Today was HOT! But it was also sunny which meant we were able to paint about half the clinic and scrape a large portion of the Church building. Painting involved using two 15-foot extension handles which we had to buy at the local hardware store. It also involved learning from the master painter who was not particularly impressed by our American painting skills.
Work went very well from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. when a number of us seemed to simply loose all our energy (maybe that was because the sun was higher and the temp had passed 90). One fun part of painting (besides finding shade to rest in) was working with two other Dominicans and two Salvadorans who decided to help us as part of their vacation in the Dominican Republic.
Four members of our team went out to tour the country and see some local barrios. Matt and Lauren visited a sugar mill town and three HIV-positive patients with medical workers from the clinic while Jack and Nathan went on an hour-long walking tour in some local poor neighborhoods with Anita Dohn. It was eye opening and interested for both groups.
After cleaning up from painting we got ready for VBS. Today we had 87 kids, compared to 43 yesterday. All of our team members started connecting more and more with the Dominican teachers. It was a joy to see team members doing all they could to communicate and laugh and play despite the cultural divide.
This evening, a number of us went to the water front to work with a Dominican named Francisco who has an interview in English tomorrow for a new job. He wanted to practice interviewing in English and he wanted to be sure that his resume made sense.
Tomorrow we plan on taking more breaks as we paint so we don't overheat and we plan on having closer to 110 kids at VBS (news of free snacks travels fast!).
Blessings,
Peter+
-- Peace in Christ,
The Very Rev. Peter Swarr
Associate Rector, St. John's, Plymouth
www.stjohnsplymouth.org
Dean, Trinity Deanery
Work went very well from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. when a number of us seemed to simply loose all our energy (maybe that was because the sun was higher and the temp had passed 90). One fun part of painting (besides finding shade to rest in) was working with two other Dominicans and two Salvadorans who decided to help us as part of their vacation in the Dominican Republic.
Four members of our team went out to tour the country and see some local barrios. Matt and Lauren visited a sugar mill town and three HIV-positive patients with medical workers from the clinic while Jack and Nathan went on an hour-long walking tour in some local poor neighborhoods with Anita Dohn. It was eye opening and interested for both groups.
After cleaning up from painting we got ready for VBS. Today we had 87 kids, compared to 43 yesterday. All of our team members started connecting more and more with the Dominican teachers. It was a joy to see team members doing all they could to communicate and laugh and play despite the cultural divide.
This evening, a number of us went to the water front to work with a Dominican named Francisco who has an interview in English tomorrow for a new job. He wanted to practice interviewing in English and he wanted to be sure that his resume made sense.
Tomorrow we plan on taking more breaks as we paint so we don't overheat and we plan on having closer to 110 kids at VBS (news of free snacks travels fast!).
Blessings,
Peter+
-- Peace in Christ,
The Very Rev. Peter Swarr
Associate Rector, St. John's, Plymouth
www.stjohnsplymouth.org
Dean, Trinity Deanery
