January 8th, 2007 - Tuesday
Note:
I'm likely not going to have a lot of time for editing on this trip, so
you're going to get this stuff pretty much right out of my head. I'll
have to grab whatever time I can to write.
They say it is always
disorienting when you enter a new culture. I know this in my head but
have had few occasions to experience it at the level I did today. Santo
Domingo left me speechless.
Our team flew into the
airport during the afternoon at different times. There are 5 young
women from Murray State. One of them - Courtney - is a highly trained
Edge intern. She's 19 and fully capable of installing complex water
systems in primitive settings and doing water education. The other four
are friends of hers who have recently undergone the same training that
I did back in October.
Curtis is our team leader.
He and Stuart are experienced Edge trainers. Which is good because we'd
be lost without them. Then there is Marcia and Rick and I.
Courtney and I
Most of us had arrived by
about 5:30. We loaded the equipment in a small bus and left for the
YWAM (Youth with a Mission) headquarters here in Santo Domingo. More on
YWAM tomorrow. This is a Christian organization that has no connection
with Edge Outreach but is allowing us to stay in their headquarters.
Purification Equipment
Curtis
There is no way I can
describe the hour and a half journey through the heart of Santo
Domingo. This is the stuff you don't see in the tourist areas. The
streets were packed with vehicles and bicycles of every kind. The
entire center of the city looks poverty stricken, from my
point of view. But my point of view is meaningless here.
There were so many people. There seem to be almost no traffic laws;
cars and buses and bikes and pedestrians weave in and out following
some set of rules that they understand but I do not. I wish I could
have taken pictures, but it was already dark.
The YWAM headquarters is an
abandoned hotel in a very poor neighborhood. I wondered why an
official organization with a name and everything would need
fresh water, but that just shows how little I understand this world. We
are staying in the nicest accomodations available here. There's no hot
water and no one can drink from the tap. Everyone drinks bottled water
purchased nearby.
Our bedroom
Dinner - unidentifiable
hot dogs and huge buns.
Hey, you eat what they give you here.
We are staying with some
amazing people. Alberto just got back from the Sahara where he worked
with "the poor and underpriviledged." I tried to imagine what kind of
people Alberto would consider poor. Again I am having to come to grips
with how out of touch with reality my views of comfort and poverty are.
The money you gave is going
to install a purification system here at YWAM. Curtis and Courtney
scouted the facility looking for the best place to install one. These
pictures will give you some idea of the kind of place we are staying
at. It's probably the best place in the neighborhood.
Alberto shows us a lower
room, one possible location.
We settled on a corner
of the kitchen, always a nice place for fresh water.
Tomorrow we have to go to a
local hardware store and buy materials for the YWAM install and the
larger system we will install at a local hospital. Curtis told me that
the hospital's water situation is more primitive than they have here. (Note:
The Edge purifiers come with us, but the tanks and pipes and everything
else is bought "in country.")
Confession time:
Okay, I'm not proud of what
follows, but it is the truth. It's important for me to admit it
because, well, it's the truth. I don't really know how I'm going to
sleep here tonight. I have a top bunk with one sheet and no covers. I
won't get to shower until tomorrow, maybe. Tonight I'll brush my teeth
with a cup of bottled water. Windows are open to the outside, so I
don't know what kind of bugs I'll encounter during the night. And to be
honest, I had a hard time eating that hot dog. I could only finish
about half of it. I have no idea where it was purchased and how long it
was on that table. So I'm hungry, and I really don't know when I'll eat
next. I hear they are serving us breakfast in the morning, and I'm
afraid to see what it will be.
And I'm ashamed of myself
because this is as good as it gets here. Our hosts welcomed us and were
so delighted that we have come. They've given us their best.
And to think when I arrived
at the airport I took this picture because I thought it was going to be
a struggle dealing with the fact that you can't get real Diet Coke
here. You get Coke Light, which tastes like straight Coke. At the
airport, that actually seemed like an issue to me.
What a difference a couple
of hours can make.
I'll write more tomorrow.
Tomorrow we actually get started.
rlp
