But it didn’t take the youngsters at the orphanage in the Dominican Republic long to figure out how to operate the electronic devices.
Within minutes after opening their Christmas gifts from the missionary team hailing from the First United Methodist Church of Brandon, the kids had donned their headphones and were nodding in time to Spanish music CDs.
“They thought those headsets were the best things they’d ever seen,” said missionary team member Tina Brock Fallen. “It was something else to watch them; they were so excited.”
Fallen said the children’s excitement is palpable the moment they spot the missionaries’ bus heading up the mountain toward the orphanage, which houses both children without parents as well as children whose parents are simply too poor to care for them.
“As soon as they see the bus, the kids start running up the mountain, waving and screaming,” said Fallen. “As soon as you get off the bus, you’re up to your elbows in snotty-nosed kids hugging you. It’s just powerful. I don’t know a better way to describe it.”
Fallen knows most of the 200 children living in five orphanages by name. An advanced registered nurse practitioner specializing in gynecology and obstetrics, Fallen spends about six weeks a year in the Dominican Republic bringing supplies to, and performing various service projects at, the orphanages. When she isn’t in the Dominican Republic, she keeps tabs on three former orphans she is putting through colleges in Santa Domingo and San Pedro.
Fellow First United Methodist Church member Frankie Cross introduced Fallen, a lifelong Brandon resident and church member since 1964, to the missionary work in the Dominican Republic sponsored by Homeless Orphan Outreach International several years ago. 
“I fell in love with the work,” she said. “God just put this burning passion in me to help these people.”
Nevertheless, she said she was a bit taken aback by the primitive conditions upon her first visit.
“There is no power and no hot water,” she said. “The children carry water from the lake so we can take a shower when we’re there. The kids eat a mush made out of cornmeal, water and sugar for breakfast. I always ask my crew to eat this the first day because I want them to understand the lifestyle, especially the teens that come along. It’s a real eye-opener.”
However, bit by bit, the mission team has been able to bring about improvements.
“When we started 17 years ago, we never believed we’d make the changes we’ve made,” she said. “It’s been a slow process because we’re fighting culture. It’s a proud society where children are encouraged to stay and take care of the younger children instead of going on and getting an education. We don’t want to just bring them food and then have nothing to show for it when it’s gone. We want to help them to be self-sufficient so they won’t need us anymore. They should not still be drinking water that gives you e-coli. They shouldn’t have to drives miles and miles for basic medical care.”
Fallen believes all that she’s done in her life has equipped her for her missionary work.
Fallen began running track while at Brandon High School, but switched to marathons when she graduated in 1975 and became a stay-at-home mom. She ran her first marathon at age 16 and continued running in events such as the Gasparilla marathon every year since. She recently completed the Disney Triathlon in Orlando, helping to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
However, it wasn’t until her son, Jeff, and daughter, Kristy, were grown and she had divorced that Fallen decided to embark on a career of her own. At the age of 38, she went back to school to become a nurse.
“I think I always knew I was supposed to take care of people,” she said. “When my children left home, I cried every day. It was really tough on me not having anyone to take care of. Nursing just seemed natural.”
She went on to get her master’s and doctorate degrees in nursing with the encouragement of her second husband, Chip, who she met three years ago. In addition to becoming a nurse practitioner, she is a forensic sexual assault investigator and is trained to perform ultrasonography.
While she was a member of the Leadership Brandon Class of 2006, a leadership training program sponsored by the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce, Fallen was invited to join the Brandon Rotary ’86 Club.
“I walked into my first meeting and the speaker was talking about the Dominican Republic,” Fallen said. “I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself, ‘If this isn’t a God thing, I don’t know what is.’”
Fallen was surprised to learn that Rotary International has ongoing mission projects in the Dominican Republic, including drilling wells to provide untainted drinking water for residents, and that Rotary ’86 has been involved in several efforts to collect needed supplies.
Her church and new club were able to collaborate for the first time on the mission trip this month in which the church takes holiday gifts to the children.
“The Rotary donated enough money to buy 150 CD players,” she said. The team of 21, including 10 members age 16 to young adults, also brought along yo-yos, dolls and other items for the children.
Fallen had also hoped to rent a home where the young men attending college with the help of the missionaries could live with a house mother, so they wouldn’t have to work while they study. Fallen is in the process of establishing a nonprofit foundation to fund college for the orphans since tuition costs only $1,000 a year in the Dominican Republic. She hopes to get Brandon businesses, clubs, churches and other organizations to sponsor a student through her foundation.
However, her plans for this trip were put on hold when a child at the orphanage sustained a severe head injury and she helped take him to the nearest clinic for care.
“I wouldn’t even call it a clinic,” she said. “The staff isn’t even trained in the use of IVs. The IVs are in glass bottles and they’re hooked to the wall. They don’t have any portable IVs. It was mind-boggling,” she said. “They don’t even have gurneys with wheels.”
She said she was appalled when the staff told her the boy would have to be driven several blocks away to a radiology facility.
“He shouldn’t have been moved,” she said. “It was too dangerous.”
As a result, Fallen is now focusing on putting together a mission team, including medical and pharmacy professionals, to return to the Dominican Republic to tour the area’s medical facilities and assess what’s needs there are. Upon their return, she would see what could get donated from the Brandon area.
Fallen said a fellow Rotarian has agreed to ship the donated supplies and several Rotary members have expressed an interest in participating.
Anyone interested in helping or becoming a part