{"id":47298,"date":"2024-02-08T13:59:41","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T13:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=47298"},"modified":"2024-02-08T13:59:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T13:59:41","slug":"la-romana-team-works-to-better-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/02\/08\/la-romana-team-works-to-better-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"La Romana team works to better lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Danielle Ray<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

STERLING \u2014 Members of the First Church in Sterling and other volunteers from the area are gearing up for the annual La Romana mission trip Feb. 23 through March 3.<\/p>\n

Trip co-leaders, church members and longtime town residents Jennifer Colburn and Erin O\u2019Connor are part of the crew of two dozen people traveling to the Dominican Republic to provide medical services and supplies, construction aid, and more to the Haitian sugarcane workers and their families who live in more than 160 remote villages there and work in the sugar cane fields, known as the bateyes.<\/p>\n

The mission is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor came on as a co-leader of the mission trip following church member Doug Davis stepping down as co-leader after serving in that role alongside Colburn for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticipants are taking a week of their vacation time, as well as spending $1,600 to pay their way, and to do hard work. This work comes with meaning,\u201d O\u2019Connor said about the dedication of those who go.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach day the participants are broken into two teams and buses. The medical team can travel 30 minutes to two hours to get to the bateyes. The construction team will either stay in La Romana traveling to the hospital or go to a batey to build, paint, repair homes, be masons, or whatever is needed,\u201d O’Connor said.<\/p>\n

The group is also seeking donations of clothing, construction tools, medical and pharmacy items, such as pain relievers, vitamins and cough medicine, as well as notebooks, markers, and crayons. A full list of supplies, information on the fundraisers, and a button to make a monetary donation, can be found by visiting centralmalaromana.org;<\/a> supplies can be dropped off at the church at 6 Meetinghouse Hill Road.<\/p>\n

This is O\u2019Connor\u2019s second time going on the trip. She said the hospital the La Romana group began building there many years ago has gone from a one-story building to the modern, five-story hospital it is today.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, this trip embodies Matthew 25: \u2018For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cEven that last line represents the bateyes, the sugar cane villages where the poorest Haitian migrants live with so little. We remind them they are not forgotten, and we care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colburn has been going on the trip for the last 20 years. Her mother, a nurse and EMT, went on the inaugural trip in 1994 and for many years after. At one point, Colburn lived in the Dominican Republic for 11 months to serve the community there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really impossible to encapsulate the La Romana experience into just a few sentences,\u201d Colburn explained. \u201cMom is normally pretty stoic and just doesn’t often show deep emotions, but when she returned from La Romana that first year, she could not even get a sentence out before she burst into tears. She told about the first week, doing medical clinics on the construction site in the morning and afternoons digging the foundation that became the hospital. But what really affected her was the well-baby checks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colburn spoke of her mother’s stories of checking children\u2019s heights, weights and general health for the Malnutrition Prevention Program they were implementing, and how she was able to find enough supplies to clean and bandage burn wounds on a small child.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing her reactions, I knew I wanted to see this place myself,\u201d Colburn said. \u201cWhen I was finally able to go, I was awed and overwhelmed by the beauty of the island, and the need of the people. We routinely saw such vast extremes, from the extremely poor fishing village on the coast to the extremely wealthy homes of the residents of Casa de Campo directly across the inlet. From rusting tin and banana leaf shacks to multimillion-dollar mansions looking directly at each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once, she said, a young boy came running up to them carrying a very sick baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was initially told it was too late for him to be seen, but seeing the very swollen belly of the baby, we let them in,\u201d Colburn said. \u201cHe was begging for help for his little brother. The baby had a form of malnutrition caused by a protein deficiency. The boys were orphaned and the older child was taking care of the youngest the best he could and lying about his age to work. But with very little resources, the baby was living on potatoes, rice and bread with very little else.\u201d<\/p>\n

