The first Batey (Magdelena)

* A lot of pictures to follow.... sorry!:)

The first Batey we went to, some called it the Ritz Carlton of Batey's. It actually had electricity inside of the church. Some of the homes were also made out of cinder blocks, and so I guess this made it heads above some of the other bateys. When we first arrived to this batey all the kids were running up to us in their underwear and no shoes.
Eric was our team leader (pardon his shirt:)). He kept everything in order and tried to make sure that the kids were being seen before the parents were.

Ash was an awesome worker. She stepped right up to the plate and worked really hard. We had her doing sterilization (not the best job!), but she was awesome and really helped out a ton!

This guy was so excited to get his teeth pulled. I am sure that he was in a lot of pain. After we saw the kids, we then saw some adults towards the end of the two days that we were at this Batey. It was heart breaking when we had to leave and turn away so many people that were in such need of our help!

These boys were our playing on the grass. They were so excited to be getting their pictures taken that they just started freaking out!:) Most of the kids would be running around in their underwear, but when they would come and see us they would put their best dresses and clothes on for us and they would put their hair up all fancy!

When we would be eating lunch, the kids would be yelling "you, you" through the fence. They wanted some of our food. If we gave them some, the whole batey would come and want some. It became pretty crazy.

This little boy was named Luis. He was trying so hard to be tough for me. He was so scared, but he did not want to show it. As I would come in with the needle, he had tears running down his cheeks and he would shake his fist trying to be tough. He was awesome. After he was done he went and sat next to this little girl, who was to scarred to do it, and told her it was ok, and he showed her where I gave him the shot and just kept telling her it would be ok. It was so cute. I just wanted to take this little guy home with me!:)

After the day was over we were able to go and walk around the Batey and see their homes and where these people live. All the kids would come up and just want pictures with everyone. It was so cute. This boy in front had made this sword our of the sugar cane and was so proud of it, we have tons of pictures of him holding it up for the camera. They always wanted to see their pictures after we took them. They would then scream with excitement when they would see them.

While walking around the Batey, we saw all these boys playing baseball. Baseball is an "out" for them. If they can get good enough at baseball they feel they might be able to get out of the Batey's and possibly to the U.S. Most of these kids did not have shoes, and if they did the soles on their shoes were worn through. Dr. Anderson hit one of the balls and the boys thought this was pretty funny.

This little girl reminded us so much of my little sister Annie. Her smile and personality. It was really funny. She was so cute!

When I would be giving the injections, a lot of the time I had to have someone hold down the kid. Sometimes the kids would be freaking out so much that we had two or three people holding them down and they would be screaming and moving their heads. It was heart breaking!

We passed out hygiene kits to these kids. They were so excited to get these and the meds. This little girl came in her best dress and her hair all done up. She was so cute!

This was our first patient. He was so cute. He was only three years old and super cute. He was so brave when I was giving him the injections. His mom was so sweet and grateful too.

This kids mauled Ash. A lot more came up to her, but our camera died and so I missed the picture.

This was our buddy Felix. He spoke English, Spanish, and Creole (Haitian). He helped us translate so we could understand what was going on with these kids. He had taught himself English with his grandpa. He lived at this Batey and so badly wanted to come to the U.S. I was talking to him about it and he was saying that he could not earn enough money to get a passport and flight to come and go to a University. I wish so badly that I could have paid for him to come over. He was so grateful for the work that we were doing. As we were leaving he said "Emily, I will pray for you, will you pray for me". It broke my heart that this kid was trying so hard to make something better of his life, but did not have the means to do so.