Saturday, April 14, 2012—Constanza Day
By Elder Darrel L. Hammon
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| Los Riveras, Hermana Hammon, Los Haws |
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| Cruz and Candi Rivera |
Cruz guided us down the road and
to the Constanza meeting house, where his father, mother, branch president, and
several members of the Church were waiting for us. They greeted us like old
friends, which we feel we have become. We chatted about the potential project
and waited for the dignitaries to come: the mayor, the hospital manager, the
representative in the legislature, and others. Soon, they began to arrive.
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| Constanza Branch |
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| Dignitaries. The man in the blue is the mayor. |
Presidente Garcia began the
meeting and welcomed everyone there. Then, he turned the time over to me. I
greeted them and thanked them for inviting us to come to visit their beautiful
part of the world. I then showed a short DVD that explains the various
humanitarian projects of the Church: neonatal resuscitation training, food
production, immunization, wheelchairs, vision care, emergency response, and
clean water. I then explained the various projects we were doing in the DR
after which I asked for questions. There were not many questions but thanks for
what we were doing and what we might be doing in Constanza. With that the
meeting ended. Then we took pictures, thanked them for coming, and then said
goodbye.
We then drove over to the
Rivera’s home where we had lunch. Brother and Sister Rivera had put together a
typical Dominican lunch of rice and chicken with corn on the cob. It was
delicious. Brother Rivera had made a delicious strawberry drink. He just mixed fresh
strawberries from a neighbor’s garden, a bit of sugar, and a small amount of
water and then blended it together. Delicious.
After lunch, we began the tour
of the city and of the hospital. First, though, we trundled over to the plot of
ground owned by the Church that will, someday, become the site of the new
capilla. I was surprised by the size of the lot. I turned to Brother Rivera and
Presidente Garcia and said, “This is the size of lot that we build stake
centers on.” Then, we predicted the future: a stake in Constanza. With a small
branch that they have, they will need to work hard. I had to remember the two
small branches in Talca, Chile, and now it is a stake. Things happen on the
Lord’s time. Plus, they now have sister missionaries. We’ll see what happens.
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| Hospital |
We worked our way to the
hospital. We climbed out of the van and headed to the front door. Even on a
Saturday, the waiting room was packed with people waiting to see someone about
something. We walked down the hall to the part of the hospital that needs our attention:
the operating room and the emergency room. Someone was in the operating room;
so, we didn’t go it at that moment. We met one of the long-serving nurses in
the hospital. Soon, we could go in. They had not cleaned it, and we were all
reluctant to go in. Rather, we mostly stuck our head in the operating room.
According to Sister Rivera who is one of the six doctors there, the operating
room lights are terrible, usually holding only a regular bulb that we would use
in our living room lamp at home. They would like to see new lightening.
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| Presidente Garcia, Elder Haws, Brother Rivera, and Sister Haws |
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| One of the newborns with nurse |
We went next to where they
housed the newborn babies and their mothers. In a very small room were eight
beds, all of them full of young mothers and their babies. Sister Rivera beckoned
me to come although I was a bit reluctant to go in. She began to ask the ages
of the young mothers—14-, 15-, 16-, and 17-years old. I was shocked at the
ages. Young mothers are a problem, she said. They have attempted to discuss
these things in the public schools; yet, many of the births continue to be
these young, young women. In fact, these were babies having babies.
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| Little baby |
One of the babies born just a
few minutes before we arrived was in the incubator. I approached quietly. Oh….there
it was, wrapped up snuggly in a blanket, its little head swathed in a tiny cap.
It was moderately small. As I looked upon that baby, I asked myself what will
become of this tiny little thing? How old was its mother? I only prayed that
this little darling baby would grow up and enjoy the blessings of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
Our next stop was the emergency
room. It, too, was in need of repairs. I hope Elder and Sister Haws along with
Presidente Garcia and the Riveras can put together a wonderful project that
will be approved. They need so many things. Initially, they wanted us to build
them a new emergency room wing, which I wish we could do, especially after
seeing their needs. But, unfortunately, we cannot. We’ll see what they come up
with.
With a final look at where the
new emergency wing is scheduled to be built—if it ever is built—Brother and
Sister Rivera on their moto led us to the open market where we bought lots of
vegetables at about ½ the price we buy them in the open market in Santo
Domingo. We had a great time buying cucumbers, beans, onions, peppers, tomatoes,
carrots, and red cabbage, directly from the farmers’ fields. After we paid for
all of our vegetables, we said our goodbyes and headed back up and over the
hill to the city.
On the way home, we stopped at
the Rica outlet. Rica is one of leading producers of juices and milk. Their
plant and outlet store sit in the middle of orange groups. It is beautiful!
Plus, they have loads and loads of all kinds of juices at a reasonable price.
We stocked up on orange juice, fresh oranges and limes, mango juice, and fresh
butter.
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| Constanza |
Leaving the lushness of Constanza is always difficult, especially
when we reach the outskirts of Santo Domingo and encounter the chaotic traffic.
But for the morning and the early afternoon, we basked in the green and the prosperous
fields of Constanza and its quaintness. 
