San Juan de la Maguana
Julie
and
Luke make their home in
San Juan de la Maguana,
population 50,000. San Juan is located in a fertile valley in the Central
Western part of the country and was founded at the outset of
Spanish
colonization. The city is now a major hub of agricultural transport
for the surrounding valley. The city was also one of the hardest hit during
the 1998
hurricane George. Most of the thousands of Dominican fatalities
of the hurricane occurred in the area north of San Juan, when the storm
sent floodwaters roaring through riverbeds that had been dry for decades
due to deforestation, and where hundreds of campesinos had set up homesteads.
The
clinic where
Julie and
Luke work is immediately beside one
of these communities which was called
Mesopotania, but which
now is once again, mainly a dry riverbed.
The
"
Clinica Christiana de Salud Integral" was founded
by
evangelical North American Mennonites in the 1950's. Julie and
Luke are kept busy observing surgeries, translating for visiting U.S.
doctors, and doing follow-up visits with the nurses in the barrios.
In
her free time,
Julie likes to read and hang out with her sisters
and their friends (
pictured at left).
Luke's father is an evangelical pastor, so when Luke is not in
church, you might find him honing his domino skills which are quite impressive.
He and his brother form quite a pair and are nearly unbeatable (as his
dad and I found out). Luke and his family are pictured
at right.
On
our visit, we visited the nearby
Sabaneta damm which provides much
of the electricity for the region. We also visited the "
Coral
de los Indios", one of the largest
Taino (
native
inhabitant of the island) sites on the island and scene of a famous
Spanish massacre.
Chief Caonabo was captured by the Spaniards there
after being tricked into putting on chains which were billed as "ceremonial
jewellery". He died in route to Spain in 1496 of self-imposed starvation.
His wife
Anacaona re-grouped the Taino chiefs and led a brief rebellion.
She was negotiating for peace with a Spanish delegation but they arrived
at the Coral alongside 200 troops who burned down the settlement and executed
her.
Julie
and Luke make their home in San Juan de la Maguana,
population 50,000. San Juan is located in a fertile valley in the Central
Western part of the country and was founded at the outset of Spanish
colonization. The city is now a major hub of agricultural transport
for the surrounding valley. The city was also one of the hardest hit during
the 1998 hurricane George. Most of the thousands of Dominican fatalities
of the hurricane occurred in the area north of San Juan, when the storm
sent floodwaters roaring through riverbeds that had been dry for decades
due to deforestation, and where hundreds of campesinos had set up homesteads.
The
clinic where Julie and Luke work is immediately beside one
of these communities which was called Mesopotania, but which
now is once again, mainly a dry riverbed.
The
"Clinica Christiana de Salud Integral" was founded
by evangelical North American Mennonites in the 1950's. Julie and
Luke are kept busy observing surgeries, translating for visiting U.S.
doctors, and doing follow-up visits with the nurses in the barrios. 
In
her free time, Julie likes to read and hang out with her sisters
and their friends (pictured at left).
Luke's father is an evangelical pastor, so when Luke is not in
church, you might find him honing his domino skills which are quite impressive.
He and his brother form quite a pair and are nearly unbeatable (as his
dad and I found out). Luke and his family are pictured at right.
On
our visit, we visited the nearby Sabaneta damm which provides much
of the electricity for the region. We also visited the "Coral
de los Indios", one of the largest Taino (native
inhabitant of the island) sites on the island and scene of a famous
Spanish massacre. Chief Caonabo was captured by the Spaniards there
after being tricked into putting on chains which were billed as "ceremonial
jewellery". He died in route to Spain in 1496 of self-imposed starvation.
His wife Anacaona re-grouped the Taino chiefs and led a brief rebellion.
She was negotiating for peace with a Spanish delegation but they arrived
at the Coral alongside 200 troops who burned down the settlement and executed
her. 