Sunday

Sunday
It was a warm night in our house with no AC and sleeping in a small room with many other bodies adding warmth to the night air. Aoife and I are in a bedroom with 8 other females. Aoife is on a mattress on the floor with her friend Danica, and I am on a lower bunk. We have a fan blowing air which helps. No bugs in our room probably because all of its occupants sprayed deet on themselves and everything (and everyone) around them.
I was up early and made a cup of PEETS!!! (my luxury item) . After my breakfast duty was over several of us went for a walk in the neighborhood. I don’t know why but I was surprised that the streets were not paved…they are paved on the streets (or part of the streets) where the wealthy households are. It was interesting seeing big houses with all the trimmings smack in the middle of what can only be called “shacks”. Chickens and roosters everywhere just as prevalent as the poverty. Evidence of the recent tropical storm can be seen in the large mud holes in the dirt roads. It was warm even at 7:00 am. We did manage to get lost but that added to the adventure. Lots of motorcycles/mopeds, 2-4 on each) buzzing by, all in their Sunday best.
Our bus today is a school bus…not a modern day one but a step up from yesterdays! We drove to El Arca, the orphanage which is approx 20 minutes from our house. This day will go down as one of the most memorable days in my life thus far. I was overcome with immense emotion when we arrived. It is a piece of paradise with happy healthy children running all around excited to greet us. They were looking forward to our arrival and we were all struck by the enormous welcome we received. I know I wasn’t the only one with tears streaming down my face. These children’s stories are so sad and so horrible and they are all so beautiful it is hard to understand how anyone, let alone their parents, could abandon them. Alcoholism and prostitution played a huge role in the reason they ended up in an orphanage and seeing them so free and happy helped us to really get involved and interact.
We sat through the Sunday service..I think it was approx 2 hours long and included many many songs. I didn’t understand much since it was all in Spanish but my personal translator told me it was also Fathers Day in DR and at one point all the dads got to stand up and be recognized, with a song of course. A few of the orphans were visited by their dads. The stories of how these children ended up here is heart breaking. Darwin who is 4/5 is one of five kids who was almost starved to death by his mother to retaliate against his alcoholic father. One child was near death when they were found and Darwin’s black hair had turned red from malnutrition. He and his siblings are so happy and healthy and loved here.
The house mothers cooked us a delicious lunch and then we walked back to our house via a river. This was such an interesting walk, 3 miles through the countryside. When we reached the river it was flowing with vigor and waist deep for adults causing us to form human chains to get through that part of it. The kids were delighted to have an opportunity to cool off so we stayed at the river in the slow moving area for a while. While we were there we watched one local man soap up in his underwear and then jump in to the river to bathe! Two more men in their Sunday suits, stripped down to their underwear and waded in carrying their clothes up in the air! Because of the recent tropical storm our roads back to the house had lots of huge potholes filled with water and muddy holes which smelled like cow dung. We formed a single line and tried really hard to walk on the edge without touching the water/mud but there were so many and it was really slippery that most of us ended up in a pot hole or mud hole. Jack lost a shoe when the mud devoured it!
One of the interesting things about our walk was that our guides are two “graduates” of El Arca. Walkyris is 21 (red tshirt talking to Aoife and Danica) and is a pre-med student and was valedictorian of her high school class. Her brother, Yovanni is 16 and a student in high school and they are two of the most endearing and selfless human beings you could ever meet. Walkyris’ home (tighe holging her kitten) was on the way back to El Arco and she invited us to come in and see it. (see picture) She lives there with her brother and a couple who has taken them in whom she describes them as her godparents. (When children reach late teens El Arco is not able to take care of them and they try to place them with relatives.) Yovanni and Walkyris came to the orphanage because after their mother died their father committed suicide (in front of them) and they were left in a shack in the mountains to care for themselves at age 9 and 4. Her home is such a humble abode but they are so happy. We are learning a lot about the meaning of being without and at the same time having everything.