Ac

Francisco and Moises at our Thanksgiving party

Turkey hands!

Acting out our Thanksgiving play

Games and story telling

Magic Tropical with Pam and our favorite Fijians!

Enjoying the Magic Tropical

Hi all,
Well rather than going in chronological order this time, I will start with the most important, and tradgic, news of the week.  Yesterday we came back to the orphanage to find that one of our little girls from the special needs home had passed away Saturday night.  It´s been a really sad couple of days, and she was a beautiful little girl.  The staff who cared for her in her house are grieving so hard, and the kids are just so confused.  Like I wrote about in past emails, funerals here are quite different... they actually found her during the big Quincinera birthday party Saturday night and all the staff and volunteers who were here had to have everything done and prepared by Sunday morning for her funeral.  Christian, our volunteer computer teacher had to cut her open because of the hemorraging, and the staff and volunteers had to give the service and bury her Sunday morning.  They are still unaware of how she died, but they think it had something to do with her heart.  She was not one of the students from my class so I did not know her as well as some of the other volunteer therapists and her house tias, but some of the kids in my class live with her in the special needs home and are taking it hard.  Below I have attached the email and picture that was sent out.  What is really crazy, is that the tia who was with her the longest, the really nice one I wrote about that invited me in her home in the batey, also lost her 7 year old nephew (from the same batey) the same day.  He apparently fell and hit his head and wasn´t able to get medical treatment to stop the bleeding in his head.  I cannot even imagine what she is going through.  Please keep all these very special people in your prayers.

Well, in other news, it has been a really crazy eventful week, but will try to keep it as short as possible, as I need to shop for a floral arrangement for the special needs house in her memory and also a birthday present for my hubby. (apparently they don´t do cards and flowers for deaths in this country - today I took around a large card with a bouquet on the front that I made with my class for all the other teachers and staff to sign, and everyone looked at me like I was crazy, nothing new, but they also said it was very lovely and creative)

As far as I can remember in this last crazy week.... last week Dave received a very generous personal gift from family and decided to buy a moto!  So now we have a motorcycle... I won´t get into details on what it looks like cause you wouldn´t want to know, trust me.... but we have only taken it out once to the batey.  I about fell off a couple times, and it stalled out and we rolled down a hill while all the Dominicans laughed and said look at the foreigners trying to drive a moto.  He still needs some practice before we take it into the crazy city.  And we should buy some helmets too.

Thursday night, we had a big Thanksgiving celebration at Marijo´s (veteran volunteer from Michigan) house - she cooked turkey, potatoes, all the works and it was so delicious and fun.  She really loved the handpainted turkeys that I did with my kids and decided I should teach all the adults how to make them during the party, so now her patio is plastered in adult-size hand print turkeys with messages of thanks to the Dominicans (kinda like the pilgrims to the indians kinda thing).  Friday was my BIG Thanksgiving celebration in my classroom.... and it was big.  Dave and I wrote a play about Thanksgiving and the kids made Indian headdresses and pilgrim hats and we acted it out.  We also played a hide and seek turkey game where everyone gobbled, did 2 turkey art projects, went on a parade, and had a popcorn feast (thanks to Laur for the ideas!).  I had LOTS of visitors - volunteers, staff, parents from the batey... but it was absolutely wonderful and listening to the kids and adults´messages of thanks during our circle of thanks touched my heart beyond words.  It was sad to be away from family, but easily the best Thanksgiving I ever had. 

Also, keeping me busy this week was preparing for the Quincinera (big 15th bday party for 3 of our girls) as I was on the decorating committee and signed up to help so we were busy shopping and preparing for that as well (it has been a CRAZY week to say the least).  And on Friday, my sister-in-law Pam flew in and my former host family, the Fijians, from Los Alcarrizos came out to stay in Boca Chica with us.  Boca Chica is like 5x more expensive than anywhere cause of all the tourists so they brought a stove and practically their whole kitchen and we cooked a huge meal in the hotel until we got in trouble for cooking in the hotel room.  But then I got really really sick again Friday night (I think from an empanada but not sure) and Saturday so I couldn´t get on a guagua (little bus with no bathroom) and so I missed the whole Quincinera I was supposed to be in charge of decorating, and also the death of our little one until we came back Sunday.  We didn´t know anything til we came Sunday afternoon and found out we missed the whole funeral and everything.  We felt terrible so now I am trying to make up for it with cards, flowers, etc.  Besides everything else though, it was good to see Pam and relax and spend time with family and friends.