The volunteers pooled their money to buy powdered milk and food from a small convenience store in the village for the baby and another family whose baby \u201cwasn\u2019t getting enough calories to even survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe left the village not knowing when anyone would be back or if those children would survive ’til then,\u201d Colburn said. \u201cLater we learned of the then-new social service initiative that would send folks out the very next day with the supplies we put together at the compound, and we never did a clinic again without having formula or powdered milk with us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have watched severely malnourished children grow and thrive as adults,\u201d she added. \u201cYoung people become doctors, nurses and teachers to take care of their own and us. Houses we built sheltered entire villages during storms, and the hospital we have been building now serves tens of thousands of people every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colburn has many stories from her La Romana trips.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime and time again, I have seen people who barely have enough to care for their own families giving everything they can to care for someone with even less,\u201d she said. \u201cYoung moms who stretch the food they have to feed one of the infirm elders, elders taking food off their own plates to feed hungry children, neighbors pooling resources to care for the very young and the very old. Our translators and partners taking weeks of unpaid time to go to Haiti and build houses after floods destroyed an entire village, and again in New Orleans after Katrina, sharing their labor and their music to help rebuild, the church ladies all bringing food from home to feed everyone in the entire prison once a month. They live this mission daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family physician Mary Lindholm has lived in Sterling for the past 23 years and has been traveling to La Romana with the church group intermittently over the last 15 years, an experience she describes as \u201ceye opening and humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI see patients of all ages throughout the day while the rest of the team administers deworming medication, provides them with food and clothing, and educates them about health issues,\u201d Lindholm said. \u201cThe medical issues that I routinely see range from skin conditions and injuries to malnutrition to chronic illnesses like diabetes and hypertension. We bring a small pharmacy and medications that we can also provide to the people we see. They are extremely grateful, and it’s always humbling to witness their ability to function and live in such difficult conditions. I have four children who have come over the years on this trip with me, and it’s been life-changing for each of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cecilia Barraza, 17, will be going on the trip for the third time. Her mother, First Church’s Rev. Robin Bartlett, is also going again; her 13-year-old sister Eloisa Barraza is going for the first time.<\/p>\n

The Wachusett Regional High School senior wrote about her experiences in the Dominican Republic for her college essay.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of these experiences became life-changing in different ways and made a significant impact on my views of society,\u201d Barraza wrote about her first two trips. \u201cDoing volunteer work through my church not only provided me with an impactful experience but also a second family. I had grown to cherish each and every person that participated on the team such as the translators, medical professionals, and those volunteering at the hostel.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wrote about meeting a young girl named Abby, the daughter of one of their translators, and how they connected.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmongst our many conversations about her passions, goals, and aspirations, I discovered we shared much in common. But most importantly I discovered we both shared infinite love for music,\u201d Barraza wrote.<\/p>\n

She remembers sitting on the bus with Abby playing songs for her on Spotify and being impressed with the young lady\u2019s English, her third language.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenuinely curious, I asked in English, \u2018Have you taken any lessons?\u2019 To be sure she understood I included, \u2018For example, for instruments or singing?\u2019 Abby’s mood changed slightly as she replied, \u2018No, my mom can not [sic] afford them.\u2019 Embarrassed, I backtracked immediately and kept the conversation going with moments of laughter and singing. Yet, that solemn moment failed to leave my mind. I had already seen the poverty and malnourishment, feeling a wave of guilt for the children I was supporting, and prayed for the amelioration of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barraza wrapped up her essay with a heartfelt sentiment:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Abby, I pursue my education. For Abby, I realized my privilege, and because of Abby, I aspire to make a more equitable future in education for all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Danielle Ray Landmark Correspondent STERLING \u2014 Members of the First Church in Sterling and other volunteers from the area are gearing up for the annual La Romana mission trip Feb. 23 through March 3. Trip co-leaders, church members and longtime town residents Jennifer Colburn and Erin O\u2019Connor are part of the crew of two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}