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.