Okay, well I could go on and on with all the details of this past week but I should be going.  Please keep everyone here in your prayers as it is really tough for both the staff and kids.  When the biological family was notified (what is left of them) they didn´t even come to the funeral, so NPH really was like her only family here.  There are lot more kids here with AIDS and other terminal illnesses so please keep them in your prayers. 

Hope all is well back home and everyone had a happy Thanksgiving there.

Love and prayers always,

Hello all,

Sooo I am exhausted and didn´t make a list of things to write about so maybe this will be a short one?? :) 

Well, it´s been really busy these past 10 days with my dad and my brother here, and we were sad to say good bye to them today.  We spent the first weekend running around Juan Dolio trying to hang out, but mostly losing each other in the process, and then last Wednesday they came to the orphanage to stay and hang out with us for a few days.  Wednesday night they took us out to an amazing dinner of Mexican food, and then went out shopping and seeing San Pedro.  There were a couple of little shoeless boys begging outside an empenada shop we stopped by, they said their dad had his leg cut off and couldn´t work and their mom died.  So I asked the guy working in the shop, and he said their story was ligit.  So I decided to buy them dinner, and said good-bye to them, but no matter where I went around town they followed me like little puppy dogs, hanging on and jumping on me curiously.  I tried talking about the school and orphanage, and like every other street kid I talk to about it, they said take us there, take us there.  The ones in the orphanage have horribly awful stories, but these are the ones that truly break my heart... they ones who are still on the streets, living out the hardship.  I ended up hanging out with them for quite a while and finally told them, okay I really have to go in my guagua and you can´t come with me, and they hung on me and didn´t want to say goodbye.  I hope maybe I can send our social worker to investigate.. maybe they´ll be in NPH someday.  We did get in 5 new kids this week.  They are absolutely precious and oh so excited to be in NPH.  Even past the excitement though, you can see the pain in their eyes as they explain how their parents died and their grandma couldn´t care for them.

Sooo, Thursday night Dave and my dad and Bradley were playing basketball and I went out to get them to watch a dance show my girls and the Micheal Jackson team planned.... and what I found was my poor husband in the clinic again... this time with a huge swollen eye and t-shirt soaked in blood.  Turns out he and another boy somehow collided head on running full force in opposite directions playing basketball.  This time we skipped the MUSA hospital we went to before, and went to a private clinic so he could get stitched up.  It was way more expensive, but great to see the nurse actually wearing gloves this time. (speaking of MUSA, Maria´s sister had her baby there on Thursday, via C-section, and they actually cut her open wide awake with no anasthetic or pain killers!  no wonder you hear screaming there... i can´t even imagine)  So we thought he would get better, but somehow the hit seemed to hit his whole system so now he thinks he has a sinus or respiratory infection, and maybe a punctured lung... my poor poor husband.  We had booked a 5 hour trip from the capital city for the weekend to go to Playa Rincon, said to be the prettiest beach on the island, but then after that event made a decision to stick around the orphanage so Dave could heal. 

So Friday we all headed out on our field trip to the national aquarium in the capital, to top off our unit on sea animals, and the kids were oh SOOOO excited.  I had never seen them so excited before, and they were actually so well behaved (except my little Nairobi who is deaf and mute who I had a volunteer chasing her around all day).  But I was very very proud of them and we had sooooo much fun.  We had snacks and played in the park afterward.  Dave was paired with Moises, my student who is blind with cerebral palsy, and lost him for a while but didn´t tell me cause he knew I would freak, and found him 20 minutes later, with a different class from a different school, hanging with both arms around one boy and having a conversation with him thinking he was another student from our class.  Dave thought it was the funniest thing ever.  So, I will put lots of aquarium pics on facebook soon, along with the ones of our number matching jellyfish, our vowel superstar starfish, our handprint crabs, our rainbow fish puppets, our sponge paint oceans, and much more.  It has been a fun theme to learn about.   Oh and we topped it off by drinking blue "ocean juice" and swedish fish my dad brought down from the states.  The kids were lovin it.

So we got back to the orphanage Friday after the field trip, and Bradley decided he couldn´t stand another night in the orphanage - his "dislike" of spiders (not fear) kept him awake 2 nights and he needed to go to a hotel.  So we changed plans again and all hopped a bus out to Bayahibe on the fly Friday night and stayed there at a German bed and breakfast the rest of the weekend.  We hung at the beach and ate lots of pizza, and there was even hot water, which made Dave and I both feel better (I have the "gripe" too).

