D.R. Trip – Day 3

Today we split up boys and girls. The boys went to an orphanage in La Romana where they met 10 boys and bonded with them over sports, pizza, and ice cream. It took a little while for them to warm up to our group of boys, but good memories were made by all.

The girls went to the foundation and had lunch with the grandmas in El Tamarindo. The girls sang for the grandmas and shared why they loved their moms. We were able to bless the grandmas with goodie bags full of hygiene and beauty products that the fourth and fifth grade classes collected.

After the grandmas luncheon, our girls served over 200 kids lunch and had a clothing and baby-goods drive for some moms and their newborn babies. One mom brought her two day old premature baby. He was tiny!

Mr. Najjar, Mrs. Sharma, and Ms. Rychen took a lady we met the other day to a local clinic. The woman had a 6 inch long nail stuck in her foot for 9 months. Her foot was very swollen and infected, but she wasn’t able to get the proper treatment from the free clinic she had previously visited. With better treatment, the doctor was able to get the nail out of the woman’s foot and some medicine to help with the healing process. She was very happy.

During our debrief today the students talked about the similarities and differences between lunch time at the foundation versus lunch back at school. The students kept reiterating how they took food, water, and other basic needs for granted. Our hope is to take our experiences from this trip and change our hearts and minds to have a more grateful attitude back at home.