Tuesday

It was fun to start the day at ANIJA (Kid’s Alive school) to watch the flag raising ceremony. The daily ceremony includes the Christian Anthem, the Dominican National Anthem, and a prayer to start the day. Two of the students get to raise the Christian flag and the Dominican flag and then the kids are off to class.

(The ANIJA students all lined up and ready for the flag raising ceremony.)

After the flag raising ceremony we geared ourselves up to start sweating again and headed back to Palo Blanco. We mixed concrete and mortar and continued to lay block for the leach field and pour a sidewalk leading up to the bathroom. I think today was even hotter than yesterday and we were dirty and soaked with sweat within an hour of starting. Carol earns the prize for the best farmers tan for sure!!

 

 

 

(Rachel is trying really hard to ask Radimes (Rah-di-mase) a question with no translater and lots of sign language as Carol offers no help!)

Half of our group got to go on a home visit to Leanny’s home. Leanny is the sponsored by Carol so it was fun to get to go see her home. Leanny lives in a wood slat home that is actually quite a bit nicer than many of the homes in the area. Randy compared the home to being about the size of his garage and was amazed by the number of half-dollar sized spiders climbing the walls. The home had a stove but the team learned that it isn’t functioning and is used as a storage unit. Leanny’s home does not have running water and they use a community bathroom that is just a toilet sitting over a big hole in the ground with no plumbing. Many of the families in Palo have buckets that they use to collect water in on one specific day of the week. The buckets are typically the family’s entire water supply until they collect again next week. Lucas said that seeing the home was quite a culture shock.

(The outside of Leanny’s home.)

 

 

(The kitchen area inside of Leanny’s home.)

 

Recess time with the kids at Palo Blanco is always a blast and Lucas continues to be a favorite among the kids!

(Lucas playing with the kids on the playground.)

We got to pass out some of the gifts to the Palo Blanco kids and will continue to pass them out throughout the rest of the week. It was fun to see the kids walking around the care center proudly clutching their gift bags.

 

Tomorrow we will be putting on a big Valentines day party for the kids at Palo complete with a cookie decorating station, art projects with Neil and story time with Chris R! Now, it is time to start cutting out about 300 paper hearts to prepare!!