of the Rotary clubs and our group to explain how Hand washing is needed in the schools, but without clean water,this is impossible, and how are the clubs here going to do more to assist. 

Tomorrow we are off to the schools and to install water filters on the next batey!