Today was beyond words. I do not think i ever imagined myself in this place at this point in my life. I was told today by all the people i met that i was a blessing to them. I felt honored to be welcomed into their country. It was clear to me that i know what i am here to do. To provide the basic knowledge to people who know nothing.
So i will start from the beginning of my very long day! First we went to the office of COTN (children of the nations). This is where the staff work from and adjacent to the office is a clinic. The clinic was the most basic of all clinics i have ever seen, but as soon as i entered the door a woman was thanking all of us. She spoke no english, but she was thanking us because her child had been very sick and she knew of nowhere to go. One of the interns was in the Batey the day before and had told her COTN had a clinic that she could bring her child to to get help. We continued through the building and saw many rooms full of donated medical supplies. We went into the two surgery rooms in which they perform minor surgeries, but in comparison to what we have in the USA, they are beyond basic. People here are happy with only the basics, and these basics make an unbelievable difference to their simple life style. Can you imagine not having you basic needs? Hot water, electricity, etc.....???
Next we travelled in our bus to the first school built by COTN in 1998, which is located in one of the Batey's called Algodon. Today they have people in the school and in the church in order to perform eye tests and medical exams. The beginning of COTN and their educational process began here in this Batey. But i saw today for the first time how people manage to survive in pure poverty. Their houses would collapse with the smallest hurricane, a small amount of rain floods the grounds and makes it impossible to live in a sanitary environment. But still even though this Batey is the poorest of the 5 Bateys that COTN works in here in Barahona, hundreds of people live here. This is their home. I do not know though how people manage to survive, all i know is that their faith in God keeps them alive and thankful for the little they do have. I believe that my most emotional experience at Algodon today was peering into someone's yard through a fence. I had been hearing the loud crying of kittens but did not know as to where it was coming from. In front of my eyes though i finally saw two tiny kittens tied up to wooden logs in the direct sun, gasping for air. They could not move from where they had been tied up and for the first time in my life i saw a life form dying right in front of me, and there was nothing i could do to help them. It was hard to fight back the tears. I told my translator Jose, who then told our bus driver Renzo. Renzo went over to the owners to shout at them, but i do not know whether they did anything to remove them from the sun. I will update the status of kittens as of fridays journal entry.
After walking around for a little while at Algodon we decided to go and visit another Batey called Altagracia. This Batey was full of the most amazing children i have ever and will ever meet. I feel uplifted, blessed and unbelievably happy to have had the opportunity to visit this Batey. When we first arrived only a few children gathered. We were standing inside an open classroom area in which began to fill with more and more people. The children wanted love, hugs, and lots of photographs! The baby whom i had seen in Kathy's facebook picture album was at this Batey, and once i had him in my arms i did not want to give him back. I think back to when i saw his picture and i remember thinking i was determined to find this beautiful baby boy and i did!! :) Although there is a strong language barrier between some of us and the people here, i had no problem in communicating what i needed to in order to make the children happy and to love them! It was truly amazing. After taking a million photographs with the children, i was introduced to a young man named Manuel Emilio, whom was not only my inspiration for the day, but also an inspiration to Melissa, Cayla and Carolyn. His english was amazing and i believe him to be the most influential person i have met here thus far. I plan to return to ask of his help in doing some activities for my social research of architecture in the Bateys. He proceeded to lead us around the village, showing me how they build their homes. Most of the concrete structures in Barahona are unfinished, but in the Bateys the houses are made of wood construction. Specifically the siding of the house is of a palm tree, which they travel to the mountains to harvest. When they begin their construction, they use a basic framing system, resembling matchsticks as it is non-structural in comparison to how we build structurally in the USA. Upon this they nail the pieces of palm tree trunk. It seems also that in any place in need of "patching" up, they use whatever they can find in order to do so! I saw a broom on top of a roof today! I had the opportunity to enter a home of a woman in the Altagracia. First of all let me explain to you that the ceiling height is no more than 8 feet, in fact it maybe is less. There are no interior walls, and cloth is hung to divide the different rooms. The kitchen was on the outside where a metal slanted roof had been added to the main house. So the floor of the main house was concrete, but the floor of the kitchen was the bare mud. The houses are home to entire families, typically even 1-3 families, and in places such as Altagracia 7 families is not uncommon. Now when we think of a house fit for this many families, we think of a mansion. Imagine yourself living in one of the houses, and your house being approx. 10ft by 15ft, which is 150 sq. ft. We design bathrooms as big as these houses that up to 7 families live in. Wow i think i just shocked myself by that measurement! And don't forget they have no running water in this Batey. I did have the opportunity to look at a bathroom, and this is a structure which i am still trying to figure out! I believe sewage is going to be one of my greatest tasks in this project.
So after painfully telling the children goodbye we returned to the house for lunch. After a nice siesta break, as they call it here, i spent the afternoon in the office. I met with the COTN staff again and Julio the construction manager for COTN. He speaks very good english, but does not think he does! lol! We began the meeting by reading through the SCAD thesis guidelines for the project ahead. I believe that i am more than they ever expected, and that makes me so thankful because never have i felt so appreciated by people, and i am here because of what i love to do and because i cannot sit back in this world and watch people live in poverty. It is my duty, and i believe my calling to be here, and to form a concrete foundation for a long future ahead working with amazing people like COTN in amazing places like Barahona. Guadelupe, COTN's head of sponsorships was someone i was excited to meet as i had many questions for her regarding the children that COTN sponsors. I was interested to speak with the many children at the Batey called Don Bosco, and she told me she would arrange for me to do so. These are the children i am hoping to do activities with specifically to understand the architecture in these areas through the locals eyes. These children in particular want to be engineers and architects when they grow up, so this is why i specifically choose them to talk to. What they may take a picture of is only possible to see if i allow them to show me.... So my plan is to hand out disposable cameras and journals and through the eyes of the six young, talented and inspiring individuals, i will be able to see the world they live in. Tomorrow will be yet another amazing day.
On the way back to la casa we stopped by an abandoned baseball stadium. The reasoning behind this was because David, a COTN staff member mentioned that the new design idea would include a baseball field. I wanted to experience the locals playing, as many many boys dream of becoming famous baseball players in the USA. These kids are more than talented and hold so much passion in their hearts for what they love to do. Baseball in spanish literally translates to "play"! Amazing i though! The site upon which the stadium and field sat, was perfect for the condition of the human environment, which i found interesting. The stadium received no direct sunlight in the afternoon due to the orientation of the structure and field. The stadium was constructed from purely concrete and steel, but very much different from any baseball stadium in the USA. These people live life as happy as they can and in the simplest ways. God provides them life and they praise him everyday just because of that life that he has given. The culture here is truly inspirational, and i do not want to leave at the end of this week. But until tomorrow, goodnight. As melissa would say "Hasta la Vista"!!
