More DR info

To follow the last post, I'd like to stress how AMAZING my mom is, and the work she's done with The Foundation for Peace this past year. After visiting Santo Domingo with the Presbyterian Church last year (see post in Aug 2006 archives) and being touched by all those who knew Em and the wonderful Dominican people, she took it upon herself to set up her own trip down just to focus on health care issues. She has made this vision a reality by traveling down to the DR with the Foundation for Peace organizers a few months ago to view all the areas in the country that the Foundation has made improvements. She selected a particularly poor area in which many children do not have clothes, and livestock living within the small confinements of the village cause major sanitary issues. In just one year from our visit, she has formed this new group of over 60 nurses that will travel down this August to set up medical clinics and educate the people of the village to avoid sickness due to poor hygiene. I am lucky enough to be a part of this trip and am looking forward to helping my mom as much as possible to make this first trip a success. I will definitely post a summary of the trip when we return.




A quick story from Emily's last DR trip:
This is a picture of Ariela, one of Emily's favorite Dominican girls. The last time Emily was down in the Dominican Republic, she spent some time with the girls drawing pictures for each other. Emily drew a picture of a flower and wrote on it "Amigas para Vida" or Friends for Life. Ariela shook her head and handed her the two pictures shown in this picture. The picture on the left says "Tu eres mi amiga fiel" or you are my faithful friend. The picture on the right, which Ariela was referring to says "Amigas para Siempre" or Friends Forever. Emily was deeply touched by this, and told me this story right after she returned. She was just so floored by how such a young woman has a very deep understanding and belief that life is not the end. She wanted to be friends longer than life - she wanted to be friends forever. This was a big difference to her, and made a strong impact on Emily as well.
I got to meet Ariela last summer, and it was overwhelming to meet someone whom I had heard such great stories about and seen so many beautiful pictures of in person. Even though my mom's trip is going to a different section of Santo Domingo this summer, I hope to get a chance to see "Emily's DR girls" at some point as they all made me promise I would come back this year. Seeing their smiles and inner beauty, that is a promise I could never break!

If any of you would like to contact me about the DR or for anything at all, please don't hesistate - I love hearing from everyone! email: kcs16@duke.edu

Tu Amiga para Siempre!
Kate