Well, that´s it for now, but keep Dave in your prayers, he is in really rough shape right now ... and also some of our kids who are in the hospital and struggling with some terminal illnesses.  I hope all is well back in Michigan, and seriously cannot wait to see everyone in January.  Love and miss everyone tons and tons,
Kristin

5 days after Dave's accident, still looking a little rough

With Erika, Carmencita, Mayelin, and Ana Maria, getting ready to dance!

Bradley and Jhon Luis at the National Aquarium



Dance party on the cancha, dancing with Mayelin

 Oh and thanks again for all the donations - I got a suitcase full of great classroom materials this week from my mom, Mark, and other generous folk and it was like Christmas morning.  The kids and I are so excited!!! :)

Field trip to the National Aquarium

Classroom bulletin board for our ocean unit!

Catching rays at the beach with Dad and B-rad

Hola!

I actually wrote this email yesterday in Microsoft Word while I was at the beach with my fam (it was a national holiday) and came home to send it but there was no electricity last night.  Tonight I am writing in the midst of a crazy Micheal Jackson dance party, a going away party for my roommate Fritznel, a former orphan from Haiti who has been my roommate for the past 3 months here.  Many of you might know him from the dance video, but he is beyond OBSESSED with Micheal Jackson and we’ve done every choreographed video dance all night tonight (he spends hours every night memorizing them, then teaching them to us and the kids). We will miss him.  Well, and the electricity came on, so I raced outside to try to send this email for my devoted Monday readers. 

I want to start by first saying a huge THANK YOU for all the donations to my program.  I was absolutely shocked to go on the website and see that I had $600 already donated to my project.  I cannot say enough how I am so so so touched by such immense generosity!  It absolutely restores my faith in humanity to know that people truly care not only about me and what I am doing here, but also about the happiness and the futures of children with special needs.  So thank you thank you thank you so much to everyone who donated to my project online, and also for all the donations and gifts along the way.  Things are coming along so great, and I could not be more excited about it… and the kids are happy and thankful too. J    

