A Day off the compound!

I thought I would go along for the morning to a couple villages weighing children and giving immunizations but it turned out to be an all day thing! We started off at the projects,government funded housing,drove through announcing for all mothers with babies and young children to come to the church! We were "looking" for malnourished children who we could later help.One young mother already had two children and looked like she was expecting her third! Many of the babies had orange hair,sign of malnourishment,and were extremely under weight!Once we were finished there we drove into the DR and went to two villages across the lake from us.The road was more like a cow path and at times some guys were going ahead of us with machetes clearing a path!We did have a flat tire at the last village but the guys changed it.Oh it was hard for me to see these little children getting poked and then just screaming!! While the babies were getting weighed we had fun playing with the children and holding the ones that weren't frightened by the whites=)!Finished up and then started homeward along the lake. All was going well when it happened!! The back tire of the ambulance sunk right in the ground and oh my was it in far!! So we had no shovels,no gravel and no one to pull us out! The guys talked and discussed what could be done realizing that we had to go through customs before they closed at 6:00 p.m. and it was 4:30! Should we call Mike and get him to come with the canoe to fetch the ones that didn't want to stay? After trying to push a few times and realizing it was moving some guys walked back to the last village and got more guys and rocks. In the mean time Ezekiel started digging away with his hands! After quite awhile we had about 15 guys together and they had a plan!They dug all around the tire and then LIFTED the van while they put rocks underneath! Once they got a good foundation they all pushed and Hallelujah they got that van out! Now we just had a few min. to get to the border so Ezekiel drove like everything dodging pot holes and all! Phew, we made it thru the border just in time like by 5:57 p.m.! Thanks to Joanna who had a lovely supper waiting for us all!

Giving shots in the ambulance out of the sun!

Waiting in line to give their names

These little girls quickly became my friends!

"Hold still while you get weighed!"

Yes,we were seriously stuck!