ayer (yesterday) phil, scott, bernard (our translating friend) and i went to a place called agua negra (black water), which is now a village built on an old garbage dump. they warned me to wear some old shoes because it had rained all through the night, and in agreement with the name, there would be at least a couple inches of black water coming up over my ankles, but i had no idea.
we went to have a meeting with a dominican lady who has started a ministry called ‘a light in the street’, which is now responsible for 2 schools, a clinic and some vocational schools, among many other projects.
she seems like an amazing lady, and the things they are doing for that community are incredible. she said that she had grown up there for 18 years of her life now (she is only in her early 30s), which would definitely help her to see the needs more clearly and be able to prioritize projects when different groups come to support them.
after discussing different needs in that neighbourhood she decided to take us into a few homes just down the street to show us a more clear picture of the problems they are facing – the main one being dirty water build up. most of the houses, we noticed, were at a lower level than the street which allowed for a lot of flooding. almost everything they had in the house was built up on stilts from past experiences, and all the furniture they could carry had been lifted up in the ‘rafters/supports’ for the ceiling/walls.
one particular house we went in, after walking through other people’s homes because the streets were too flooded, was about 2 feet lower than the ground outside – meaning even more run off. they gladly welcomed us in/carried us across a little rock path and even though they had used a pump to empty the house that morning, there was still about 2 inches of water on the floor. one of their solutions was that over time they had collected cinder blocks and made a little floor platform for everything in the kitchen, which was a good start, but in most cases the water would probably be much higher. at one point i turned to scott and said “who would ever think you needed gutters in your bedroom?” because as i looked in, i noticed a little area chipped/worn down to facilitate water flow out towards the kitchen area.
i cant even imagine what it must be like to go to sleep every night praying that it wont rain, and then you wake up and the majority of your things are soaking wet after just drying from the last storm. we are just now in the middle of rainy season (may is usually the wettest), which for most people on the island is a good thing because it takes care of their crops, but for this little community it means many more soggy days - plus i imagine a lot of sickness results from all the things floating in the water and from it sticking around for a couple days afterwards.
the solution...? - the only real thing phil could think would work is to bring in dirt-like materials to build up under the houses and then repour a cement floor, much higher than the pre-existing one. once that was done they would have to build up the walls and raise the roof because you could only be about 4 feet tall to fit in after that was all done. but then figuring out how to fix the door openings would be the next issue since that is where a lot of support beams for the house run through.
in july we will be back out there working with that group but please keep them in your prayers and maybe i will get a chance to go work with them sooner.
hasta luego - until later/see you later.
p.s - i unfortunately didnt get any pictures from there but next time phil goes out i will give him my camera...
we went to have a meeting with a dominican lady who has started a ministry called ‘a light in the street’, which is now responsible for 2 schools, a clinic and some vocational schools, among many other projects.
she seems like an amazing lady, and the things they are doing for that community are incredible. she said that she had grown up there for 18 years of her life now (she is only in her early 30s), which would definitely help her to see the needs more clearly and be able to prioritize projects when different groups come to support them.after discussing different needs in that neighbourhood she decided to take us into a few homes just down the street to show us a more clear picture of the problems they are facing – the main one being dirty water build up. most of the houses, we noticed, were at a lower level than the street which allowed for a lot of flooding. almost everything they had in the house was built up on stilts from past experiences, and all the furniture they could carry had been lifted up in the ‘rafters/supports’ for the ceiling/walls.
one particular house we went in, after walking through other people’s homes because the streets were too flooded, was about 2 feet lower than the ground outside – meaning even more run off. they gladly welcomed us in/carried us across a little rock path and even though they had used a pump to empty the house that morning, there was still about 2 inches of water on the floor. one of their solutions was that over time they had collected cinder blocks and made a little floor platform for everything in the kitchen, which was a good start, but in most cases the water would probably be much higher. at one point i turned to scott and said “who would ever think you needed gutters in your bedroom?” because as i looked in, i noticed a little area chipped/worn down to facilitate water flow out towards the kitchen area.
i cant even imagine what it must be like to go to sleep every night praying that it wont rain, and then you wake up and the majority of your things are soaking wet after just drying from the last storm. we are just now in the middle of rainy season (may is usually the wettest), which for most people on the island is a good thing because it takes care of their crops, but for this little community it means many more soggy days - plus i imagine a lot of sickness results from all the things floating in the water and from it sticking around for a couple days afterwards.
the solution...? - the only real thing phil could think would work is to bring in dirt-like materials to build up under the houses and then repour a cement floor, much higher than the pre-existing one. once that was done they would have to build up the walls and raise the roof because you could only be about 4 feet tall to fit in after that was all done. but then figuring out how to fix the door openings would be the next issue since that is where a lot of support beams for the house run through.
in july we will be back out there working with that group but please keep them in your prayers and maybe i will get a chance to go work with them sooner.
hasta luego - until later/see you later.
p.s - i unfortunately didnt get any pictures from there but next time phil goes out i will give him my camera...
¡Ay mi madre! Me olvidé que estás en la RD ahora… ¡Que jevi!
ReplyDelete¿Que lo que? Te extraño muchísimo. I was just on the Internet singing some Spanish songs and… y es que te quiero… baby te quiero… desde que te he conocido yo vivo tan feliz… jaja… I’m so jealous of you! How has it been? Have you hung out with any of our friends yet? Saludos a Jeremy y su familia, por favor. Take lots of pictures for me okay? And what are you going to do that out does riding on a motoconcho side-saddle with a ton of luggage?!?! Nos vemos.
that is so awesome- that is the village where we do all our work!! Saturdays and mondays we run clubs for the street boys, and english classes, and sundays we take them to the beach... it is sooo much fun. hope to see you soon!
ReplyDelete