Here in the Dominican Republic we like hugging a lot and since the state of emergency was imposed a month and a half ago, with social distancing measures and the closure of business and the curfew, there have been very few hugs.
Following the declaration of the state of emergency, we not only have the COVID-19 health crisis in a country with a very weak health system, but we also have economic and food crises. As of April 24, we’ve had 5,749 confirmed cases and 267 deaths. The government has established a package of measures, including increasing funds on “solidarity cards,” which in the Dominican Republic are the equivalent of “food stamps” in the United States. The government has also distributed packs of food to vulnerable populations. Interestingly, in our province of Azua, they proposed that the food be distributed by the churches. This is a controversial idea because on the one hand, if food comes from the government, it is normal for the government to distribute it in a fair way, through the police and the army, and with the right equipment, especially in this pandemic in which both the one who distributes and the one who receives is at risk. On the other hand, this proposal speaks well of churches as entities that enjoy the trust of the people, and who know which people are in real need of food; but it also speaks ill of the government, which has had a terrible, decades-long tradition of clientelism in its social aid programs.
Either way, after handing out government food to a list of the most vulnerable people we know, going from house to house, with gloves, masks, and minimal contact, the government seems to have stopped using its troops for food distribution for the moment.
For our part we decided to collaborate more assiduously with the 100 elderly from our parish “Patronato de ancianos,” or “Board of Elders.” During the year and with different local collaborations we hand out one food case per month at the Catholic Church in Sabana Yegua to our elders in need. In this crisis we are handing out these same batches of food, with double ration, every fortnight.
We have also started the fortnightly distribution of food to the 180 children in our three children's centers, which remain closed. We have promoted the making of masks by the students of our training school and cooperative. From their homes, each one sews. Some give away masks and others sell them, depending on whether they are financially comfortable or strapped, where the sale becomes a necessary income.
The prison of Km.15, within our parish boundaries, also suffers the ravages of this crisis. There is no stated case yet, but inmates suffer anxiety and sadness at not being able to receive visitors and they miss the necessities their families usually bring them. In view of this, we converted a scheduled oral hygiene activity, where donated brushes and toothpaste are given in complete hygiene kits to the prisoners. We also give them soap.
Our health center has also had to face the problem of serving and protecting itself. Currently the pharmacy is still open every day, with the recommended social distancing. The doctor and the laboratory technician are present two days a week, at a time when visits to health centers, including to the public hospital, have reduced significantly on account of fear of contagion.
Returning to the distribution of food, this much-needed activity does not give us much room to interact, or to calmly greet one another and ask how people are doing. Maintaining distance, in a quick way in order to accommodate the number of people, with heat, dripping behind the mask and with the gloves soaked with sweat, we run this “aseptic” and rather cold activity in which a maximum of two or three sentences are shared: “God bless you! We are in the hands of God!” (with a big smile behind the mask).
But Nancy gets the prize. She is the little girl from a Haitian family I carry in my heart. A family that suffers and fights. They are 10 in total. A couple of years ago they were immensely blessed with a new house provided by one of our donors and they were able to leave a filthy hut. The house did not take them out of poverty, but they live with greater dignity. And they're moving forward! The eldest son has already finished high school. And they are also advancing, because being Haitians they are well accepted by the Dominican population. Yet it's hard to get rid of poverty.
…and because I know, I go to their home to deliver the food donation. Quickly, without warning, Nancy, the three-year-old girl, that girl I have practically seen be born, to whom I have given some newborn dresses of those who passed them along to me... quickly pounces to give me a big hug. Me so tall and Nancy so small, it's a big hug to my legs, how beautiful! Her mother, Mileidi, rushes to apologize: “She doesn't know!” And I distance myself, so sad because I can't enjoy more of the moment. I say goodbye and tell the girl: "Nancy, when all this is over, we'll give each other a lot of hugs!”
