How many worlds can I inhabit in less than a week? The day after my 82nd birthday I am with family in the Punta Cana, Dominican Republic airport.

Ten inches of snow greet us when we awake the next day. Mary, Nora and Warren had set the ball rolling by deciding a resort in Punta Cana for Spring Break. The fact that twenty-eight Shawnee Mission High School Seniors are to be there motivates the choice.

 

I tag along after discovering that La Romana is about 90 km from their resort. One thing leads to another…and Tina accompanies me – to keep me out of trouble. She is a fun companion so I heartily approved. We find a small local hotel in La Romana to stay for a couple of nights. 

For generations poor Haitians have crossed the border into the Dominican Republic to find work in the sugar plantations as cane cutters. They have settled in “bateyes,” small company towns with poor living conditions and few services.

On Tuesday Orlando from the Good Samaritan Hospital in La Romana drives Tina and I to join the medical team from Village Church. For nine years Rodney had worked with the January medical team in the bateyes near La Romana. The first time he went was with a youth team and the hospital consisted of markings on the ground and a few cement blocks gathered.

I had not been there before…so wanted to walk in his footsteps and see the work he loved. Tina and I join the team for dinner at their dorm on Tuesday. Wednesday morning we visit the hospital.

We spend the rest of the day with the team in Tentacion Batey as they provide medical care. Tina works as the pharmacy assistant and I take pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am grateful for the brief time we spent in La Romana. The medical mission work in the bateys is amazing and accomplishes much good. In addition to being a time of improving health conditions, it is a life-giving social time for the villagers.