Here at the orphanage, it’s been another crazy week, relatively uneventful in the school (other than for the hermit crabs who the kids went crazy over all week) but Dave has had quite the adventure (if you can call it that)… It started on Thursday when Dave was really sick again with severe stomach pains, and then Thursday night he was up all night moaning and groaning like crazy, and by 4:30am I finally convinced him to go into the orphanage clinic.  They gave him some drink to make him feel better, but it made him feel worse, and they talked us into going into the hospital asap.  Soooo we got on the first bus out at 6:30a.m. taking the kids to the high school, and they dropped us off at MUSA… which turned out to be a free hospital for poor people from the area.  We had no idea what we were in for.  We took our number at 7:00 a.m., #94 in line, and then the lady next to me in the waiting room tells me they wouldn’t start calling numbers today til 9:30.  Dave was hunched over moaning in pain, so she insisted on taking us to the “emergency room” (you would not believe your eyes if you saw it).  We got to the emergency room and had to wait for a while, while the two doctors conversed and laughed about a night out or something… then we told him about his stomach pain, but before they asked him anything else, they had taken him into this kitchen like area, where there was a sink full of dirty “dishes” – bedpans and such – and shoved him down into a chair and started poking him several times with a needle injecting who knows what.  They took 4 different pokes to get it in, as I looked around and noticed blood stains splattered all over the countertop, walls, and floor, as well as a few cotton balls soaked in blood on the floor and an overflowing garbage can of things that should go in toxic waste bins.  As they put the injection in, they asked me if I had a plastic bag, I said no why, and they explained the injection would make him start to vomit soon, and then he lunged for the garbage can within seconds and vomited more than I have ever seen someone vomit in my life – they said this was to “clean him out”.  Then they poked him about 5 more times to get another injection in… another I had no idea what it was, but they said it would help the pain (the ER nurse still having no idea what was even causing the pain).  By then he was drenched in sweat, trembling, and couldn’t get up, so they took him to this other small room that he shared with a poor old lady in pain, who looked like she had some sort of tumor, and poked him about another 3 times to get an IV in him.  They told him he would then need a blood test and stool sample after the IV was done.  I left to use the bathroom in the emergency room, and couldn’t believe what I found.  I walked in to find a large puddle of yellow covering most of the floor, two holes in the wall where a sink should have been, another hole in the wall where there should’ve been a toilet paper roll (but wasn’t), a short dirty toilet with no seat, a garbage can overflowing with poopy toilet paper, a puke green chipped paint wall, and a fluorescent light hanging down and dimming in and out.  I don’t think I could have invented a worse scene for a movie, and in all the 17 countries I’ve traveled and even in tin shacks, I have never seen a bathroom quite like this.  I can’t imagine that patients in near fatal conditions are using this bathroom, or that it could possibly be used for taking stool samples.  I exited the bathroom and to my right I saw a room about the size of my bedroom with 8 small beds all squeezed in side by side with suffering patients – I think this would be an ICU area?  I don’t think there is any comment I could make about the lack of sanitation that wouldn’t be an enormous understatement.  So I went back to Dave and then went on to do the lab tests… he couldn’t walk by this point or barely move so we put him in a wheelchair… one with a broken wheel and no footplates… and I pushed him past people with missing limbs, missing eyes, skin covered in various funguses, and other types of unknown disease.  I could hear women in labor screaming loudly, and people wheeled in on stretchers that looked like they had been shot or were dying.  From there, we went to stand in a long line at the lab, but then this guy who spoke English jumped in, a little overeager to practice his English, and demanded we get our things first.  Thank goodness we had brought our own jar for stool sample because in the hospital they used small glass baby food jars (without tops), and rip a scrap of paper from a notebook to write the last name in chicken scratch, and then set it on top of the jar, without sticker, tape, or rubber band, which could easily be blown off.  The English speaking guy physically demonstrated several times how to do a stool sample, as if we didn’t know what a stool sample was.  Dave stumbled into the bathroom with his wheelchair and IV bag and stool sample jar, stepping over broken glass on the bathroom floor from patients who had evidently dropped their stool sample jars.   He couldn’t do it on his own, so the English speaking Dominican barged in to help and raced out with the jar to save the day.  Then we went to wait in line for the blood sample.  This time they poked Dave another 3 times at least, and we had to about catch him from passing out.  Then it was time to wait and wait and wait for the results.  Dave was hunched over, eyes closed in pain, and I observed patients coming in and out.  I think about every 5^th one coming in was a hugely pregnant young girl coming in alone to deliver, and about every 5^th one going out was walking out carrying a brand new-born baby… no wheelchair, no man, no family support system, no pink/blue blankets, no balloons… just a new baby, and an overwhelmed and exhausted expression. (Maria tells me that normal deliveries are free and c-sections cost around $15 at this hospital) Then we got the results and went back to emergency to meet with the doctor.  Amoebic dysentery.  He got two different kinds of scripts and I went to the pharmacy to fill them – they each cost less than 50 cents each.  It was quite a day.  Dave describes it as the worse in his life, and my heart broke watching him all day, but it also makes me think, what is healthcare like in the countries worse off than here?  And how many people would give anything to be able to go to a hospital such as this and be treated for free?  It’s so crazy what we take for granted.  But thank God after a weekend of him resting in our hotel, moaning and groaning in intense pain, while I ran around to nearby colmados buying garlic and carrots and all the holistic things that are supposed to kill amoebas, he is finally feeling better. Now he’s more himself - with bruises covering both arms from all the pokes – but even eating pizza and tostones. J

In other news, my dad and brother are here visiting now!  They arrived on Friday night to their resort in Juan Dolio, and we took a guagua out to Juan Dolio and stayed at our gypsy hotel.  We kinda laid low since Dave was still so sick and it was a little difficult being on opposite sides of town from their resort, but we had a great time visiting with them.  They are going to be at their resort for a couple more days, and then on Wednesday they’re coming here to the orphanage to visit and help, and then go travel with us next weekend. 

Well, I know I’ve written quite a bit here, but quite a few people were asking about Dave so there’s the full story.  All who know me know I sometimes have the tendency to exaggerate a bit, but if you ask Dave this is the true story… his version might even be worse… I am just happy he is feeling better.

Well thank you again soooo much to all you wonderful people I love so much – for your encouragement, kindness, prayers, gifts, donations… I am so truly blessed to have such incredible people as friends and family.  Love and miss you all tons and tons and tons.

Love,

Kristin   

Also, if you actually made it this far in my email, please respond and send me your address too. J  I would love to send back postcards with my dad that he can put in the mail once he gets to the states.  Thanks! xoxo

Hanging out with my dad on his visit at the Barcelo Capella!

