The Dominican Republic will never forget Emily

My mom and I just got back from the Dominican Republic where we participated in the Foundation for Peace organization – the same trip Emily had participated with for two years. Emily was always trying to get us to go down to the DR with her, I really wanted to go last year with her, but the trip coincided too closely with my prelim exam (an extremely important part of our program – after you pass it you are an official Ph.D. candidate). I thought I could go “next time” – I guess this teaches us that there may not always be a next time…

We only went on the trip for 4 days (the full trip is 10 days), but both my mom and I were completely overwhelmed with the way the Dominican people talked about Emily and how much they missed her. The first church service we went to was completely unbelievable – they dedicated most of the entire service to Emily. The Dominican pastor gave a beautiful speech on Emily, and that we should all strive to live like Emily did. The pastor explained that if we did this successfully, then we would all be reunited with Emily one day. Very beautiful and touching. The service continued with a slideshow of Emily pictures created by one of the other participants of the mission trip, Maggie. Also, a young Dominican girl got up and dedicated a song to Emily in which the lyrics described that a person after death is always around you, and one day you will wake up and see them again. Finally (as if they didn’t do enough for us!) they presented a beautiful flower arrangement to my mother and I. This was extremely touching as the people there have very little material possessions since they are so poor – yet somehow they took up collection and could buy us a flower arrangement from a florist. We were beyond words.

Also at the church, the glass “community box” was filled with Emily pictures. It even had a copy of her obituary and her prayer card. Someone from the group had sent these down after the DR church heard the news and requested them. This was very touching to see such a beautiful memorial in a different country for Em! Also, one day at the church I saw a woman wearing a shirt that Emily had left as a donation during her last trip (Mendham HS soccer). This is a great reminder of her presence there:

All of the children in the DR remembered Emily and knew right away I was Emily’s sister. They said we looked “identical” and could recognize me from the pictures Emily brought of her family last year. They told me they were very sad about Emily’s passing, but they were Emily’s friend forever, and loved her very much. I couldn’t believe how many Dominican kids during the trip came up to me and told me about Emily – she truly touched as many people as she could during her trips there. I now know why Emily was so passionate about her work down there – the Dominican people are truly amazing. They have some of the biggest hearts, especially the beautiful children there. I now think I too am addicted to helping them there, and will be back next year.

One of the reasons we also wanted to travel with the group this year, was to give out the pictures that Emily took during her last trip there. My aunt Mary Beth, printed them all out (there were hundreds!) and we passed them out to the kids. Many of the kids have never possessed a picture of themselves or seen so many pictures before. The amazing thing was that all the kids wanted were pictures of Emily. They were much less concerned about pictures of themselves or their friends. We couldn’t believe their response. As Emily took mostly pictures of the kids there, there weren’t enough Emily pictures to go around, but people from our group were planning on printing out more to give out. My mom and I also received a few letters from the kids and drawings telling us how much Emily meant to them. They wanted our addresses in America to write more, too. It truly was an amazing trip and experience!

I’ve posted the many pictures I took during the trip online at: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbOGjRi1aN2HL&notag=1

-Kate