We all gathered in Pastor Pedro’s church in Neyba, an impoverished Dominican community near the Haitian border; 11 medical folks, 6 interpreters, and 4 technical people.  We met in the church building, a space of 25’x 40’ with old wooden slat walls and a tin roof.  It was hot and humid outside and all the more inside.  150 local people stood outside the open wooden doors, waiting and hoping to share their medical concerns with the doctors.

Pastor Pedro called us twice in the following week to share people’s testimonies in relationship to that day.  They had come with a host of problems; high blood pressure, skin diseases, diabetes, blindness, flu, heart problems, and more.  They cannot afford to see a local doctor so this was an opportunity to get some much needed medical attention.  It is perhaps only a ‘cup of cold water’ but to be heard and cared for was very important to them.

It was a day full of compassion and hope.