Second Day in the Bateys

HOla!

We just arrived back from the bateyes after a second day of hard work. It is so good to be back down here...it's a wonderful feeling. Yesterday, everyone, including myself, was nervous to start the day, but today there was only excitement. Due to a long bus ride, we only spent about 3-4 hours in the batey, but were able to see about 100 patients which is INCREDIBLE. I'm so proud of everyone and our medical and spanish skills have sky-rocketed. The kids couldn't be cuter..."Dame una pelota" is now engrained in everyones' heads. On a more serious note, we've had a few families which have needed extreme care. One baby that came to the clinic yesterday had HIV and weighed only about 7 lbs. at 7 months old. Another family I met had a young boy, about a year old, was orphaned and was being raised by his grandmother, who was blind. All I could do for the women was hold her hand. Such tragic stories that make your heart ache.
We all have enjoyed ourselves so far and are estatic that we still have the rest of the week here. We miss Lindy terribly, but will HOPEFULLY see her tomorrow afternoon in time for the beach. Now its off to the hotel where we can all relax on our floaties in the pool!! Hope you are all having fun back in RI with the snow. Hello to my family and the 0, and I can't wait to share more stories with you all soon. Hasta luego!

Katey