A Clear Vision

Here´s another example of just how amazing medical missions are. The last mission I worked with changed lives in just a few hours of surgery. Dominicans´ faces, mouths, arms, hands, and feet were made functional once again. Parents were so thankful for all the miracles the medical team performed in those short two weeks. Peace Corps volunteers served as translators for the dominican patients and the American doctors and nurses. We were all glowing with pride at the end of the mission, seeing just how much our hard work had paid off.

Peace Corps accompanies seven medical missions throughout the year ranging from general health to plastic surgery. Currently there is a mission near Santiago performing various types of eye surgeries, regular checkups, as well as giving out glasses for those who need them. For the past year I had been waiting for this mission to come back to Santiago to see if they could help my little vecina, Yisneris. She was born with estravismo, basically cross-eyed, but more everywhere unpredictable eyes. In order for her to focus on anything just a few feet away, she would tilt her head back and look down her nose. The local doctors were worried that if they didn´t operate soon she would end up with some form of brain damage. At 3 months, they gave her an eye patch with hope here eyes would correct themselves, but 2 years later and her they are still as crooked as when she was born. So we jumped on the chance that this mission might be able to squeeze her in to their schedule. After a month of e-mails and phone calls we made the list. I accompanied Yisneris and her mom the day of their surgery and que emoción. To see this little girls life change in just a short hour. Of course, Yisneris could really care less now, but it will make all the difference once she starts school. So many kids are made fun of their entire lives for something that could be fixed in just an hour.
She went into the OR screaming and came out pissed (she wanted her leche) but her eyes were perfectly striaght and moving in unison. Increíble. We are all so grateful for the organizations who work together to make missions like these possible.

Happily Ever After

1 Wonderful Year

That´s right. Johemi is 1 year old. I feel like we´ve been talking about this birthday for so long. Jan. 16 we celebrated with an Hora Santa, an hour of praying and giving thanks for Johemi´s year with us. When Johemi was born, her mother Sugermi (my good friend) made a promise to God that if her daughter made it to her first birthday she would celebrate with an Hora Santa. The local kids came over, we sat in the living room, prayed, sang songs, then drank ginger hot chocolate.

The next day was the wild party. We blew up balloons, made a piñata, cleaned, decorated, and watched Johemi fall in love with all the colors around her, that is until balloons started popping.

About 25 kids showed up, although half were not invited, and we played games, sang, ate and ate cheetohs, cake, icecream, cookies, chocolate, popcorn. A piñata to boot. Dios, those kids ate a lot. And Johemi kept right up with the best of them. I thought for sure that little thing would be sick by the end of the night. Nothing. Nada. She obviously has built up the tough dominican stomach.

Johemi became a little braver that day and started walking everywhere she could.

I loved being the photographer for that day. Trying to capture all the angles that would should the true nature of her first birthday. We put her next to the cake hoping she would climb right in and devour it. She was a little worried at first of being so high up on the table, but once she tasted a little frosting all fears were lost. Oh, there was cake EVERYWHERE.

Great Photos. Great Times.