May 4/12

 So, I have been home for a handful of weeks now and am still processing the trip to the Dominican Republic. Half baked ideas are floating around in my head about what is going to come next. For the moment, it means attending the District Rotary Conference in June to fire up more Rotarians from this region to get involved. After having been literally in the trenches and seeing the differences the water filters we are funding are making, I am a great advocate for continuing our support. How much of a difference you ask? Well, we dispensed all of our metronidazole antibiotics in the first batey. The people were being treated for both GI infections and vaginal infections and I don't remember the breakdown, but the key was that batey did not have water filters. At the second batey, we were an hour into the clinic when I realized that we had dispensed no metronidazole so I asked if they had water filters. The answer was yes.

 One of these kids had been seen at the clinic that day. His head is liberally painted with Selsun Blue to treat the fungal infection on his head.

One of the best parts of these trips are the people I meet along the way. This is me with Fernando, my hermano Dominicano. We met last year when I was there with Rotary to see what the water program we were sponsoring was about. He goes out into the bateys to teach people about clean water and sanitation and monitors the water filters that have been placed in people's homes. A few moments before this photo was taken, he was holding up an exhausted me and letting me soak in his strength for a few minutes before we continued on with our work.

Two of the other water team workers that I met last year also spent a fair bit of time with our group. Ariel on the left is the head translator/interpreter and worked closely with the medical team. Wascar was with the water team mostly although he was my chauffeur to Rotary meetings and his band had just played at the mission home before this photo was taken.

Since I have been home, I have been trying to get as much stitching done as possible because my brother's August wedding is looming up faster that I would like. I should have the cross stitched part done in a few weeks. The back stitching and french knots are fairly involved so that will eat up alot of time. Finding a balance is always tricky. The house and yard work build up while I stitch........The eternal stitcher's dilemna, eh?