Like Rana said, sorry that we took so long to give an update, but after these two blogs you will probably need a little break again. We have been going like crazy lately and with the brief and 
unexpected loss of our internet corner we kind of used that as an excuse. But here are some of the main events…
Last Friday mi amiga Elise came down for a visit to figure out why I love the Dominican so much! We took her around to a lot of different villages and worksites, introduced her to our friends and Dominican familia and pretty much packed everyday full of adventures, “just because we can” and because “we can sleep in Canada”… One of her first days here, we walked around a village asking the kids questions, like Rana said, to send to their sponsors. I always love doing that because you get to see so many different people and lifestyles coming together in one very small community. Everybody knows everyone else’s business and by just seeing a picture can take you through the back alleys and fields to their house. Some of our questions were “what is your favourite colour?”, “what is your favourite food?”, “how many animals do you have?”… (this one always made me laugh because they would count all the baby chickens and anything else that wandered around). The next day we went and finished up the sponsorship forms for Nazaret and checked on Rutch’s family. Sadly we found the four kids sitting under a tree across from the house, mother-less for most of the day, according to neighbours. The oldest son is 4 years old and I suppose he was left in charge, but he also dominated the little amount of rice and beans set out for the kids.
It is so sad because there are so many stories like this one and these kids are right in front of me
and I just don’t know how to help. I also took Elise out to Arroro Seco, one of Hero Holiday’s school building projects we’ve worked at for three years, to introduce her to all my friends and show her that we really do work down here! Sadly school was out the day before so not as many people were around and we couldn’t make it inside but we snuck upstairs anyways (don’t tell Pastor Garcia).
Yesterday we were definitely on the go more than before. First we started out in Nazaret to see the kids and check on the clinic, then we went and checked on Rutch’s familia and her mom was there this time. She told me that 8 month old Rutch hadn’t had milk or anything in 2 weeks and that the rest of her family didn’t have food either. It is so difficult to know what to do though, because from what we have known, the mom would normally take the milk or food given to her kids for herself. Please pray that I will know what to do because I really want to do something to help the family out but I don’t want her to neglect the kids and take advantage of me. Around supper time we went to Mustard Seed, an orphanage for mentally and physically handicapped children, and helped feed them and stayed for a little while after to play with them. When I looked around the room it broke my heart to think of how many different parents had decided to give up their children. Some of these kids might have been healthier with the proper care and the right oppor
tunities but they seem pretty lucky to be living there. After around an hour I was tired from being jumped on and dragged back and forth but the women feeding and caring for these kids were so joyful and caring. The kids called them “Momma ______” and lit up when one of them came into the room! I really admire them for taking care of so many kids with special needs 24/7. I am not sure I would have it in me as much as I wish I would.
unexpected loss of our internet corner we kind of used that as an excuse. But here are some of the main events…Last Friday mi amiga Elise came down for a visit to figure out why I love the Dominican so much! We took her around to a lot of different villages and worksites, introduced her to our friends and Dominican familia and pretty much packed everyday full of adventures, “just because we can” and because “we can sleep in Canada”… One of her first days here, we walked around a village asking the kids questions, like Rana said, to send to their sponsors. I always love doing that because you get to see so many different people and lifestyles coming together in one very small community. Everybody knows everyone else’s business and by just seeing a picture can take you through the back alleys and fields to their house. Some of our questions were “what is your favourite colour?”, “what is your favourite food?”, “how many animals do you have?”… (this one always made me laugh because they would count all the baby chickens and anything else that wandered around). The next day we went and finished up the sponsorship forms for Nazaret and checked on Rutch’s family. Sadly we found the four kids sitting under a tree across from the house, mother-less for most of the day, according to neighbours. The oldest son is 4 years old and I suppose he was left in charge, but he also dominated the little amount of rice and beans set out for the kids.
It is so sad because there are so many stories like this one and these kids are right in front of me
and I just don’t know how to help. I also took Elise out to Arroro Seco, one of Hero Holiday’s school building projects we’ve worked at for three years, to introduce her to all my friends and show her that we really do work down here! Sadly school was out the day before so not as many people were around and we couldn’t make it inside but we snuck upstairs anyways (don’t tell Pastor Garcia).Yesterday we were definitely on the go more than before. First we started out in Nazaret to see the kids and check on the clinic, then we went and checked on Rutch’s familia and her mom was there this time. She told me that 8 month old Rutch hadn’t had milk or anything in 2 weeks and that the rest of her family didn’t have food either. It is so difficult to know what to do though, because from what we have known, the mom would normally take the milk or food given to her kids for herself. Please pray that I will know what to do because I really want to do something to help the family out but I don’t want her to neglect the kids and take advantage of me. Around supper time we went to Mustard Seed, an orphanage for mentally and physically handicapped children, and helped feed them and stayed for a little while after to play with them. When I looked around the room it broke my heart to think of how many different parents had decided to give up their children. Some of these kids might have been healthier with the proper care and the right oppor
tunities but they seem pretty lucky to be living there. After around an hour I was tired from being jumped on and dragged back and forth but the women feeding and caring for these kids were so joyful and caring. The kids called them “Momma ______” and lit up when one of them came into the room! I really admire them for taking care of so many kids with special needs 24/7. I am not sure I would have it in me as much as I wish I would. At one point in the week we also took Elise to "snotball's" village but were again translator-less so this week we will be going back to find out details. It was nice for her to meet Carlos y Rosalind, Josh and Rana's friends though!
So today was sad as we dropped Elise off at the airport, but I think we had a pretty successful week and she definitely went home understanding my need to be here as much as possible.
Please continue to pray for our health and safety and ability to learn Spanish, as well as the people we are meeting and projects we are getting involved with. We really need God’s guidance with who to help and where to serve.
P.S we like comments to know what you guys are thinking of our projects.
love always,
kike
So today was sad as we dropped Elise off at the airport, but I think we had a pretty successful week and she definitely went home understanding my need to be here as much as possible.
Please continue to pray for our health and safety and ability to learn Spanish, as well as the people we are meeting and projects we are getting involved with. We really need God’s guidance with who to help and where to serve.
P.S we like comments to know what you guys are thinking of our projects.
love always,
kike
1 comment:
My prayers are with you three. Keep up the good work. One way that I think you guys could make a large impact is by telling your stories when you get back. Tell your stories and people will sponsor those children like the ones in your blog.
God bless and keep safe,
Big Brother,
Jared
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