A Luxury You Didn't Know You Had

The ride home went smoothly. Today at work I spoke with my friend at the Embassy and my friend that writes for the AP. Those journalists - complete nuts. He has been out there in most of these riots/protests. Impressive in a strange way. Regardless, he told me about the shooting today and where to try to avoid. Unfortunately, the clinic is in the middle of the bad parts, so we have to drive out through the chaos. The streets were charred in some parts still. Our driver carefully chose his route, looking ahead down streets, etc. The only bad part was when we got to a T in one road. To the left was a crowd around a car. Some kids were in the road waving there finger "No! No!" to cars. We turned right and eventually made our way home. The chilren waving cars off brought on a strange feeling in me. It made me think of how these children knew this violence was wrong. Very interesting. They protected us.

Also, I found out that these riots are usually orchestrated. These people get paid to cause chaos. Some do riot on their own, but many get paid.

Tomorrow we leave for the DR for the weekend. Sunday are the elections (more chaos), and Monday we return. Also, three other medical students arrive monday. As fast as this country changes there is no telling what it will be like Monday.

((Finally, in case things go bad, we are flying into Santo Domingo, then bussing up to Puerta Plata for Fri and Sat night. Then Sun we will bus over to Cap Haicen. Monday we bus back down the country side to PAP.))

There is also a young woman who works at the clinic and comes in and practices Creole with me each day now. She is beautiful. I found out today that she might be one of the girls that knew the clinic cause she was a child born with HIV here. Talking to this young woman (20), I cannot imagine the implications. Who will date her? Who will marry her? Will she try to have a child? Should she??

I also treated a woman with a yeast infection today. As I was explaining the meds, i met her son. He has Strabismus (cross-eyed). We spoke about whether he's seen a doctor, etc. I ended up giving her my phone number. This little guy broke my heart. It's a treatable and curable thing, the cross-eyes, yet probably will never be treated. It made me angry that i wasn't more powerful too. I wanted to organize an optho group to get down here...I sent a few emails, but in reality i just might not have the contacts...

Amidst the chaos the people continue to walk the streets, to sell, to bathe, to come to clinic, etc. In other words, it's nothing new here, the protests. I also heard hostility toward foreingers is growing. A frenchman was kidnapped last week. 25 US citizens were kidnapped in 2008. It hit me again today - can you imagine this is the only life you know? Can you imagine being born here, with the violence every 6 months while the world watches. And yet you carry on. As they say here, "N'ap kenbe." We're holding up.

Good night, and thanks for reading. And forget about what kind of car you own; enjoy the safety of driving home from your job and knowing you won't get mobbed or killed. It's a luxury many people don't have.