Score International

This morning’s game was tough for two reasons. First, it was…well…early in the morning. Some of our ladies (particularly our shooters) don’t function real well on the court before noon.  Secondly, the team we played lost in the Dominican Championship last season and is supposed to be the favorite this year. Four of their players are in the United States playing college at NCAA D1 or D2 levels. Even though it was early in the morning, the heat and lack of depth got to us and we wore down. The game was very close until the 4th quarter when they ran away with it. In the  afternoon, we went downtown in the capital city and passed out tracts and mingled with the locals. We also did some sightseeing of some historical churches. We finished up our trip to Santo Domingo with a visit to the orphanage for disabled children. This was, perhaps, as sad a sight as most of us will ever see. We saw very deformed children and mentally challenged children among others. This was a different kind of visit than the orphanage yesterday. There were no bubbles or beach balls or braiding of hair. We were told that the children loved for strangers to show any kind of love or affection. A simple touch could make a child’s week. At times all we did was sit next to the bed of a child and hold their hand or stroke their cheek or shoulder. It is so hard to put into words how difficult it was to see these children helpless and, in some cases, seemingly oblivious to the things going on around them. I can’t imagine what strength and compassion a person must have to work at this orphanage. However, all the workers seemed to have a smile on their face. They also seemed to be appreciative of us stopping by. After about 90 minutes, we had to make the trip back to the SCORE hotel because there is a nation-wide curfew of 6:00PM imposed tonight because of the Presidential election tomorrow. 

—Jamy Bechler