Fighting Tropical Diseases

It has been a big month. One of my seventh graders returned to New York and several students in the grades I teach (6-10) are in danger of failing for the year. Please pray for my students that are struggling. I would miss them greatly if they couldn’t stay next year and would be heartbroken to know that they had lost, perhaps, their only opportunity to have a better education. My parents came to visit, I attended my first bilingual wedding (American Teacher at Doulos to a Dominican Man), and the neighboring town was hit by a tornado for the first time ever and is struggling to recover. Tin roofs do not do well in tornadoes and the poorest communities near the river were severely damaged. Did I mention that I moved again? Needless to say it has been a challenging month and a blessed month.

My biggest prayer request at the moment is for better health. I have encountered my first tropical amoeba and bacterial infection in my gut and have been struggling against it for the past week and a half. Both of my roommates and several other teachers have fallen ill with similar ailments. I am pretty sure that we all ate some suspicious lettuce at the wedding dinner. Stomach problems are so common here and most of it is due to dirty water. My roommates and I have been struggling to retain food and liquids in our bodies and have enough energy to teach. We have been fortunate to locate Gatorade in a variety of flavors and after a trip to the local clinic and pharmacy we are certainly on the mend. Medicine is unregulated and inconsistent here, but at least it is available. I was fortunate enough to get to know the mother of one of the students that plays soccer at our school, who happens to be an excellent pediatrician. Everything here is based on relationships. That means that things take longer many times……but it also means that once you have a relationship with a member of a family, then you know that you will be well taken care of. I sometimes wonder what has been lost in our super efficient and business-like North American Society. I like knowing that since I am on good terms with my landlord, his cousin’s, son’s friend is held accountable to fix my water pump! Please pray for protection for our school and this community against sickness.

Living without water.....a blessing in disguise?

I hope you are all well and blessed. I have moved once again (Lord willing for the last time!) to the second floor of a house close to the school. I am now living with two other teachers instead of just one. The new place is slightly bigger, cheaper, and has fairly consistent hot water. I have traded in my solid cement ceilings and broken water pipes for a slightly rickety tin roof that allows occasional bats and mice into the house. Both of the latest apartments do however have a remarkable view of the mountains and a fresh breeze. The latest mouse provided no end of stories for my students. They all wanted to come over and show us how to kill one. Time will tell if this move was a wise decision. Unfortunately, the water supply has become much more variable since our landlord moved out from underneath us to a quieter neighborhood across town (the endless crowing of the roosters and bachata music from the neighboring vegetable stands now seems like a natural background). Their moving has led to a series of water problems…….. I am grateful to be living in a house that has well water instead of city water. The city water supply is pumped directly out of the nearby river with no filtration whatsoever. I prefer not to think about all of the things that you can find in the river water. The pump that supplies our water tank is probably the oldest, rustiest piece of machinery that I have ever seen in my life. The first time we called the landlord to find the on/off switch we could not locate it since it was described as green. In the pump’s rusted state it looks more like a dull red piece of junk. It must be handled with great care and ghetto rigging. Unfortunately, the landlord was the only person that truly understood how to fix the pump, and we have been without water at least 2- days a week since his departure. The water supply is currently becoming more consistent. As far as local landlords go, our landlord is very contentious with a multitude of sons and employees that he has promptly sent to our rescue. I think they even started to recognize our phone number……….. In the past month, we have run out of gas for the stove, water, and periodically been without electricity. Water truly is vital to life. It is by far the most frustrating resource to live without. We have adapted and now keep more jugs of water around the house and in bins outside. Despite the annoyance of running out of water mid-shower, I have been truly blessed by the graciousness of my neighbors. Several of my students live in the surrounding houses and when one father saw me struggling to drag an extra bucket of water up the stairs he offered me his house. I enjoyed an afternoon of laundry and sweet tea across the street with two of my students and their mother. The next time we ran out of water I had just returned from a long run. Out of consideration for my roommates, I felt the need to find a way to shower. The school secretary that lives next door immediately offered me the shower in her house. If I was living in a wealthier country, or just in a wealthier area of town I might never have the opportunity to be so blessed by my neighbors. It is humbling to be so in need of life’s basic resources, but it has allowed for huge blessings and new friendships.