La Romana Day 3 - It's Hopeless?

Today was our first real work day. About half of the group went to work “construction,” and the other half went to do medical. I went with the medical team so that is what I can speak to.

We went to what is called a batay, which is basically an outpost in a village in the middle of a sugar cane field. This is rural DR. We spent the day seeing people, diagnosing people, and handing out medication. I spent the day taking people’s blood pressure and sending them to the doctors. I saw a lot of people, and that was good. More on that experience later.

When we returned, the rest of the team eventually returned and we had dinner. Later I had ice-cream with the youth (a regular occurrence) and then we prayed for those going to Haiti. There was something powerful about the prayer. We gathered around all of those who decided to go, laid hands on them and sang, “Here I Am Lord” which is a great song. Then I prayed. It was a very emotional moment, and I think it was emotional for a number of reasons. One, most of those who are going to Haiti decided to go at the last minute, so many are still adjusting to the change. Yet more than that, I think we are all embracing the call to be here. It is no small thing to make such a journey, and at the same time I think we all realize how little we can do. The problems are so large, that the sand we move and the concrete we pour can only do so much. The bandages we place and the medicines we give can only do so much. And yet we face the audacity of the hopelessness and we continue to work. So to embrace our call is powerful and emotional.

Here is where I saw this in my day. We spend all day handing out medicines and all the time people were calling through the windows to us, asking for clothing, supplies, or anything else. It came to a point where we have to ignore them. I had to pretend I didn’t hear the children calling to me because I knew they wanted more than I could give. The problem was great and I had to ration out the solution. This is not easy.

It would be easy to walk away, believing that hope is lost. But we didn’t. It would be easy to turn our backs on the people and try to focus our resources on something that would matter. But we didn’t. Instead we served whoever we could with whatever we had and hoped it would make a difference. This is the calling of God, to serve and trust that God is working through our actions.

But by the grace of God do I go. But by the grace of God can I serve.