Is this the road to Jimani?

Monday October 4, 2010

Day 30

Today was definitely an adventure.  Carter, Doug, Teresa and I set out on a journey to the border towns of the Dominican Republic.  We needed to visit and investigate vaccination sites in the town of Jimani and the surrounding area.  Jimani borders Haiti and one of the hospitals we went to was just up the road from the border.  Our trip to Jimani was, how should I say it… long! We had a failure (human) in navigation that added about two hours to our trip so it ended up taking more than six hours to get there.  We took a wrong turn and ended up driving through a city, San Juan de la Maguana that we all were admiring until we realized it was completely out of the way.  Along the way we went from modern, smooth roads to broken up, very dangerous roads.  Some of the scenery was beautiful.  There is lush, green landscape with mountains in the background and if I wasn’t sitting in a car I could have had some beautiful pictures.  In the small towns along the route there are tons of speed bumps that are not well marked.  Also, there are a bunch of police and military checkpoints that you have to slow down for. For the whole trip we probably passed through about a dozen but only were stopped and questioned once.  I think the Project HOPE logo on the SUV really helps.

Eventually we got to Jimani and we were greeted warmly.  Well the weather was warm but the ice cold bottles of water were cooling and refreshing.  I couldn’t say the same thing about the bathroom facilities but we won’t go there.  We saw a public health center and a hospital and everyone we spoke with was so helpful.  I learned a lot about Dominican Republic- Haiti geography at the public health center we went to.  They were really into maps so we were plotting out a few different things and I enjoyed that part.  The hospital we went to was very different than any hospital I had ever been to.  It was semi-open air like many facilities in the Dominican Republic.  The treatment rooms were indoors but the corridors were outside.  Someone told us that after the earthquake the halls were just lined with people waiting for help.  When we were there the place was nearly empty so that was hard to imagine.  

 We were all very hungry so we decided to head back to Santo Domingo so we could find food on the way and stop at another clinic too.  Now about the food.  I am a little extreme when it comes to food safety.  If you spend enough time around me you will probably hear me warn people about food being in the “danger zone” as in the temperature is either not hot enough or cold enough to keep the food safe.  I have been struggling with this high standard for food safety here but on our drive back I abandoned my fears and standards.  I do not know what town we were in but I can tell you that I had fast-food chicken that was definitely not hot enough.  There was only one piece of chicken that wasn’t fried left so I had to have that one even though it was questionable.  I knocked on wood (a habit/superstition) and said a little silent prayer to the food safety gods and started eating.  It was salty but filled me up.

The rest of the trip home went smoothly and a lot quicker than the trip there.  Next time I go to the border I hope to be crossing it and entering Haiti.  I need to work out the details with my security consultant first (Mom).

Tuesday October 5, 2010

Day 31

Today was another office day.  It was a lot less adventurous than yesterday.  I did some breast cancer awareness research and I actually found a lot of information for the Dominican Republic.  The last time I researched I was researching in English so I didn’t find very much.  Today I did the search in Spanish and found a lot more information.  The breast cancer campaign here is organized by the Office of the First Lady.  They recognize October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.    Their slogan is “Hoy es el major momento” which means “Today is the best time”. There is a lecture on Thursday night (and someone special’s birthday) that I want to attend if it is open to the public.  I am trying to figure out the details but I will be sure to share everything if I get to go. 

Fun Facts:

1.       There was a toll when we were leaving Santo Domingo and it looked like a Garden State Parkway toll. I think there might have been an EZpass-type system too.

2.       On our way back to Santo Domingo there was a road block and I volunteered to move part of it so we could fit through.  I didn’t realize the thing I was moving was an empty, metal garbage can until after when I smelled absolutely horrible. I will leave it at that so I do not offend anyone. (Water, tissues and hand sanitizer, STAT)

3.       At every speed bump in the towns there are either people trying to sell you stuff or police or military people sitting in chairs with machine guns.

4.       Instead of a GPS we asked a bunch of people for directions along the way. It went something like this “Is this the way to Jimani?” or “Which way to Santo Domingo” or “We have to go HOW many kilometers back to get on the proper road?”

5.       While I was writing this blog entry I took a break to help Teresa and the family bring in some groceries.  When I opened the door to the apartment, the Chihuahua, TiTi, ran out in to the hallway and I chased her around the building for the next 10 minutes.  She is so fast and she led me up and down three flights of stairs and around in circles until I was sweaty and exhausted.

Peace,

Jaclyn



Blurry but it was so pretty in real life



The doctor (woman in stripes) was giving us some lessons on the local geography



How cute are these little kids? They were playing here for a while and the whole time they seemed to be having so much fun. I wanted to join them but I thought Teresa would be mad if I got back in her car covered in mud.