I woke up early, rushing out of the house by 7 am without breakfast. My partner and I drove a half hour out into a community in the hills. While we were running our meeting, some teenagers slit our tires. By the time we finished the meeting the tire was completely destroyed. We had two other communities to visit and we were already late. The blazing Dominican sun was relentless as we changed the tire. Dressed in slack and a polo, I thought I was going to melt away. The people were very helpful though, as they helped us with the jack and filled air in the remaining tires. Finally, we were on our way again. We dropped off the blow-out tire at a repair shop.
We finished that meeting and went straight to another. It was about 11:30 by now and I was starving and thirsty. I was getting really dizzy. I felt like passing out. We waited for another hour for the group to get their money together. Always a difficult process. When we finished we went back and received the old tire. We exchanged tires again and went off to another group looking to join Esperanza. We explained to the group the responsibilities and expectations we had of them, and how the process work.
When we finished and walked out to the car, we realized that the tire burst again. At that moment, the rain started coming down hard. Better than the blazing sun I guess. For the third time that day, we had to change tires under the rain. It was about 3:30, and I still hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch. The rush, the hot sun, the strenuous activities, all had me in a really bad state. I had an incredible headache, I felt light as a feather, and I was so dizzy. I had trouble keeping my balance every time I stood up. Finally, on the way back home we ate something. I felt like a new man again. It was a stress-filled day, but I made it through.
Benjamin Brennan, Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic
