| | Got Mitt?
What do you do when you want to play baseball but you don't have a mitt? You make one of course..out of a milk carton! We buy our milk in boxes off of the shelf instead of in plastic jugs from the cooler section. Until recently, we just "trashed" the boxes, but once the boys in the bateyes showed us how to make baseball mitts out to them, we started to keep the boxes. It's great to see their imaginations at work, whether making mitts or toy cars out of oil cans and bottle caps. While it's fun to make the mitts with boys and then play ball, it's also humbling when they fight over who gets "our trash". These kids truly have next to nothing and get excited about getting a ball, empty bottles or even empty milk cartons. | | Sugarcane Harvest
December is harvest time in the Dominican Republic. Unlike back home, they harvest sugarcane not corn. We're told by these men, Haitian and Dominican, they will work everyday for 6 months with the exception of 3 days off during the Easter weekend. As we drive past the fields on our way to the bateyes, it's like a scene from the past. Seeing the ox drawn carts and sugarcane cut by hand as the hardened men swing their machetes. It is hard, hot, back-breaking work, all day, everyday. In a good year, these men will make about $53 a week. I definitely have a different perspective now when I enjoy sugar in my coffee. Maybe you too can be reminded of what it takes to enjoy something as simple as a spoonful of sugar. | | |
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