I made a trip up to visit three communities in the mountains near Jimani to do some prep work for an upcoming short term trip. Unbelievable views. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Redondo, Yveson, and Cleiford
I want to share a bit of what I know of these three boys. Basically, we have seen them around town for the past month or so, and we have given them water and food a few times, but we didn't realize initially that they were living on the street. We thought that they, like many children in Jimani, were just left to their own a majority of the time. About three weeks ago, we ran into them again at our regular grocery store, and with six weeks of Creole lessons under my belt tried to have a conversation with them, and from that conversation understood that they were living on the street. We started to try to verify their story and the store owner said they were just always on the street. I began praying for wisdom and guidance. Well, we didn't see them again for the next two weeks or so, until last Friday when we were on our way to Port au Prince for the weekend. We ran into them as I made a last stop to buy water to hand out to the border guards. I decided to postpone our departure and took them to the facility to speak with Hostey, one of the facility staff that speaks English and Creole.
We gave them money for food for the weekend and asked them to meet us on Monday after we returned from Port au Prince. Well, yesterday they showed up with the clothes on their back, and an extra garment or two a piece. We got more of their story, and their mom's died in the earthquake. Two of them are cousins. They worked for a bus-driver for a short time after the earthquake finding people to ride on his bus, and when they earned enough for their own fare, they managed to get across the border into Jimaní.
We don't yet have legal permission in place to take in children. My biggest concern about taking them in without any permission is the potential impact to the future ministry, which led me to the meeting with CONANI, the Dominican Republic's government office for the protection of children and adolescents. I met with a Reuben, a man specifically in charge of dealing with the increased number of street kids as a result of the earthquake. He was very open to our working with these children and gave us temporary permission to house them, and scheduled a meeting with a coalition of organizations in Jimaní that oversees services for the area's children and adolescents. At this meeting Melissa and I will be presenting plans for use of the facilities as a Children's Home.
We always knew that God would be the one to make this happen, and He seems to be putting the pieces together.
We appreciate your prayers as we prepare for the meeting and your prayers for these boys.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Morning Assembly at Batey 41
Melissa and I were at Batey 41 this morning, and once again we were confused on the time change. While it take us 20 minutes to get there it because of the road conditions and not the distance, and since we don't cross an official border crossing, I always forget that they follow the time zone for Haiti which is one hour behind the DR. However, it was nice to be there before school started to see all the kids on their way to school, and excited to be going. It was also nice to catch the morning assembly as the kids line up, sing, and pray before starting their morning.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A Unique Clothes Dryer
We have a clothes line that we have hanging in our living room so we can dry our clothes without worrying if it is going to rain or not. However, to take full advantage of the sun, we also have one that is hanging over a planter outside our back windows. In order to hang or retrieve clothes Melissa has to climb out the window into the planter. The planter connects to the room next the living room, which is what we use a TV room. Tonight, she startled Michael and his friends, who were in there playing video games, when she decided to climb into that room from the windows instead of back-tracking to the living room! It's not just laundry, it's a sport!
Friday, March 12, 2010
A Fun Week
We have a group of nurses down this week, mostly from the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They have seen all of our school students in the four programs in Sosúa. This picture is a group of kids showing of their fingers that just got stuck for a blood test to check the iron levels in their blood which can be used as part of a nutrition assessment. Check out their blog http://projectassessment2010.wordpress.com/
Thursday, February 18, 2010
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