Jose, Jacob, and Katha came to help with our classroom Halloween party!

All dressed up for Halloween!

Happy Day of the Dead!!!

Today here they are celebrating and recognizing those who have passed away... in the orphanage this meant they were howling all night, scaring kids, and telling me - dont walk to the school all alone in the dark in the night, you´ll never come back, its a full moon, the spirits will get you, you will die!!!  And they were serious.... :)  I also saw the house director lecturing all the boys houses before school standing in their lines outside, which probably means the haunting went quite late last night.

Last week we finished our unit on transportation... since our bus ride the week before was a hit, we went on a pretend airplane ride.  Paola welcomed people to the airport and sold tickets, Samuel was security, and I was the pilot of course (but I let the kids take turns too).  I brought the webcam on this airplane setting so the kids could see themselves through an airplane lense as they took turns flying and wearing a pilot hat and Daves cool aviator glasses.  I put small cars and buildings on the floor to simulate a window view (I tried make the kids close their eyes but of course they wouldnt) then had Samuel and Paola walked by with the clouds (I think the kids were like what the heck is this crazy lady doing now... but they had fun)  I think their favorite part was the on flight beverage service.  Oh the crazy things you do for fun in a 3rd world country where there aren´t textbooks... :)  See pics on facebook.

On Thursday, Paola met her goal of learning all her letters of the alphabet - so fast - so we went on a trip to the batey where she bought treats, and we visited one of the tia´s houses from the orphanage.  It was actually one of the nicer ones in the batey (concrete floors rather than dirt), but still very poor in comparison to any house in the states, but it was amazing how excited she was to welcome me in and show it off.  She was so sweet and so proud to introduce me to her family and made me a big plate of fresh papaya, picked from her tree out back.  She was so warm and so kind, and so excited to host me in her home in any way she could.  It is something I love so much about the people here, some people have no idea how little they have, but are so excited to share anything they can with you.  On the way home, the men were hissing at the rubia (blonde) and I decided for the first time to start hissing back... Paola was shocked that her teacher would do this and we laughed and laughed until our stomachs hurt.

I was sad missing Halloween since they don´t have it here, so I decided to spontaneously throw a Halloween party in my class on Friday (actually 2).  I had my first one from 9-11 for my first group of 8, then another one from 11-12:30 for my late morning and afternoon kids.  It was a ton of last minute planning but sooooooooo much fun (even though again the kids probably thought I was crazy and had no idea what we were doing).  I found a costume box that an art therapist from Holland had left behind and we played dress-up, sang 5 little pumpkins in Spanish, played musical chairs with candy, made ghosts and jack-o-lanterns, drank pumpkin juice, and went on a parade around the orphanage.  It was pretty crazy, but I was lucky to have my great volunteer friends there to help.  (again, lots of pics on facebook)

This weekend, we went to Juan Dolio to the beach to get away from the orphanage for a couple days, and stay in our $15 gypsy hotel.  I was able to lesson plan and get (almost all) of my reports ready for conferences (that are this Friday again already).  Then, since I am teaching a unit on ocean animals now, Dave and I hit the beach to look for items for my lessons.  We filled a 2 liter full of sand and found tons of coral, sea urchins, and 9 hermit crabs which we put in a carry-out container and threw in our backpacks.  We met a nice guy in San Pedro who was helping us figure out the baseball schedule here, and he also had a moto, so I said take us home, but neglected to notice it was a tiny moto and I think we about crushed it, my feet were dragging and Dave was literally falling off the back, while we let our FULL backpacks hang to the sides, when it started to rain.  It was a long, fast, wet, muddy  moto ride and we totally forgot about our hermit crab friends in our backpack.  They survived, but it was probably the most excitement they´ve had in their short lives.  We started our ocean studies today though and the kids had so much fun with them.  I was also sooo excited to find the Rainbow Fish today in Spanish in the library!!  Can´t wait to start all those lessons with the kids!!

Well, I should be off, but want to say thanks to everyone who is supporting my program here.  Without out, we wouldn´t have the supplies necessary for our fun lessons and our Halloween Party!! 

My dad and brother are coming this Friday and I am super excited to spend time with them and do some traveling around the island for a few days.  We are going to take the kids on a field trip to the national aquarium too.  Hope more people can come visit us soon. :) Have a great week and write soon.

Love and prayers,
Kristin

Also, let me know if you were able to find my website okay... I hear there are still some technical difficulties??  Let me know!!! :)