Day Adventures: Slowing Down

We had a fantastic week in Santo Domingo. Thursday, during the home visits, we had two peace corp volunteers translating for us. Both Melissa and Maggie were able to accompany Jared and I on the home visits in the morning. In the afternoon, they were able to help Jared and I translate during our community education program (see pictures below). It was really nice having translators who could speak fluent Spanish. We were able to pick up on some missing pieces on some patients that were missing because of the communication barrier. Most importantly, we were able to have meaningful conversions with some of the patients.

One patient we saw during the home visits had an incomplete spinal cord injury about 1 and 1/2 years ago. He is able to sit up in bed but needs assistance to get there. The problem is that his family works all day and doesn’t have much time to care for him. Towards the end of the treatment, he started telling us that “we”, meaning people in general, get into a huge hurry all the time. He said that we get in such a big hurry planning and working in the day that we forget about thanking God for the day and all that he has given us.

This man inspired me because he has very little but he has the presence of mind to thank God for what he has. Particularly, God seemed to be sending a message to me. I realized that I had been so busy trying to fit everything in the last 3-4 weeks in Santo Domingo, that I am simply rushing through the end of my experience. Maybe, I need to take a step back these last couple of weeks and not try to control so much.