NAU Women's Basketball in the Dominican Republic - Blog #3
/ August 09, 2015
FOREIGN TOUR CENTRAL PAGE
Note: The last few days have been filled with opportunities for the NAU Women's Basketball team to give back to the Santo Domingo community. From visiting an orphanage/children's hospital, to volunteering with Samaritan's Feet, to hosting a youth basketball clinic (to come in the next blog) the Lumberjacks have been busy giving back. In between, they also earned a convincing 96-50 win over the Teresa Duran club team in their final game of the trip. Tomorrow, the team will head to Punta Cana to spend the last couple of days before heading home.
Blog Written By Catelyn Preston
When I visited Northern Arizona University, Coach (Darling) asked me what I wanted to do with my life. And my response was, "I want to make a difference in people's lives. I want to change people's lives." In the past two days, I have gotten to do that. I have seen true smiles of happiness and love. On Friday, we visited the orphanage of Santo Domingo and gave presents to children who had nothing before meeting up with Samaritan's Feet on Saturday to clean little children's feet and put new shoes on them.
I didn't really know what to expect when we arrived at the orphanage. I figured we would meet 40-50 children and then distribute food and toys. However, upon arrival we were informed that this was actually a hospital more or less. When I walked into building the rooms were filled with beds that had boys and girls with disabilities in them. Women were putting on lotion while working these children's bodies to really just help them get mobile.
As we entered the playground of the orphanage, we then saw some older kids. Some of these kids had disabilities while three or four did not. After spending some quality time with these kids, we then began to pass out toys and gifts. I have never seen such joy on someone's face before. These kids were so grateful for everything that they didn't have and now they were finally getting things that were going to just be theirs.
When we arrived at the Samaritan's Feet location, my ears rang with (Samaritan's Feet founder and CEO) Manny (Ohonme) preaching about his first pair of shoes that he received. I took a seat and waited for the first child to arrive. As they all sat down, we began washing, drying and putting baby powder on their feet. We then fitted them with a shoe, shook their hand and then they were off to go play. Before the day ended, more than half of the team had given away socks, shirts and two pairs of our travel shoes. I then realized that this what I wanted to be apart of. This was what I wanted to do.
After such an inspiring day, we then won the very last game of our foreign tour. The atmosphere was so different from the events that happened earlier in that day. We really came together as a team and that was an amazing thing to experience so early in the year.
During these past two days, I found out what I really want to do with my life. I want to serve others. I want to give back for all the amazing things that I have received. That is the truest meaning of life, to give back and serve others. You never truly understand how much you have until you meet someone who has nothing at all. I am blessed to be where I am today and truly grateful to have had an opportunity like this.
