Wilson

It was the pregnant pause on the phone line that I knew was the deciding factor in what would turn into a life changing event for two people I barely knew 48 hours ago.




I had called the apply-for-a-visa line at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo and the woman was very polite but very methodical and obviously versed in all she was saying. She clearly had much experience in taking information from all sorts of people desiring to enter the USA. I was just another voice until the question got asked. The question I was asked was simply why do you want to go to the USA?




The phone call was precipitated by the fact that we were applying for a visa for a just turned nine year old boy and his mom, in fact the day before I called the embassy was his birthday. Little Wilson has a perforated anus and a fistula in his urinary tract. Essentially since he was born he has needed to use a colostomy bag. The feelings of embarrassment he has are clear by the way he is around people. He is quite shy, friendly but very timid. I have never spent any time around Wilson until the van ride to the embassy. It was during that two hour bus ride I started to understand why he would be embarrassed. Literally, he is regularly changing a pamper every hour or so. Some times more. He can’t always empty his colostomy bag so when you put these two things together with regular bodily functions there is an odor that is created. Many times there is also an infection that is created. Wilson is regularly sick fighting off disease and health problems, along with the people who make fun of him.




I called Tatiana and invited her to the ministry house the moment we had all of the papers in line. This in and of itself was a difficult task. Credit goes to Vicki Rogers and Josanne Johnson on GO’s staff who presented this case to the board at Kosairs Children’s Hospital in Louisville KY. There was a video assembled by Amanda Braistad too but the man behind the scene who wishes to remain anonymous was the person who coordinated the doctors giving of their time and talent to assist Wilson. Many times we do not see the people behind the scenes doing the work.




Trying to get paperwork completed here in the DR is at times futile. We attempted to get a doctor who did surgery on Wilson to write a letter saying that it was best for Wilson to be treated in the USA. That surgeon would not, nor would the other surgeon who operated on Wilson. The one doctor operated on Wilson twice and told us that if he was to operate on Wilson again that he would have no more than a 50% chance to leave the operating table alive. Yet he would not write a letter giving this young boy a better chance. What drives that doctor? What runs through his mind? What is his thought pattern?




Since we could not get the letters we decided to proclaim the GO Ministries doctor, Vladimir Rosario Canela, Wilson’s primary care physician and have him write the letter with the details. We also could not get copies of the surgery or doctors visits for Wilson. Even though the law states the patient has a right to those documents they would not be released to Wilson’s mom. With little time to spare we just did what we had to.




The call to the embassy was a very methodical until the woman asked why do you want to go to the United States. I blurted it out, even though I had practiced what to say, to the woman I am applying for a visa for Wilson because he was born without an anus and he has had three reconstructive surgeries that have all failed. There was not another dogmatic responsive question from the woman, there was simply that eerie silence where time seems like it is racing by but it really only was about 7 or 8 seconds.




I said, "hello". The woman said in a softened yet agitated voice that I took as her being mad nothing was done to help this little guy, "Is there anything else I need to know about him?" I shared a little bit about his mom and that she needed to go also and then the woman got back into the methodical questioning. I had a sneaking suspicion at that point that he was going to be approved.

Leonel meets the people in Cienfuegos
President Leonel Fernandez visited the Cienfuegos barrio in Santiago yesterday and listened to a litany of complaints and requests that is so typical of these meetings. The President instructed the Minister of Public Works to start paving the barrio streets as part of the second stage of paving work in all the city's barrios.

According to El Nuevo Diario, Fernandez talked about the Barrio Seguro program that is aimed at improving the quality of life in the barrios by reducing crime and he talked about how "democracy is fundamental in order to provide institutional development."

In a swipe at the strike that has been called by the Alternative Social Forum for 14 November, Fernandez said that it was a historic moment to meet in an orderly fashion to hear about all the communities' issues and needs.

The President was accompanied by his Minister of Public Works, Victor Diaz Rua, Presidency minister Cesar Pina Toribio and Ramon Fadul (Monchy) the Minister of the Interior and Police. The Attorney General of the Republic, Radhames Jimenez Pena, Chamber of Deputies president Abel Martinez and Santiago senator Julio Cesar Valentin were also present on the dais, as well as local District Attorney Yenny Berenice Reynoso and provincial governor Raul Martinez.



DR's first wind farm opens
The first wind farm for electricity generation will open in Juancho, Pedernales today. The US$100 million facility will produce 33 megawatts in its first phase and 83 megawatts in its second phase. Located in the far southwest of the country, the energy site is expected to stimulate the development of the entire region. Some 3,600 Ede-Sur customers will be the immediate beneficiaries of the new electricity source. CDEEE chief Celso Marranzini witnessed a US$3.2 million deal between Ede-Sur and Ege-Haina for refurbishing the power lines in the areas of Los Cocos, Juancho, Villa Esperanza and Oviedo.





