Our Well

After a bit of lunch we set out for the community of La Isla to see our well. First, a bit of background. La Isla is one of several communities in and around Santo Domingo occupied by what are essentially squatters, migrants and migrant drug dealers who had arrived in hope of finding work. Most of them ended up trying to live in the only places made available to them, essentially the vacant land on top of garbage dumps. The local politicians would essentially cover the dumps with a couple of inches of dirt and then "give" the land to the community in exchange for votes. After the election, no one did anything to help these people in what is essentially an unlivable situation. One of the primary problems in all of these communities is the lack of clean water.

The Foundation has been working with four of these communities for the past few years. Their goals are maternal health, anti-violence education, community organization and sanitation. La Isla, where our well is located, is one of these communities. When you come into La Isla, you can't miss the well. Not only is it the tallest structure in the community, it is also wrapped in a banner saying "Thanks to the People of St. Mark!" Being three stories, there is a classroom on the first floor, a "town hall" on the second and a "lookout" on the third with the cistern above this. Essentially, water is pumped out of a well and into a holding tank where it is chlorinated. It is then pumped into the cistern where it then flows by gravity into two smaller cisterns in the community (maybe 700 people).

Words really can't express the feelings of these people toward the people of St. Mark. It took the community president a while before he really could talk about the experience with us. He first told us about how everyone had given up on them and how no one would help them except the people of St. Mark. It was us who gave them hope for a better tomorrow by our gift to them. They were quick to tell us how everyone had to help, but the women did the most work, hauling the concrete (several showed us their biceps to prove their strength!). Everyone in the community pays $3 each month to use the well and to help with its maintenance. They then laid out a meal for us which included the best food these people probably saw in any number of months. As we got ready to leave, it is again impossible to write of the extreme emotions that these people expressed for the people of St. Mak. It is impossible to exaggerate these people's feelings for us and the outpouring of gratitude for what we helped them achieve.