After getting to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic the Squad got picked up from the airport and then loaded up on a bus and headed to a church mission located further into the city. We spent the whole week in the Santo Domingo preparing for the field in what, The World Race staff calls “Launch”.
Santo Domingo is a poor city. There are beggars or someone trying to sell you something around every corner. The city, compared to what I’m used to, is a slum and there is trash all over the place. The smells are horrible and probably something I could never get used to. It’s hard to imagine living in these kinds of living conditions. Americans as a whole don’t understand how good they have it. For the first time, ice is a commodity that is hard to come by. The ice that we got from a hotel was purified, thank God, but they charge almost the same for ice as they do the beverage. I didn’t realize the many things I took for granted, such as, cold drinking water, air conditioning, and dumpsters. What little bit of garbage men there are literally have to pick up the trash bags from the sidewalks. Yes, the sidewalks, of all places to keep the trash. All in all I am enjoying the new experiences. I have noticed that there are no traffic laws because people just drive where they want to.
We were told that because of the lack of contacts in Haiti that our Squad will have to split up for the months of July and August, where 4 teams go to Haiti and 7 teams stay in the D.R. (Dominican Republic) and do ministry in San Juan. My team, Team Sol (Servants of Love),will be going to San Juan. After weeks in the D.R., we will swap with the other teams and head to Haiti, or at least that’s the plan.
P.S. Be on the look out for pictures and videos. It might be a while until I upload them because it takes like 15 mins a picture to upload. I will get them ASAP. I love you all and God bless you.
