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| Not the best picture...but this is Euphemia's house |
Siesta is my favorite part of the day. Not only because in each of my six communities I always have a house to eat in with delicious Dominican food. But, siesta is when we just sit in rocking chairs on a patio and share life. It is now that I see the fruits of my longevity. With improved Spanish and cultural understanding I can go deeper below the surface and ask the harder questions.
Today I found myself in the house of Euphemia who has lived in the mountain town of Angosto her entire life. You will never find her without a smile on her face or coffee brewing in her greca. She has four grown children who live in Jarabacoa and a profound understanding of campo vs town life.
I took advantage of our "confianza" and asked her about water access. Our census found that the majority of people in Angosto do not have access to running water, ever. That was incredibly profound to discover, especially for a public health site.
Enter Eufemia's husband Felip. With trust and confidence that my interest came from a good place he explained how serious the current Dominican drought truly is for their rivers and crops. He spoke of the one small tube that travels through the mountains to bring water to nearly 200 houses and about 500 people. Apparently he is in charge of maintaining the tube, but with little more than a 4th grade education and limited resources there is little he can do to prevent corrosion and others from tapping illegally into their water source.
I then hesitantly asked about the government and its role in helping remedy this detrimental situation. He gave me a sweet smile that spoke volumes of the little trust Dominicans have in aid from their government. Apparently, several years ago an engineer was hired to reconstruct the water flow and aqueducts to Angosto but stole the money he was given and fled the country. And since then no other attempt to bring consistent water was tried.
I'm so privileged to have the opportunity to hear these stories. To understand what my patients experience when they leave my clinics.
Wow, no water. Ever.
I'm excited for this next phase in my time here. To go a step further than just diagnosing ailments and handing out medicines but actually work on public health prevention in conjunction with Dominicans. Because, who knows better what is needed than the Dominicans themselves?
