The Cercadillo Project

Mom playing the conga drum on Jan 1, 2014.

Mom playing the cajon drum on Jan 1, 2014

I love these pictures of my mother, Alberta York, playing the drums at our friends, Mary and Terry Schultz’ house in Santo Domingo on New Year’s Day.   (Mom had been with me in the DR since mid November.) I would be surprised if Mom had ever even thought about taking a drum lesson in any of her 81 years.  And yet, when Terry suggested she might want to try, she jumped at the chance.

She seemed to actually have some natural talent on the box drum (cajon.)  My goodness we all laughed that day.  So thankful that Mary captured these pictures.

In just a moment so many things can change, can’t they?  At 2:30 AM in the morning of January 6, 2014 my mother awakened to use the bathroom and somehow fell and hit her head on the bathroom ceramic.  We were able to quickly get her to an emergency room where it was discovered that she had a subdural hematoma and would need an immediate operation.

The first operation seemed to be successful and the neurosurgeon told me that he was expecting a complete recovery.  During the night another subdural hematoma developed and a second operation was necessary.  Mom has never recovered from the second surgery.

After two weeks in intensive care in Santo Domingo, we flew in an air ambulance to Sarasota, FL with the hopes of neurological rehabilitation.  After two weeks in Sarasota, we were told that Mom was not alert enough for rehab, that the prognosis did not look at all promising, and it was suggested that she be moved to a long-term care facility.  At that point we again flew by air ambulance, this time to Clark County Nursing Home in our hometown of Kahoka, MO.

I stayed with Mom in Kahoka for about three weeks until it seemed that she was stable and I became convinced that there was nothing else I could do for her.  Four of my siblings live within a few minutes of Kahoka and two others only live four hours away.    Many of Mom’s friends were dropping by to visit her and even to read to her, so as tough as it was, it seemed it was time for me to return to the village that Mom had come to love as much as I do.

That was a very concise recounting of January through early March.  As you can perhaps imagine, this has been and continues in some ways to be a very traumatic period in my life.  Although I’m back in the DR, I often find that my heart and mind are divided.  There are thousands of things to be thankful for in this experience, and perhaps I’ll share those in a future blog, but one that stands out is how thankful I am that Mom’s accident happened after she had been with me for awhile.   She went everywhere with me and soon won the hearts of those she met.  My women in the village are grieving with me with that “Our Mamacita” is now so disabled.   I’m constantly encountering someone at church, in the neighbourhood or grocery store who asks about her.  Even the exterminator calls to check to see if there is any change in Mom’s condition.  And of course, my other dear ex-pat friends are a huge support. So although it was so hard to leave Mom there, I am thankful to be surrounded by others who know her and love her as well.

I’m so thankful that I had the chance to be with Mom during her last fully alert and mobile days.  I’m so thankful that she felt so fulfilled and loved on here.  Just a day or so before the accident she told me, “I’ve had the time of my life these last few weeks.”

Written by Guest Blogger – Marta Padilla Peralta

In January, Esteban and I had the awesome privilege of being a part of the Gordon College Field Hockey team’s mission trip to Cercadillo—what a gift! The first half of the trip was filled with Three Kings Day parties and festivities. We had a party for all the children on our first day in the village. The girls dressed up and acted out the story of the Three Kings going to visit Jesus and we spent a long time playing games with the children. In the following days we had a special invitation only party for the children who have been faithful in coming to Ina’s programs—one for the pre-school children in the village and one for the older children at the TIME center. It was so exciting to see the pure joy on the kids’ faces as they boarded the bus to ride to the TIME center, and as they played games and won prizes. It was a day of much laughter, smiles and just a little bit of wonderful chaos. It was especially wonderful for Esteban and I to see how much the children have grown and matured because of God’s grace in their lives and because of Ina’s consistent and dedicated presence.

The second half of our trip was spent holding a field hockey camp for 25 adolescent girls in Cercadillo. The team brought enough sticks, balls, cones and pinnies for themselves and the girls at the camp. What a joy it was to watch the girls begin to love field hockey just as much as we do! They picked it up much more quickly than we thought they would, and were almost running circles around us by the end! One of our favorite moments from the camp happened on the third day—we gave them a 10 minute water break to rest. Before we knew what was happening, they had all divided themselves into teams and were playing a pick up game during their break time! We were thrilled to see them taking ownership of the sport and making it their own.  During the camp, we spent the afternoon doing crafts, teaching the girls English and sharing a Bible Study. The whole theme of our camp was Proverbs 31:25, “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.” The last day of the camp we had the enormous privilege of taking the girls to the Parque del Este, which is the park where the DR’s national field hockey team practices and plays. After playing on long grass for a week, it was so fun to play on turf with the girls, and let them get a feel for the real game! One of the coaches of the National team was even interested in sending trainers out to Cercadillo to help develop some of the girls with more potential. We ended the camp with some pampering back at the TIME center—nails and brownie sundaes. We also made a video of the week and were able to show the girls that day. They loved seeing themselves on the big screen and the room was filled with laughs, squeals and giggles. Overall, this was a beautiful week filled with big smiles and big dreams, and the Gordon Field Hockey team is excited about continuing this connection for a long time!

First Day of Field Hockey Camp

Warming Up

At the Parque del Este—what a treat!

We were all very blessed by this time together!

NOTE FROM INA:

Mom’s accident occurred at 2:30 AM on Monday, January 6, the day we had the two big 3 King’s Day parties scheduled.  Also the field hockey team from Gordon College had arrived two days before and were eager to start their field hockey camp with our youth girls from Tuesday to the following Friday.

Marta and Esteban Peralta arrived at the hospital in the early morning hours to assure me that they would carry on with all scheduled activities.  And I had no doubt that they could definitely take care of all the previous arrangements as Marta and Esteban worked with us in Cercadillo for quite a while before moving to Massachusetts.   As you can tell from this blog entry, God provided exactly the leadership that was needed while I was in the hospital with my mom.   And my youth girls are excited about more field hockey experiences in the future!