Day 5

I bought another pen… Today was a day filled with adventure. At 8:30 I lead a devotional for the whole team. It went very well and I did better than I expected. At 9:00 we split the 21 person team into three teams. One group went to the COTN mission house to organize things, the second group stayed at the hotel to put together and make gifts for the children. My group went to the vocational skill center.

At the skill center we broke into two teams and got to work. One team helped to build an erosion control retaining wall, and the other continued work on the computers. You can probably guess which team I was on…

I figured out what we still needed to buy, and I set out to the city to buy the supplies we needed. Adam, Angel (pronounced AN-hel), and I went to the tech store and bought 9 UPS’s which cost about 1330 pesos each (about $46 USD) A very good deal. Nice 17 inch CRT monitors cost about $135 USD. Very good computer equipment prices down here.

So after purchasing extension cords, zip ties, and UPS’s; we went back, and set everything up. The trip to get the supplies should have only taken 30 minutes; and in the United States it would have, but here everything is on Dominican time. Very slow….

We went back to the hotel and ate lunch, and then went back to the skill center. I configured some things on the computers, and taught lessons to Angel (An-hel) and his assistant. We taught them most of what they need to know to keep the Lab running.

The best part about the afternoon was being able to ride a concho. A concho is a cross bread between a dirt bike, a moped and your friendly DR taxi driver. Also known as the favorite Dominican mode of transportation. Almost everyone has one around here, and they use them for everything…and I mean everything…carrying mattresses, carrying a family of five when the bike is only designed for two (the baby of five months sits on the handle bars). My concho ride was intresting. There are always many close calls when you drive or ride anywhere in Barahona. We hit a dong on the way up and nearly broadsided a truck on the way down from the skill center (My arm touched the truck).

We rode conchos to Don Bosco, a village near the edge of Barahona. This was my first time into the villages here. The rest of the team had already been to all of the villages that COTN works with, but I have not because I have been working on the computers. It was amazing to see the poverty, but at the same time see God’s love for these people. Naturally I got that guilty feeling when I see how generous they were with what little they had. It was really fun to play and interact with the children. Even though there is a language barrier, I am still able to communicate and have fun with them.

While in Don Bosco we did a quincenero. Bascially, a quincenaro is a coming of age celebration for all the girls who turn 15. The all get a special dress to wear, and we allow them to put make-up on (A first for many of them). It is a very emotional experience for the girls and their fathers.

After the three hour quincenaro, we went back to the hotel, had dinner, and played water polo in the pool. We ended up swimming for 2 hours because if felt so good to cool off. After we swam we met as a team and debriefed. Tomorrow is Sunday, so it will be a break for us since it is not customary to work on Sunday. Fun Fun…right now it is 1 Am and I am writing this now because I am being kept up by very loud music outside in the courtyard. It is so loud that my bed shakes constantly, and when I open the deck door, I have to yell at my roommate, who is standing right next to me, just to talk to him. I will try and sleep now, goodnight.