Knowing My Role

Hi Friends!

Well, I have now been here in the DR for over two weeks. We have completed one full outreach of the Bethel Team and Providence College. I am starting to feel more comfortable and am more aware of my role as an intern. At the base, we are helping out with little things such as locking up stuff at night, orchestrating games (my favorite thing to do), preparing breakfast on some mornings, and just trying to help out the staff in any ways we can. Here is a picture of the other interns. It has seriously been such a blessing to work with these guys.

Beyond my responsibilities as an intern at the base, I still work at the Physical Therapy site with Amy Green. Amy is an occupational therapist but she also wears the hat of physical therapist for the kids. It has been fun as the week has progressed because she has given me more responsibility especially in the physical therapy realm. While she works with some kids inside doing occupational therapy stuff to improve fine motor skills, I work outside with kids to improve gross motor skills. It is actually really fun. I never realized how simple motions such as jumping with two feet or running could serve so many purposes. I have gained so much respect for therapists. Here is a picture of Amy and one of the girls that we see during the week called Rosa. Rosa has a cleft palate and is mostly deaf and blind due mostly due to malnutrition and neglect as a baby. It is sometimes difficult for me to not get angry at the parents. Maybe its a good thing that my Spanish is not good enough for me to speak my mind. No, but for real, its so discouraging to know that despite the work and love that Amy pours into these kids, they are getting zero follow-up at home.

















Well, that's about all for now. I am actually pretty sick. I have had pretty bad diarrhea for the past couple of days. I thought at first it was just me reacting weirdly to the food here (which it does often). But, day and night of it is not normal. So yeah, pray that this will just pass because I really have not been able to leave my bed. It's annoying because this new group is really awesome. They are really active and it was fun playing games with them yesterday. However, today since all food/energy is depleted from my body I am not really able to do much. Well, adios mis amigos!!! Dios te bendiga! (God bless you)