Monday - Las Piraguas

Today we visited the community of Las Piraguas. They have a Esperanza Bank of Hope in this community made up of 15 families...they call themselves "Women with a Meaning". They sell new and used clothing, cheese, beauty supplies, chickens and have a small convenience store. Their community is separated from the main road by a large river which makes purchasing things outside of the community near impossible during certain seasons of the year when the river is high. As a community they are saving their money to build a bridge

We start our day on the bus....
With instructions from Dr. Roy....
And then transfer to our Safari....
And this is what we saw....
And so....we drove across....
and yes...it was a long ride...
But we made it!

Team work....11 working dentists today and a total group of 58...
This is what our site looked like when we arrived...

And soon...Our work site was ready to go...BUT...if there was a big wind you had to figure out how to secure the tents so they would not blow away...this was the solution our Dominican friends came up with.....
DUCT TAPE!

And...it worked!!

The morning huddle....
As we get ready get ready to start the day...Dr. Lon McRae inspects the troops....
And the instruments are ready to go.....
If you don't believe that miracles happen here....take a look at BEFORE....And after!
Michele and Steve Jorgensen's two boys learned how to make balloon animals before they came and spend their day playing with the community children making balloon swords, dogs, cats and a number of other animals....
It's 5:30 pm and this group of hard-working folks is ready to board our Safari for the ride back to the bus....over the river...or through the river...whichever you wish!
And, of course, the Children of the Dominican...in this case Pedro!