Potential Mission Trip To The Dominican Republic
Posted by Jim Burness
on Mar 02, 2015
We are in the early stages of planning a Mission Trip to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands on amputees. We are looking to travel The Dominican Republic either in October 201
5
or April 201
6
. The timing would depend on what works best for everyone.In June 2012 Rotarians Jim Burness, Sue Burness, Sharon Kendall, Paul Buchanan, Rita Hook, Bonnie Coley-Malir, along with Harvey Hook, Sarah Lutz, and 2 Interact Students traveled to Santo Domingo in The Dominican Republic to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands (http://www.ln-4.org/). We were hosted by local Rotarians, who opened their homes to accommodate us and work on this project together. Most of the "advance" work had been done by them even before we arrived, making the experience very smooth. The fellowship we shared made the trip unforgettable, as the showed us around the Capital City and even took us to a Cocoa Plantation. We also took one day to travel to Mission Emanuel, where Harvey Hook (The Gathering) has been traveling for many years, to work on a mission project. For us on that day, it was building a wheelchair ramp at Mission Emanuel's Health Clinic. We envision the next trip having a similar opportunity.
The biggest cost of this trip is the airfare. Currently, round trip tickets are between $650-$1000, depending on airline, stops, etc. The Rotarians picked us up at the airport, housed and fed us. For the Mission Emanuel volunteering, we stayed in the same hotel for 1 night as mission volunteers that came from all over the US. We ate at the hotel and I think that total cost was around $200. Some of us went to an all inclusive beach resort, of which there are many, on the front side of our trip.That part was a lot of fun but definitely optional
Last year
, we received an email from the President of the Rotary Club that hosted us in Santo Domingo, asking when we were coming back and they were looking forward to working with us again. That's where we are now. At this point we are just looking at the level of interest in our club. If you have an interest in possibly going or just questions, you can talk to or email me or any of the above Rotarians.I think I speak for all of us who went, when you get off the plane after the trip you are a different person. It was a life changing experience.