Since I have had to post day 2 and day 3 together I will keep this post fairly short and let the videos speak for themselves.
Work on the soccer field extension continues, we are expecting our sod to arrive tomorrow morning however we still have some preparation to complete before we can start to laying the sod.
We completed the irrigation on the yucca field next to the clinic.
At the end of the day we took a tour of some of the batey’s in the area. The bateys are the ‘villages’ created by the sugar cane companies to house the, mostly Haitian workers. Most of these villages we built in the 70s and while the government is responsible for maintaining these building most of them are in very poor condition with up to 12 family members living, sleeping and eating in rooms no larger than an small living room. Despite the condition the people living here are very friendly and welcoming inviting us into their ‘homes’ very graciously. A lot of these rooms have leaking roofs and walls that are crumbling cinder block. What was most interesting for those of us that were here last year was the comparison between the bateys that are near the orphanage which have benefitted greatly from the volunteer groups that visit the orphanage and work they do in these bateys and the ones we saw today. The orphanage has just started working with a group of Brazilian nuns to provide an outreach programs to these bateys as well. On Saturday our group is going to plant and irrigate an area with approximately 100 fruit trees that in couple of years will provide these bateys with fresh fruit they can eat and provide income by selling the excess.