Dominican Republic Day 8 - Thursday

On Thursday we didn't go far to get to our work. Our days in DR were coming towards an end and our leaders had wisely scheduled our farm animal work earlier in our trip. (This is part of a strategy to prevent passing unwanted sicknesses to our livestock back home.) Today we went two blocks down the street to Juan Dolio church. This was essentially right next door to the SCORE compound. The past Sunday it had been announced in the church that we would be there and available to treat animals and other neighbors had been notified also.

We ended up having two main clients this day. Thomas brought his horses for foot and teeth work. Thomas owned about 15 horses. He makes money by selling rides to tourists. (We even rode his horses later that afternoon!) The most interesting part of his business was that he had no land or barn to keep his horses. He would tie them out in open spaces such as in roundabouts or on the sides of roadways so that they could eat grass. This type of management was quite intriguing to all of us! They were in pretty good shape also.

Some of Thomas' horses

The second client was the lady across the street who had 4 dogs (1 to neuter and 3 to spay). A few other clients came in for exams for their pets also. I did the first spay surgery. My back was starting to get sore from standing doing surgery with the table not being quite at the right height, so rather than pushing it too much, Bill finished the last surgeries. (He's much quicker than I, too!)

Roy helping Peggy get a dog ready for surgery.

Roy waiting with the dogs while they recover from surgery.

While we were there, Dr. Karen, a vet that the Killewalds had met earlier in the week. She came with her husband and a cooler with 2 vials of rabies vaccine that was produced in the DR. I had told Bill earlier how it would be great to do rabies vaccination out in the villages, but he was nervous to start since it was a government program. I picked her brain all about the rabies vaccinations. She had already done a campaign in this town for the year, but wanted to do another one to pick up the animals she had missed. She knew the process to get the vaccines and was willing to do the legwork to get it for us for the next trip...she just needed to know when and how much. I was ecstatic! What an answer to prayer.

Dr. Karen talking to the owner of the dogs

Dominican rabies vaccine can save lives!

We finished the vet work and later that night we debriefed. There was disappointment amongst our teammates. Those with the horses were frustrated that Thomas seemed to be more concerned about seeing if we would be paying customers than about learning how to better care for his horses (although he did appreciate the free vet care). We also didn't see a lot of neighbors bringing in their pets--we seemed to be help mostly one lady, and she herself was a foreigner (I think she was from Italy). They also didn't seem interested in spiritual things. Did our work today really make a difference? Jeff, our SCORE representative then shared that these two individuals are SCORE's neighbors and that in helping them we are helping to be a light in this neighborhood. Building relationships in this community was important in being a good neighbor and being a good testimony.  (Apparently, when SCORE first moved next door the neighbor wasn't very happy because it meant extra traffic and dust on their road, and subsequently the husband built really big speed bumps into the dirt road so big that small cars would bottom out. That road is now paved without speed bumps and the neighbor is on better terms with SCORE.) Serving these neighbors really showed that SCORE cared for them. Also, even though Thomas wasn't very receptive, Kike our translator was. He picked up the hoof trimming tools and was a natural. He had grown up with horses and it was obvious that he had been listening to things all week! I shared with the group how important the conversation I had with Dr. Karen was. With all this long term perspective we realized how important this clinic day was and we thanked the Lord for it.

This was the last day of clinics and so after lunch we sorted through the medicines, took inventory and put extra equipment into storage for the next trip. Then several of us went for a horseback ride on Thomas' horses. 

Ready for a horse ride. In the background is Thomas (owner) and Kike (translator in blue cap)

McNelly (translator) on the first horse ride of her life. I think her horse trotted the whole way.

Juan Dolio is a resort town, and so we got to see several gated compounds of nice homes as we rode through the back streets.

Riding through the back streets of Juan Dolio town.

Myself and Bonnelyn trying to look tough with the SCORE compound guard.

After our horse ride we all drove to one of SCORE's other ministries, Emanuel House. Emanuel House is a school for needy children who are unable to attend the public school. Education will help them break the cycle of poverty. Many of the kids come from a slum area. SCORE partnered with a lady who was already doing this ministry and they have equipped her to enlarge her vision. The school now has sponsorships for all of the children who attend.

Entrance to the school Emanuel House

Roy & I with their tree already decorated for Christmas!

doing schoolwork

This wall showed all of the kids in the school and if they were sponsored. No more children can be added to the school until every child is fully sponsored.

Roy and Jeff greeting the kids. The director of the school is in the center.

 

The boys nearly ran Wayne into the ground running and carrying the boys.

 As you can tell we had fun meeting the children!

We had hoped to go see a professional baseball game this evening. Unfortunately a big storm came up and flooded some of the streets and
caused the game to be canceled. Instead we had devotions together with all of the guests on the SCORE compound to wrap up our full day.

We also said good-bye to two of our teammates, Jim and Dan. They had just  decided to go home the next morning and skip out on our last day. We had finished our vet work and they were less interested in going us for visiting another vet school tomorrow. Jim was especially anxious to get home to his family since he and his wife had received a foster infant just before he left on the trip.