Is that Really a Man Lying in the Road?

Yes, that really was a man lying in the road less than a block up from my apartment when Adeline & I were returning from ballet class this afternoon. But why was no one helping him?

I parked the car in my garage apartment, put Adeline on my hip, and started yelling our guardman's name while I was walking to see what was wrong. It's really hard to approach these kinds of situations b/c really, what can I do or who can I call?

I made enough commotion by being a gringo with a gringo child on my hip that near-by onlookers started approaching the man too. He was having minor cunvulsions and his eyes were closed. He was so skinny that I couldn't tell if his legs had already been run over by a car. I didn't know if he had been beaten up or if he was sick and had fallen while trying to cross the street.

Usually Dominicans are running to an accident scene, so I knew something was different about this guy. No one seemed to care if he died there. I began to direct traffic away from him (this is a very normal Dominican thing to do).

One onlooker suggested water, so I commanded (I know that sounds harsh) my guardman to fetch some. The man's eyes opened soon after and I asked him if he could move. He motioned for help, so I told another onlooker to do so. My guardman came back and began to pour water on the man's neck and I headed to my apartment for cold water for him to drink. On my way, a man stopped in his car and told me the guy was on drugs. He didn't wait for a response from me before driving on. I'm thinking he was the dealer!

I came back down shortly and gave the bottle of water to my guardman to give to the guy. I thought it was the safest to not approach him again. I watched from my apartment as the man was given water and then walked away. I kept Adeline and I out of his view so that he wouldn't know where we lived. I asked Ana to look at him and take a guess if he was on drugs...she assumed so. Drugs or not...he is one of God's creations.