It was our first full day back in Santo Domingo. We started off the morning with a reflective
meeting with the FUNGLODE staff. This
included all fourteen of the students, our three teachers, and the three program directors from the InteRDom, Christine, Lorele and Mandy. It was nice to sit back and reflect on our
experience in Las Matas de Farfan. Each one of us shared our experiences and posed questions about the inequities in socioeconomic factors and health care. This session was very helpful to come
full circle with the first phase of our trip. At the close of the meeting, the program directors provided information regarding our afternoon visit to La Casa
Rosada.
After lunch, we headed to Casa Rosada. This was something we were all really looking
forward to. Casa Rosada is a home for children with HIV/AIDS. The children ranged in ages from 0-15 years. They live at Casa Rosada because they were either orphans or their
parents could not afford the proper medical care their child needed, or the
parent/parents were sick themselves. The
parents who chose to put their children in
the care of Casa Rosada do not do so because they do not want their
children, but rather because they want
what is best for their child and know that Casa Rosada is a safe place for
their child to receive care.
Once we arrived we received a tour of the building and were
told of the history of Casa Rosada. La Casa
Rosada literally translates to pink house.
This establishment began fifteen years ago when a young girl with HIV
dreamed she lived in a pink house right before she died. She passed away at nine years old, and in her
memory Casa Rosada was born. Ever since
then , they have been supplying HIV/AIDS positive children with a place to
live, receive medical care and treatments, education, as well as a staff that
shows them nothing but love and affection.
Since the children are only allowed to stay until the age of 15, the
staff of Casa Rosada makes sure they can find a secure family member for the
child to stay with once they leave. They
also assist in medical payments until the child turns 18. After this, they assist the child with finding
a job, so that they can eventually support themselves and their medical
payments.
When the tour was complete, we all gathered upstairs for our
activity with the children. The kids
were in good spirits and appeared generally healthy.
First, we sang them a song about hand washing in English. In return, they sang one to us in Spanish. It was a lot of fun! Then, we had an arts and crafts session with
the kids that was focused around hand washing.
Not only were they able to learn some important information, but it was
also therapeutic for them as well.
Throughout our time there, everyone was smiling, laughing, and truly having
a great time. The children were filled
with so much love and appreciation.
Their happiness touched us all.
We were all in agreement that is was an amazing feeling and a fantastic
day.
Unfortunately, due to privacy concerns we were unable to
take pictures of the children. However,
we were able to capture a few of the facility itself.
Abigail King, SN
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