One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

One of my favorite things I have done here in the Dominican is the time I have spent with the other interns and groups in Puerto Plata. On this day the group travels to first do a VBS at a school and sometimes even in the middle of a neighborhood. After the VBS, the group then goes to eat a picnic lunch together where we then make peanut butter sandwiches for the people who live and work at the dump. Then we head to the hospital where we hand out care packages and visit and pray with the patients there. It is a public hospital so the people don't have to pay to be there, but they mostly just stay there waiting until they have enough money to buy the blood they need for their transfusion or other surgery they need to have. There probably about 15 people in each room just laying there with absolutely nothing to do and usually in a lot of pain. There are always tons of people who have been in motor bike accidents- but their problems vary. Last week I met a man who had just woken up from having his foot amputated-I've never seen anything or smelled anything so terrible. It is really incredible to meet these people and pray with them. We often sing to them and try to bring some sort of joy or distraction as they sit and wait in pain without any television or music or magazines or airconditioning or the money for drugs to dull the pain-the people usually respond well to having someone come introduce themselves, offer to pray and hear a song or two about the Lord. Just being able to be there and give a smile makes this experience so wonderful. Although I can't give them the money they need, I still feel like I can make a difference just by interacting with them. The most heartbreaking is always the little children who lay in their little beds sweating from the heat- waiting to be seen by a doctor who may or may not decide to come that day. It is difficult to watch for sure.

After the time at the hospital, the group then goes to a dump nearby. At the dump, the group gets off and greets all of the people who either live or work there. The workers bascially spend all day every day going through the mounds of trash searching for anything they might be able to sell. They can get some money for bringing in bottles and cans to be recycled. They also find all kinds of other pieces of 'trash' that we throw away that somebody else might want. I guess what they say is true, "one man's trash is another man's treasure". Some of these workers have made their own homes which are basically just pieces of trash they put together as a sort of shelter. There are always a lot of people there- including lots of children running around without shoes, and several pregnant women working there in the blistering hot Dominican sun. It really is unbelievable that people are willing to work there, let alone live there and raise their children.

A lot of the workers at this dump are Haitian refugees who have come to the Dominican because of the awful circumstances that are going on in Haiti. They love to sing songs in Creole and the Dominicans there sing for us in Spanish. This video below is of the Levy Church of Christ from Little Rock doing what we would a "sing-off" between their youth group as well as the people at the dump! It is incredible and such a neat relationship between these people and the missionaries here. After the sing off, the group hands out sandwiches and juice to the people and sometimes left over packages from the hospital. It can be pretty wild and the people sometimes go out of control and then the group just has to jump in the Daihatsu and leave in case it gets too dangerous.

The girl in the beginning of this video who waves at the camera is my favorite. I always spend time with her when I go to the dump and I absolutely LOVE being with her. Her name is ChaiLynnie and she is so beautiful and so precious. I wish I could take her home with me!