Good Nutrition for the Children
	Nutritional concerns are very real for the children in Habanero.  While in school, children are provided a lunch everyday, which includes a sandwich of meat and cheese and all the milk they can drink.

Skin Diseases Skin diseases are very common in Habanero. In the event of a medical emergency, the people of Habanero are usually able to get the children to a government hospital in Barahona.  The treatment is free in this hospital; however, the patient is required to pay for all tests, xrays and medicine.  Most of the people do not have the resources to pay for these services so many medical needs are not being met.  Each visit there are children needing some sort of medical care - one of the most common is antibiotics. Evergreen Ministries supplies the school with basic supplies for first aid, pain relief, cough medicine, and other over-the-counter items for the children. Many medical concerns stem from the reality of sustaining everday life in a third-world country.  Open fire cooking is a ever-present danger to the children - either falling into the fire or tipping over a pot on themselves.   Children with serious burns are regular visitors to the local clinics.

Manny Manny's experience depicts the dilemma and fate of many children in Habanero.  I met Manny on my second trip to the Dominican Republic.  At that time, Manny had a cold and was not eating or drinking.  Because medical care is not readily available at his village, he soon became dehydrated and ended up spending five days in a government hospital in October of 2006.   Evergreen Ministries paid for his X-rays and medicine so he could return home healthy.  Notice in the photo Manny's mother is in the crib with him.  The hospital supplies only the bare necessities of medical treatment.  There is no food, no water and no juice provided for the child or the mother.  The family must bring everything to the hospital, even blankets and pillows. Manny's story had a happy ending but that is not always the case when simple early intervention and preventative health services are not available for routine medical conditions.

This article from "Dominican News Today" (October 30 , 2006) furthur attests to the everyday medical challenges for this village . . . Some 400 Dominican families survive extreme precarious habitats.   BARAHONA.- Over-crowded living conditions that are lacking of basic sanitary services for more than 30 years, prevail for some 400 families living in the most deject conditions. In 1968, when the residential project Villa Estela was constructed, residents living within the project limits were relocated to the poverty-ridden sectors known today as Camboya, Castillo and Javib, pending construction of housing facilities for these families. At these three localities, where governments have turned a blind eye, poverty levels are indescribable. Unemployment is at 85 percent. Heads of 6 and 7-member families live off of informal, miscellaneous work. It is not uncommon to see individuals attend to their physiological sanitary and hygiene necessities outdoors, due to the lack of latrines or sufficient and adequate infrastructures. Adding insult to injury are the rats and other insects that share the domain. Multiple diseases affect infants and the elderly as well as adults, in particular skin illnesses. Also abounding are stomach ailments and the common cold. It is a depressing sight to see how dozens of children stroll unclothed around the premises, affected by skin disease, due to deplorable situation of the water supply and to deficient nutritional conditions. Multiple protests and public shows of outcry in favor of these communities have been constant, without avail. Meanwhile, as authorities proclaim Barahona’s development as the country’s fourth tourism pole, inhabitants of this city’s ‘barracones’ keep hopes alive that, some day, they will be able to abide in more human conditions, and that they will also be able to enjoy in some fashion the country’s development.