I want people to know about Sandra. Sandra is my girlfriend's (Iderline's), sister. I met Iderline, or Lelé, through working with her father. I am putting in alternate crops with coffee farmers in the Dominican Republic. Her father, Julito, was the first person I put in crops with and eventually, through living with the family, I became good friends with his daughter Lelé, asking him permission if I could date her, which he is happy with. I live in the the local 20 item store with the whole family, it's also the social center of this village.
Sandra, Lelé's sister, is married to Gua and they live next door in a small shack with their 2 adorable children Alexander 6 and Diana 5. Sandra and her husband Gua depend a lot on us at the store for food and supplies as there isn' t always enough work in the area. Sandra is a quiet, content, shy, extremely kind, selfless and a very gentle woman, she has a huge smile everytimes she meets someone and will offer whatever she has cooking to anyone, I see her everyday and play with her kids. I found some help for her husband Gua to put in a crop, and to do her part to help make ends meet, she tried setting up a little gasoline stand by the road in front of her house but it ended up not working, partly because people weren't always paying their accounts, very common in the poor countryside, and partly since she isn't a kind of mafia type to collect what is owing to her, all very small amounts but that add up, so her little enterprise failed. A few weeks ago she chose to go work for a rich landowner, washing, cooking, looking after children, making 30 cents an hour, less than half the normal minimum local wage, leaving her children with mom at the store. This upset me and I wanted to go speak to her employers about her wage, but everyone advised me not to. Instead I decided to help her set up a business selling a kind of sweet bean pudding by the side of the road, popular around here, as well as selling bananas - guineas maduros - and was going to help her this time on handling her money better, she was happy about it all.
- I was on my way back from town with her supplies, climbing up the mountain on my motorcycle moped, when I passed Julito her father, and Gua her husband on a motorbike going the opposite way. They motioned me to stop, I could tell that something wasn't right and I braced myself for bad news.
Sandra was being given a ride back home from her job on a motorbike by an aquaintance of mine, Beto, they hit a truck straight on. Beto died, Sandra was hanging on to her life. I was turned upside down by the news. I turned around and we rushed to the hospital in Ocoa. When we got there they stabilized her as much as they could, she had lost a lot of blood and they wanted to rush her to the capital where they were better equiped to help her. There was no ambulance available so we hired a local volunteer driver with a small truck to rush her to the capital. Marisol, Sandra's mom, was beside herself. It took many people to control her.
When she arrived at the capital she started sporadically screaming - which was when we felt she was probably going to make it, yet she was in a state of unconcious shock. We didnt know the extent and damage of her head injury so we were worried. She was going in and out, sometimes flaying around trying unconciously to stop the doctor from cleaning and stiching her severe arm and head wounds as well as other cuts. There was not enough hospital staff to help and it took Julito, Gua and myself to restrain her so they could do their work. I couldn't imagine how difficult it must have been for them, Julito to be holding his own daughter and Gua holding his wife as she was in such a critical state. We stayed up all night with her so as to keep her from pulling out her IV or rolling out of bed, shooing away too many curious onlookers. I got sick from the stress.
5 days later they removed her from critical care and eight days later she started to talk, at first we were worried as she was incoherent, she was constantly mentioning the name of the child she cared for at her work, Stephany - "where is Stephany, give some of my food to Stephany, show Stephany my arms, you have to meet Stephany etc. She still doesn't know what happened. She couldn't remember her children and other family members, but she has since started to slowly remember them. The brain scan came out positive and she seems to be getting better. We are waiting as long as we can before we relate anything to her about the accident. She says she can't remember being sick in bed and we have told her that she has had an allergic reaction.
I hated that my plane ticket brought me back so soon after the accident but it wasn't changeable. During the whole incident I had this kind of weak, sad, humble and helpless feeling to witness a woman, already struggling so much, now having to face more difficult circumstances. I was thinking "aren't they already being tested enough". But I know there are people in much worse circumstances. They are all rallying to face the challenge, they all have no resentments, they accepted it all as God's will.
We're all hoping she is going to get all her memory, strength and mental faculties back. I am writing to ask that if maybe you could keep her and her family in your prayers, I know for a certainty that it would be a great emotional support for them to know there are some people praying for her and her family from another country.
thanks
Ed
.JPG)