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A Million Single Moms

 The Dominican Republic has at least a million and a half single mothers, whether by choice, widowhood, divorce or some other reason. This means that 35% of households are headed by a single parent and of these, some 90% are headed by women. More than 20% of single parent households survive on less than two dollars a day.

According to El Caribe, people who have lived in barrios for many years are noticing the different demographics of this rise in single-parent homes. One woman noted that in the building next to hers, there were three women with children but no visible husbands, and on the other side there was a young woman whose child was cared for by her parents, while she worked.

The report cites the last study that counted the single mothers, done in 2007: The Demographic and Health Survey. In 2007, the study projected 1.4 million single mothers, with most of them in the National District and the province of Santo Domingo.

A later study by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank carried out at the request of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development during 2005 and released in 2010 said that 32% of households were headed by a single parent.

The 2007 Enhogar survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (ONE) showed 39.8% of the homes to be headed by a woman. The World Bank and IDB study showed that single-parent households were generally much poorer than families headed by a man or a couple.

I have been meaning to start blogging again regularly so here it is short but sweet.

In September of 2010, GO Ministries had all kinds of proper paperwork to send a container of Haiti Relief items from medicine to hospital equipment across the border. Getting that across took seventy-five days with twenty-five of those days being spent in the city of Port-au-Prince visiting office after office. The container finally crossed even after a last minute snag of a truck driver not having his passport.

Today we went to the border literally on a wing and a prayer and the 864 boxes of medicine went across the border in about 6 hours.

As I reflect on what caused it to get across so much easier, I think it is living for God. When GO does things, we do it as best as we can the way God wants. We have this reputation at the border crossing in Dajabon / Ouanaminthe. When people see us they smile.

Today was not an easy day but the goals to get the medicine across and, as always, share the love of Christ were reached. That medicine will be put to use as people fight off the terrible effects of cholera.

blood pressure of a little guy

The disease, while easily preventable and also curable, is still deadly. If not treated rapidly a person could die within 24 hours. If a person is treated properly there is a very high percentage of people who live. It is an ugly disease that can simply dehydrate you so rapidly that your body has no chance to function properly on various levels.

agony of waiting

Thanks so much for your prayers and for assisting us to aid the Haitian people in their fight against the tough disease of cholera! We are winning!   

Haitian nurses at the cholera clinic

Run For Education

In 1998 I began working at a college in Louisville, KY. I had worked in higher education with students for about 10 years at that point and occasionally had students challenge me to racquetball matches, tennis matches, swim meets, one-on-one basketball, fishing derbies, and even a few boxing matches (with and without gloves);but no one ever suggested I could not run. I had run all of my life although not in races. In high school I played soccer and in college I played the position of center midfielder, on my Division one lacrosse team.

When those two college students challenged me to run the Louisville, KY Derby mini-marathon I thought 13.1 miles was impossible. They continued to encourage me during that cold January in 1999 to prepare me for the late April race. They encouraged me enough (read antagonized) to get me out there running.

That first mini-marathon was indeed a wonderful experience. I started running with those two girls and they left me in the dust. My running has come a long way since those early days. I am still competitive, but against myself and the hills.

This 30 of January I am going to run a different kind of race.

I am running and asking people to support me in buying educational supplies for kids in Haiti. I work with seven underfunded schools in Haiti… as if there are any fully-funded schools in Haiti. I am wanting to get these schools everything I can from chalk, chalk boards and erasers to paper to computers and lights.

You will see pictures of the kids receiving and using all of the items donated. So if you are wanting to give to work in Haiti but are leery of what is happening there you have my word and you will see the proof that 100% of your funds go toward school supplies. I am not spending anything on teachers salaries at this point but that may come in the future.

Will you sponsor me per mile, or per step, or per minute?! The choice is yours and the amount you donate is up to you.

Visit the "Run For Education" tab on my blog and learn more.

If you want to Run for Education please drop me a note and we can chat about how to do that.

So it does not matter if you are in Alaska or Maine you can help the children of Haiti, that is my word.

School supplies, God supplies!

Friends, G.O. Ministries is in need in of 1000 square feet of free warehouse space in the Louisville area, hopefully in or near the bluegrass industrial park, J-town or Middletown. Can someone help us out? Post a comment or call 502.493.9846

Updates!

Find out more ways to support my ministry work in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Please take a minute and visit the new pages added to the blog.