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| a drawing from the DR |
I have a little story that says more
about the reliability of my own intuition and perceptions than it
says about the Dominican Republic.
We were assisting a team doing
development work in a little village “in country” on the north
coast of the Dominican Republic. It was nearing the end of a very
hot uncomfortable day. I was very tired. We still had to clean our
equipment and we were down by the river, the only place we could find
water. The local village kids were helping but mostly playing in the
river. The same river we had been warned not to go in because the
water was so full of “who knows what”. I was half way up a high
bank trying to stay out of the sticky mud that lined the sides of the
river. As I looked up I could make out in the distance, a path on
the other side of the river, and two small figures coming along
towards us. As they got closer I could see they were young Haitian
school children by their uniforms, white blouse, blue skirts, little
white ankle socks, black shoes and little back packs. I remember how
striking their uniforms looked against their black skin. My heart
was lifted just to see them, and then I had a premonition. The
children in the river were Dominican, there was going to be a
confrontation. My heart sank. My fears confirmed. As I watched, two
of the older kids in the river turned and exchanged words with the
Haitians that were carried away by the sound of the water. The
larger kids approached the little ones standing on the bank. The
image of what happened next will stay with me forever. The two older
kids lifted the little ones bodily and carried them to the other side
of the river where they put them down safely out side of the mud. I
was shocked. I looked up the bank to where one of the team members
was standing and said, “did you see that?” “Yup.” They
replied.
The whole scene happened so simply and
is probably repeated many times a day in as many different places.
It is so common. Two kids did a good deed for two other kids. Yet
for me that moment was as if the blackness of night had lifted and
the angels began to sing. Did I have a reason based on experience
that I thought something bad might happen? Perhaps. But I made an
assumption and that led to emotions that had nothing to do with the
reality I was witnessing. And yet, it also shows the impact that
just one small good deed may have.
