Going Global - Part 1: The Dominican Republic

I love documentaries. Especially ones that make you think, but also ones that lead you to ACT.

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book and just wanted to yell at the characters portrayed on the screen or in the pages: "You're being stupid! Or horrid! Stop making those choices! Stop being mean! Open your eyes... etc. etc."?

In the case of documentary films, these aren't characters. These are real people living out real stories that we find so difficult to relate to. These people live out hard difficult lives in horrendous conditions, with little freedom or possession to call their own. Don't even get me started on education in other countries. What's worse is the conditions in which individuals with disabilities and other special needs are placed in.

In April, I had a chance to visit one of these places. Quisqueya, Dominican Republic.

One of the poorest, but happiest villages in the DR. The country itself is in an era of uproar and everything is affected... schools, government, the economy. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer.

The broken can never have a chance to heal.

During my time in the Dominican, I had the chance to meet several families of children with special needs. Their stories will absolutely break your hearts but I hope it ignites a passion for you and I to Go Global and help make a difference for these who have yet to see the real brightness of the world around them.

April 2013, Dominican Republic - Let these pictures speak for themselves.

This is Kenny (and that's me in front of him). 

Believe it or not, Kenny is two years younger than I am. Nineteen years old. And he has spent the majority of those years sitting in plastic chairs like the ones in this picture. 

Chewing on his hands and rocking back and forth. Desperate for human compassion, connection, affection.

Kenny was excited that we came to visit. He is a self-soother so he calms himself by gnawing on his hands, beating his hands against the wall, or himself.

Glad I was able to snap a shot of that sweet face!

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This is Wendy. She has cerebral palsy and requires 1-on-1 care and immediate attention. Her mother cannot work because she must stay home to care for her 15-year old daughter. Wendy's case is quite similar to T-Man's (as I have mentioned him in previous post, but T-Man, unlike Wendy, is blessed to live in the United States with staples like food, water, and electricity. Access to doctors, specialists, and care.) 

Wendy does not have these privileges. They can't even afford a tooth-care ointment (similar to Orajel) for her sore and slowly decaying teeth.

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These sweet children among so many others I met on my trip need the most basic of things. In Kenny's case, he is often left alone for several hours while his mother runs errands in "downtown" which is easily 15 miles away. She leaves her son, who cannot communicate nor care for himself in any way, alone. Generally she will leave the door to the house unlocked so he may come out and sit on the front porch, which is surrounded by metal bars. 

He will grab the bars  and shake them, screaming out for attention, almost resembling how animals at the zoo watch passerby. Oh, Kenny. You are not an animal on display. You are a very small, weakly malnourished, young man who so desperately needs care and attention. My heart aches when I think about your story. What I would give to bring you here, to get you the treatment you need, basic needs for human growth. You're nineteen years old, this isn't the life you should be living. 

In the same clothes day after day. 
Drinking water that really isn't clean but it's what is readily available. 
Diapers on you so long your rash spreads down your legs.
The bruises and deformation of your feet and legs 
Because you jump and kick 
When you are excited or scared
But usually when you are alone. 

I can't imagine living the life that these precious children do. 


So that leads me to introduce my efforts of Going Global! I want to go back to the Dominican but stay long enough to see the initiatives put in place on our 6-day trip on a larger scale! I know two of the ladies I went with, Kelly and Ashlee, have a dream to start up a school for kids just like Kenny and Wendy. I can't wait to see their labor, prayers, and dreams come into fruition. 

During our trip, we helped to establish a special education program at a local private school, The Emanuel House, in Quisqueya. But the Emanuel House does not have the funds nor the staff to take in students like Kenny, Wendy, and the others who are banished to the confines of their homes.  Banished because of the stigma that rests so heavily on their parents' shoulders. Kids with special needs and disabilities in the Dominican are treated as outcasts (even for something like dyslexia). How can this keep happening? 

How can we (WE as a people, humans, educators, students, volunteers, advocates, artists, laborers, farmers, doctors, bankers, businessmen/women, and everyone in between) work together to overcome these social inequalities and negative perceptions of individuals with disabilities? 


Not just here, in America or the Dominican Republic, 
but around the ENTIRE WORLD? 


I'm up for the challenge. Are you? 

Taken at Miami-International Airport, Miami, Florida (Currier, 2013)

LOVE: SPREAD IT AROUND THE WORLD...