Exploring the city

Today the entire group toured all of the work sites. There were two retirement homes ( a rarity in The DR), an after/before school program, and two homes for children with disabilities. 

The retirement homes were nice. They have limited funding, however they greatly resembled the ones in the US. The biggest different I saw was a greater sense of community as the rooms were shared dormitories, and the residents spent their time under a shaded alcove trying to catch any stray breeze that might happen by. Able body residents assist the staff with those residents that are less able. Students that are helping with these two sites will be leading group activities, creating exercise programs for staff to lead, and whatever else they may be able to help with. 

The after school program is designed to keep kids off of the street, as they often get in trouble since they are only in school for half of a day.  

conani is one of the children's home. They take in kids from all over the area that have severe disabilities. The ages range from infants to over twenty. The staff here is small, they care deeply for all of their charges. Students here will be creating exercise programs for the youngest, bed ridden children to prevent contractures and encourage what physical development they can. This is a site that heavily utilizes ILAC for education and resources to continue training staff. 

My site is Neuvo Esperanza. This is a much smaller home, with only a handful of residents. But also has a day program for students with physical or cognitive disabilities that live at home with their parents. Unfortunately our tour today fell at the wrong time, so we were limited to 15 minutes. However, I could already tell that this will be a fantastic opportunity. They do not have access to a PT, however they assign someone to us to learn from what we are doing so that they can continue it with the patients on their own. 

After lunch, we took a guaguas (bus) to the "heart of the city" in which we went on a scavenger hunt. We wanted to a park and bough "skimice" which is like a Popsicle, bartered for a "cheesy" token, found an ice cream shop, and tried to ask vendors random Spanish questions. Everyone we talked to was very nice, but my Spanish is terrible.

Santiago is a interesting city. The Wealth distribution is obvious and startling; houses are either large and beautiful, or appear to be crumbling, the same is true for cars.  Drivers here have the same respect for road rules as Boston drivers do;none. However here they also have the added factor of motorcycles darting here there and everywhere. This is not a place I would ever want to drive! Walking around the city we were bombarded with street vendors trying to sell everything from shoes to dogs to food.  And the people speak so fast that even if I knew Spanish, I would not be able to understand them. It is quite the experience and reminds me greatly of my time in Africa. 

Tomorrow is our first day working at our sites!