Child slaves in the DR

I met a woman from Madrid here at the pension where I am staying who is helping her neice who has stared a home for street kids in Anse-a-Pitres)AAP), ex-slave children, who have run away from their Dominican owners.  They are sold into slavery by their own Haitian parents when they are 2or 3 for about $30, this is done at an early age so they become attached-dependent on the family.  Then from an early age they work for the family, sleeping on the floor with the dog and often, both boys and girls are raped repeatedly by their owners or others .  Of course this is against the law in the DR, but I guess the blind eye rules.  Way out in the hills, 20 miles from here, it is very common to find single men living with slave concubines that they have ¨raised¨ from an early age.  These kids that this spanish woman is taking care of have no surname, no idea how old they are or when their birthday is.  They are pretty wild and violent, and I think this young woman is both an angel and a maniac to get so involved in their lives.  She takes care of about 10 of them, has restored a house for them  in AAP, and is doing it just out of the kind donations from family back in Spain. These kids kick, bite, steal, obviously have trust issues, PTSD, and are also sexually precocious, to put it mildly.  This woman has to hire watchmen to sleep with the boys to make sure they don´t rape one another.....

Sorry to open another grim subject, but there were at least 5 deaths from cholera at our place yesterday and over the weekend.  One I saw yesterday, a girl of about 3 who was so dehydrated when she came in that no one could start and IV, she seized and that was it.  Mom was howling the moans and groans of grieving as is done here right outside my exam room window and lots of rubber neckers were trying to get into my room to see the coffin, the men in full protective gear dealing with the body, etc.  PLease don´t worry about me, I just pass through the compound every morning to see what is going on, but as I described before, I really have no role in the care of cholera patients, thank God.  I see what is now becoming a usual parade of deep lacerations from vehicular accidents, high blood pressure, pregnant women, a bizarre dramatization of some kind of diety possession where they come in convinced they are dying of something very wicked, fortressed by the whole family, with amulets around their waists )this woman yesterday came in like that and had a tight piece of cloth squeezed around here diaphragm, yet there was nothing clinically wrong her.  I have seen this several times in the past, and once you  see it you never mistake it.  Of course after doing a full exam, I found she had a cold and high blood pressure  Placebo works well, but a gave her appropriate meds and everyone left smiling.  2tylenol and see me in the morning!

My friend Lydia is stay for 3 extra days because of the storm you all are having....sorry about all that snow, but I´m kind of jealous.  The sun here has given me this allergy that makes me look like Ihave measles and I itch so much I have to take prednisone and benadryl at night in order to sleep.  Otherwise I am safe and sound and content.  Much love to all