1st day in Barahona

Our home away from home! 5th floor over the school.

They are dentists in training!

Moise, the school director, gets an appointment.

Jamie and Stephanie worked in the dental instruction area the first day.  They taught the kids how to brush and floss properly.

The first day the boys worked at scraping the paint from the walls.  We will re paint later this week.

Emily is using the fluoride varnish on this little girl.

What a precious photo! The last stop was a chance for the students to pray with each child.  Here Chelsea is praying with two little earnest girls.  What a blessing for everyone.

Starting to painting the wall behind the preschool.

Lots of people are helping.  Here is Megan, Nancy, Stephanie, Eli and Laura.

This is the first room for the children.  Today Laura and Megan are filling out the papers with their names and ages and helping them to color their papers. ¨

Hola from the DR!

We started the clinic today with Dr. Miller. I was really excited to learn that we would be seeing little kids the first day. I was assigned to translate the first day for Dr. Miller, and I am not going to lie it was pretty intimidating. Especially since I had to begin with the adults. They spoke so quickly it was difficult to understand, so i was thankful when we transitioned to the little kids. We had mostly 5 through 7 year olds, and at the end of the day we had totaled seeing about 121 kids. This was the most that Dr. Miller had ever seen in one day. The clinic was set up with a waiting room where they would color pictures while they waited, then after that they would move into the main room where they would learn how to brush and floss their teeth and then received their little packages of toothpaste, a toothbrush, and floss.They were so adorable and thankful just to receive toothpaste and a toothbrush, and it really made us all realize how much we take for granted every day. After that they went to their exam and were either told they had a cavity, needed a tooth extraction or were fine. As i was translating for Dr. Miller during this part he had me tell one of the little girls that she had beautiful teeth, once i told her, her face lit up like she had just been told the best news of her life. I won´t ever forget her little smile! Following that they went to the fluoride station where we would apply fluoride onto their teeth. After that station they went to our prayer station where we would pray for them. Chelsea and Patty N. were at this station and told us all that it was a wonderful experience. They prayed for them in English, so they really couldn´t comprehend what Chelsea and Patty were saying, but at the same time the children would begin to pray for them also. They said that this was so touching and it made us all realize that even though we live in different parts of the world and speak different languages, the Lord and Christianity can bring us together.
            After the clinic we ate lunch and were able to relax for an hour or so. After that most of the group went to paint a mural on the wall of the building across the street, but since not all were needed for that some of us stayed back and got to know each other better. I was one of the ones that stayed back, because later in the night I and a few others that stayed back began a mural on the wall that surrounds the courtyard of the school. After dinner was when we began that mural so it was already dark out, we used a projector to project the images on to the wall that we are going to later paint. It was very difficult to see because of the security lights outside of the building, so some of the Dominicans around did all they could just to help by climing up the wall and hanging over the balcony just to turn off the security lights for us. Earlier in the day, when the boys were doing construction, they said that many Dominicans just came to help them also out of no where, they weren´t asked to or anything. We all talked about that later and realized that no one in the U.S would ever do that for one another. We would never walk outside, see our neighbors painting their house, and go and help them. They do everything they can for one another here, and it is amazing to see that.
            Later we ate dinner and showered and were off to bed with the wonderful sound of barking dogs to put us to sleep. The wild dogs literally just roam the streets and then bark the entire night. I think most of us were so tired from the busy day that we fell asleep anyway.

We´re all doing well and having a great experience! Miss you guys at home!

Love, Adrienne


Hey Everybody!
            What a trip so far! The plane rides were fun. We all learned pretty quick that  you have to be careful when you fall asleep because Mrs. Spiegel likes to take embarrassing pictures of you. But other than that, long trip was an easy transition for us. Once we got to Barahona, Moises´ family had already started makiung us dinner! It was so good! A healthy meal of chicken and rice and beans was so delicious. However the next night we had pizza, not as healthy a choice...but still so wonderful!
My first job was to introduce the little kids to try to get them calm before going to go see Dr. Miller. Laura was my partner, so obviously we were having a good time. As they colored we tried to make a little conversation, but they were too focused on their pictures! Later that day, we helped paint a mural that said glory, praise, and hope on the walls of the new school. It was amazing to see that a lot of children had helped Emily start by tracing their hands at the bottom of the wall. Its so interesting to see the willingness of the people here. If they see us working, they just come in off the street or where ever and offer their help. I myself am quite proud of the mural, it looks amazing; everyone did such a great job. On the second day of working, I started out as a translator for Dr. Miller. At first it kind of felt like being thrown to the wolves, but thanks to everyone´s patience, i found my niche. After that, I applied fluoride for the children. It was so funny to watch them, because they had too much saliva in their mouths they didn't know what to do with it! My favorite part so far has been meeting my new best friend Daniel. Daniel is Moises´ seven year old son. He was at the school when we got there late the first night, and we´ve been buddies ever since. He is so adorable, he walks around from station to station to help everyone. Today, he put on gloves and helped Dr. Miller, then he slowly progressed to every station to make sure he didn´t miss any. After the clinic, Daniel and I went to go blow bubbles on the roof! We decided that he would help me with my Spanish, and I would help him with his English! So as Daniel and I were blowing bubble, I decided to start the lesson. I asked him how to say bubbles in Spanish by pointing at it and asking what he called it, he said, ´´burbujas.¨ After a couples of failed attempts, I finally got it. Then, i told him that we call them bubbles, and he proceeded to say, ¨bobbles!¨
            I am just so thankful for this trip and to be able to experience this new culture with everyone here.
Gracias,
Megan Borer
                                               P.S. I love you and miss you Mom, Dad, and Jess!