DR and Haiti

One Tiny Starfish

2010-01-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

THIS BLOG HAS MOVED

http://onetinystarfish.blogspot.com/

Future Plans

2010-01-05T14:54:00.001-08:00

Well, lots has happened since my last post. I ended up getting even sicker and going home early. It was really disappointing, but I had an amazing week that I did spend there, and some of the Dominicans that I have built relationships with truly are like a second family to me. I am continually touched by the kindness and love I come across from Dominicans, and I know that years from now these people will still be close to me.

That said, I have made a change of plans and won't be moving to the DR in May anymore. I really strongly feel like I will be back there soon, but I am looking into other options for May, and then am going to work for a little to save up some money. I love the country and look forward to the day I will be back, but realized that right now isn't the right time for me to move there. I have started up a new blog where I will be writing about my future plans, and also where I will be posting about resources for humanitarians, and interviews with others in the field. This blog is outdated considering the URL is for 2007, so this will be a fresh start and I hope also a resource for other people interested in volunteering abroad. 2010 is going to bring lots of changes, but I am optimistic that there will be many great experiences and I am looking forward to what it has in store!

So, this is the end of this blog! A million amazing memories have been recorded here, and I can't wait until the day when I am back and reunited with some of my favourite people on earth :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to everyone!!! I will be honest in that my Christmas was a little difficult; something I definitley wasn't expecting. I was really hoping to be able to spend Christmas with the kids and families that I love, but that didn't happen. We went to the beach in the morning... I am not usually a beach fan, but it was relaxing as I didn't sleep well last night. I did get pretty awful burn lines. During the beach I started getting stomach pains, and then we went to pick up volunteers Jenny and Jencen who just arrived, and by that time I was having chills as well. Everyone went out to dinner but I wasn't able to go; I took a pill, but my stomach is really upset and now everytime I stand up I feel dizzy and feverish. It was pretty disappointing for me, but I talked to my parents and I am feeling a little better now. I don't usually get homesick very often, as I know I will be back soon enough; I think today is my first real homesick experience!!! Probably has a lot to do with it being my first Christmas away from home. I have to add that up until today, I have never been a dog fan. Everyone is still out at dinner, and Bella (Liz's dog, who usually ignores me knowing I don't like dogs) laid practically on top of me for the past half hour and kept kissing me. At least today has given me a new appreciation for dogs! Anyways, I hope I am feeling better tomorrow... In the meantime, I will leave you with a picture from yesterday. This is Playa Oeste beach where lots of families live (notice Elizabeth's bare feet). Oh wait- two more stories that show why I love Dominicans so much, and how caring they are. I was lying down in the parked car, feeling sick, and 2 little boys that I don't know when to pick some flowers for me. I also called Sonia to wish her a Merry Christmas. Her son Andy had told her I wasn't feeling well, and she told me she was going to come right over to be with me! Of course I convinced her to stay with her family on Christmas! But it made me feel better knowing that she cares and is such a good friend to me.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve! This morning Melissa and I set off to the houses of some of the kids to deliver Christmas presents from their sponsors. We went to Rosemary's house, and Yaneli, Cristina, and Camili (sisters); they all loved their gifts. We stopped in at a few more houses just to say hello. After it was the Girls Club... I love little girls :) they are so much fun. We played and took a gazillion pictures and then did the same as what we did with the boys (talked about what Christmas means, importance of Christmas). After Club, we visited some more. We were in Sonia's house for awhile. Of course she got teary when I gave her her present; everything makes Sonia teary!! The kids were really excited too. For some reason Sonia thought I was going home on Tuesday, and she jumped up and started screaming and spinning me around when I told her I still had awhile to go! Yoandi and some of the kids decided to take me on a walk through Playa Oeste. I am not sure why they decided the garbage/sludge covered areas were the way to go, but that is what we ended up walking through!! Definitely makes me feel for the families who live in those conditions. I could walk past the houses and wash off my feet and be done with it, but for some people, their houses on right on top of this sewage sludge. It is hard to explain, but I will try... The houses are packed close together with little alleywayss between them to get around. The alleyways are either a big mound of garbage, or big puddles of sludge water filled with sewage. You hop from one rock to another (and often slip and get your foot stuck in this water). Definitely shows me what they go through every day. Anyways, hope everyone has a great Christmas tomorrow!

Happiest Place On Earth

2009-12-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

If you were wondering if it has stopped raining... it hasn't. Actually, that's sort of a lie. It poured all day, and seems to have stopped right now as soon as I got home. Great timing, eh? It might be still spitting a little. It has now rained (POURED- FLOODED!) for three days straight... it has GOT to stop tomorrow!!! Melissa and I had plans to go to Arroyo Seco today. I am dying to go back... I miss the kids so much, and Melissa didn't get a chance to go last week, so neither of us have been since June, and no one knows we are coming; it will be a surprise! But because of the rain, we couldn't :( It is a long way on motoconcho, so we can only go on nice days. Melissa wasn't feeling great today and Liz had errands to run, so I went and hung out in Aguas Negras. I had to stop first and drop some stuff off for Hero Holiday. They are working on building a house in Aguas Negras, and today were having a Christmas party for what looked like about 100 little kids. (Rana- if you are reading, I gave your gifts for your sponsor child to Nettie to give to Phil- I couldn't find him, but Nettie said she would pass them on) I stayed to chat a bit; Melissa and I really wanted to go with HH to their day helping in the Sosua Dump, but they are going Saturday, which is our busiest Dove Missions day, so we can't make it. We are going to try to find another time that works though!

After chatting with them I just went and visited a few houses. In the past, aside from in Arroyo Seco, when I went to visit houses it was more like a 'social work' type visit; like, okay I have X amount of houses I need to hit today, let's go spend a few minutes in each. After doing a lot of thinking about the kind of work I want to do here (and the kind of life I want, person I want to be, etc.), I realized that I need to become friends with the Dominicans first; especially given how important that is in their culture. In doing that I can better understand them, their needs, and for me personally it just brings me a lot of happiness as I always have so much fun. Today was no different! I spent hours sitting in houses, chatting, listening to music, watching Hannah Montana with some kids in Spanish, eating arroz y pescado (rice and fish), hugging cute babies, and LAUGHING. Seriously.... I know why Dominican Republic is rated one of the happiest countries in the world. Being here only 2 weeks, I can't start up programs, I can't do anything big like that, but I CAN get to know the people better, and that will lead into lasting friendships and connections. Once again I am reminded of how much more Dominicans can teach me than I can teach them!

Ooh, just looked outside and there is a gorgoeus sunset. What is that saying; yellow at night, sailor's delight??? Hopefully this means no rain tomorrow. Liz just called me outside- there is a beautiful full rainbow as well!! Must be a good sign :) Tomorrow we have the Girls Club from 12-2. Melissa and I are HOPING (again, depending on weather) to deliver Christmas presents to Dove kids whose sponsors mailed me stuff to give them (Yaneli, Cristina, Camili, Rosemary, Loraina, Kathiana, and Lahian). I also have a little something for Sonia and her family. I told Sonia I would come tomorrow to bring it...she called me her Santa Clause! Another great day in my favourite place... despite the rain, I am loving every minute!

Still Pouring

2009-12-22T14:30:00.001-08:00

It is still pouring. It poured all. day. long. I am trying not to let it slow me down! I am only here for 2 weeks and want to enjoy every minute. In the morning before the club, instead of just sitting inside and complaining about the rain, I went to visit Alberto's house. I loooove his family, they are so sweet and good to me.

We had to walk back to the Club after with Edwin and Seliel. Aguas Negras is awful in the rain, so you can imagine how flooded it was today. Not to mention that there is no sewage system, so the water flooding the streets is filthy. Edwin was walking around barefoot. We made it to the Club (with rain jackets that Sara, Alberto's Mom, sent with us) after wading through this sewage water; great! The Club was fun. It is Tuesday, so the boys' turn. Most of the kids showed up. We played with the games that the volunteers brought yesterday, and then talked about Christmas and what we were thankful for, and what would be happening with Dove Missions in the New Year (new programs; music program, computer program, etc.). No pictures today; I will make sure to take some tomorrow! We are not positive yet our plan for tomorrow; depends on if this rain continues! If it doesn't, we will go to Arroyo Seco...

Rain Rain Go Away

2009-12-22T04:45:00.000-08:00

Looks like I have a slim chance of coming home with a tan, if this weather keeps up! It was 29 degrees and sunny when I arrived, but ever since my first night, the rain has not let up. I am not going to let it get in my way though, and plan to do some visiting today. If I were here longer, I would probably just stay inside, but I am only here 2 weeks and every day counts!! This is what one area looked like yesterday...

Orphanage, Hospital, Club

2009-12-21T16:52:00.000-08:00

I had an eventful first full day and I am so happy that this is the way my first full day back went. We had a team coming in to help Dove for the day. I am Dove's Field Director, so when I move in May I will be in charge of taking the volunteers around, so today was almost like a training day for me. The group that came was made up of two families and their kids (ranging from age 8 to 21) and they were really sweet and helpful; they even donated 4 BRAND NEW computers to Dove Missions, which is amazing as we really wanted some to start computer classes.

Alberto and Domingo came with us to help, and we picked the group up and headed to Casa Nazaret, an orphanage for kids with special needs that I have been to before many times with Hero Holiday. I always love going there; it is well taken care of the staff are so sweet. We didn't stay too long, as they were about to start a big Christmas party. One girl, Miguelina, was a sweetheart. She is 14 years old and even attends mainstream school, her smile lights up a room! Her photo is below; her hat had flashing lights and I took a video of her with it flashing, and she laughed and laughed and laughed.

Next we headed to the local hospital. This is where the lower class people go when they are able to afford medical attention. The children's ward was surprisingly empty, but there were lots of new Moms in the maternity ward and we were able to hand out a ton of baby clothes, and supplies for the Moms, which they were really gracious for. The babies in the maternity ward were mostly less than an hour old! The Moms were already getting to go back home. They just can't afford the hospital stay, and in hospitals here, things like food, blankets, etc. are not provided, which is an added difficulty. In the children's ward, there were 5 preemie babies which I loved!!! One of the (many) reasons I love the DR, is I can always have a baby in my arms :)

After that, we headed to the Provocon for lunch and brought along a few street kids (including Jose Manuel), then we headed to the Club. It isn't a Club day, but word spread that we were there and all the kids started coming. We stayed and played for about 2 hours; the kids were so excited with all the games the families brought with them to donate (Monopoly, Old Maid, Trouble, etc.). I loved just hanging out with the kids and catching up. My Spanish has gotten way better and I am loving that I can actually hold a conversation and understand what is being said to me! It was really special to me seeing that all the kids remembered me. I always think the kids will forget, but they never do. It was a fun afternoon; I got about a gazillion flowers given to me (picked/stolen from the neighbour's garden- great!), and probably just as many hugs and kisses. Andy and Yoandi know how special their family is to me, and they call me their sister now. When they see me, they don't call me Nikki, they call me hermana (sister)- cute! Andrieli is more beautiful every day and I just love her to death! She has grown up so much and I have to admit I treat her more like a friend than a little kid, even though she is only 13! She looks about 20- drop dead gorgeous! We stopped in Playa Oeste after to show some houses, and the kids who weren't in the Club (a lot of the girls) were outside playing. I got to hold Anthony, Alani and Lorani's baby brother- precious! He is so much chubbier than in June :)

Sonia and I

Me and my brothers :)

Me and my sister :)

My First Day!

2009-12-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

I am here!!! My flight sucked. I drove to Buffalo and then flew to JFK. Due to snow, my flight was cancelled. I got on a 6am flight to Puerto Plata, which would mean I would arrive at 11:30, right in time for the 12:00 Christmas party. Most of the airport staff told me I was crazy and that I should have drove back home from Buffalo and came back to try again in 2 days. It snowed all night but we were able to get out... 3 hours late. So I made it to the DR and Liz sent Pedro to come get me as she was at the party. To make it worse... my bags were lost. That ended up taking a long and I made the end of the party. (They dropped my bags off at Liz's house today- I was in Melissa's clothes all day!)

It was pretty amazing getting out of Pedro's car. All of the boys had already left the party to go to the Club, but all 30 girls swarmed the car screaming my name and trying to hug me. I couldn't stop laughing, it was adorable. I went one by one and gave each of them a kiss and said "Hi, _____" (with their name)- they were pretty impressed that I remembered all of them!

We then got on the bus and drove all the girls to the Club. Yoandi and Andy and some of the other boys were waiting downstairs in front of the building for me. I was soooo excited to see them. I walked up the stairs and saw Sonia (Yoandi, Andy, and Andrieli's mom). She screamed and lifted me up and squeezed me so tight- it was adorable and made me so happy. She is seriously one of my favourite people in the world; just such an amazing woman and so sweet and so good to me. I feel lucky to call her my friend! I got to see all 80 kids, and Melissa, Cathy, and Liz. All of the Moms were there as well; it couldn't have been a better time for a reunion with everyone right there in the Club.

At that point, Dove had made a big gift bag for each child, and we handed them out as the kids left. Well, more like Melissa, Liz, and Cathy handed them out. I was exhausted and overwhelmed and still busy hugging and kissing every person I could see, and being mobbed my kids who wanted to say hi :) Melissa and I worked so hard to help set this Club up in June, and it has come soooo far since then; it was amazing to me seeing the new building, but more importantly, seeing the happiness on the kids' faces. They were ecstatic and are going to have a memorable Christmas. Sonia told me Yoandi didn't sleep at all the night after the party because he kept looking through everything in his gift bag :)

A funny sidenote... Dominicans are blunt. In a way that you would never see in Canada. When I saw Domingo, he ran over and gave me a hug, looked me up and down, and told me I had gotten fatter. Haha, made me laugh but I haven't let him forget it and make him apologize to me often, hehe. Then Melissa and I went to visit our friend Jorge today. He said hi, how are you, and then told me my boobs have gotten bigger. OH, DOMINICANS!!!!

P.S. No pictures from my first day. I was way too busy reuniting :)

I'm Off!

2009-12-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

I leave soon!! One more exam tomorrow and then I am done and will be going home for a few days until Saturday when I go to the airport. So the next time I post will be from the DR! I arrive at 2am on Sunday morning. Sonia and her kids have called me so many times this past week; it makes me happy knowing they are just as excited to see me as I am to see them! I am also dyyyiiing to see "my" kids in Arroyo. I am going to be busy... most of my time will probably be spent with Dove Missions as we have Clubs three days a week, and I also am going to be getting updates on all 80 kids for their sponsors, and I am also hoping to spend some time with Hero Holiday (I miss everyone!), and 2 organizations that I came across online and have been emailing with; Project Esperanza and Dominican Ministry. And of course visiting Arroyo Seco.

Oh yeesss, I remember the reason I actually started writing this post before I started rambling. Kate. Kate is a friend of mine and is going to the DR right after I leave. She, like me, is passionate about education and she just wrote THIS POST on her blog, which I found really interesting. I am going to be talking to a bunch of different people next week about what I can do, specifically within education, in the DR. I have lots of lesson plan ideas and ways that I can try to make learning fun for the kids. I am thinking of maybe trying to connect with one or two grassroots schools and helping out right in the schools, and/or doing private/small group tutoring and also later on raising money for scholarships to send the kids to high school and university. Lots of ideas running through my head... I am looking forward to getting to the DR and bouncing ideas off other missionaries, parents, teachers, and kids to see where and how I can best help.

Oookay. That is all. I AM OFF! Gotta get back to studying, then will write my exam, finish packing, go to a Christmas party, and then... airport!!
P.S. Just because I think he is the cutest child in the world, the photo is of Jodnel last weekend at my house when my family got together to celebrate Christmas, since I won't be in Canada. Isn't he beautiful?! (His family is from Haiti, and I watch him every Saturday).

Stones Into Schools

2009-12-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

This doesn't directly relate to the DR, but in many ways it does... I just spent awhile browsing in Chapters (much longer than I should have, considering I still have 2 exams left to write next week and I should be studying!) and was VERY VERY excited to see that Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson had just come out. It is the sequel to Three Cups of Tea, which is one of my favourite books ever, and was the subject of a post I wrote on this blog a few months ago. As I write about (often!) lately I have been getting a really strong feeling that education is where I am meant to be working. Up until recently, I have known that humanitarian work is my passion, but didn't really know what role I would have. I am sure of it now; I am going to educate the uneducated. Three Cups of Tea is one of the (many) resources that has inspired me to want to look more into this. My ultimate goal, in the far future, would be to start up my own organization based on Greg Mortenson's; focusing on education, specifically of girls. I am going to force myself to wait until the plane ride to start reading... I am not sure how I am going to manage that as I so badly want to start reading right now!!

I would recommend Three Cups of Tea to anyone, and even though I haven't read it yet, I am pretty sure Stones Into Schools will be just as good!

My Dominican Dreams

2009-12-04T05:24:00.000-08:00

Just a couple weeks to go.... :)

I have been writing on this blog for several years now, since my first Hero Holiday trip in '07. I am going to start fresh with a new blog as soon as this Christmas trip is done. I have been working to get it ready so I can start sending out invites to follow it once I get home. I have LOTS lined up to post about! Every Saturday I will be doing interviews with missionaries and things like that to help us all learn more about humanitarian work. I have been talking to people doing work across the world and have some really interesting interviews ready to post. One in particular in India that I can't wait to share (for a long time my plan was to go to India for a year after I graduated... I do still hope I will get to India one day!) So stay tuned for that. If you are on google reader- add the URL below! But I will be posting at this URL during Christmas. Which I am very excited for. And half packed for already!

http://mydominicandreams.blogspot.com/

Contest For Haiti

2009-11-29T17:53:00.000-08:00

Corey is a women who writes the blog Watching the Waters that I read often. She has kids adopted from Haiti and a passion for helping the people from the country where her kids were born. She is holding a contest to benefit Heartline Ministries, a really amazing program in Haiti. More specifically, it is going towards the Heartline Runners Fund for the ambulance.

You can read THIS POST to read more about why Heartline needs an ambulance.

The contest that Corey is holding has TONS of great prizes, and all the money goes to an amazing cause. Just $5 a ticket.

Read THIS POST to enter!

Judging and Stereotyping: Who I DONT Want To Be

2009-11-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

I think as I research more and talk with more missionaries and read books about human rights, I learn more about the kind of humanitarian I want to be... by learning what I DON'T want to be. This year has been really good for me in terms of learning about the issues and my role in the Dominican, and I feel like I am a lot more prepared and have a really good idea of what I am meant to be doing. I have kind of used this blog to help me brainstorm... for some reason I can think better when I write everything down!

Has anyone ever seen the movie Trade? Well, if you haven't; watch it. It's pretty amazing. It is about human sex trafficking from Mexico to the United States. There is one part in the movie where the 2 girls being trafficked are caught by the police trying to cross the border into the States with the men who have captured them. They are brought to a jailed area to be escorted back to Mexico that day. While there, an American highschool Spanish class comes to do community service work and to practice their spanish. They stare through the gate at the Mexicans, as one would look at animals in a zoo. A student approaches the main character and slips her a fashion magazine through the holes in the fence. Good intentioned, yes... but ridiculously naive at the same time.

Why do I share this scene? Because I have been that highschool student before; I think most people are when they go to a new country and feel out of place, not sure exactly what to do and how to act. I was talking to Liz the other day and she called it a "poor parade" and I think that describes it really well. It is really hard NOT to do at first, and I think it takes time to adjust and become comfortable with the place you are working in. I have also heard the other side of the story; how it looks to the people living in those neighbourhoods. One friend told me that when foreigners come in, he can see on their faces that they all think everyone in the village is 'starving of hunger', has no money to their name, has no family, and nothing to live for, and he hates this because he has so much to live for and while he is poor, his life is filled with happiness, and they don't know anything about him. It is so easy to sterotype them and judge them and look down upon them, but it is so WRONG. Sure, some people living in poverty are dealing drugs, and are into prostitution or gangs, but some people in our own backyards are doing that stuff too! It certainly doesn't mean that EVERY person living in poverty is making bad choices and it just isn't fair to stereotype them or fear them because of it without talking to them and getting to know them and knowing what their lives are about. Like Mother Teresa says,

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

Since I was 17 and started doing humanitarian work, I have worked with probably close to 200 other missionaries; many of these people have judged and stereotyped the people they work with, and I would listen to them talk about it, never quite knowing what to say. I am embarassed to admit that I have done this before myself; thinking one boy I worked with who was out at night was back into prostituting when really that was so far from the truth. Did I talk to him or really know anything about his life and his situation? No, I just assumed from stories I had heard and from stereotypes I had. And it was very wrong. I've seen mothers with darker skin and kids with light skin and just assumed without even knowing them that they are the result of prostitution. I have had Dominican men talk to me and I've been rude to them and brushed them off because I assumed they were "sankeys"; preying on gringas for money or sex. I hate to say that I did this... but at least I can say that I realized my fault and won't do it anymore.

We have a way to find the worst possible situations and apply it to people, and in most cases, it is simply wrong. Is every poor teenage boy in the Dominican selling drugs, using drugs, and sleeping with every girl they see? NO! But so many people think that to be true, without ever having any reasons to back this up other than their poverty. Is every poor Dominican teenaged girl bound to become a prostitute? NO! Should we avoid every poor area because we are scared that it could be dangerous? NO! Can you imagine what the world would have been like if Mother Teresa had never went into the slums of Calcutta because she was scared? Certainly one must exert caution (this is common sense and would apply to anywhere in a country that isn't your own) but to completely avoid the places where poverty is at its worst is not the kind of humanitarian I want to be. I have been warned countless times by people not to go to Haiti because it is too dangerous, but I never felt threatened when I was there and I am looking forward to going back.

I am not any better than the people whom I work with. I am not above them; I am not smarter than them or a better person than them or more valuable in the world than they are. We are all people. They are like my family and I will treat them like so.

Christmas Prep

2009-11-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

Wow... I can't believe how soon I leave! My school's TAs (tutorial assistants) are on strike, so a few of my classes are cancelled, leaving me with most of the afternoon with nothing to do. I took the opportunity to get some things ready for the DR! I took a picture of the vitamins (see earlier post) and then got Xmas presents ready. I have SO many donations that I am not sure I will be able to bring everything. The most important things are 1) vitamins, 2) Christmas presents, and 3) gifts from sponsors for the kids. I can't bring presents for all the kids I love, but I did get a little something special for my 2 favourite families whom I have become especially close to; Daniela's family; Daniela is the mother, and her kids Ariela (19), Frangelis (8), and Dany (5)... and Sonia's family; Andy (13), Andrieli (13), and Yoandi (10). For Frangelis I got a Barbie, underwear, and socks. Dany is getting toy cars. Andy and Yoandi are both getting mini sticks and underwear, and Andrieli is getting underwear, a headband, and a craft. Not much... but something to show them I care. Both mothers are getting framed scrapbook pages that I made, that you can see below.

I also took the time today to put together cards for a TON of DR kids (Christmas cards, with pictures I printed out from last year inside). And then I packed up Christmas gifts for my sponsors kids in Uganda and Ethiopia! For some reason I was in a Christmas-y mood today!

Vitamin Update

2009-11-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

A huge thank you to everyone who donated Shoppers Drug Mart points to launch a Vitamin program for the Dove Missions kids. I now have 7800 vitamins to bring with me this Christmas, and we plan to launch the program the first week of the New Year. With the amount of vitamins we have, there is enough vitamins for half of the kids (so, around 40 kids) to last about 8 months. We have not decided yet if we will decide which gets are included by gender (either all the girls or all the boys) or by age (all the kids 9 and under). It would be AMAZING if we could pull together even more vitamns... enough, eventually so that ALL of the kids can have a vitamin a day.

If you didn't get a chance to donate before, but would still like to, it's not too late! Just go to the Shoppers website and click on Shoppers Optimum, and then Transfer Points (http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/optimum/transfer_points/index.html) you will have to enter in your card information, and then put in my card info. You will need the last 9 digits of my card, which are: 893 742 330

We are going to hold a nutrition class for the mothers before we give out the vitamins. This will teach them the importance of vitamins, and how and why their kids should take them. We will bag the vitamins with 7 per bag, and hand out a bag per child every week. This way, they will be reminded to take them, and we can track that they are taking the vitamins, rather than just handing out whole bottles.

DREAM

2009-10-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

Melissa, Sam & Nicole

2009-10-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

I went to Toronto last Friday to meet up with my "Dominican sisters"! We had such a good time and sat and caught up for almost 8 hours! I met Melissa and Sam there, and then we were also really excited that Nicole could come as well for a few hours. She has made appearances on this blog before as she was my roommate in Hero Holiday 2008, and I first met her in Hero Holiday 2007. It was soooo good to see all three of them and we are going to try to do it again soon. We talked about everything in general, but of course spent a lot of time talking about humanitarian work (not just in the DR- but travel plans, etc.) And we reminisced and laughed about all our funny DR stories. We did lots of talking about what we want to accomplish this Christmas trip, and long term when we go back in May (Melissa and Sam are coming for four months- I am going for who knows how long... a year maybe?) I will post more about the goals later on, closer to my Christmas trip so I can keep them in my head when I am there! But for now, just wanted to share some photos of some of my favourite people! It was so great to see them and chat and catch up- I hadn't seen Sam since the end of May, Melissa since the end of June, and Nicole since August 2008!

Three Cups Of Tea

2009-10-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Right now I am reading a book called "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson, about educating girls in Pakistan. I have read it before, but I am learning more from it now. When I move to the DR in May, my main focus is going to be education. I am willing to spend as much time as I can with the kids... I want them to be excited about learning and I want them to realize the importance of their education, and to go on to teach the next generation.

“Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go to search for work in the cities… But the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they’ve learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls” (Three Cups of Tea)

I also want to slow down my life. I want to ENJOY life more and live in the moment. I spend too much time worrying and stressing.

“Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them” (Three Cups of Tea)

I am going to do just that... I am going to spend more time talking, learning about, and making friends with not only the kids, but their families. It is SO much more important in their culture than it is in my own, and I want to learn from that. So those are my two goals. I have a lot to learn and it is going to be a big change, but I think it is going to teach me sooo much and I have a feeling I will fall even more in love with the DR than I already am :) ... if that is possible!

In the meantime... 2 months until my Christmas trip! Life is busy here with school, working 2 jobs (plus my online business), volunteering, and spending time with friends/family. I am working hard at learning Spanish and feel like I am getting there! It will be a lot easier to learn when I am in the DR and have lots of people to practice on, but for now I am trying!

Shoppers Optimum Points

2009-10-12T17:44:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! I am heading back to the DR this Christmas, and again in May. I am going to want to start a vitamin program for the kids that I work with. Many of them are malnourished and get sick often. Children's vitamins could really help.

I am trying to collect as many Shoppers Optimum points as I can to purchase the vitamins before I leave in December. My goal is to collect enough vitamins to start 5 children on a 6 month program; this will be about 900 vitamins. I will try to bring more in May, to add more kids to the program and to extend it past 6 months.

If you have any Shoppers Optimum points you can donate to this, thank you so much! It is really easy. Just go to the Shoppers website and click on Shoppers Optimum, and then Transfer Points (http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/optimum/transfer_points/index.html) you will have to enter in your card information, and then put in my card info. You will need the last 9 digits of my card, which are: 893 742 330

Thank you SO much to anyone who can donate their points!

*ADDITIONAL INFO: WOW... I am already at 120,000 points- thank you to everyone!! That is almost $200 worth of vitamins!!!! Thank you also to those who posted it on their facebooks... The more points, the more kids we can provide with vitamins!!We are going to hold a nutrition class so the parents know the value of their kids taking the vitamins. We will also moniter it- handing 7 vitamins out weekly. The program should start in January, after I go to the DR and bring all the vitamins. I hope to bring enough for at least the first 6 months of the program.

Angry Boy: A Haitian Adoption Story

2009-10-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

Please go to THIS BLOG and read the post about their son, who was adopted from Haiti. It is a really heartbreaking story. The mother, and writer of the blog, is asking that readers spread the word and post this wherever possible; both to help her find a new home for her son, and to raise awareness about RAD. My heart breaks for the whole family, but in particular for him. I see so many of the kids I have worked with in the DR, Haiti, and Ethiopia, in Angry Boy's eyes. This is reality for SO many kids around the world.

*Update- the post about 'Angry Boy' has been taken down as his parents have found him a new family!

KIVA: Global Lending In the DR

2009-09-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

I love using my blog to spread awareness about awesome organizations. Throughout the year, when I am not travelling, I ususally keep a different blog where a lot of my posts are dedicated to just this. I haven't had the motivation to keep that blog up, since I got home from the DR, which is why I have been posting over here more than usual! That said, I wanted to post about an organization that I LOVE.

It is called Kiva, and it is a micro loaning organization working all over the world. I really believe in giving a hand up, rather than a hand out. After working closely with organizations in the DR and Ethiopia (as well as on message boards for the organizations I sponsor through in Guatemala and Uganda) I can tell you that this is a lot harder than it seems! It is so EASY to spend our money and buy food for a family. It is a lot harder to think of ways so that in the future, they will have this money themselves to feed their families. Kiva does an amazing job of doing just this.

Their website says, "Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need." Simply... you lend money to somone around the world to help expand their business. Eventually, they pay the money back to you and you can either lend it again, or put it back into your pocket!

I put $50 into Kiva about 2 years ago and lent it to a woman in Nigeria to expand her general store. Once she paid me back, I lent that same $50 to a man in Ecuador, and then later, to a group of women in retail in Haiti. Now that the Haitian women have paid me back, today I lent that same $50 to a group of women in the Dominican Republic:

Ramona is the group coordinator of the group Las Rosas (the roses). The group is based in Los Alcarrizos, an industrial town north of Santo Domingo, where running water and electricity utilities are unreliable at best. It is here that she makes her home with her husband and four children in a simple structure comprised of wooden walls and a tin roof, a home she owns but to which she does not have the title. With this loan, Ramona intends to continue expanding her business of selling shoes door to door to various customers in her neighborhood. She has over two years' experience in this business and will use her loan to purchase large quantities of merchandise at better prices. With the profits her business provides, Ramona intends to invest in school supplies for her children and continue investing in her business. Her long-term dream is that her children grow up to be important members of her community. She thanks you all for your support.

Not only does Kiva really show how far a little bit of money can go, but it really focuses on giving a hand UP. The fifty dollars that I initially "donated" has gone to helping four different entreprenurial groups in 4 different countries! And you don't even have to think of it as donating, as you can get the money back and put it right back into your pocket once it is paid back. SO.... go check out the website and make a loan! They also have gift certificates which you can give to friends for gifts (it is the same as giving them money... they just have to do something good with the money before they get it!)

http://www.kiva.org

Luis and Jacoba

2009-09-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

My friend Rana was in the DR and Haiti shortly after I left. She got a chance to spend a day at the Conani orphanage in Santiago for kids with special needs. I LOVE this place and while I visited in both the summers of 2007 and 2008, I did not get a chance to go this year. Seeing Rana's photos really made me miss it, and if I don't get to go during Christmas, since I will only be there 2 weeks, I will most definitely be going to visit in May. I have three favourite kids there; Luis, Jacoba, and Rosie. Rosie is a sweetheart... she is 8 (9 now?) and was left at the orphanage in a garbage bag as an infant. Her smile can light up a room. I didn't see any photos of her, but I did see photos of my two other faves, Jacoba and Luis! Jacoba is the princess of the orphanage- a baby girl with Downs. Luis is an absolutely brillant kid. He can not speak, but he understands absolutely everything and is just so, so smart. He has a really special bond with a teenage boy in the orphanage, and despite their 10 year age difference, you never see them apart!

Here are some photos to share!
2007.... I am holding Rosie and my friend Jon is holding Luis.

2008... Luis and his best bud. Luis alone. Me holding The Princess herself.

2009... Luis (look how big he has gotten!!). Luis and his best buddy, and Rana holding Jacoba.

Melissa and I talked a lot about how we wanted to go back and visit, but it just never happened! After seeing the photos, I really want to go back though and love on the kids!!! The orphanage is run through Conani.

My Friend Sonia

2009-09-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

I sent a map of the world off to Liz for the Club building, as well as a card for her to deliver to Sonia and her family. I can't stress enough how important she and her kids are to me- I think of them all the time. In the card I wrote a little message to each of the kids and to Sonia and told them all how much I miss them and how I always think about them. Liz said Sonia read it out loud and cried. I missed her so much when I heard that! There are a lot of kids in the Dominican Republic that I love and miss and think about, but I think it is different when you get to know an entire family. There is only one other family (Frangelis, her mom Daniela, her brother Dany and sister Ariela) who I have gotten to know as a FAMILY in the same way I have gotten to know Sonia, Andy, Andrieli, and Yoandi. During my 2 weeks in December, and when I move there in May, I am going to make more of an effort to be on "Dominican time"- to visit, to spend time with, and to enjoy the company of each child I meet and their families... not only the Dove Missions kids, but all the people I will work with and get to know. I think it is so important in the Dominican culture, and something I struggled with in the past not being used to it- always wanting to be on the go, always rushing around and doing a million things at once. I didn't make an effort to do that with everyone in the past May and June, but I did make the effort with Sonia's family, just spending time visiting in their house, and I am so happy that happened because the friendship I have built with them is really important to me and is part of the reason I continue being drawn back to the DR, rather than travelling to other countries, and I know Sonia really appreciates knowing all the people who care for her and her family, and who would be there to help if ever need be. It is one thing to go to people living in poverty and give them food, give them shoes, give them clothes, etc. but I think they appreciate friendship and support a million times more. I am really looking forward to my time in December, as I am going to make that my main goal... to better get to know the families and to spend time visiting with them in preparation for May.
The photo below is of the framed pictures in Sonia's house. Melissa and I gave them a photo album of photos when we left, and they took out their favourites and framed them.

100 Years

2009-08-30T16:29:00.001-07:00

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different becauseI was important in the life of a child."

I read this today and wanted to share. Money is often a worry of mine with all the travelling I do, especially now since I will be moving to the DR in May and am not sure how long I will be gone for. I am working 6 days a week to save up, but like most people, money is a worry. Sometimes it is hard to save every penny and I very rarely spend on myself, but this makes me remember just how much it is worth it. When I look back on my own life, I won't remember shopping sprees or all the material things I had, but I WILL remember every moment of my time in the DR, Ethiopia, and Haiti. And maybe, like the quote says, the world will be just a little differnet...

Wideline and Medika Mamba

2009-08-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Two quick things! First, I wanted to post about my friends Christal and Vaden. In 2007 and 2008 I went to the DR for 2 weeks, and then a month, with an AMAZING group called Hero Holiday. They really opened my eyes and they are what got me started on this passion. Christal and Vaden are the co-founders, and are in the process of adopting the beautiful Wideline who lives in one of the villages that we did work in. Christal and Vaden are AMAZING people, so keep them in your thoughts as they finish up the process and can bring Wideline back to Canada with them!
And P.S.- Read Vaden (Earle)'s book, One: A Face Behind the Numbers... it is awesome! You can read Christal's blog HERE.

Next up, I wanted to post these photos. There is an amazing group doing work in Haiti called Real Hope for Haiti. As you know, I am heading to the DR in May and am hoping to make it back to Haiti for a few days or a week, and would love to visit this place. They have a medical clinic, and also a Rescue Center which houses about 60 children who came to them dying of malnutrition. They are raising funds to have a large supply of something called Medika Mamba. It is similar to peanut butter, but created specifically for children who are suffering from malnutrition. The kids eat it several times daily (the amount they eat depends on their size). The photos below, of four boys at the Clinic, show the results. The photos were taken weekly over a span of 5 weeks, and show how the kids were brought back to health because of Medika Mamba. You can donate on THEIR BLOG if you are interested, but I also just wanted to post about it just because it's an amazing blog to read, and it shows the incredible work that is being done in Haiti.

Watch this video to learn more about Medika Mamba:

A Few More Videos

2009-08-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Domingo's niece, Annie, dancing. She is soooo adorable!

This is the house of Erica, a little girl in the program. I loooove her and her little brother Bebo. As you will see, he is about the cutest child in the world... showing off his outhouse for the camera!

And this is the house of another family in our program. It is one that is in the worst conditions. The kids are really withdrawn, but seem to be coming out of their shells more now. The house is filthy. I sat down on a chair and within 15 seconds was covered in bugs.

DOVE's New Blog

2009-08-15T09:07:00.001-07:00

As you know if you read this blog, a lot of the work I do when in the DR is with an awesome organization called DOVE Missions. I love this organization and have fallen in love with the kids it provides services for. I talked to Liz, who lives in DR and runs the program, and I decided to create a blog for DOVE. With the program expanding, we are trying to grow our number of donors, so hopefully this blog helps get the word out about the work DOVE is doing. If you already sponsor a child through DOVE, click your child's name on the sidebar for photos and updates on them! Even if you don't sponsor through DOVE, please add the blog to your google reader or your following list and read more about our work!

http://www.dovemissions.blogspot.com/

157 Days!

2009-07-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well, 157 more days and I will be back in my favourite place on earth! I am going to be in the DR for 2 weeks during Christmas time. In May, I am going to fly down again. I am not sure for how long, but it will be long term- possibly 6 months to a year. I am only going to buy a flight there, and then will see what happens before I decide when I will come back to Canada). Because I will only be there for a short time during Christmas, a lot of that trip will just be helping Liz out with what I can, bringing donations, and re-connecting with all the kids and families I love. Hero Holiday will also be spending Christmas in the DR, so I am hoping to meet up with them a bit. In May, I plan on trying to help out in more ways. Many of the kids we work with have very few opportunities. We teach them some English in the clubs, but with so many kids at different learning levels, it is hard to get in depth. I am hoping to pick a few of the kids who show the most desire to learn English, and work with them in private tutoring sessions. This is what will open doors for them when they are older and looking for jobs- knowing English. I will ask Liz closer to the date which kids she thinks would benefit most from this, but I already have one in mind (Andy). I am thinking something like twice a week for an hour each time, and I will try to bring a snack for them as well. I am really looking forward to this, and also to be in the DR for longer term, so being able to work on projects like this. I get asked often what I need in terms of donations, so the following is what I have come up with so far.

Food… mostly peanut butter (we go through it really quickly in the clubs as we give them peanut butter and bread, and the families would really benefit from having some in their houses as well, as it is good protein and the kids get very little protein), trail mix or mixed nuts, and pasta.
School supplies for tutoring English… full sized notepads, Spanish/English dictionaries (I would love to have one for each of the kids that I will work with), Spanish/English vocab flash cards, simple English reading/writing books, and simple English reading workbooks (kindergarten and grade 1 level, maybe a few in higher levels, but mostly early levels).
And things like children’s vitamins, shoes, gently used clothes, Spanish kids’ books, art supplies, and craft materials are always needed.

So while I still have a while to go before I leave, I thought I would post the above list now, as I am always collecting donations! Until I leave, I am focusing on practicing Spanish… it is a slow process, but I find I can understand quite a bit now! Below are some pictures that have been taken since I left, of the DOVE Missions clubs and families. The families have received their first vouchers for groceries and I am told it went well! My family is sponsoring Loraina and Kathiana’s family, so they, along with the other sponsored families, have gotten their food vouchers (this money is taken straight from the sponsorship fees). Hero Holiday is also in the DR right now, another organization I work with, and I have seen pictures with lots of progress on our projects out there- Cangrejo school is nearly finished and come September, will provide education for Haitian children in Cangrejo village who are not allowed to attend school because they don’t have their papers. I have worked with Hero Holiday during the summers of 2007 and 2008, so it is so hard not being there this year! However, they are going to be there for Christmas as well with a small team, so I can’t wait to meet up with them again!

Jeffrey and Estefania

Dauri and Almondo working on learning hemp braclet making

Little boys' class- Yoandi learning body parts

Big boys' english class

Pool

2009-07-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

Another video! These are the boys on the day we took them to the pool. They were pretty ecstatic about this pool! Of course, as soon as I stopped the video, Seliel and Alberto created their very own Michael Jackson moonwalk/dive into the water, and I missed it!

Girls Club Video

2009-07-11T18:39:00.001-07:00

I am slowly but surely working on getting my videos up on youtube. With Internet that decides to go out every hour or so (thus stopping the uploading of my video), it is taking many tries! But I managed one tonight, and will work on more soon. This is a few weeks ago at the Girls Club. We had made glitter handprints that day for the craft. Most of the girls refused to do any of it on their own... they are like that. They will often say they can't do it, even the oldest girls. They always want someone right beside them, helping them. They are very unused to crafts and doing work independantly. I started the video as we were taking a group photo. Them mobbing me after the photo brings back so many memories, haha. Those girls LOVE hugs!!

Favourite Memories

2009-07-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

I have been working on this list of my favourite memories for awhile now. Some (okay, a lot!) of these will make little or no sense to anyone reading, but I don't ever want to forget any detail so I am writing them all down! Some of these are really good memories, some are funny things that happened, and some are just things that I want to remember about this trip!

-Being able to see Arroyo Seco school completed and filled with students
-Seeing Frangelis again and her running into my arms, so excited to see me
-Chickendie, and all the daily jokes that go along with it, the best probably being Alberto acting out chickendie with Melissa and Sam as the chickens
-Being able to use my donation money to take Yoandi to the hospital for his infected hand, which is now completely healed. Going along with that, seeing the gratitude in his mom, Sonia's, eyes
-Hanging out on the Melacon with the boys- probably the most carefree and fun times I have ever had
-Making fun of the art teacher every time we pass his art center, covered in self portraits of himself
-Motoconchos!! And the trouble that goes along with them... ex. We ask to go to the Melacon and he takes us to a gas station. On the same day, we ask to go to the supermarket and he takes us home!
-Being hissed at by every single Dominican man we pass as we walk down the street. Okay, so this isn't really a 'best memory' and it definitely gets annoying, but it provides us with endless entertainment just waiting to see the things they will come up with! Similarly, me and Melissa "being Dominican" and hissing at people as we drive by to see if they will look.
-Going for ice cream at least once a day... usually one ice cream and one Skim Ice- Skim Ice is only 5 pesos!
-The boys made us these really adorable bracelets. I wear the 2 that Alberto made me every day and love all the thought they put into them
-The boys' obsession with Michael Jackson, and watching them try to BE Michael Jackson. Also, finding a renewed love for Michael Jackson thanks to them!
-The boys arguing over who is the Jefe, and hearing them all call themselves the Jefe
-Going to Yohan's house on his birthday and seeing his mother tear up when we gave her a framed picture of her and Yohan
-Kelvin's mom hugging us and saying 'hello pretty' (in spanish) every time she sees us
-Meeting Lola, the grandmother living alone with her 16 grandchildren, and being reminded of how strong Dominican women are
-Melissa (attempting) to teach me how to cook... step 1) how to peel a potato
-Getting to know the boys, especially Domingo, Alberto, Seliel, Jose, and Junior... they are really amazing kids and friends and I smile just thinking about them. They are definitely people I will never forget
-Seliel calling Melissa mafiosa for 'stealing' his dictionary we gave him (she actually just put it in her purse at the beach so it wouldn't get wet, and forgot to give it back).
-After all the work of planning the new club, getting to see it in action and seeing the happiness in the 50 kids in the club
-On the first day of the new club, having some of the girls bring us fresh cut up fruit with sweet little notes for us written on them
-Watching Melissa tell Hilda that she will be sponsoring her family, and seeing the pure gratitude in Hilda's eyes as she cried and thanked her. She is an amazing woman.
-On our down time, trying to "be Dominican" with Melissa and going people watching on the Malecon!
-Getting tackled to the ground by Chichi after threatening to go talk to the gringa girls they all had crushes on at the beach. And then getting sand thrown in my hair after telling them the girls were too young for them!
-Having a bedroom with a Strawberry Shortcake mural painted on the wall. And then taking a series of photos with it and making our sign for our bedroom and our guestbook!
-Making photo albums for the boys. Bossy as usual, they made a list of other photos they would like printed off asap to add to the albums (on Domingo's list- a picture of Liz and Bella!)! But it was fun looking through the photos of all our memories with them...
-Taking the Arroyo kids to the Rio, and shoving 4-5 of us per motoconcho so we wouldn't have to walk the half hour. They were so excited and asked us every time if we would go with them again.
-Watching Yoandi come out of his shell as I got to know him better. From the shy and scared little boy I first met (while at the hospital with his infected hand) he is now one of the sweetest and happiest kids I know. One time when my family was sitting in his house, he sat on my sister's lap, thinking it was me. He was so embarrased when he realized his mistake, and he buried his head in his mom's shoulder until we left! He is my little buddy :)
-Finding out that the older girls in our club wouldn't eat fruit because their moms told them if they did, their boobs wouldn't grow. Crazy Dominicans!
-Moving into Liz's new apartment, and the amazing people we met because of it. Like the family that lives below, who treat us like their own family, and the family across the street who run the colmado, with Casey, the teenage girl who was always so sweet to us, and the little naked baby!
-THe boys trying to teach us the words to the song El Sol y La Playa by Monkey Black... it didn't go so well, despite their attempts. Pretty funny listening to all of them rap every single word though, complete with gangster poses and hand signs.
-Going to Luperon beach with the boys for my birthday. I couldn't have imagined a better way to spend the day or anyone I would rather spend it with. The best part- my Mom taking everyone banana boating! They were so ecstatic.
-When it came time to leave, seeing the love and support from everyone. It was really touching to see how we had affected their lives. Especially Sonia's family (Yoandi, Andy, and Andrieli)- they are people I will never forget, and whom will be among the first I go visit when I head back to the DR this Christmas.

And even now that I am home...

-For the first week of being back, having some of my favourite Dominican people calling me and texting me to tell me they miss me. And getting to tell them the good news that I will be back for Christmas!

Future Plans

2009-07-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Like I said, I have been thinking a lot since I boarded the plane about when I would be back. I know that for sure I will be back for several months next May. But May is so far away! Not only for myself do I feel like I need to go back once before then, but also for the kids. I need them to know that I am always there for them and that I am not that person who says she will be back and never does. SO... here is my plan. Originally I was going to spend Christmas in Haiti. I am going to cancel that trip and spend two weeks over Christmas in the DR. I just need to start looking for cheap flights, as I have already confirmed with Liz that I can stay in my Strawberry Shortcake room in her house :) Starting on Monday I am going to start working as much as I can to make the money to make this happen. I am going to need to do some fundraising though, as it will be tight. If anyone has any fundraising ideas, please let me know. Flights are expensive at that time of the year, and it will likely be over $1000 for a return flight. I want to get my flight booked soon, so need to get on my money making! Although it is always tight money wise when it comes to these trips, I have learned now that it does always work out. It is just what I am meant to do with my life. Somehow I know things will work out so that I will be able to spend my Christmas on my favourite place on earth. It may be hard work to make it happen, but it will happen! If anyone is interested in supporting the trip, there is a paypal button on the sidebar of my blog. As I always do when I get home, I am feeling really emotional and anxiety is high. Beginning to plan to go back is the only thing that eases this for me... I so badly wish I was there right now. But I am just trying to focus my thoughts on working/fundraising to get there. Over the next few days/weeks I will try to get some more posts up and post some video footage and such.

Last Few Days

2009-07-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I am home now. I have lots to write about my thougts on being home and my future plans, but first I will post about my last few days in the DR.

The last two days were spent with my favourite people! Sunday, we picked the boys up at 11:30 and we all headed to the resort my family was staying at. So there was Liz, me, Melissa, my Mom, my sisters, Alberto, Domingo, Seliel, Jose, Junior, Edwin, and Yordi. We headed to the beach first with huge bags of all the food and drinks we had bought (which they devoured). It wasn't long after we arrived at the beach that they realized the hotel had a huge, gorgoeus pool! The next four hours was spent there- swimming, playing volleyball, watching them do handstand dives into the water, getting attacked by chickendie bites, and just having FUN. You should have seen their reaction when they saw this pool- it was priceless! They did not want to leave!!

The next morning we picked the boys up in the morning and Liz dropped us off at Cabarete beach, about 40 minutes away, past Sosua. It is the more touristy area, known for its kiteboarding, and it's always nice for a change of scenery and to get out of Puerto Plata for something a little different. Transportation is cheap here, so to take us all home on a guagua it was only 40 pesos each, so for all 9 of us (me, Melissa, Alberto, Domingo, Seliel, Jose, Junior, Edwin, and Yordi) it cost 360 pesos (about 11 or 12 dollars Canadian). We brought big coolers of food again (juice, sandwiches, chips, trail mix, crackers, cookies, etc.) and once again they devoured it halfway through the day! We paid to use two lounge chairs in the shade and spent the next EIGHT hours on the beach (me, and espeically Melissa, came home very burnt!!) Even at 5:30 we had to drag the boys off the beach to get into the guagua. They knew it was our last day, and they kept asking questions about it, despite Melissa and I asking repeatedly not to talk about it because we so badly just wanted to forget we were leaving and enjoy our time with them. They know we are coming back though (more on that in my next post!) and seemed to understand. I just hate having to leave. So many people come into their lives, and the lives of all the kids here, and build a relationship with them and then leave with the promise to come back and never do. I so don't want to be that person. But I think they understand... I managed not to cry until we were in the car and had dropped them off, and the goodbye wasn't too bad. But it is hard... those boys so badly want to be educated and want to have fun and get out of their barrio, and I miss that happiness I feel when I am with them.

We had to be at the airport for 12:00 Tuesday morning, so we pushed the boys' club a half hour early so we could make it. The night before we had given Liz a thank you letter and a framed photo we got of the four of us, where we had written BEST MOM EVER on it (we always call her our Dominican mom). We spent the rest of the night finishing up loose ends of sponsorship and things we had to get to Liz, and trying not to think about having to leave! The club Tuesday morning was pretty emotional. Of all the families here, I have gotten closest to Sonia and her kids Yoandi, Andy, and Andrieli. Melissa and I just adore them all and they are so sweet. They all showed up at the club and Sonia and Andrieli were crying by the time we arrived! We managed to get through the class fine, but when it was time for goodbyes and Yoandi and Andy started balling, there was no way I could hold back my tears! Hilda, the teacher of the school we teach the club in, was crying as well and trying to comfort me as I said goodbye to all the kids. She is such a sweet lady. We gave her a thank you card and several spanish kids books for her school. Her granddaughter, Heidy, made us a really sweet card. Andy and Yoandi did as well. On the front of mine, there is a picture of Pooh Bear with his head in his hands. His Mom told me that Yoandi started crying the night before when he was making it, and he said that he was the Pooh Bear and his head was in his hands because he was sad we were leaving. I just had to keep reinforcing to the kids (and to Sonia and Hilda!) that we would be back. They have so few people who support them and it really means more than I knew to them, just to have that friendship and to know that people were working hard for their futures. We said our goodbyes to Liz at the airport, and then goodbye to Melissa as her flight left before mine. I flew from Puerto Plata to Miami, then Miami to Chicago, where I had an overnight layover in the freezing cold airport, and then Chicago to Buffalo, and then drove from Buffalo home. I am exhausted and emotional and already feeling anxiety about fundraising and getting back. Nothing I write can describe the trip though... and the kids, and the families. I hold them in my heart and think about them constantly.

Saturday = Club Day!

2009-06-28T16:03:00.001-07:00

Saturday is our busy day here as we have the boys club at 10 and the girls club at 2. We start out with the boys as they tend to be more work than the girls. They are much more rambunctious! However, the girls can be exhausting too as you will constantly have at least three girls calling your name, and another three wrapped around you wanting a hug! We split the boys into age groups. We took about 10 of the oldest (11, 12, and 13 year olds) and Melissa and I worked on hemp bracelets with them. The pattern we had prepared turned out to be too complicated for most of them and many ended up doing simple beaded bracelets. Interestingly enough, the girls picked it up quite quickly! The little kids painted macaroni in red, blue, and white (the DR colours) and made macaroni necklaces. We have a treasure box with little gifts in it and each class we choose two kids who have stood out for us in terms of good behaviour. Yeuri was chosen for one (second class in a row) for being patient and calm and waiting his turn, and Dauri was chosen for the other for working hard to teach the other kids how to do a bracelet design he knew.

We went to have lunch (and ice cream- we have at least one a day here!) and then picked my family up at their hotel. On the way to the girls club, we passed a woman on the side of the road who was naked except for her shorts which were around her knees. Her teeth were knocked out and she was covered from head to toe in blood- it was clear that she had been brutally beat and violated. A crowd of men had gathered around her (no one helping) and some were even taking pictures. Because of the corruption in the police system here, we knew not to get involved, but Liz called the police and ran a towel over to her so she could wipe off some of the blood and cover up. The police arrived, looked at her, and left (just shows what the police are like here!) but we passed another police car on the way and they said they were going.

The girls club went much more smoothly than the boys! The older girls picked up the hemp pretty easily and the little girls loved the macaroni necklaces. We had Andy and Marcos, two of our boys, come to help teach the girls the hemp, but we turned out not really needing them as the girls picked it up much better than they had! I went home that day with three new necklaces and four new bracelets! It was our last girls club as we leave on Tuesday, and the next girls class isn’t until Thursday. The girls were all really affectionate and it took us awhile to get out the door as we had to exchange about five hugs and kisses with each girl (the class before, I had so many girls swarm me for hugs that I ended up getting trampled and so many stomped on my foot by accident that my entire toe nail fell off- no lie!). We promised several that we would visit them at their houses before we left, but it was still sad to say goodbye! One girl, Elizabeth, is 11 years old and she is one that has captured my heart. She is the sister of Jose Manuel, who I write about often, and their 7 year old sister Raysa is also in the club, and they have a 4 year old brother Riley. They come from a really awful family situation and they show huge signs of neglect and abuse. We are the closest to Jose Manuel, since we know him the best, but over the past few weeks we have been getting to know his sisters, and Elizabeth has really soaked up the love and attention. Every time I hug her, it is painful for me because I know that that is one of the only hugs she gets. I didn’t realize how attached she had gotten to us until her eyes filled up with tears when we told her we were leaving soon. It just makes me more motivated to come back and to be able to be a long term presence in their lives. When I tell some people that I do work in the DR, they give me skeptical looks and ask why- “the DR is rich”, they tell me, “why not go to Africa?” Well, I have been to Africa and yet I am drawn back to the DR. The poverty is different, that is for sure, but there are so many needs here. These kids need love, they need education, they need food and clean water, and a roof over their heads that doesn’t leak every night when it rains. Some, like Elizabeth, just need people to step in and tell her that they love her, when her mother will not. I just keep having to remind myself that it is not goodbye forever, and that I will be back soon…

My Favourite People

2009-06-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

This already gets me teary watching it... SO many amazing memories!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Arroyo Seco

2009-06-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I keep returning to this country is because of the people of Arroyo Seco. I have known them for years and have watched these kids grow up. With all the talking I do about them, my family was excited to go visit! In order to get there, they had to experience a few firsts! We took a guagua, and they learned how Dominicans can shove 20+ people into a 12 seater van. Because we got on the guagua at Playa Dorada, the resort area they are staying in, the driver assumed we are tourists who have never been on a guagua before and tried to rip us off big time- another thing that happens quite often to gringos here! We managed to work it out to pay the usual 30 pesos per person, and we got off at Bella Vista road in the Maranatha area before Sosua. This leads to the part my Mom was dreading- motoconchos! You can either get there for 50 pesos on a motoconcho, or pay 70 bucks American for a driver to take you and sit and wait while you visit. So of course, we take the motos. I went on one with my Mom, Meghan and Kristin went together (it wasn’t their first time, we had taken them on one the day before) and Melissa went alone. They all arrived alive!

As we arrived at the school, we noticed that Servant’s Heart Ministries, run by friends of ours, was there doing a medical clinic, so it was packed busy and there was lots going on. We showed them around the school we had built and they got to meet Donna, who runs Servant’s Heart, and Bernard, a good friend of ours whose house we had worked on building last year. And of course, they got to meet “our” kids! I had told Frangelis’ sister on the phone (when she called to wish me a happy birthday) that we would be coming on Friday, so they were all anticipating our arrival so they could meet my family. We went to Frangelis’ house, her aunt’s house, and the house where her mother, Daniela, works cleaning. We sat there for a half hour or so and Daniela brought us drinks and crackers and cheese, which was really sweet. My Mom had brought a bracelet to give her, and she was really touched and said that the kids always get gifts, but never her! We moved on to our usual benched area down the road in front of Jessica and Tata’s house, and we sat there with the kids for the remainder of the time and coloured and played with the toys that had been donated by a friend of my Mom’s. We had little necklaces for the girls that had hearts hanging on it that were filled with lipgloss. The girls loved them and smeared the bright purple lip gloss all over their lips- it was super adorable! Even the mothers were using this bright purple lip gloss!

Saying goodbye the past two years has always been painful for me, as I love these kids so much. But this time, I had a sort of peace about it, and Melissa felt that as well. There were no tears, no dramatic goodbyes… just a promise that I would see them soon. And they understood- they know now that we will always be back and they trust that we will see them again. So many missionaries have come in and out of their lives very quickly, so I know how important it is to them that we keep coming back and that we sustain our friendships. It was sad to leave and I am going to miss the peacefulness and happiness I feel when I visit Arroyo Seco, but at the same time, I know that when I come back I will be able to experience it all over again just like I do every other year.

Girls Club and "English Class"

2009-06-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

This morning began with a girls’ club. We started with English songs, which none of the girls had learned before. They picked it up very quickly and were really eager to learn their body parts (head, shoulders, feet, knees, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and cheeks) and colours. We moved on to a craft and the girls made butterflies with glitter and markers. They are very self conscious about their abilities. Many of the girls are very behind in school and are not used to working hard and being proud of what they accomplish. I was told time after time by them that they couldn’t do it and they needed help and wanted me to draw their butterfly for them. I would take their hands and we would draw part of it together and then I would try to get them to finish it on their own. They all turned out really cute!

During the club my Mom and sisters had decided that they were going to sponsor a child. There are 29 families in the DOVE Missions girls and boys club, and another 10 on the waiting list. We need sponsors for these kids to get food. The 30 dollars a month will go towards vouchers for their families that they will receive monthly to go to La Sirena to buy food for their family. My Mom and sisters decided to sponsor Loreina and Kathiana, sisters aged 10 and 6. They live with their parents and 4 other siblings (there were 2 other siblings who passed away). Kathiana is the 6 year old who is super sweet and very shy. Loreina is 10 and is a natural leader. She has the most beautiful smile and is very outgoing and was drawn quickly to my family. I took them to visit Loreina’s house and see the conditions that she lives in, so they can see how badly the need is here. Loreina was very excited for us to come see her house, and she was so proud to show us around. I have printed the pictures, like she asked me to, so she can look at them and remember the people in Canada who care for her.

In the afternoon we had “English class” with our older boys- Seliel, Alberto, Jose, Domingo, Junior, and Edwin. I say it with quotations because they very badly wanted to see us, but they figured they would have a better chance of getting to do this if they said they wanted to learn English. We were on to them pretty quickly though, as they asked to meet at Long Beach!! We sat down by the beach and tried for all of two minutes to teach them English. As usual, Seliel was the only one paying attention as the rest of them begged to go swimming! So that was the end of that English class! We were able to teach them a few new words though… like “creeper” as we complained about the Dominican men staring and hissing at us. We ended up walking all the way to Central Park (which took about a gazillion hours) and then treating them all to dinner at the Provocon as it is our favourite place to eat with them, where we share constant chicken die jokes (Alberto was saying he was hungry before he went, so Domingo decided it would be really funny for them to ‘eat’ our arms to relive the hunger… weird boys!). Okay, so a few funny stories. First, all the boys showed up except Chichi, who we had given the guagua money to the day before. We asked the boys where he was and got several different answers (he wasn’t at home when they left, he is on his way but walking, he got hit by a car and died, etc.) As it turned out, he fell asleep on the guagua and went all the way to Playa Dorada before waking up and coming back. He did make it eventually though! We are giving each of the boys photo albums of pictures of the past 2 months for when we go away, and other little gifts. For Seliel, we gave him an English-Spanish dictionary (it was Melissa’s). He is SO smart and is always wanting to learn more… this kid will sit by himself reading the dictionary for an hour while all the other boys swim or play. So we gave him the dictionary but he put it back in Melissa’s bag at the beach so it wouldn’t get wet. We accidently took it home with us, and when we saw him the next morning he pulled Melissa aside with a look on his face like he had something very important to say. “You are mafiosa to me” he told her. When she asked why, he told her it was because we stole his dictionary. If anyone knows Seliel, you would find this very funny! He is just the cutest! There are a ton of other equally hilarious/adorable things that happened, I think I am going to have to write a post devoted to just all the funny things these kids do! This is exactly why I can’t even begin to think about going home (seriously, Melissa and I both are having trouble sleeping from the anxiety of leaving)… I am just SO happy here!

Best Birthday Ever!

2009-06-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well, today is my 20th birthday, and it was pretty much amazing! My day began with a call from Frangelis’ family in Arroyo Seco, wishing me a happy birthday, which I thought was really sweet. My Mom hired a driver for us to take the boys to Luperon beach with her and my sisters. It is a pretty secluded beach about 45 minutes or an hour from our house. We picked my family up at 10 and then the boys (Alberto, Domingo, Seliel, Jose, Junior, Yordi, and Edwin) a little after, and then we headed on our way. When we pulled up at our meeting spot with the guagua, they all started cheering and running to the car- they were over the top excited. When we told them the day before to meet us at 10, Seliel said he was going to be there at 9! An hour long ride would usually be pretty boring, but nothing is boring with these boys, and we just laughed the entire time. Domingo spent the entire ride looking out the window for cows. Every time he would see one, he would yell “Looky! It’s Melissa and her bambinos!” We got to the beach and had a snack first. We had packed about 25 sandwiches, 3 bags of chips, two packages of cookies, several packages of candy, one big juice, and two bottles of pop- it was all gone pretty quickly!

We swam in the water, the boys buried each other in sand, searched for crabs and other things to scare us with, and just had a great time. We laughed SO hard. Melissa even had tan lines on her face from constantly smiling! As we were swimming, the banana boats were passing with people on them. Alberto and Seliel would swim to them each time, hoping to get on, but of course they never could. My Mom decided to treat us all to a banana boat ride, and the boys were so excited. They are always happy and laughing when we take them places and have fun with them, but just to hear their pure joy on these banana boats was probably the best part of the day. Melissa went first with Junior, Jose, Yordi, and Edwin. Of course the little daredevils decided to do it all standing up, and Melissa said Edwin was standing behind her grabbing her by the life jacket the whole time trying to get her to stand too! I went next with Alberto, Domingo, Seliel, and Meghan, and the other boys went in the boat and watched us. It was really fun, and halfway through the boys all decided to dive off. Jose used the opportunity to jump off the boat and hitch a ride back on the banana boat, and the guy running it didn’t notice so he got an extra ride! We spent pretty much all day there, and it was so much fun- a birthday I will never forget with people I will never forget. Alberto made me a necklace for my birthday (with his name on it!) and Domingo got me a little painting with all our names written on the back. I told him I am going to hang it up in my house in Canada next to his picture- he was very proud! I couldn’t have imagined a better way to spend my birthday!

My Family Is Here!

2009-06-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

My family is here! But let me start with yesterday (sorry, have had no Internet which is why I haven’t been posting!) We have put together photo albums for a lot of the kids. We had one special one with tons of photos for Sonia and her kids, Andy, Andrieli, and Yoandi. We stopped by their house yesterday to drop it off, and they were SO excited. The photos were a huge hit and it was really nice to just spend 45 minutes or so sitting in their house and enjoying their company. We are getting a little better at Spanish, and we were able to sit and make conversation- enough to understand what was being said to us! Sonia is so sweet and is always so excited for us to spend time with her. When I told her my family would be coming the next day, she started cheering! She told us that when the kids were opening the gift bag we had handed out the other day, they were screaming and loved everything so much, especially the books and toy cars. Poor Andy had stepped on a nail the other day and his foot is so infected, just like Yoandi’s hand was infected last month. It is so easy to get an infection here, as the place they live is basically a garbage dump. Liz was able to arrange for him to get the medicine that was prescribed to him (but that they didn’t have enough money to fill). It was still looking not so great when we saw him today, but hopefully it kicks in soon and the swelling goes down- he is having a hard time walking and is in a lot of pain. At night we went with Jorge and Liz to a Chinese restaurant. Halfway through our dinner two street boys came in to get out of the rain. Sonny was 9 and Jimmy was only 6. They were both Haitian and work and live on the street. Sonny was the leader, three years older, and he sat down eagerly to offer the food we offered. Jimmy accepted the food as well, although he wouldn’t smile like Sonny would. It hit me really hard seeing them, especially Jimmy at only six years old. To imagine my life at six years old, and then to compare it with Jimmy’s… who has seen so much and gone through such difficult times that he can’t even smile. It is unimaginable.

My Mom and sisters arrived late last night and we picked them up this morning to go to the boys’ club. I was so excited for them to see the conditions of the barrio and meet all of the kids I have talked about so much. They helped to prepare the peanut butter buns and orange juice and watched as we welcomed all the kids in and sang the English songs. We handed out a ton of craft supplies and we all helped the kids to make paper crowns. They got so creative and it was hilarious to watch what they came up with (especially as they were showing off for the new people!!) We had Sauri, who made long “dreads” out of the pipe cleaners and pretended to be Bob Marley. Marco actually glued a piece of paper onto his lip for a mustache! We drove to Sonia’s house after, as we didn’t want Andy to walk home on his sore foot, and we got to show my family around the beach area of Playa Oeste, and see Sonia’s house and meet some of our girls and little boys who were hanging around. I haven’t gotten a lot of time to talk to them about what they thought of it all, but we decided to cut their day there, as most people go into some culture shock seeing all of this stuff. We dropped them off, and then Melissa and I did some prep for my big fiesta tomorrow, and went into Aguas Negras to see the boys and do some paperwork with three mothers, whose boys are joining the new club (Yohan, Yeffri, and Leuri). It was a really good and busy day. I have been talking to my family for so many years about how passionate I am about my work here, and so I am so excited for them to be here and to see and understand what I am talking about.

Club Kick Off!

2009-06-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Today was the day that we kicked off our new boys and girls club, and I don’t think it could have gone any better than it did. We arrived at 10am at Hilda’s school, where we are holding the club until the new building is ready, and all the kids were already there and ready. We had arranged for the boys club to start at 10 and the girls club to start at 2, and for each to run for around two hours. We have about twenty five of each gender, ranging from ages 6 to 13, with a few boys (Almondo and Dauri) who are 14 and who are our leaders. What touched me the most as soon as I saw the boys, and the girls later that afternoon, was that almost every single one of them was wearing clothes that we had given them in their gift bags at the meeting a few days ago. Even the mothers! Sonia (Andy, Andrieli, and Yoandi’s mom) came in the morning wearing one shirt we had given her, and came again in the afternoon wearing a different one! They had on hats we had given them, shoes, socks, and I could even see our underwear sticking out of the backs of their pants! We started by handing out juice and bread, and then we worked on a craft. We painted the hands of all the kids and they put their handprints on a paper. They covered it with glitter and then we wrote on it their names and what they want to be when they grow up. It is funny looking back on some of their answers, and comparing the boys and the girls. For the boys, we had quite a few pilots and fishermen. Coco was wearing a police shirt that I had put in his gift bag, and he said he wanted to be a police man. Anoluis wants to be President! Also in the group we had a chef, several lawyers, and an engineer. The girls just stared at us at first when we asked them. In this country, girls aren’t usually given that option of dreaming about what they want to be… they are trained to find a man to marry and to raise children. Eventually we were able to get some answers out of them, although I do think a few just copied the person before them as they really had no idea what to say! It is funny how feminine the jobs they want to be are; we had several ballerinas, singers, nurses, hairdressers, and estheticians in the group. Meriledi surprised me with wanting to be a computer engineer! Tatiana wants to be a doctor.

Some of the girls had brought several containers of fruit as a thank you for us. We decided it would be put to better use being shared with the kids, so we sat all the girls down and served the bananas, pineapple, and cantaloupe. Some of those girls were just starved; they were literally taking handfuls at a time and shoveling it into their mouths. And here is a kind of weird/funny story… none of the older girls (11, 12, and 13 year olds) would eat the fruit. They said their mothers told them that if they eat fruit then they won’t grow boobs. Hmm… I have no idea where they get this stuff! We finished both clubs with games. For the boys, we all went outside and played basketball. Right next to the school is this big fenced-in basketball court- perfect for games. We had the 6-9 year olds playing on one side, and the 10-14 year olds playing on the other. We played What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf with the girls, and then a massive game of Stella Ella Ola. Those girls are just so sweet, and I literally always have 4 or 5 hanging off me, and another 3 shouting my name. Both clubs went really smoothly, and they were all so excited and can’t wait to come back (they asked if they could come back tomorrow!) Andy is one of the leaders of our boys group (he is 13, turning 14 soon), and has so much potential. This kid is going to be able to go on to do awesome things, if he is given the opportunity (the same with his brother, Yoandi). Andy approached us at the end of class and told us (in Spanish) something along the lines of- on behalf of all the kids and especially all the mothers, we would like to thank you for your work to try to help our futures. Oh my gosh, does it get any better than that?! These kids are just so amazing. It was an awesome kick off to the club, and I am so excited for all the plans we are making for the club to expand and offer even more programs for them in the future.

Okay, and I can't write this blog without telling this story. So, as you know, a few nights ago I stayed up for hours putting together gift bags for the families. We had piles upon piles of donations, including a lot of clothes. We had also moved the day before... a very quick move in which we just ended up throwing a lot of our stuff into random bags, it was very unorganized. Long story short, I gave away Liz's clothes. I know, I know- how stupid!! I am thinking it was just a few things, but today Liz noticed one of her shirts on one of the Moms as she dropped off her son at the club!! She is able to laugh about it, so I am trying not to feel too bad! It is sort of funny though...

Day At The River

2009-06-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Today Melissa and I met Krissie in Arroyo Seco. I cannot rave about this village enough. I know it really must start to sound old, me going on and on about how awesome these families are, but they really are. Frangelis’ mom works cleaning in another house in the village, so she was at work when we arrived. Frangelis brought me to the house to say hello and she invited us to sit down and went and sent the kids to buy drinks for us all… she is really a sweet, sweet person. And she is very excited to meet my Mom and sisters next week! For the past three years she asks me every time I see her how my family is and when they are coming! We sat and played with the kids for awhile, and then they asked to go to the river again. Last time we were here, we had said no, so today when we agreed they started cheering and racing to ask their mothers and get ready. Daniela hadn’t allowed Danny to come last time, but she allowed him to come this time, and I have never seen him so happy. He is very, very shy and when we are in big groups, he usually sits to the side by himself and doesn’t join in. When we are alone in his house, he is a different kid, and I saw that side of him today as he was smiling and laughing and shrieking with the rest of the group. Knowing how long the walk is, we decided to pay some people we know in the village to drive us out to the river on their motos. We packed four to five of us per moto and made our way out! It was quite the squishy ride! The river was so refreshing and we played catch and swam and laughed. Danny sat on the side at first and wouldn’t come in (he doesn’t know how to swim) but eventually Frangelis and I coaxed him in and by the end we couldn’t get him out! We brought little Rogeana as well, who is 2 years old. Our friend Jessica usually babysits her, but Jess was busy today and couldn’t come. We went and introduced ourselves to Rogeana’s mother and asked her if we could take her along to the river. True to the Dominican way, she shrugged, allowed these random gringas to take her 2-year old, and left and went to Sosua. We thought it was pretty funny, and she seemed glad to get some free babysitting! Most of the mothers were a little more involved and told us to make sure to keep an eye on their kids! We had a lot of fun, and took the kids to the colmado after to get a snack and wait for the motos. It was a really fun day and we always come away from that village feeling happy and rejuvenated. The kids just light up when we give them that attention and fun activities, and we love being able to watch them grow and just have fun with them.

Gratitude and Pride

2009-06-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Wow… where to start?! So much has gone on lately. I will start with the reason I haven’t been blogging lately- we moved! Liz’s lease was up and so yesterday we moved with her to a new apartment. It is really adorable… two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a big living room/kitchen area. We do not have Internet yet (I have been dying without it!!). We love the new place though, especially the Strawberry Shortcake mural on our bedroom wall- I am guessing a little girl lived in here before us!

Yesterday was spent in huge preparation. I was up until midnight filling up garbage bags full of donations. We have accepted over 50 boys and girls to be a part of the new club. Since some are siblings, this equals to about 25 families. We have had a ton of donations come in lately (thanks Todd!) and thought that the new club opening would be a great opportunity to give them away. Because Liz can’t get into the new building until next month, we are using Hilda’s school until then to hold the club on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. We had a big meeting today with all the kids and their mothers at Hilda’s school. They all showed up early and were SO excited. I spent until midnight last night stuffing a garbage bag full of donations for each family with clothes, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toys, soap, underwear, etc. We also had either a bed mat or mosquito net for each family. Today at the meeting we arrived and were greeted with much excitement as they were already sitting and waiting for us to go. The kids are so sweet and were all calling our names to get our attention to say hello. Yohani put a container full of fruit together and gave it to me. She wrote on the Styrofoam container (in Spanish)- To Niqui. I hope you like the plate. With a lot of love, From Yohani. I love you a lot. She is so sweet! Her best friend Loraina made one for Liz…. aka Lici. So anyways, Cathy began talking in the meeting and explained what the club is going to be about. We had the kids raise their hands and tell us what some of the club rules should be, and we wrote them on a big piece of paper (things like showing respect, listen to the teacher, don’t push or hit, etc.) At one point, Cathy was talking about how she understands their situations and that the mothers work so hard and do such an amazing job of raising their children. She is a single mother herself, so was explaining that she (like many of them) is also a single mother but because she was born into different circumstances (in Canada) she doesn’t have all the hardships that they do. As she was talking about how amazing they are, she got a little choked up and paused for a moment to collect herself. Jose Antonio’s mother was just beaming with pride, and started clapping, and it turned into the entire room bursting into applause- it was really touching, and as I looked around I could see the pride and happiness in their faces… for once having people who understand and who are recognizing the good they do. Cathy and Liz wanted to explain the food voucher programs (how we will be giving them a food voucher each month) and give out the bags of donations I had put together, so we took all 50 kids into the next room to keep them out of the way so Cathy could speak with only the adults. We had planned to play outside with them on the basketball court, so had brought lots of outdoor toys to entertain them with, but it turned out the court was in use, and we had to entertain fifty children with some markers and little activity books. It started out okay, but after we ran out of markers and papers and the kids started getting antsy, wanting to see what was in their donation bag in the other room, it got difficult! Plus, we had to keep them silent as the mothers were having trouble hearing what Cathy was saying. Imagine trying to keep fifty children (many with a ton of discipline issues) absolutely silent with nothing to entertain them with! It was difficult, but we managed to get through it and the meeting was a huge success. By the time Cathy and Liz were done with the mothers, Melissa and I were definitely breathing huge sighs of relief though, as we weren’t quite sure how we could keep them quiet for much longer!
Melissa and I were standing at the door as the families left, and I have never felt so loved and appreciated as I did in that moment. Cathy had mentioned in the meeting all the work Melissa and I have been doing these past weeks to get the club off the ground, and the mothers were so appreciative. I have mentioned before that this work has been frustrating at times, but seeing the faces today on the mothers and kids made all the hours of typing up applications and organizing files and printing off info and photos worth it. I got hugged and kissed more in those five minutes of them leaving than I do in a month at home. Grandmothers raising their grandchildren came out of the room, their eyes shining with tears, clutching onto my hands and kissing my cheeks over and over again. The little kids were running out of the room, a new stuffed animal atop their head, with bright eyes, raising up their arms for a big hug. And just to make an amazing day even better, we got to spend time with the boys, and just being in their presence is enough to turn any bad day into an amazing one, so getting to see them on an already awesome day was just the icing on the cake. And let me tell you, they are VERY excited for my birthday next week, and they reminded me (about 20 times) that my birthday is on the 24th and that they remembered. Tonight there was a huge thunderstorm and we just sat on the porch watching it and talking about the day’s events. It is moments like those that I witnessed today that remind me how much I love this country and why I love being here and doing this work. But today it wasn’t only the work of Liz, Cathy, Melissa, and I that made this possible. It was the sponsors who are allowing us to provide the families with food vouchers. It was the people who donated the items for us to fill their bags with… Todd, who came a few weeks ago, and whose piles of clothes filled many of the bags. My Nana, who bought me several containers of children’s vitamins. Today, 4 year old Mickey who was born at three quarters of a pound and is still very malnourished and lethargic, was able to get vitamins that hopefully will help him thrive. So many people came together to make this new club happen, and I wish all of them could have seen the looks on the family’s faces today. I know for me, it is something I will remember forever.

The Simple Things

2009-06-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Melissa and I headed out this morning to spend the day in Arroyo Seco. We haven't seen the kids in 2 weeks, and missed them. This village, for both of us, is a very peaceful and happy place. We both felt like we needed a day to unwind with the kids and enjoy the tranquility and the love we feel in this village. The kids came running when they saw us on the motoconchos and we met in front of Jessica and Tata's house. We always try to bring things to entertain them. In the past, we have brought 'sportsy' things, which the boys loved, but most of the girls weren't so into (they are VERY girly!). Today we brought some colouring pages, crayons, and Spanish kids' books, and they were a HUGE hit. Even the mothers were colouring their own pages!! For most of the afternoon, we sat in the shade of a tree outside Tata and Jessica's house and read books with the kids and coloured.... and it was awesome! It really is the simple things here that bring happiness. The kids were so excited, and didn't want us to leave at 3 when we caught a motoconcho to get home (the rain was coming, so we had to!) Arroyo Seco is an amazing community... the parents are very caring and want so much for their kids. It is very secluded, and the problem is, the kids have nothing to do... nothing. Us coming there and entertaining them, if only for a few hours, saves them from that boredom and gives them something to look forward to. They can't go anywhere, they have no toys or things to play with, so they just love us coming in there. And especally because we have known them for years and built relationships with them, it is especially exciting for them... and for us!

Liz Is Home!

2009-06-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

LIZ IS HOME!!! Yay :)

P.S. One week until my Mom and sisters come!

Saturday and Sunday

2009-06-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday:
This afternoon we went to talk to Hilda, a teacher in Playa Oeste. She is allowing us to use her school for the club until our new building is available next month. She is the one who got us in contact with many of our new families, and we went to get a tour of where we will be having the club, and to talk to her about when and what time we can hold it. We settled on a few days a week that will work. We sat down in one of the classrooms and she told us how the school had been broken into the night before and how all the computer monitors had been stolen. Computers are very hard to come by for a little school like this, and likely had been donated by a larger aid organization, so she was very upset. As we went on to discuss the club, she told us more about some of the families we had met, and the lives they lead. Some of the stories are just heartbreaking, and as she confided in us the tears began streaming down her face. The kids come to see her having eaten nothing all day; sick and hungry. She is poor herself and raising her grandchildren, and often uses her last pesos to feed the children of Playa Oeste. They get very little help and she was so grateful for us accepting so many of the kids in Playa Oeste. It took everything in me not to cry as well as she told us these stories. She is a really amazing woman who cares very deeply about the people of her barrio.
Also that afternoon we paid a little visit with some of our older boys, and it was great to see them. We have been really busy this past week getting the new club ready, and I have missed the boys a lot. Almondo tried to play the ‘my birthday is on Monday’ game with us, but we are too quick for them now and didn’t fall for it! In a visit later at his house, his mother told us his birthday is in March and he laughed pretty hard, even though we didn’t fall for it (this time!) He thought he was pretty funny! The boys were asking when we are going to be visiting them again, so hopefully next week when Liz gets back we will get back into the ‘swing of things’. This week has been a lot of preparation and note taking and organizing, but I am ready to get back to seeing the kids and spending time with them. Now that we are in the last stages of getting everything ready, that should be able to happen soon!

Sunday:
Okay, so I am already falling in love with our new girls! They are SO sweet and loving... you should see their faces when we pull up by their houses. And they are so eager for attention. We started a game of Stella Ela Ola to distract them all from following Cathy into a tiny house as she was talking to one of the mothers. They thought it was pretty much the best thing of life... that one game of Stella Ela Ola turned into a hundred more! The plan is that in the future, each of the kids will have a sponsor in the States or Canada, paying $30/month to sponsor the child. This money will go directly towards food for the family. They will get a voucher every month and will be able to go to the supermarcado to get the basics- rice, beans, etc. (we are still talking with the families and trying to figure out what food is most needed). We need pictures of the kids, pictures of their families, of their house, and videos to send their sponsors when we find them sponsors. So today we went to the houses of the kids and took photos and video for this purpose. The families are all so sweet and graciously invited us into their houses to show us around and allow us to take footage. At the bottom of this post I have a bunch of pictures of the different houses we were in today. I have seen some houses in bad condition, but some that we saw today were the worst I have ever seen. It is not that they were dirty, because I could see the mothers tried to take good care of them, but the air in Playa Oeste is just filthy (when I wipe my face after I come home the face pad is brown with dirt) and the flies are everywhere, the sewage is everywhere, etc. Sometimes I would step back from my camera and remember that somebody actually lives here... this is reality for them.

Past Few Days

2009-06-13T05:12:00.000-07:00

The last several days have consisted of meeting with families, taking down their information, taking photos, and lots and lots of typing/organizing. We are finally reaching the end stages of this application process, and I have to admit I am glad- I am looking forward to getting back into being able to spend time with the kids and provide programs for them, but I also understand that this is a necessary step before that can happen. The families we have met with each seem to have their own unique story... one little boy has a father who has been in jail 5 months for a crime that his brother committed. They know this, but will not let him free until the brother comes forward. The little boy has never been to school and we could tell, just in the interview, that he is going to be quite the handful. His name is Jeffrey.

Liz is coming back on Monday, and we hope by then to have finished all the preparation for the new club. Today we are going to check in with some of our older boys and do some home visits for some new kids. Although we aren't getting into the new building for another month, Cathy has a friend (Hilda) in Playa Oeste who is a teacher. She referred many of our new families to us, and she is allowing us to use her building until we can get into the new building to run the club! So if all goes as planned, early next week we will have 40 new children joining the program, and a space big enough to hold everyone! The girls, especially, are already excited, and they do not know yet that we could be starting next week. The older girls (in particular, Lorainia, Natalie, Yennifer, and Johany) are really sweet and in dire need of some attention. They shriek when we come, I constantly have all four of them holding a hand (or a finger!) and they are just SO excited. I was talking to them yesterday and told them how my mom and sisters are coming to visit, and it became the topic of the day as they asked every possible question they could think of about my family (What is your Mom's name? How old is she? When is her birthday? How old are your sisters? What are their names? Are they big or little?) And then I told them that MY birthday is coming up and they spread the word pretty quickly- I must have been asked by 10 kids when my birthday is after that! Speaking of my family coming, Meghan's school (Nelson High School) donated $500 to use for my family to buy things, mostly school supplies, to bring for the kids. Meghan took this picture of what they have bought so far, and they still have $80 or so left to spend!

Interviews

2009-06-10T16:37:00.001-07:00

So before I write about today I want to share a story about my shoes so I don't forget! Today we were in Conani Escuela doing interviews with families for the new club. Before I went to Ethiopia this year I bought a new pair of sandals. They got pretty beat up in Ethiopia and fell apart shortly after I arrived here. I went to La Sirena and bought a new pair of shoes, and let me tell you the shoes there are not that great. Today in the middle of an interview they completely fell apart. I didn't find it that big of a deal and was walking around barefoot, but everyone else found it a big deal! The kids were all crowded around my shoes trying to fix them, and one of the women who works at Conani told me to wait one minute. She went in the other room and got her other pair of sandals. She took off her work shoes and made me put them on and offered to take my sandals to get fixed. I said that was okay and I was just going to go back to La Sirena to buy a new pair, but she insisted that I wear her shoes for a while and not go around barefoot! I was causing quite the scene for awhile as they were all talking amongst themselves about how to fix my shoe! Dominicans are so sweet :)

So anyways, like I said, today we spent all afternoon in Conani Escuela interviewing families. We had done a short paper with several families yesterday and had given them different times throughout the afternoon to meet us at the school to get their photos taken (for future sponsors) and to take down all their family info- a very detailed information sheet we came up with that is several pages long and covers everything we need to know about the child, the family, their education, their health, etc. Some families were early, some were late, and we even had some families show up whom we had not invited, but who had found out through their friends. We interviewed everyone, although there will likely be some whom we don't accept (mostly for the reason that we only want to accept the neediest of families). The kids, the girls especially who have very few opportunities for recreation, were very excited and kept asking when the new club will begin. Because some people didn't come on time and some unexpected families showed up, we had moments where it was a little chaotic! Cathy was able to translate for either Melissa or I for most of the time, and so we split up and each took a family and took down their info. Most of the families had birth certificates for their children, which I was glad to see, although several didn't. Especially for the Playa Oeste families, it was very clear how desperate they were. Most of the parents were single, uneducated mothers without work. One lady was telling me her phone number really fast and I couldn't understand the numbers she was saying, so I asked her to write it down. She was able to get the first three numbers, but kept getting flustered and couldn't figure out how to write down her phone number. She eventually said it out loud to her 11 year old daughter and had her write it. She looked embarrased, so I looked away and pretended I didn't notice. I just hope that this club will help the future generation to be more educated than their parents.

Having worked mostly with boys since I have been here this summer, it was funny getting to know the girls and comparing them to our relationship with the boys. I have met the girls in Playa Oeste often when we do home visits for our boys there, so I have talked to them several times before. But now that Melissa and I are actually getting to know them and everything, they are over the top excited. When they see us, especially Loraina, they shriek and come running for hugs and kisses. They are very, very sweet girls and I am so happy that the club will be expanding to be able to include them, as well as the boys. We went to get some Chinese food after we were done, and just got home a half hour ago, around 7:30. We still have a few more kids to recruit and then we will move on to doing home visits and getting further pictures and video footage and info for their future sponsors. But before we do that, we will have to go through the applications and actually decide which kids will be accepted.

(picture above of Lola and one of her 16 grandchildren whom she cares for)

New Kids

2009-06-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Like I wrote before, with the new location that DOVE is looking into getting, we will be able to accept and provide programs for many more kids than we do now, and will also expand to accepting girls as well as boys. Today we went around Barrio Neuvo and Playa Oeste to recruit new kids, and it was very successful. We used Conani school as our starting point. It is a daycare program for poor families that provides full day, free care for children under 5. Our program is going to be for kids 6+, but many of the kids in their program have older brothers and sisters, so we asked them to select some families that they felt would benefit from the program. They took us around to some houses and we met with kids and families and took down information. One family that stood out, whom we will definitely be accepting, is a family of 17. It is a grandmother, Lola, and her 16 grandchildren ranging from ages 5 to 15. None of the parents live with them and have all dumped their children on the elderly grandmother. She is doing the best she can, but is struggling. Imagine having to feed 16 mouths in a 'normal' family... but now imagine it while living in poverty and while dealing with the issues that come along with aging. I don't know how she does it! As we walked in, we didn't know the family situation. We met the grandmother, who was sitting with three or four kids. Slowly, more and more kids began entering the house and introducing themselves. By the end, eleven or twelve of the sixteen were sitting and staring at us with those big eyes, curious as to why we were there. We had created a rule of only 2 kids per family, but we altered this a bit for this special family and are inviting 6 of the kids (4 boys and 2 girls) to join the new club. The grandmother is meeting with us tomorrow to fill out the application form.

After that, we went into Playa Oeste to Yoandi and Andy's house. Yoandi and Andy are brothers in our program (two of my favourites!) and they live with their sister and their mother Sonia, who is the sweetest woman alive and such an amazing parent. We trusted her to find us some other families in need, and she certainly fulfiled this role. As we approached their house, it was beginning to rain. Yoandi, Andi, Titi, and Yason ran up calling our names with big smiles, soaked in dirty water, as the area outside their houses is pretty much a garbage dump. Cathy explained to Sonia how big the new club was going to be, and how we needed to recruit more kids to fill it up. We asked if she knew of any families who were struggling and who would benefit from the new program. Within fifteen minutes, families were lining up at Sonia's door. We sat inside with our pens and paper and took down information: guardian's name, child's name and age, gender, any siblings, address, phone number, and any special notes (this is where we put some info about their families that we learned- for example one of the girls whose father had killed her mother, another whose little brother, Mickey, was suffering badly from malnutrition and who had been born at less than 1 lb. When the kids heard why we were there, they became so excited and all ran home to bring their mothers. The families were all trying to get into Sonia's house for us to take down their info... it was clear that they were desperate for support. Today we recruited about 25 kids total. We will see if they all show up for their meeting to fill out their application forms. Melissa and I are going to visit each of their houses and take pictures and collect info so that once the new club is started, we can quickly find sponsors for them. Once they have sponsors, we will create vouchers so that every month the family can go to La Sirena (Puerto Plata's Walmart... their pride and joy!) and get rice, beans, and whatever else we decide as an appropriate food to give out. It is all really exciting- getting the beginning stages up and going. I only wish I could be here to see it actually running, but I know I will be back soon enough and by then the program will be going and affecting and supporting so many families in these communities!

In another note, the power went out about a half hour ago. Astrid, Melissa, and I were sitting in the dark and talking, and begging for it to come back on. Finally, it did, and we started cheering. From our family room, we could hear cheers erupting from all down the street!

More On Chickendie!

2009-06-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hahaha. Okay, so I sort of explained about this 'chickendie' joke we have with the boys in another post. This is a video that we took last week of Alberto acting out 'chickendie'. This will probably just seem weird to anyone who watches it, but Melissa and I are killing ourselves laughing every single time we watch it, and we have watched it about a gazillion times! So many good memories... :)

New Recruits

2009-06-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

Today Melissa and I went into Sosua for a bit and headed to walk along the beach and get an ice cream with Ally (Cathy's 6yo daughter) while Cathy had a quick work thing to do. We haven't really been in Sosua since last summer (that is where we have stayed the past few years, up until now) and it brought back a lot of memories! Stores upon stores (all carrying the exact same things!) with the store owners all shouting out- "cheapy cheapy for you, looky looky!"

Not sure if I have mentioned this on the blog yet, but Liz is looking into getting a new location for the boys' club. The building we are in right now is tiny and absolutely boiling. It just doesn't work for the amount of kids we have, and something bigger is needed. Liz found a great (and huge!) place and hopefully will be in by July if all works out as planned. With the club being much bigger, we will be able to provide programs for many more kids, and also offer services such as health classes, sports programs, computers, libraries, vocational training, and much more! It is going to be awesome, and will also be open for girls as well as boys. With this date approaching, we are going tomorrow with Cathy to begin recruiting kids. We are going to Conani school, who provides free, all day schooling for kids in very poor families. They are going to help us get in touch with the most needy families that they work with. We are typing up application forms and want to get all the information from the kids when we do initial home visits- names, family info, financial situations, number of siblings, any personal of family issues that we should be aware of, medical concerns, etc. We are hoping to recruit 25 new girls and 25 new boys. We have been brainstorming a lot and there are going to be a ton of new and positive changes going on that will really help out the communities that we are working in. I am really excited to be a part of getting this new center up and going, so wish me luck that tomorrow goes well and we are able to get in touch with some interested kids!

Below is a picture of the location Liz and Cathy are looking into. It is a fixer uper, but the people who own it have already started on the renovations so we are hopeful that it will be the perfect spot! It is in Barrio Nuevo which is very close to Aguas Negras and Playa Oeste (especially Playa Oeste) where most of our kids are from now.

So tonight Melissa is teaching me how to cook. Yes, I am almost 20 years old and cannot cook myself dinner. I am learning!!! Astrid is dying thinking I am living off peanut butter sandwiches and cereal, so it needs to be done!

Good News and Bad News

2009-06-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

So, I will go with the good news first... MY FAMILY IS COMING TO VISIT ME!!! I am so excited. I have been harassing them with emails all month for them to come. My Dad has work stuff so can't come, but my Mom and sister Meghan will be coming for sure and possibly my other sister Kristin as well if she can get off work. They haven't booked flights yet but hope to come on the 22nd and stay until the 29th (so will be here for my birthday). I have fallen so hard for the Dominican and Haitian people and this amazing country and am SO excited for them to see and understand why I love it so much!

Okay, so now for the bad news... We are going to be taking a little break from the boys' club. Another mission group is coming in and they will be running it for a bit, so for now we will be searching for some other volunteer opportunities in Puerto Plata. If anyone knows of any places around here that need some help, let me know!!

Friday Boys' Club

2009-06-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

This morning we met in Aguas Negras from 10 until about 1:30, hanging out with the boys. For the first half we did a boys club with the big group of them. We had them trace their hands and decorate it and write why they like the boys' club. A lot of them do not know how to write, so just coloured on it. I had made an example, and many who don't know how to write copied it word for word, even putting my name instead of their own. They were pretty well behaved today (Domingo did has some issues directly related to Sam leaving, so we cut him some slack). We did have a few incidents with some of the boys who are regularly causing problems, but for the most part it went smoothly. One boy, Franciel, is causing problem after problem. Today we had to kick him out again for the third class in a row, for beating up the other kids. He left in tears, but we don't know what to do as he is in the club for 5 minutes and other kids are getting hurt. We are going to have Cathy sit down and speak with him tomorrow (if he shows up) and try to get to the bottom of his misbehaving. We thought that kicking him out and him seeing the consequences of his beahviour would make him act better, but it doesn't seem to be working! After the club was over, we hung out with our english class kids for awhile as they didn't want to leave yet. They had no motivation to do english class so we just listened to music and spent some time with them. It doesn't seem like much, but they love doing that and it is much better than them being out on the streets causing trouble. They took almost 200 pictures on my camera today... only about 30 of which were actually worth keeping (ie. not the ones of feet, books, stickers, the floor, hair, etc.) They are so funny about the weirdest things, for example Domingo and Jose spent about a half hour going through our english flash cards to pick out words to use as insults for Melissa... they came up with socks, pig, rat, and frog (among many more). They really think they are the funniest people in the entire world. And that reminds me, one interesting thing I have noticed is their love for their country. I have found in the past here (as well as in Ethiopia) people would always put down their country and say how badly they wish they could go to Canada. That is definitely not these boys!!! They are constantly saying how bad Canada is and how 'Dominican Republic is number one'! One of them (I bet anyone who knows the boys can guess which boy this is!!) was looking at a picture of himself showing off his muscles and doing some gangster pose. He was nodding and smiling and saying "oh yes, I is beautiful, Dominican Republic is number one!". Any guesses as to which boy that was??? If you guessed Alberto, you are correct! Anyways, I have about a million stories I could tell from each day, but I am pretty sure they would only be funny if you know the boys. I will just leave it at they are hilarious and I never stop laughing when I am with them! I am so impressed with them lately... their english is coming along so far (Alberto and Jose in particular often translate for us!), they are beginning to say 'por favor' and 'gracias' without being asked, they aren't fighting as often (this is particularly evident in the older boys), and they are just coming along so far... I am so proud of them!

Macarena

2009-06-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

We have found that music really helps the boys to sit still and calm down. They all LOVE music and dancing. We have started playing some music for them before class, and in this class in particular we put on the macarena, which (as you can see) they love!

Sam's Last Day

2009-06-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

This morning the three of us took a guagua into Cabarete, about 45 minutes away. It is the more touristy city known for its kite boarding, and it has a restaurant called Claro that Melissa and I loved from last summer. We had a delicious breakfast, did some souvenir shopping, had an ice cream, and took the guagua back home just in time to go pick the boys up. Sam goes back to Canada tomorrow so she wanted to spend some time with the boys before leaving. Sam had said goodbye to the little kids yesterday, so we picked up the older ones today (Domingo, Alberto, Junior, Kelvin, Edwin, and Jose)- Seliel was in Santiago visiting his mother and Sam was really upset that she wasn't able to say goodbye to him. Cathy dropped us off at Long Beach and we spent a few hours there having a great time. It was nice to be able to hang out at the beach with the big boys and not having to keep a careful watch on all the little ones who can't swim as well. We just laughed so much... these kids are SO entertaining and they absolutely always keep me laughing. And they get SO excited to spend time with us and have some fun outside of Aguas Negras.

The boys have huge separation anxiety, and especially since we spend so much time with them (we see them almost every day) and have been here for so long, they were getting pretty worried about Sam leaving. Junior kept asking her not to leave and Domingo was taking it the hardest. He left early (we think because he didn't want to say goodbye). As Cathy was driving us home we passed him on the road and picked him up. As we dropped them off and Cathy told the boys to say goodbye, Domingo said he couldn't. They are all so sweet... it is so hard having to leave and Sam is really feeling that tonight. It makes me worried about the time coming when I will have to leave, as many of the boys confirmed with me today that I am not going home yet... so I am trying not to think about that! I wish I could stay here forever...

Chickendie

2009-06-03T15:39:00.000-07:00

Some funny stories...

We have the boys club in a building right near a clinic. Outside the clinic today a woman was handing out brochures about AIDS. She approached Sam, Melissa, and I and began lecturing us on using a condom, in front of 10 6-14 year old boys who thought it was the funniest thing they had ever heard. It was quite the entertainment for them.

We have this ongoing joke with the boys about 'chickendie'. I am going to try to explain it, but it will probably not be funny to anyone else! So a long time ago Liz took the boys to the Provocon for lunch and was trying to explain to them how the chicken they were eating was a chicken that had died, in english. They picked up 'chickendie' (they say it like one word) and think it is the funniest thing ever. Melissa, Sam, and I take the boys to the Provocon often and now they take their chickens and do a little skit and make them dance and have conversations and then 'kill' them. At least a gazillion times a day they bring up 'chickendie'. It has become this huge thing with us and the boys, and today they were pretending we were the chickendies and biting our arms and thinking they were just about the funniest people in the world. The boys wrote us notes, like I said before, that said 'you is my love, yes o no' with checkboxes for us to check off yes or no. We wrote them back 'you is my chickendie, yes o no' so now whenever they try to convince us to be their girlfriends (!) we tell them very sternly- no novia (girlfriend), you is my chickendie.
(picture of Sam and Junior at the Provocon with some chickendies)

Stressful Day!

2009-06-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

Today ended up to be a VERY stressful day, but let me start from the beginning... Liz left yesterday, going back to the States for 2 weeks for her son's graduation (we miss you Liccciii!!) Now that the kids are off school, we decided to run the club on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and do a fun day on Saturdays. This was the first Wednesday trying this out, so we didn't think we would get a huge crowd, but most of the kids ended up showing up! We hadn't prepared a craft, since we didn't think any of the little ones would come, but instead we prepared cards to play charades, and it was a huge hit. Before we came, we made little cards we words in english that we want them to know (ex. smile, beach, dance, phone, sad, happy, dog, etc.) Simple words. We took turns acting them out and the kids would guess, and we would teach them the word in english as they guessed. It was really meant for the older kids who actually know english better, but the little kids were going nuts for it and had such a fun time. Alberto was our jefe and he was so well behaved and helpful and showed each kid how to act out their word and helped translate (his english is getting SO good!). Melissa then took them outside and played Follow the Leader- it was SO cute. They got in line from shortest to tallest and all followed Melissa copying what moves she was doing, it was adorable! After most of the kids left, we took our older boys to hang out on the Melacon for a bit, and that is where the trouble began!

For a while, we had a great time. We were hanging out, laughing, taking pictures, etc. And then this little kid showed up. I have been warned about him before and all the kids pointed him out and said he is 'mafiosa' (literally meaning in the mafia, but they call that to anyone they think is bad). This kid is only 10 or 11 and we have seen him before and he has always been sweet. He is always out shoe shining so in the past we have given him change and food, and in return he always finds flowers for our hair, etc. This has always been when we were alone, and not with the boys. He started following us and we let him join in, but soon he started saying things that I will not post on here about the boys that was really just not appropriate at all (things that an 11 year old should not even know about). They got angry and told him to go away, and we were really careful to make sure they didn't get aggresive with him, as they often do when they get angry. He followed, and started getting mouthy and pushy. Him and Domingo got in a verbal argument after he said something nasty about it, and this little kid went onto the beach and found these huge rocks and began trying to hurl them at Domingo. At that point we had been walking away from him for 10 minutes and he kept following, so we told the boys we were going to leave as we didn't want this kid causing trouble. Someone on the streets came and restrained him and by that point he was going nuts, kicking and screaming and trying to hurl these huge rocks at Domingo. I have been told before that this kid has mental issues, and that was made totally clear today... he was crazy. We took the boys and left, thinking that the person who had restrained him (who had also taken off his belt to threaten him with a beating, which just shows the way things go around here) would keep him back. We walked for a little and started having fun again, and then this kid shows up again, a rock in one hand and a piece of glass in the other. Now, our boys are definitely not angels and I am sure they were saying things to egg him on in Spanish, but I was actually really surprised by the way they were listening to us when we were telling them not to hit him, even though he was swearing at them and threatening them with rocks and glass. He went up to Alberto and began showing up and trying to throw the rocks again. Alberto definitely has his moments where he acts up, but I watched every second as he pushed the kid off and tried to take the rocks out of his hand, not trying to beat the kid up but genuinely trying to stop him. Just as that happened, a police officer came and arrested them both, not listening to a word we were telling him. Oh my gosh, I was so stressed out and so were the boys. It makes me angry just thinking about it because I hate the police here so much- they arrest the street boys here all the time, often for nothing, only to make money off the person who bails them out. Liz has told me countless stories of here bailing the kids out of jail, but to actually see it happening was really hard for me, especially with it being one of the boys I am closest to AND on top of that knowing how hard he was trying to be good today and knowing that he was trying to put a stop to the bratty kid. Thank God for Cathy as we called her and she drove us all over the police station and bailed him out. We waited in the car with the boys for 10 minutes or so as she tried to convince them to let Alberto out. The boys were stressed out as well, especially Domingo, but they were so sweet and kept asking us if we were okay and telling us to smile and everything. But I was SO relieved when Cathy bailed him out. Some people who meet Alberto only see the bad side of him, but he was trying SO hard today and he was doing so good and I just hated for that to happen. To be honest, he seemed pretty unfazed as I know this has happened many times before, but I was just so worried about him. I hate that this country is so corrupt and that that can happen. I hate that the boys have to worry about that and I hate all of the stories the boys told us about getting beaten by the police while we were waiting for Alberto to come out. UGH... just another day as a Dominican street boy, I guess! I can definitely say that we learned a lot watching it unfold and while I wish it had never happened, I know more for the future about how to handle those situations. Tomorrow is Sam's last day before she goes back home, so we are going out for breakfast in the mañana in Cabarete and then spending some time with the boys so Sam can say goodbye.

P.S. No, I do not usually pose for pictures like that first picture... just like to make fun of the boys and their gangster-ness. And that is Alberto in the second picture.

Happy Birthday to Bibi???

2009-06-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

This morning Sam, Melissa, and I went to do the boys' club and Liz stayed back at home as she was expecting one of the sponsors, who had come for a visit with his family. We ran the club, which went well, and came back to the house to meet Todd and his family. They had brought a TON of donations (like, 20 bags full) so we spent an hour or two organizing it all. At 2 we took motos and met them in Aguas Negras. We had an english class and did review of flash cards and played charades and showed the sponsors around. It was a pretty relaxed class and we just had fun, rather than doing any written work in their books. Todd is sponsoring Titi, so Liz took him after to go meet him and his family, and we took the older boys to the Melacon for a bit to hang out. We had fun, although we had to cut it short as the boys had to be back in Aguas Negras for the birthday party for their social worker. Sandra (the community leader/pastor) told us about this and told us they had to be back by 4. The boys think they are so tricky and tried their very hardest to convince us that Sandra actually meant "5... o 6 is okay". We literally had to push them into the guagua to go home as they did not want to leave!

Funny story... the older boys ALWAYS lie about when their birthday is so that we will give them a birthday party. We are onto them now and just ignore them, but last week Bibi, one of the younger kids, told me that today was going to be his birthday. I didn't think much of it, since they do often lie, but today he told me again that it is his birthday, and several of the boys approached each of us and told us it is Bibi's birthday. We went home at lunch and got him a shirt and soccer ball and bought a cake for him and his family, and returned at english class to give it to him. The older boys took us to his house and his mother was there. Like us, they thought it was his birthday, so they told the mother why we were there. His mother looked at us, confused, and told us his birthday is in February. The boys thought that was just about the funniest thing they had ever heard- that one of the boys had actually gotten us! Needless to say, Bibi did NOT get his birthday present and we ate the cake on our own!!

Music Video

2009-05-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this video of show-offy teenage boys making their own music video may not be funny to anyone else, but it is highly entertaining to me so I am posting it! Video by Chichi, music by Alberto, and background kite swirling by Junior. They were very proud of themselves.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Today is Dominican Mother's Day and so we didn't want to interupt the kids spending time with their families, so we did our own thing. I stayed in my pajamas all day, watched The Sound of Music, and ate chocolate icing straight from the package. Yum. Oh yes, a very productive day, haha. Liz is going to the States for a bit, leaving on Tuesday, and Sam is going home on Friday so we are getting everything ready for me and Melissa for when they are gone.

Last Few Days

2009-05-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

Two days ago we spent the day at the beach. We took Ally, Cathy's 6 year old daughter, and had a girls' day! Yesterday we had planned to go into Aguas Negras for a quick visit with the boys. It was a boiling day and it is so hot and sticky and smelly in Aguas Negras, so the boys begged us to take them out for a bit, and of course we agreed! We went to the Melacon (the pathway along the beach) and they entertained us for a few hours. They are always so much fun, and it is nice getting them out of Aguas Negras. The picture is Melissa and Alberto arm wrestling. They love to arm wrestle and show off... I have never met bigger show offs in my life! It is hilarious. Today we had boys' club in the morning, which went well. Tomorrow is Mother's Day here, so we printed off pictures of each of the boys and they used popsicle sticks to make and decorate picture frames to give their mothers. We usually take the boys to the beach on Sundays, but we didn't want to tomorrow since it is Mother's Day, so instead we took them this afternoon. We had some location issues but after awhile, it finally worked out and we were able to have a good time. As we were driving into Aguas Negras to pick them up to go to the beach, all 25 of them were cheering as we pulled up with these huge smiles on their faces. They live only 10 minutes from the beach, but very rarely have the opportunity to leave their sewage filled barrio, so this is a huge treat for them. While I think of it, a few funny things they do... One, they are obsessed with sunburns. A few weeks ago when I had a really bad burn, at any given moment I would have 4 boys crowded around me peeling the skin off my shoulders! Now, Melissa has burnt legs and they are constantly poking her and watching the red skin turn white. Sometimes we poke them to get their attention (or just to bug them!) and they get all defensive and tell us they are not gringos (foreigners), associating the poking with how they poke our burnt skin! We are always teasing them, and it is so funny listening to how they get back at us. They know we have no idea what they are saying if they insult us in spanish (although they often do!) so they try to come up with their best english insults. Here are some we have gotten lately.... You face is a banana! You is a dead cat! You is a chicken die! You is a monkey. I have a problem with you, let's fight on the Melacon. I am number one, you is number twenty. Yes, as you can tell, the insults really hurt our feelings! Haha. They now usually call us a dead cat or something when they want to make us laugh (and it always works!) OH! And I can't forget this funny one... As I mentioned before, the older boys all have crushes on Melissa, Sam and I. At least one a week we get this long love notes from them. The other day we got little tiny ones pushed into our pockets. I opened it a bit later, and it said this- You is my love? Yes o no (with little check boxes for me to check off and return to the love note giver). When Sam was returning her note to Seliel, trying to reason with him and explain why she can definitely not be 'his love', he began working on convincing her... "Sam, I is 16! I am work! You live in my house and I buy you lunch!" It was very hard to hold our laughter until after we had left! They are just the cutest!

Day At The River

2009-05-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

We spent our day in Arroyo Seco, and it was awesome (as usual!). We took a guagua to Maranatha, where we met Krissie, and then took motos into Arroyo (WAY cheaper than hiring a driver!). The kids are coming to the end of school, and have exams, so they had the day off and we got to spend all day with them. I hadn't seen Jessica or Juana yet, because they had been in school each time I had gone, so it was sooo nice to see them again. They were both really excited to see Melissa and I as well. We spent a while just playing outside of Jessica and Tata's house with all the kids- Stella Ella Ola, basketball, etc. After about an hour, the girls asked if we could go to the river. About a half hour walk from Arroyo there is this river where a lot of people do their washing and bathing and swimming. We used to go once in awhile with Hero Holiday, after our work days, but had never gone with the kids. We were a bit hesitant at first, given how far away it is, but I am so glad we agreed to go. It was impossible to say no, as they got SO excited and were chanting and screaming for us to say yes! And as it turned out, just as we were starting on the walk there, Pastor Garcia was leaving with his pick up truck, so all 20 of us crowded into the back of it and he drove us, so we only had to walk one way. There were just under 15 kids, and 4 of us (me, Melissa, Sam, and Krissie), so we had quite the excited crowd! Among other kids, some who came with us were Frangelis, Elise, Dario, Juana, Tata, and Jessica. Frangelis was among the youngest of the kids, and her mother is very protective of her and almost didn't let her go. We had been planning on just taking motos from the river to go home, and have the kids walk home on their own, but we came to the compromise that Frangelis could come if I walked her home after, so that is what we did... much to Frangelis' relief as she started bawling when Daniela said no!

We got to the river and we had a blast. The kids were just over the top excited, and it was really nice for us to be able to do something special with them like that. For years we have been getting to know them and playing with them in the same setting... it was really special to do something different. And the smiles on their faces told me they thought so too. We all jumped in the water and it was so refreshing. We jumped off rocks, swam, and played (with a Skim Ice break in between!) Frangelis was the only one who doesn't know how to swim, so she spent much of the time on my back being carried around. It was just an all around fun day. We have seen the kids grow up with Hero Holiday and they feel the same way about us as we do about them (and I know this by the gazillion times I get told 'te quiero' (I love you) every day with them!) It is just a really special place with really special people, and I know the other girls completely agree.

Ruth And Her Brothers... Plus The Melacon

2009-05-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

We spent our morning with Krissie at Centro de Salud Danica. For those who hadn't read my blog last year, I will explain what this place is about- 2 years ago while I was in the DR with Hero Holiday, a baby girl came into HH's care named Danica. She was just over a year and very malnourished. She died a few days later, even after bringing her to a private hospital and giving her all the care possible... it was too late. This medical clinic was built in her name and is open Mondays and Tuesdays. It is very inexpensive and the medication is given for free. It is right next to a school, Dominican Advance, and is in between the villages Nazareth and Redemption. We met with Donna (who runs the program with her husband Phil, and their organization Servant's Heart Ministries) and she showed us around. Last year, Hero Holiday built a fence around the school (it is necessary that all schools here be fenced in) so it was cool to see HH's work all done and the school in use. Last year I fell in love with a baby girl named Ruth and her 3 brothers. They were all lethargic and malnourished and not being taken care of well at all. This year I was happy to see them doing a little better. Ruth, in particular, looked much healthier. Her brothers still looked quite malnourished. I picked her up right away and couldn't believe it when I heard her talking! She was just a baby last year... she is so big now! Well, not even much bigger, just older! It was funny to hear talking coming out of someone so tiny. She is a little fighter and can hold her own with her brothers... I had brought a photo album for them with pictures from last year. The boys were crowding around their mom to see the pictures and I was holding her. She was slapping them from my arms to get out of the way so she could see too, and babbling angrily! It was really good to see them and know they are okay. And it was awesome to see the clinic in action... they do an AMAZING job of running it and I was really impressed, both with that and the school.

In the afternoon we stopped in Aguas Negras to Yohan's house. We celebrated his birthday at the boys' club on Saturday, but his actual birthday was today. We brought him balloons and a soccer ball and a framed photo of him and his mom. She is so sweet, and teared up when she received it. It was really touching. We wanted to do something special for him, so we decided to take the older boys out for lunch. We rounded up him, Chichi, Alberto, Junior, Edwin, Bibi, and Seliel (Domingo was in school) and hopped on a guagua to have lunch near Central Park. They downed their chicken and fried plantains, and the popsicles we had after, and didn't want to go home yet. Chichi suggested we go to the Melacon, which is a waterfront area right near where we were eating. We ended up having SO much fun! Just as we got there we ran into Tati, Jose Manuel, and Dauri. These are the there boys that are currently causing us a lot of worry! I wrote about Tati yesterday, and have written about Jose Manuel in the past. Dauri is Tati's best friend. They were all out shoe shining... they are not allowed to shoe shine on the Melacon because if the police see them they will arrest them (they do not want tourists to see them, and the Melacon is where the tourists go). We reminded the boys about this, but they didn't seem to care. Tati was causing trouble and complaining about the program and saying he didn't want to be a part of it anymore. He is so negative and has so many issues... he just can't accept having to follow rules and guidelines. Jose Manuel is such a sweetheart though. He brought his shoe shine kit and followed us down the Melacon as we walked. We kept asking him if he wanted to walk with us. He would shake his head no and sit down, and then get up a few minutes later and follow us again. After twenty minutes or so of this, he gave up on this act and joined the group. It was the older boys we were with and I was SO proud of them... they were so good with him. Jose Manuel usually looks absolutely miserable, but today, he laughed... and laughed... and laughed. The boys were play wrestling with him and being really sweet with him- it was great to see, both for Jose Manuel and to see them step up and be good role models for the younger kids (Jose Manuel is only 9... the other kids we were with ranged from 13-17). He is in the yellow shirt in the pictures, and I have never seen him as outgoing as I did today. He is usually quiet and withdrawn. Today he was just lit up. In the picture he rushed to the front and pointed to his muscles and called himself "jefe" so he could be in the center of the picture.. it was adorable. We all had an awesome time. The boys went searching for crabs to scare us with, and we hung out and took pictures and videos and laughed (A LOT!). As we were leaving Melissa, Sam, and I just looked at each other and all agreed it was one of the best days ever. So simple, yet so perfect. It is days like this that remind me that I do not have to be building a school or teaching english or working in an orphanage to be making a difference. Including Jose Manuel in our afternoon and having him not out on the Melacon shoe shining and being chased by the police, but instead, laughing with us, was making a difference. Encouraging the older boys to act as role models for the younger ones... and just putting smiles on their faces after all they have been through is making a difference. Oh, and yes... in the picture to the side Sam is pretending to be shoe shining for the big JEFE himself!! Seriously, I laugh just thinking about Chichi, he is hilarious!

Boys' Meeting

2009-05-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

This morning we had the boys' club and hung out in the barrio for a bit. I am not quite sure the last time I laughed as hard as I did today... the boys were at the top of their game for being hilarious! I was letting them play with my camera and literally had 100 pictures and videos that make me laugh just thinking about them, and one of the boys accidently deleted them all. I was so sad! It was a fun day though. We worked on english for a while with flash cards and word searches, and they are getting really good. A lot of the flash card words they now have down pat. They were on great behavior and we had very few issues. At one point they were all sitting in complete silence working in their books and we just sat there in awe that there were no fights needing to be broken up and no screaming matches and swear words being yelled across the room. We did have issues with one of our boys, Tati. He is 11 years old and we just don't know what to do with him. He is VERY withdrawn and just has so many warning signs that things are going bad in is life. He is tiny and gets picked on and will often skip the club. If he does show up, he rarely participates. The boys were playing around with my camera and he burst into tears because he didn't want to be photographed. He ran away crying, but then came back and just sat in the hall. He seems to only be able to get negative attention and it is all he looks for. His parents are pretty awful and no help at all. It is a different case when the child really wants to participate, but Tati is just so withdrawn... nothing is seeming to work. We have been doing some brainstorming and are hoping to have a turn around with him, but there are just SO many issues there.

At 4:30 we planned a meeting with all 27 boys and their families to go over the new rules of the program, the sponsorship, the boys club, the art class, etc. There had been confusion about who was in the club, how they would benefit, what the rules were, etc. so we needed to clear everything up. To be honest, we were not too optimistic about it. We made flyers for each of the 27 kids invited and passed them out today. It started raining at 4:30, and if you have ever been to the DR you know that when it rains, Dominicans go inside and do nothing until it stops, for fear of getting sick. We were sure no one would show up. Much to our surprise, right on time they all began coming. The boys, their mothers (or, in many cases, guardians like aunts or grandmothers), all with big smiles on their faces and eager to be involved. It was a really great feeling. We had Cathy (as she is the new director of the boys' club and speaks fluent Spanish) explain to the families all the rules. On several occasions, they broke into applause. As she was talking about how dangerous it is for the boys to be out on the streets, all the mothers were nodding with deep understanding. They are so excited to have a safe place for their kids to go, and excited for the program to expand (we are looking into getting this huge office/rec area for DOVE- it is going to be great!). I have met all of the families before, but to see them all together in this setting was really great. It was hilarious watching the older boys, who think they are so cool and are constantly telling me "I am not a baby, I am a man!" being scolded by their mothers- it was so cute, and they were so embarased! But the excitement in the room was impossible to miss and everyone left feeling optimistic. It definitely reminds me that there are so many issues in the world, and it is impossible to help every child. But if we can help these 27 kids... or even just FIVE of those 27, then we have made a difference.

Long Beach Video

2009-05-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Long Beach

2009-05-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

We took some of the boys to the beach two weeks ago and we have all been dying to go back. Last Sunday it rained, so finally this Sunday we were able to take them. We made perfect timing because just as we got home, the thunder started. It was a perfect day out and we had SO much fun. Seriously, some of these boys just looked so happy. We had told the boys about it yesterday and we typed up some permission forms in Spanish, so went to the barrio early to get the parents to sign them. Liz had to stay home to do some work so we got Cathy to drive us in as we were taking her 6 year old daughter, Ally, with us (she is a friend of Liz's who is Canadian but has lived in the DR for 16 years). So Ally went around with us to round up the kids and get the forms signed. Our big bus picked us up at the place we did the boys' club and we loaded all 25 boys on. A few of the younger ones (Yoandi, Titi, and Jason, in particular) did not come last time, and were just over the top excited to be included this time around. Before I even got off the bus they had stripped down to their underwear and bolted to the ocean.

The day was awesome. We did have to cut it a bit short as the rain was coming, but it was still awesome. We brought soccer balls and beach balls and a baseball bat and ball and just played. The younger kids played in the sand and searched for minnows and the older boys swam and played soccer. Very few fights broke out (which is good for them), although they still did have their fair share! We had the older boys (Alberto, Jose, Domingo, Junior, and Seliel) be the 'jefes' and help us with the little ones.... Jason, in particular, is only 6 and can't swim, so we needed some extra eyes! We managed to keep an eye on them all and everything went really smoothly. It was great to see some of them thrive in that setting. Domingo, who I write about often, is usually quite the little drama queen- always causing/being involved in fights, making a huge deal if he doesn't get his way, etc. Yesterday at the end of art class he didn't get his way about something and said he wasn't going to come to the beach anymore. We were laughing this morning when he showed up because we knew he was all talk, but for whatever reason he was on his best behaviour today and was really great with helping us and not causing trouble. Jose Manuel is another who really shined today. He is 9 years old, another I have written about often (he spent a night in jail 2 weeks ago and he and his siblings are being abused and basically living in a hell hole). He did not come to the beach last time as he was shoe shining. Today we went to get him and we were so happy that he came... he is very shy and quiet and sometimes it is difficult to involve him. Not only did he smile a lot but he was very cuddly and sweet and just all around great. It was clear that he is lacking in affection. Throughout the entire day he would cling on to one of us, just needing some love. I am not a huge fan at all of his mother and she is just not fit to be a mother... she is pretty awful. To see him cuddling up with us and soaking in the affection was amazing in one way (to see him smiling and thriving) but also heart breaking, knowing how rarely he feels that. He is an awesome kid... they all are. Every single one of them can be SO frustrating at times and so much trouble, but when you step back and just have fun you really see the amazing sides of them. It becomes very clear to me how much potential each of them have and how all they need is that little bit of assistance and encouragement to get their next generation out of the situation they are living in.

Feliz Cumpleaños

2009-05-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, last night we had baked a cake for Yohan, whose 14th birthday is on Tuesday, to celebrate his birthday today at the boys' club. We started the club as usual... sang some english/spanish songs, and got the boys started on making their craft. As they were in the middle of their craft, we snuck into the other room and put candles on the cake and blew up balloons. I ran down the road to get his family and they came to join us. We brought the cake in and sang happy birthday, in Spanish and then English, and Yohan just looked so happy. We bought trick candles by accident that re-light over and over again after they are blown out, so it was pretty hilarious watching him try to blow out his candles. The boys went nuts for our cake and cupcakes... it was a little wild (to be expected), but a lot of fun. And his mom seemed so grateful. It is nice to give them little special things to brighten their days. And I totally forgot my camera today, which is very unlike me (!) but Melissa got this awesome picture of Yohan blowing out his trick candles!

As usual we had the art class for some of the boys from 2-5. Honestly, it didn't go so well. We were having issues with some of the boys and the art director is pretty awful. Long story short, he told Liz he would offer this class for free, but is now charging her (a lot) and teaches an adult class at the same time so the boys are getting very little direction. He just wants to look good, helping 'poor kids', but doesn't want to actually give anything of himself... very typical. After a long (heated) discussion after the class was done, Liz decided that we won't be bringing the boys there anymore. From now on, we are going to do it separate from this art class and just run our own art class. Melissa and I instantly thought of Bernard as were were brainstorming ideas for this change in the class. He is an amazing Haitian man living nearby who we know through Hero Holiday (we actually helped build him a house last summer while we were here). We called him up and he was really excited to hear from us and came over to the house to visit. It was so great to see him! He showed us pictures of the house (which is AMAZING... it looks awesome!) and invited us to come see it next week. We told him about our problems with the art class and, knowing that he is an artist himself, asked if it would be possible for him to help out. We don't have any details set for sure, but Bernard has done a lot of amazing work with street kids, both Haitian and Dominican, and it looks like he is going to help! It was a really productive day and I feel energized from everything that went on. In between the art class and Bernard coming over, we spent time typing up rules for the boys' club and for the family sponsorship program as we are having a meeting next week with all of the boys and their families to lay down the rules and make everything clear. Tomorrow we are HOPING to do a beach field trip. It has rained just about every day this week, and last Sunday we had to cancel the beach because it was pouring. I am crossing my fingers that tomorrow will be clear!!

Playa Ouesta

2009-05-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

Most of our time is spent in Aguas Negras, and most of our boys live there. We do, however, have a few boys who live outside of Aguas Negras and still come to the club. A few of these boys live in the next village, Playa Ouesta. Today we took Krissie along with us to meet some of the boys. We started in Playa Ouesta, just because we go there less often. The boys were SO excited to see us. They are the youngest of the club and so eager about everything we do. They have seen the older boys bond with us and take us around Aguas Negras, and you could just see the excitement in their faces getting to be the 'jefes' and to be the ones to take us around. Yoandi is the oldest, at 9, and the rest of the boys are 6-8... younger than what the club is usually meant for, but we still accepted them as they are great kids, in a huge amount of need, and very loyal and enthusiastic participants. Everything they do, they do with huge smiles on their faces. At one point, we were walking down the road to Jose Manuel's house. I look at the boys, and about 10 of them aged 6-10 have gathered in a long line trailing behind us, marching, waving their arms in the air, and singing some Spanish song. They are just too cute to resist! I got videos and pictures and info on the three we have chosen to join the family sponsorship program- Yoandi, Titi, and Jason. We went into Aguas Negras next and did some home visits and hung out with the boys. Each one seemed to want us to visit their house today, so we stopped every few minutes to chat with their families. Seliel's grandmother was having a rough day and we gave her some Tylonol to ease her pain. She was very grateful... she is so, so sweet and does such a good job of raising Seliel. She loves when we just come to her tiny house and sit on her bed with her. She will squeeze our hands and rub our arms and just enjoy having someone there to visit her. That is one of the things that is really important about going into the homes and doing home visits and walking around the villages... just getting to know the families better and having them getting to know us- having them know that there are people out there who can support them whenever they need it. We went to the Melacon for lunch and came back here late in the afternoon to bake a cake for Yohan's birthday! He is turning 14 on Tuesday so tomorrow at the boys' club we are having a party! We baked cupcakes and a cake and are going to decorate it as soon as it cools off. We went to visit his mother while he was in school and we told her our plan. She seemed very excited for him to get a party and promised to keep it a secret from him. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day! And we made some plans with Krissie for next week to go visit some of our old Hero Holiday villages, which we are super excited about. I am missing those kids!!

This is Yoandi and his dog, Beauty, who he painted!! It has been looking like this for as long as I have been here!

Videos

2009-05-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

Just a few videos... This first one is of Jose's house. He is totally ignoring me so he didn't have to get on camera. He is the one whose parents both have AIDS. He is completely adorable. Their house is actually nicer than most of the other boys... probably one of the nicest I have seen in Aguas Negras. He has 4 siblings living there with him. The second video is of the girls dancing at the orphanage.

Are Canadian Women Easy?

2009-05-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

So everyday when we go to Aguas Negras there is this guy, maybe a little older than us, who always wants to practice his english on us. Yesterday we were talking and he started asking us what Canadian girls like. In fact, he worded it something like, "Dominican girls are not easy. Are Canadian girls easy?" This, of course, led into a lecture on all the things that Dominican men do wrong. Hissing is one of them. Walking down the street every day we get hissed about about a zillion times. You would think that hissing is a negative thing, but nope- not here. The men let out these loud hisses and then blow kisses or say something like, "You are so beautiful. Marry me. I love you. You are my life." (They start young- you should read the love letters we get from our boys!!) About a zillion times a day. So this guy found it quite hilarious as we did impressions of the Dominican "sankie pankies". Needless to say, we got the point across. Looking shocked, he asked us, "So... what do we do then?" He seemed quite confused when we told him he should just walk up to gringa girls and say "Hello, how are you?" One sankie down, a zillion to go...

Jose, Alberto, Domingo, Seliel

2009-05-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

This morning we spent time in Aguas Negras with the kids. By the end we had a huge game of Stella Ela Ola going, including some of the older men and even a motoconcho driver, hehe! We went to visit some houses and take videos for sponsors. One of the boys had a package from their sponsor we had to deliver (which was a huge hit) and we needed to take photos and videos of a few other kids to update their sponsors. We visited Johan's house, who Melissa and Sam are going to be sponsoring, and his mother told us it is his 14th birthday next week. At the boys club on Saturday we are going to surprise him with a party, so we are baking a cake tomorrow! By the way, I have been getting some emails from a bunch of sponsors who want to know specific info about their child. If you have any specific information you would like to know, or would like photos or videos, please let me know! Or, if you are interested in sponsoring one of the boys, there are some cuties still available!

I write a lot about the boys, so I just wanted to tell you a bit more about some of my favourites. These are the older boys with whom I spend most of my time as they are in the english class. They are all also participating in the art class as a sort of therapy to help them with the issues they are dealing with due to being molested. They are absolutely the sweetest ever.

Jose: Jose, usually called Chichi, is 15 years old. He is hilarious. When he is in the room, everyone is always laughing. His father died of AIDS and now his mother and stepfather are living with AIDS. He has 4 siblings (none of whom are HIV+, thankfully). Last year his uncle got in trouble with the police, and the police came in the middle of the night and shot and killed him inside their house, right in front of Jose. He has a lot of issues to deal with, but you would never know by talking to him. He is always smiling (and has the sweetest smile ever) and is so helpful. He loves to be the jefe (boss) of the boys' club and help us hand everything out and take charge. It is so funny when he walks through the village with us, with his little strut, thinking he is so cool with all these girls following him! It is pretty much impossible not to fall in love with him.

Alberto: Alberto is 17, the oldest in the group. He likes to make this clear by making everyone call him the jefe (boss)... and organizing arm wrestles just to prove that he can win "Alberto is number one"! His father is dead and he lives with his mother, and younger brother and sister (Kaila and Jose- 13 and 6). He is very smart and really good at catching onto english, but is not in school, because it is apparantly "no good". He is a smooth talker and spends a lot of his time plotting about how he can become our boyfriends, haha. But he is an absolute sweetheart and tries so hard to do the right thing and to set an example for the younger ones. He is a complete show off, in a hilarious way, and it takes everything in us not to burst out laughing when he rolls up his sleeves to show off his muscles or walks around the room rapping, looking up every few seconds to make sure everyone is watching. He is just really sweet and so protective. He worked so hard to make us these really awesome bracelets. One has my name, and one says I love you, haha.

Domingo: Domingo is the boy that everyone falls in love with. He was the boy that was most sought after in the pedophilia ring, and it is very apparant that he has a lot of issues left over from it, especially when he gets upset. His vocal cords are affected from huffing his shoe shine polish to get high. Despite this, he is amazing. He is 14 years old and lives with his mother and extended family members. He is a charmer, that is the best word to describe him. He is an absolutely beautiful boy with gorgeous dimples and the sweetest smile. He is attending school, which is great, and works hard in english, although he gets frustrated often. He is a natural leader and when he is upset, the mood of the entire group is brought down, but when he is happy and laughing, everyone near him is happy and laughing as well. He is so strong and resilient. He is the one I probably worry about the most, but also the one who I was quickest to get to know.

Seliel: Seliel is the absolute sweetest boy in the entire world. He lives with his grandmother and supports her by paying for food and rent. He is in school and works so hard. He has so few opportunities, being a Haitian without papers, without much of a family... but he is so smart and works so hard. He really has a huge amount of potential. I think this story describes Seliel so well... Earlier this week it was pouring rain to the point that it was flooding in the streets. One very old woman was trapped in the street with her groceries and could not get through the water to get home. Seliel takes off his shoes, shirt, and shorts (so they don't get wet) so he is running outside in the pouring rain wearing only his boxers to help this woman home. That is just so Seliel. He sets the example for the rest of the boys. He is not a leader in the same way that Domingo is, but he is a quiet leader. And at the same time, he has an awesome sense of humour.

Little Update

2009-05-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in the past few days, but that's because there's not much to tell. We went through a lot emotionally after Haiti and have taken a few low key days to collect ourselves and relax. That was all fine and good, but I am definitely ready to get back to being busy. I am so not the type of person who can spend all day sitting around and relaxing, so it has been killing me! With all that, on top of the rain, we haven't been able to get much done. I am hoping for no more rain for the rest of the week, especially Sunday as we are hoping to take the boys to the beach. This past Sunday we had to cancel and they were so disappointed. Today Liz had some errands to run so Melissa, Sam, and I went to Aguas Negras to try to get a little work done. It is the Dominican Mother's Day coming up, so this weekend in the boys' club we are going to have the boys make a framed photo of themselves to give to their mothers. We went around and took pictures of all the boys to print off for the pictures. We didn't stay too long, as it started raining (as usual) but it was fun for the time we did stay, and we got most of the pictures we needed. Next we are going to work on getting videos and info out to the sponsors, which is going to be my job. I have emailed a few of the sponsors already and just need to work on getting some more videos taken and uploaded of the kids in their homes. Having this communication with the sponsors really connects the sponsor with the child and leaves the child knowing that they have support. So aside that, not a whole lot to tell. Hopefully the rain will go away so the next few days will be a little more eventful! In the meantime, isn't this picture of Jose adorable? He is just about the sweetest ever.

Rainy Day

2009-05-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

Today we had a boys club in the morning and in the afternoon. We made crowns as the craft and worked on english with the older boys. Seliel has been gone for the past week, visiting his mother in Santiago, so we were very excited to see him back. In between the clubs, Liz had to run some errands so we took our english boys (the oldest boys) into town on a guagua for lunch- Domingo, Alberto, Jose, Junior, and Tati (Seliel was at school). In the afternoon Liz had to go talk to the mother of one of the boys, so we ran the club. It started raining so we had a small amount of boys show up. Most of them were our regular older boys who had been with us all day. Shortly it was absolutely pouring rain. The boys had been working all morning on their english so we just hung out a bit, played games, and the boys kept us entertained us- they are hilarious. Always dancing, singing, showing off! It is important to do crafts (to teach patience and imagination) to teach english (to help them learn and work their minds) and to do things like that, but it is also important for them to know they can come to the club to have some fun- to be boys. We had a fun day. After a while we called Liz to see what was going on. She was with Kathy, who is driving and translating for us, and they couldn't get to the place we have the club, the streets were so flood. Seliel ran outside for us to their car to see what was going on. It was quite a hilarious sight as he didn't want to get his clothes wet so he was walking out in the pouring rain only in his boxers, trudging through the water. He came back with the message that they couldn't get their car through and we would have to walk around the corner to get to them. The boys were so sweet and found pieces of plastic and old bags to wrap around our bags so they wouldn't get wet. We went outside and literally waded to the car. It was up to my knees at some point and with the splash and the pouring rain we were all completely soaked. It continued to rain for awhile after and we just heard on the news that parts of Aguas Negras are flooded out. I am worried about the boys as some of their houses are in really bad areas and I am not sure how badly their houses will be affected, but they do go through this often so I am sure they know how to handle it. Some people are waist deep in water, and keep in mind that the streets of Aguas Negras are lined with sewage, so this is filthy water.
Below is a photo update of Yoandi. If you remember, we took him to the hospital on my first day here for a bad hand infection. The hospital stay was paid for with money donated from Blogs for a Cause that I had brought, as his mother had brought him a few days earlier but couldn't pay for him. Isn't he looking great?! He is the sweetest boy and always SO happy and SO excited about everything we do. He comes to class and gives us huge hugs with the biggest grin on his face, he is such a sweetheart.

Video: Mother Theresa's

2009-05-18T05:03:00.001-07:00

If you never watch any video that I post, make this the only one you watch. This is Mother Theresa's hospital/orphanage. These children have stolen my heart and I will NEVER forget their faces, their cries, and their pain.

Cite Soleil

2009-05-17T04:36:00.000-07:00

The morning of our last day in Haiti we headed into Cite Soleil, the largest slum in the Western hemisphere. We went along with a water truck ministry. This ministry delivers clean water 6 days a week to differing areas of Cite Soleil that reaches 2800 families per day. When we arrived the line up had already begun; a neverending line, or so it seemed, of men, women, and children with big plastic buckets waiting to be filled with water. The children were in tatters, runny noses with scars lining their arms and legs. Some laughed as we blew them kisses, other just held out their hands and asked for money. We got straight to work and pulled a long hose from the water truck. It was heavy as the water gushed out. Oner person would hold it and one or two others would keep the buckets moving as they passed under the hose. At first impression I was surprised with the organization of it all. I have been in positions before when handing out things in barrios where it becomes mass chaos. This was not the case at all... it was very organized and everyone knew their roles and what was going on. I did not feel threatened, as many people made it seem like I would. There was a slight feel of uneasiness at first, but it faded quickly. It was difficult to see the dire state of poverty in Cite Soleil. I have seen very poor areas before, but this one had a sense of desperation more powerful than what I was used to. It is very grey and dreary and everything is made of cement. Almost every wall was covered in bullet holes as we entered.

I am really glad I got to experience just a tiny bit of that ministry. Haiti is so different from the DR in many ways, but I find myself falling in love with it in a different way. This trip was so amazing to me to be an introduction to Haiti. It will make me much more aware when I return for 2 weeks this Christmas.

Mother Theresa's Orphanage

2009-05-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

We spent both afternoons as Mother Theresa's Orphanage and hospital for dying babies and children. It was extremely intense and overwhelming and as I walked in and picked up the first child I saw, my eyes welled up with tears. The building is huge and seemed to have room after room of tiny, sick, wailing babies. Many were orphans, many were not. Some had parents who could visit them and had plans to take them back home after they returned to good health, and others did not. There had to be at least 200 babies and children there. It is almost impossible to describe.

When I first walked in I saw 4 rooms filled with babies to my left and my right. Down a long hall, I could see the older kids' room and sitting by himself against the wall was Frankel. Six years old and weighing next to nothing, I could feel each rib through his hospital gown and as I rubbed his head his hair felt like straw. His eyes were sunken in and his teeth rotted and black. I stood there for a moment just taking it in... thinking how horrific it is for a 6 year old boy to get to this point, and then he raised his frail arms up and I just held him and rocked him back and forth and kissed his cheeks. I walked through the baby rooms and helped feed them and bathe them. They don't have enough money for diapers, so they wear pieces of cloth, or nothing, and get changed when someone notices they are wet. Many fo the babies were so sick they wouldn't eat... others would scream when you put them back in their cribs, and still others did not even have the energy even to cry. I held baby Daina- 14 months old and smaller than I was at birth. She drifted in and out of sleep; too lethargic to even lift her head, covered only by a few puffs of hair as the rest had fallen out. I feel like I am changed from being able to see these kids and see the results of what they have been through. I can't put to words what this place is like, but just imagine staring in the eyes of baby after baby, all crying and hungry and wet, and the feeling of utter helplessness- like nothing you do will reverse the paths their lives have taken. Some of them, only a year or two old, just look so haunted. They average losing one baby a day- A DAY! All because of lack of food. The babies sit alone in their cribs for hours and you can see in their eyes their pain and misery. It is something I am positive I will never forget as long as I live.
P.S. I am reading over this post and am unhappy with it. It really does not even do justice what this orphanage is about. I just don't know how to describe it. I will post videos as soon as I get them up on youtube, and that might help to describe it.

Gertrude's Orphanage

2009-05-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

I wrote this in my journal after the morning of our first day in Haiti-

I am here in Haiti! We left at 6am yesterday on Caribe Tours- Puerto Plata to Santo Domingo and Santo Domingo to Port au Prince. The ride was long (left at 6am and arrived around 6pm) but I slept through a lot of it. It was very surreal to be crossing the border into Haiti with Wyclef Jean playing and finally getting to see the country I have read and heard so much about. At first glance I was surprised. I had been told that Haiti is very grey and deforested, so the amount of trees was not something I was expecting- it is very beautiful. As we got into PAP I saw the garbage lined streets, etc. Our driver picked us up and brought us to our Providence Guest House, and it is beautiful. It is in Delmas and run by a Haitian woman named Gertrude and her 10 year old daughter Rosie. They are so welcoming and the guest house is gorgeous- much more than we had expected. It cost us $35/day which included breakfasts and dinners and transportation.

Gertrude runs an orphanage with we visited this morning. It has 34 children all together, about half of whom have special needs. They are all in the same building but mostly kept separated, although they do get playtime together. The kids are so sweet and very eager for attention. The youngest was maybe a year and a half and for the most part the kids were quite young. The staff was really sweet and took good care of the kids, but as in all orphanages, the kids don't get the attention and love they need. It is too hard with so many children. Our shorts all stunk of urine after we left because so many kids had been sitting in the clothes they had peed in and we would pick them up or hold them without knowing. Lovelie and Kathie were among the oldest (maybe 6 and 7 years old) and they were very motherly towards the babies and carried them everywhere. I guess in this type of setting they really take on motherly roles. The children with special needs were beautiful and had the most amazing smiles. Gabrielle, a 4 year old with Downs Syndrome, is such a sweetheart and clung to each of us as we held her, crying if she needed to be put down. There were 3 sweet baby girls. They were tiny, but able to walk, so I think they were older than they appeared. They were all very lethargic. For the most part, they seemed well taken care of, and most importantly, happy. Gertrude is so admirable; the way she is taking on so much and giving so selflessly.

Back From Haiti!

2009-05-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

We JUST got in the door from Haiti and it was INDESCRIBABLE!!! So much to write and so many pictures to post, but I am absolutely exhausted so it will have to wait. For now, I will write quickly about our travel day today. Caribe Tour bus from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo, then Santo Domingo to Puerto Plata... travelling from 8am to 11pm. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong! Imagine just narrowly making the bus (if we had been one minute later, the bus would have left without us and we would have had to wait until the next day). Then, 50 seats and 53 people... of course, it was us who got on last, being late, and we had to squeeze 3 of us (me, Mel, and Sam) into two seats. It gets worse... Liz was in Melissa's position at first and stood up and got the door slammed on her finger and it might be broken. Some Dominican guy sitting on the floor decided that we were his personal babysitters and stuck his daughter on our laps who then spilled skim ice all over us. Big huge beatles were crawling by our feet for the 8 hour bus ride from PAP to Santo Domingo and by the end we were just laughing hysterically because we were tired of complaining and just needed to laugh at it! We are finally home now and exhausted, but have some amazing stories to tell. The below pictures are just a few of the many we took to entertain us during the LoooooooooNg ride.

Photos

2009-05-12T21:02:00.000-07:00

By now I am in Haiti! Here are some pictures of the past week!

Random Thoughts

2009-05-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Today was a good, but slightly stressful day. On Mondays we run two boys clubs, one at 10am and one at 2pm so that all kids can go (if they go to school in the morning, they come to the club in the afternoon). Five of the boys who I am closest to had to go to testify (again) against the English man who ran the pedophilia ring they became involved with. I was really stressed out and nervous for them and could see how uneasy they were. It is just so hard for me to take in all they have been through. I have worked with many kids living in poverty, but never with kids who have been through SO much, and who are striving and amazing and sweet. I know I say that every single post I write, but I just fall more in love with them every day. The boys got dressed to go to testify and we said goodbye to them and it was weighing really heavily on my mind after, thinking of them having to relive everything they went through. Alberto tried to call me after it was over (I was at the bank so Liz just told him I wasn't there) so I didn't get to talk to him (not sure how far that would go anyways, as my Spanish is awful!) but I was glad that he called anyways just so I could know it was over and they were on their way home. The boys had a great time in our english class today. The kids worked on making a calendar craft and Melissa and I worked on english with Seliel, Alberto, Domingo, Junior, Johan, and Chichi. They seem to be able to turn everything into fun. Liz walked in when we were playing a flash card english game and she said it was so good to see the boys laughing so much to get their minds off of them having to testify that afternoon. Another funny story (they give me many to work with!)- they have this thing where they write our names all over their papers. Domingo wrote Sam's name at the top of his paper when we were doing english. Many of the boys cannot read well or at all, and do a lot of copying. I looked around the table 5 minutes later to see 5 boys with 'Sam' as the title of their papers!

In other news... I AM GOING TO HAITI TOMORROW!!! Liz, Melissa, Sam, and I are leaving at 6am on Caribe Tours- first to Santo Domingo and then to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I haven't posted about it yet because things were very up in the air. It is hard to find details about prices and things like that online so we really only confirmed two days ago that we were going to go for sure. We are still not positive exactly how much it will cost us, but after a lot of phone calls we have a good idea. We are going to be gone Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Most of Tuesday and Friday will be travelling though. I am not going to be taking my computer, so will likely not be posting until I get home. We are super excited and have lots of plans doing a dump ministry in Cite Soleil, and Mother Theresa Orphanage. I am going to be spending 2 weeks in Haiti over Christmas with Alex, so am looking forward to getting a little taste of the country before I spend a longer amount of time there.

And, speaking of 'longer amounts of time', that is something that has also been on my mind. I am thinking about changing my flights to stay here longer. Long story short, I got nervous about money and a month before I came here I paid $200 to switch my flight home so I would only stay one month (I was planning on two). Now, I SO REGRET THAT!! Stupid, stupid, stupid. I had no idea what an amazing time I would be having. Seriously, I am loving it here. I get so upset just thinking about leaving and I really badly want to stay longer. BUT... that would be a $400 mistake. I already paid $200 to switch my flights once and would have to pay another $200 to switch it again. Everyone here (Liz, Astrid, Melissa, and Sam) are saying yes- stay!! The money will come, it always works out. My parents are saying no, it would be not smart to waste my money like that. I am going to call Alex tonight... I just don't know what to do! I am going to think it over some before I make a decision. I know what I really want, and that is to stay, but the money thing is really holding me back. It would be total just under $450 extra between the flight and my stay here at Liz's house. I am torn!! Someone please tell me what to do, haha!!

So those are the updates for today. I have been doing a lot of thinking between the boys, Haiti, and my length of stay here, and still have a lot more to do... ADVICE NEEDED!!!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

First of all, a happy mother's day to my Mom! Love you and miss you! This evening Sam, Mel, and I cooked dinner for our 'temporary mothers', Liz and Astrid. I am not much of a cook (Sam and Melissa definitely ARE), so I was mostly hired as the dishwasher and pasta stir-er :) Our friend Beth was over for dinner as well, and we had a great time. In the first picture is Liz, Melissa, and Sam, and in the second is Astrid, me, and Beth. In a really funny sidenote, just as we were preparing for dinner we looked out the window and saw three of their boys circling our road on their bikes- Alberto, Domingo, and Seliel. They are the sweetest boys and were all dressed up in their very nicest clothes with huge clumps of gel in their hair. It was hilarious. Liz sent them away after we all said hi (which I am sure they were disappointed about, although necessary as she can't have the boys showing up at her house all the time) but it was sooo funny how cute they are, all in their nicest clothes and 'ready to impress'. I wish that everyone reading could meet these kids.... they are the sweetest, most amazing boys ever. It is going to be so hard to leave (still a while away... I am not even going to think about that yet!)

Beach With The Boys

2009-05-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

I am still smiling after our fun filled day with the boys. We rented a big bus and picked up 22 boys from the program in their village, and brought them to Long Beach, the public beach here in Puerto Plata. Were the ever excited! We didn’t have much structure and decided to just go with the flow and give them a really fun afternoon. This is a time that many go to shine shoes or make money in other ways, so we just wanted to keep them off the streets and give them some laughs. We un-piled from the huge bus and they just ran and jumped and laughed along the beach. We had brought 2 soccer balls and played soccer for awhile until we were all sweating and exhausted. We jumped into the beach in our clothes and swam for awhile, and then played some more soccer. By the end we were covered in sand and exhausted, but we had such a fun time. It was nice to see the boys just be able to be boys, and I seriously cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard. They are just an amazing group of kids… I wish everyone could meet these boys and fall in love with them and their stories and want to help to prevent other boys having to go through what they have.

Sex Tourism

2009-05-09T16:17:00.001-07:00

Because most of the boys I work with are victims of child prostitution, I wanted to explain more about this. I found this research paper on child prostitution and sex tourism in the DR. It is really long, so I have posted a few highlights below. If you are interested, you can read the full paper HERE.

Prostitution is illegal in the Dominican Republic and the age of sexual consent is 18, but child prostitution is a visible and growing phenomenon. The UNICEF report on the problem estimates that there are now at least 25,000 children involved in the sex trade in the Dominican Republic, of whom 63% are girls (UNICEF, 1994).

It is probably the case that, like their male counterparts, women sex tourists are predominantly interested in Dominican males between the ages of 16 and 25 but we ourselves were approached at about 2 o'clock one morning by two very young boys. One claimed to be 12, the other 13, but both looked younger than this.
They made fairly explicit sexual advances (attempting to touch and kiss us) and then asked if we would take them back to our room and let them sleep with us. It is impossible to say whether women had taken them up on such proposals in the past as they were not forthcoming interviewees but certainly these very young children did not overlook us as prospective abusers on grounds of our sex.

In Sosua, we interviewed a group of boys aged between 10 and 13 who had migrated to this tourist resort in the hope of finding some way of making a living. They were unable to find work (shoeshine and other 'service' trades that rely on child labour are all controlled by adults who set children to work, and even bottle collecting will only provide an income if the child has contacts). These children bore the marks of neglect. They were malnourished and their arms and legs were covered in untreated cuts and sores. At night they roamed the streets or slept rough. They try to avoid the police and hotel security guards who chase them off the beaches and away from hotel areas. They said that tourists sometimes want to 'make friends' and then give them money. These children were shut off, tired, drawn and inarticulate. They barely had language to describe sexual experience and there was, quite simply, no way in which they would be able to negotiate a sexual transaction with a tourist in such a way as to protect themselves or even ensure that they benefited financially from it.

Over 1.5 million people visit the Dominican Republic as tourists each year. Those working in the tourist industry estimate that at least 60% of these tourists are German, with most of the remaining 40% coming primarily from North America, Italy, Britain and other Northern European countries. Where British package tour operators typically market the Dominican Republic as a 'couples' destination, it is explicitly marketed as a 'single man's, holiday destination by many German tour operators, who even sometimes describe it as 'the new Thailand'. It is impossible to say what percentage of the total tourist population are sex tourists but they are certainly in a majority in Boca Chica (a resort which has little else to offer) and constitute a large portion of visitors to Sosua and Puerta Plata.

Teaching English

2009-05-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

This morning we had the usual Saturday boys' club. As I have said before, this is a club held on Saturdays and Mondays for boys aged 9-14 (approximately- we have some as young as 6 and some as old as 16). We teach english, make crafts, serve a snack, etc. Liz has really wanting to be doing more with some of the older kids, but on her own, this hasn't been possible. Melissa and I have taken this on. Sam and Liz led the boys' club (the craft today was super hero masks) and Mel and I have taken on 6 of the oldest boys- Seliel, Jose Chichi, Johan, Domingo, Junior, and Alberto (Alberto was missing the morning, although showed up for art class this afternoon). Melissa had taken a spanish class this year in school, and reversed her notes to teach them english. We started with review of what they already know- body parts, colours, days of the week, and numbers. We had planned to go onto more (mostly focussing on teaching verbs) but it turned out to take longer than we had planned. Most of the boys are not in school. Seliel, Johan, and Domingo are in school, but Alberto, Junior, and Jose are not (Jose just got kicked out last week for fighting). We made up sheets for them to write on. We wrote the spanish word, and they would write the english word beside it. We had no idea how behind their writing and reading skills are. They could, in most cases, tell us the english word, but were completely unable to sound out how to spell it. One in particular, Junior (13 years old) was really struggling as he could not read. I wrote down the words in english as a reference for him with the hopes that he would work on sounding it out. It looked like this: 1 once one, 2 dos two, 3 tres three, etc. He tried copying the list and then after a few minutes I realized he was writing the words in the wrong column, next to the days of the week. He couldn't read what column he was writing it in. We knew we needed to try different ways of learning to accomodate all of them. We used a deck of cards to practice numbers. We would hold up a card and whoever said the english word for the number first would get to keep that card. They would count their cards at the end whoever had the most would win. We did the same with flash card of letters. They seemed to know the letters, if those that couldn't read. In schools here, they use a lot of repetition. We are trying to come up with better ideas for teaching, because the repetition just doesn't sink it for them. We told them to practice with their books at home. The boys went home for 2 hours and then we met them for the art class. Jose Chichi pulled out his book and had been practicing most of the 2 hours we had been apart- he was so proud! They really badly want to learn. The schools here are just not accomodating for kids with so many issues like they do. The schools are a zoo and this one on one attention we are giving them in teaching english is really wonderful for them. We took the boys to art class after and it went well. It is funny because preteen and teenage boys are not the age group I usually work with, but I am just loving spending time with these boys. They are hilarious and so much fun; they are always laughing. For example, at art class some of the boys went to wash their hands. I heard Junior calling me laughing hysterically so I walked over. All of a sudden Alberto popped out from behind the door with a power tool drill trying to scare me. Other times they will write little note to use and pass them from boy to boy to get to us (example- Nikki, you are my flower, with a picture of a flower). They keep us laughing, that is for sure.

We were really surprised and happy because Jose Manuel showed up to the boys' club today (wearing the clothes we had delivered to him the other day). When we went to the house to deliver these clothes for him and dresses for his sister, his mother told us that he was in jail. He had been shoe shining along the part of Puerto Plata where they do not like the street boys to go, because they don't want the tourists to see them. They just throw them in jail- it is awful. Jose Manuel's father is a drunk and he has three siblings who are just crying out for help. This little one is 9 years old, it is so sad. Just look at his eyes in this picture and you can see the pain he lives in.

How They Have Grown!

2009-05-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

Look at how they have grown! Here are some pictures of my kids in Arroyo. The first pictures are from 2007, the second from 2008 and the third from 2009. Still have a few kids I need to see again, as they have been in school both times I have come (Juana and Jessica, most importantly).

Frangelis and Danny (now, 8 and 5 years old):

Elise (on the left of the middle picture) (now 9 years old):

Alessandra (now 10 years old):

Hernardo (now 9 years old):

Mi Amiga Favorita

2009-05-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Sam and Melissa had not been to the beach yet since they arrived, and decided today would be a good day for that. Liz had stuff she needed to do around the house, and there was no way I was going back to the beach. My burn is still really painful from last Sunday- my skin is very dry and peeling and red (almost purple) and there is a big painful raised area in one spot that I have been putting special cream on. Going back to the beach was just not going to happen for me today! So, I decided to spend the morning in Arroyo Seco (which I learned is actually spelt Arrollo Seco... I have been going years spelling it wrong!). I had Pedro, our driver, take me up there and he waited for the few hours I spent there and then drove me home. It is expensive to hire a driver to take me there (it cost me just under $60 Canadian... 1800 pesos), but visiting the kids there is really important to me and I am not going to let money get in the way of that. I have been told by several people that it would be cheaper to take the guagua to Maranatha and then a moto to Arroyo, so I am going to try that next time. I am still a little unsure in Puerto Plata, so wasn't sure today if I would be able to find my way home if I did that! I have always stayed in Sosua, so am still getting used to Puerto Plata and the streets and directions.

I am really, really glad I went today and I had a fantastic time. I am really learning how important it is to befriend the people in the villages we work with. Hero Holiday has done an amazing job of getting to know the people of Arroyo Seco. On several different occasions today, kids came to me with pictures of girls who had been on Hero Holiday and asked me if they are coming, or asked me to say hello to them. Hero Holiday has made a huge transformation in that village and they are so grateful and so sweet to us. As I was leaving, the kids in the morning shift in the school we built were out playing recess. I remember digging the holes for the poles of the swingeset, and seeing them swinging on the swings and playing basketball on the hoop that is now hung up was amazing. Many of these kids could not afford the transportation to go to another village to go to school, so were not being educated. Alessandra, who is 10 years old, is only in grade 1 because of this. It is so amazing to me that now so many kids are being educated because of this school.

I spent most of my time today in Frangelis' house and Elise's house. Fran and Elise are cousins and I have gotten to know both of their families incredibly well. We sat on the porch, drank pineapple juice, looked at baby pictures of Danny and the girls, and chatted. My spanish isn't really great at all, but I find I understand a lot of what they say (if they speak slowly) and what I don't understand, we can usually find a way to explain in another way. Elise's 14 year old sister Luisa knows a bit of english, as does her mother, so we were able to get by. I got to spend time with a lot of the kids and I love seeing them in their home settings as they are always so sweet and happy to invite me in. Frangelis brought out the piles of pictures of us together. After last summer, I had sent a big photo album for Frangelis with pictures of her, us, her family, etc. with another girl (Drea) going to the DR. Frangelis brought it out to me today and beside each picture she had written captions with the names of who was in the picture. It was as I looked through this album that I realized how important relationships are. I did not spend the day working in an orphanage or teaching the street boys... I spent it instead sitting in the shade of a porch sipping juice with a beautiful little girl on my lap. Some would say this is not as important as building a school or delivering medicine to the sick, but I would disagree. As I flipped through the photo album I came to a picture of Frangelis and I together. She had captioned beside it, "Nikki, mi amiga favorita" (my best friend) with little hearts around it. That just about made me cry. She is just one little girl of the many I have met here in the DR, but we share something very special, just like many of the other kids in Arroyo share with other participants of Hero Holiday. And spending time with her and her family and just being there to support them means the world to me, and I can see it means the world to them as well.

Casa Martina

2009-05-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

This morning we spent time at an orphanage only a 10 minute walk from our house, called Casa Martina. It has about 40 girls ranging from age 2 – 16, but most being in the 7-10 age range. When Liz mentioned to us that there is an orphanage so close, I was really interested in checking it out. I usually prefer to work with organizations in the communities- helping to aid families so that in the future, and helping to keep them together. At the same time, I really sympathize with the children in the orphanage, and love to spend time with them and give them love and attention. I think it is important to balance both (communities and orphanages) so was really looking forward to this visit.

The orphanage is run by nuns, mostly quite elderly, and they are so sweet and hard working. Some of the girls are complete orphans (both parents dead), while others have families who just cannot take care of them. They visit occasionally and often pick them up for holidays, but for the most part, cannot afford to clothe, feed, and educate them, so leave them at the orphanage to have better opportunities. That said, the orphanage is amazing- I was so impressed. I have had experiences with orphanages in the past. I have been to two orphanages here in the DR (Conani and Mustard Seed), both for children with special needs. I have also spent time at AHOPE in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for children who are HIV+. The conditions at this orphanage were amazing and far exceeded what I have seen in others. There were three large rooms with rows of beds for the kids to sleep. Attached to each bedroom was a large bathroom with showers, sinks, etc. There is a nice kitchen beside a dining hall with small tables for 4 children each. Next to that is a small school room. Most of the children attend the school that is right next door to the orphanage, but many come to the orphanage unable to read or write, and so it is important to get them caught up to a degree before sending them to that school. Next to the bedrooms is a play room (there is also an outdoor play area) with shelves full of stuffed animals, tea sets, baby dolls, etc. They are so well taken care of. It is certainly not a palace (everything is used, some of the toys are falling apart, etc.) but for an orphanage in a developing country, it was great, and the girls are very much loved and taken care of. We brought a ton of soap for them to help out, and spent time playing with the girls. Casa Martina gets a lot of supplies from tourists and people interested in helping, and what is great is that whatever they don’t need, they give to people in the community who they know will need and appreciate it.

Spending time with the girls was amazing. They are bright, vibrant kids very eager for attention and excited to have three gringa girls there to play with! As we were arriving, the girls were just getting out of the shower and getting dressed. The older girls help the younger girls to get ready and fix their hair. About a half hour was spent brushing and re-braiding the girls’ hair, and then it was play time as they didn’t have school until the afternoon. They were a bit shy at first, but by the end of our visit they were bouncing of the walls and didn’t want us to leave. They each had a stuffed animal or baby doll on their bed, which we had fun playing with. They would pretend to drop the baby and then we would pick it up and (overdramatically) give besos (kisses) to the baby where it was ‘hurt’. For some reason this was super hilarious! When I pulled my camera out they loved seeing pictures of themselves, but when I started taking videos, they thought that was about the best thing ever! I had probably 20 videos (I deleted a bunch as they were all really similar!) of the girls, mostly singing and dancing different songs. They sang song after song and one little girl set up a tea party and dinner for us with their play kitchen set. It was a really great morning and just being able to love on these kids was a great feeling. They are well taken care of and have much more than they would living outside of the orphanage, but this still does not replace having a family unit. It is so important for kids to have some type of family unit to encourage them and love them and give them attention. This is not always the case in families here, so the nuns have become substitute for this and they do the best they can, but there are just so many children.

This afternoon we headed to Playa Ouesta and Aguas Negras to visit a few homes that we had seen yesterday. Several families had told us their needs, and we had put together care packages for them. I was able to deliver some vitamins to 2 families with young children (thanks to my Nana who donated these). One is a family with twin girls who were sick with a fever yesterday. Their father is a foreigner and not in the picture, so it is quite likely that their mother either is or was working as a prostitute. The other was for the family of Jose Chichi, a boy in the program. Both his parents are dying of AIDS. Liz thought for sure a month ago as she sat with his mother in the hospital that it was going to be her last day, but she made it through and is feeling better for the moment. There are 5 children in the home and on top of already living in poverty, the huge financial strain from the parents’ hospital bills makes it really difficult to provide for the 5 kids, so the vitamins should hopefully help in keeping them healthy. We went to visit Yoandi to check up on his hand. He was supposed to go to the hospital again yesterday but he wasn't home when we went to pick him up. We went today and between the last hospital visit and the antibiotics his hand was a million times better- amazing!! We delivered dresses for the 2 sisters or Jose Manuel, and an outfit for him (as well as soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and toys). Jose Manuel is the one I mentioned earlier who has an alcoholic father and who we could not find yesterday. We learned today that he was shoe shining and got thrown into jail. This is really common as the police like to keep the streets clear of street boys so they aren’t bothering the tourists and so that they can portray to the tourists that they are a nice city and have no poverty (difficult do to with young boys running area asking for money or asking to shine shoes). He was not doing anything wrong, but had to stay there all day. His parents are going to pick him up this evening. This is not his first time in jail, and he is 9 years old.

Black Water

2009-05-06T04:56:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the day in Aguas Negras (black water) village, where most of the boys live. We went to about 10 houses of families that need assistance. Right now, Liz is the only missionary from DOVE that is in country. It is a lot for one person to do, and so Sam, Melissa, and I have split up roles that we need to help with to get the organization going and more organized so that the programs can move forward and assist even more people. We needed to meet the families today and take down information. This information was for two separate reasons- one is for the people who sponsor these programs and kids. As a sponsor of 5 kids myself (1 in Ethiopia, 2 in Uganda, 1 in Haiti, and 1 in Guatemala), I know how important it is to get updates on my kids. In the past, I have cancelled a sponsorship because of lack of communication- it is important to build a relationship with the kids and know where your money is going. I decided to take on getting videos and photos of the kids to send to their sponsors. The most important reason is to know how the boys are doing and what their needs are. For example, one boy (Jose Manuel) is 9 years old... he is not in school and is living with his mother, 2 sisters, and brother. His oldest sister Elizabeth, 11 years old, is not enrolled in school so she can watch the little ones. Jose Manuel's father lives nearby and is an alcoholic. The parents are going through a difficult separation and Jose Manuel is stuck in the middle of it. We couldn't find him (he was likely out shining shoes) or his father today, and his father's house was trashed and empty. Many of the boys had ill family members who we had to deliver medication to. Many had specific needs, such as their kids having no clothes that fit, or no underwear. We were able to deliver some supplies to the families, and others that we didn’t have on hand we wrote down and will deliver when we visit next.

During these visits I was able to get a better look at their living conditions. I had visited several of their homes before, and certainly during the last few summers here I have visited many Dominican homes, but during these videos I was taking special note of details and really realized how difficult their homes would be to live in. Particularly in Aguas Negras, sewage is a huge problem. The streets, particularly the small side streets, are filthy. Puddles of green waste line the streets and we would have to hop around them to get from house to house. Many of the kids are sick and malnourished, and this sewage is not helping at all. Sanitation is a huge need here.

No matter how many times I go into a village and meet with Dominicans, it will never get old. I always learn more and it is a new experience. It gives me a deeper understanding of the people and their needs, and also of the things that are going well within their communities. I met several kids, particularly very young ones (under 5) with fevers who were just not feeling well at all. That is such a critical age and they really need to be eating and getting all their nutrients. Two of those were little 3 year old twins, fathered by a foreigner (not in their lives, possibly not even knowing they exist). Another was a little Haitian girl. As we passed their house, their mother saw us and ran over, indicating that there was a problem. I held her youngest, a baby girl, and she showed us her 4 year old, Cristina, lying in bed; very skinny and looking lethargic. We were able to give her a few pills to help her symptoms, but Cristina needs so much more than that to stay healthy; nutritious meals several times a day, a clean and safe home, exercise and education… things that she will likely grow up not having.
Photos below are of Jose Manuel's family (minus him and his alcoholic father) and then the sewage that lines the path into their house.

Larimar and Danibel

2009-05-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

Late this afternoon we were taken into a village by Kathy, a friend of Liz's. She has been living here in the DR for 16 years and now her 6 year old daughter is growing up here, fluent in both Spanish and English. It was amazing seeing this little 6 year old girl walk through the village and be so compassionate and understanding at such a young age. This is a very small village and one that does not have a school. The children walk 2 hours to get to school. We basically just brought in supplies. This village does not get a lot of aid from missionaries, so the kids were very excited. I brought one care package including a dress and underwear to fit a 3 year old girl. The first child we saw was a girl about that age named Larimar. A beautiful, sweet little girl with a difficult family situation, I was told. She seemed like the perfect child to give the care package to, and she seemed to really like it. She slowly took everything out and looked through it, and then folded it all back and put it back in the bag. Her favourite was the small roll of apple stickers. One girl went to take one and she got very nervous and started reaching her hands up to make sure she would get it back. This village visit, aside from delivering supplies, was just to get an idea of what the village is like- again, for future networking purposes.

Afterwards we drove to the house of Danibel. She is a young girl of about the same age as Larimar, who was just on the Comfort Ship. Liz went and brought several Dominicans with them 2 weeks ago. The Comfort Ship is a really awesome organization that has volunteers from all over the world that sail around in this ship, stopping in many countries, and offer free medical services. Many, many people go to see if they can get services, so they can't accept everyone. They accept as many as they can and for a few days they all board onto this ship and do the surgeries. Liz was able to go with Kathy (and her 6 year old daughter) to Santo Domingo to board the ship and take part in this, and they tell me it was amazing. Danibel was one of the girls accepted who they took, with her mother. She was born with a cleft lip and now, 2 weeks later, it is looking amazing. The first picture is one that Liz had taken before her surgery, and the 2nd is the one I took today. This is a family, like Larimar's, that has a lot of issues going on (in this case, abuse), so it was really wonderful to see the results for this little girl, who otherwise may have to live with this cleft lip all her life. It is healing beautifully!

Reuniting

2009-05-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

Today was a day I will remember forever. The four of us hired a driver to bring us into Arroyo Seco, my favourite place in the world. Being in Puerto Plata now instead of Sosua, it is quite a bit further and I was really nervous about how I would manage to go out there. I was so excited when we heard that a group was in there today running a clinic. The group is led by Phil and Donna, of Servant's Heart, an organization that we know well as they work closely with Hero Holiday and help us plan most of our work. Liz decided to come with us and it turned out really well as she was able to network with them and get to know more about their organization- which is a great way to learn and team up with each other.

I was trying not to get too excited this morning as we were getting ready. It is a weekday and so the kids, I knew, could be in school. I have only been in the DR during the summer and did not know that (like Ethiopia) kids go to school for half days here (this was a great surprise!) As we drove up Bella Vista road to the school, I saw Danny standing in front of his aunt's house. I stuck my hand out the window and waved, and his mouth dropped open and he started screaming and running into the house calling Frangelis. We continued down the road to the school and parked. Within a minute I could see Frangelis' aunts and cousins peaking down the street to see if it was me. We were waving from down the road as I walked up to their house, and all the sudden Frangelis came out of the house and came running at me with a huge smile and jumped into my arms. It was such an amazing moment- I missed her so much and to be able to hug her and kiss her and tell her how much I missed her was so wonderful. Frangelis is a shy girl. That is sort of what drew me to her two summers ago when we met. Last year when I saw her first again it took her a little while to warm up to me. This year, she just ran and jumped into my arms and was so happy and excited and took no time at all to warm up. We stayed at the school for several hours and it was just a fun and happy time, walking throuhg the village and seeing all of 'my' kiddies again.

I had made photo albums for several of the kids from the village with photos from the past few years. The kids took me around to their houses, showing their parents, their grandparents, their aunts, their cousins, the photos. They were SO excited about them. Frangelis, like most of the other kids, goes to school in the afternoon, so I was able to see and spend time with her, Elise, Hernardo, Tata, Minerva, Danny, Luisa, Noberto, Jennifer, Andony, and Alessandra. Juana, one of the girls who I became very close to, and Jessica, another one who is very special to me, were both at school (they are too old to go to the Arroyo Seco school so go down the road), so I didn't get to see them. I left their albums with Frangelis so she could deliver them this afternoon when they get home. We walked through the village and toured the school and it brought back so many memories. It was absolutely amazing to see kids in uniform sitting at the desks I had helped to paint in the room I had helped to construct, singing and learning and calling my name through the window. That village is just such a special place for me and it was amazing to see each child again and see how they are doing. Such a fantastic day... I am just so happy from getting to see those kids again.

Getting To Know Them

2009-05-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

Today we met in Agua Negras for the Boys’ Club at 10am. I am really enjoying it more as I get to know the boys, their history, their specific needs, and their living situations. There are a few boys in particular who I feel I am really bonding with. Alberto, who I mentioned before as the little ladies’ man, is one of them. Today in class for the craft we had the boys make puppets using popsicle sticks, construction paper, string, pipe cleaners, etc. These crafts would be something that in Canada, we would plan for first graders, but the boys, not ever having done this before, just love it. After they made the craft, we had those who were willing stand up and explain about their puppet- some had made a puppet of themselves, some had made a friend, etc. Alberto stood up and said he made one of me and gave it to me at the end of the club. He is so funny, he just makes me laugh. Yoandi is another one of those kids. I posted about him before as well, and how we took him to the hospital for his hand. I was happy to see him again today and see that his hand looks slightly better- a little less swelling. It still looks really bad though, although he insists he is taking the antibiotics we bought him. He has to go back to the hospital tomorrow or the next day, I can’t remember, and they will drain it again. The third boy who I am really making a connection with is Seliel. His family is of Haitian origin; his father is dead and his mother is living in Santiago. He lives with his aging grandmother- an amazingly sweet lady but so tired and sore that she can barely get out of bed. She is terrified that Seliel will be seen in the streets shining shoes by the wrong people and will get deported back to Haiti. She is too old to work at all, and so Seliel pays the rent, pays for food, and takes care of his grandmother. He is 15 years old. I met Seliel on Saturday but did not get to know him as well as some of the other boys because he is a bit quieter, but today I spent some time with him and saw how awesome of a boy he is. After the boys’ club we went to the houses of 4 or 5 of the boys in the program; we had to figure out what their needs were (Saliel’s stove was broken, Domingo’s sister had a cyst, Alberto’s mother needed pain medication, etc.) It was particularly during this time that I got to know Selier. He is so hardworking, taking care of his grandmother, and is so sweet. He would carry things for me, take my arm and guide me around sewage on the street, etc. We handed out soap and pencils to the boys after class, and as we were walking around his village, the kids kept asking the boys for pencils. All of them said no and hid them, except Selier who started handing his out.

We spent the evening de-briefing and planning (with Liz, Melissa, and Sam). There are so many plans, we just have to figure out our role in getting them set up. Melissa and I were talking about how different this is from our Hero Holiday experience, but how excited we are to try something new. This is going to involve working with a small group of boys and maybe we will not be able to see the impact we are making right away, unlike Hero Holiday where we can see the concrete evidence of our work (the schools being built). But if these boys take what we teach them and grow up to be leaders in their communities, they will in turn affect others and their communities will be empowered. About half of the 20 boys in the boys' club have been molested and used in a pedophilia prostitution right to make money. Tourists would come in and pay to use these boys, and then pay for the acts to be taped for 'their viewing pleasure'. It is so disgusting and the effects it has left on the boys is incredible- they have so many anger issues, trust issues, confidence issues, etc. It is so difficult hugging these boys and having them take my hand and lead me to their houses, and knowing the horrors they have seen. The Dominican Republic has such a HUGE issue with prostitution and it is not only women; kids (both girls and boys) are targetted and when they have no money and not sure where they will get their next meal, they have no other option.

P.S. I got such a bad burn at the beach yesterday. Like, hurts to sit down, hurts to walk, hurts to do anything burn. UGH- so stupid!!!

Yoandi

2009-05-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

At the end of the boys’ club today it came to our attention that Yoandi, a 9 year old boy, was injured. He had fallen the previous Saturday (a week before) and his hand had become badly infected. The picture does not even do justice how bad it was- it was swollen to twice its size and he could not move it or his fingers. It was turning yellow in parts and was filled with pus. It was bent at a 90 degree angle making us wonder if it was broken, but it was just so swollen in that position. We drove him to his mother’s house and she told us that she had taken him to the hospital the week before and had x-rays done, but she could not pay for the stay and the doctor sent Yoandi home. His father is dead and his mother is struggling caring for him and his brother. She sold many things she owned to try to pay for the hospital stay, but could not come up with the money. I had carried with me several hundred dollars of donation money (raised through personal donations and through Blogs for a Cause). I offered to pay for his medical care and you could just see the relief wash over her face. She was hugging him and kissing him and it was clear how much she loves him. He began to cry as we told him we were going to the hospital again (a different one this time- a private clinic where he would get better care). He was terrified and thought he was going to die. We brought him in and within 45 minutes he was done and ready to go home. The doctor had to cut his hand open and squeeze out the pus. We were sitting in the other room and listened to him screaming “Oh God, Oh God!” in spanish over and over again. The tears were just streaming down his face, it was awful. I can imagine it would be so scary for him- he was terrified and crying just at the thought of going to the hospital, and then for his hand to be cut open and the pus to be squeezed out… oh, my heart just broke for him. He was in pain for awhile afterwards until the pain subsided (or the medication kicked in, I am not sure). Liz treated him and his mom to popsicles and he seemed much happier after we left the hospital and drove them home. His hand is wrapped up and he has to return in a few days for the process to be done again. We got him antibiotics and they instructed his mother on how to get the pus out daily. She is such a kind woman and was just so grateful. The picture of the water and the little girls is Yoandi’s front yard. The area that the boys in the program live in is called Aguas Negaras (black water) and it isn’t called that for no reason. A lot of poor people live along the water. With no toilets, a huge amount of waste filters into the water and travels to Aguas Negras. Americans come into the ocean and dump the toxic material into it, washing up right where Yoandi swims and bathes. It is just filthy, and is no wonder he hand got infected. The children in his area walk along this water barefoot. It is covered in garbage and I don’t even want to know what is hiding in the water. It makes me shudder just thinking about all the filth and disease that Yoandi picks up from his front yard. Yoandi is 9 years old and lives with his mother, Sonia, his 14 year old sister, Louanda, and his 11 year old brother, Andelli. His father is dead. Yoandi is one of the 9 boys that DOVE Missions is looking to find a sponsor for. This sponsorship would be $30 a month and the money would be used not only for Yoandi but also for his entire family, to buy whatever it may be that they need that month- food, supplies, medical care, etc. These boys are really headed for trouble unless more people begin to be a prescence in their lives. Yoandi is still young, and with a sponsor’s help he could become educated and healthy and well fed and know that there are people who care about him. He is really a sweet boy, and if anyone wants to sponsor him and his family PLEASE let me know and I will make sure to take lots of pictures and videos for you. Just leave a comment if you are interested or want more info!

The Street Boys

2009-05-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Today was my first full day in the DR and it was awesome. It feels so good to be back. I admit I was pretty nervous this time around- I am used to being with Hero Holiday and having a schedule and having everything planned out for me. This is a very different experience for me, but something that I really felt I was ready to do. As I said before, I am living with Liz and Astrid. Melissa and Sam will also be living with us, and they arrive tomorrow. Liz runs a program called DOVE Missions, and she is who I will be doing most of my work with this month. I am certainly going to go visit “my” kids and old worksites and see what help I can be of there, but most of my time will likely be spent with Liz and DOVE. DOVE Mission does a lot of work in the communities, but the heart of their mission is the street boys. I got to meet this group of boys today, and it was really eye opening for me. In my past 2 summers here, I have always noticed the young boys working in the streets- I have given them food and money, but have always wanted to be part in a more permanent change in their lives. This is what really struck me about DOVE and led me to email Liz, wanting to work with them.
Our morning started out with the Boys’ Club. This club begins at 10am every Saturday and welcomes as many boys in the 9-14 age group that wish to come; this includes both Haitian and Dominican boys, which I love. These boys are what most people would consider ‘Trouble with a capital T’- or as Liz put it, the criminals and drug dealers/users of the future. These boys only know what has been taught to them, and they just need a little guidance to get them going in the right direction. They all come from poverty stricken families- one of the boys in the group has both parents dying of AIDS, another came to Liz today quietly asking for food- his family had none left. A lot of them shine shoes to make money and are not educated at all (although they are very street smart). Many have been rescued from the pedophile ring, and the things they have been forced to do have really left them with a lot of issues. Keep in mind these boys are 9-14… they are SO young. At the boys’ club I was introduced to the boys and got to get to know them. We taught English and did crafts, but this is not the main purpose of the boys’ club. The main purpose is to give them a place to go on their Saturday afternoons so they are not working, they are not being lured into child prostitution, they are not doing drugs, or dealing drugs, or causing trouble. This is a safe place for them to go to just be kids. To hang out with other boys their age, to learn, and to reach their full potentials. They have very short attention spans and are not used to following instruction or sitting still and cooperating. Several fights broke out between the boys and many instructions went ignored and rules were not always followed, but it is a start. When they are not listening or are picking fights with the other boys, I just had to remind myself to be patient. They need patience. They need people to be guiding them along and teaching them wrong from right, and that is what this boys’ club is for.

After the boys’ club, we had a little incident with one of the boys, involving a trip to the hospital (which I will post about after) and then we went to art class. Liz chose 8 boys who she felt were particularly headed for trouble. DOVE Missions pays for them to go to an art class every Saturday from 2-5pm. Similar to the boys’ club, this is not an effort to turn these boys into award winning artists. Rather, it is an opportunity for them to learn to follow instruction and to try new things that they may not have tried before. They are able to put their minds toward a project and work on it until they accomplish what they want, which is something really huge for them. For three hours we sat with the boys and helped with their sketches and paintings. I got to know several of them better, like Alberto, the little ladies’ man who, apparently, is madly in love with me (a lot of Dominican men know only a few phrases in English- you are beautiful, I love you, I long for you, etc. etc. etc.) It was pretty funny coming from someone so young though! When I told him he was crazy, he said (in English)- “No, I am just crazy for you!” Hahaha. Dominican boys make me laugh. He told me he will come to Canada with me, and then his friend asked if I had any sisters that he could marry in Canada (he was very excited when I said I have 2… keep in mind this boy is 12!!!) Seriously though, the boys have huge senses of humour and are just really fun to me around. I also met Domingo, who Liz calls the ‘most famous of the street boys’. He is a charmer with big dimples and a constant smile. When he began talking to me I noticed right away that his voice sounded different- very throaty and high. Liz later told me that it was permanently damaged from ‘huffing’, starting at a very young age. Domingo shines shoes to make money, and he, as well as money other shoe shiners, inhale the shoe shining material to get high off. His voice will be like that permanently because he did it for so long. He is so young… it breaks my heart hearing what he has gone through with drugs and child prostitution. These boys are so rough and tough and feel like they don’t have to listen to anyone and they can do whatever they choose, but it is really hard to think of what their lives are like to lead them to be like that.
After art class we cleaned up the mess (which was big, as you can imagine with 8 preteen and teen boys) and went out for rice and beans. The boys piled huge mounds of food on their plates, eating it quickly and telling me “In Dominican, we always hungry!” Liz gave the boys some change to get a motoconcho home, and then I had a really fun experience- my first ride on a motoconcho! We had never been allowed to ride them with Hero Holiday because there were just too many people to keep track of, so I had been looking forward to this for awhile! Motoconchos are how most Dominicans get around. Liz and I hopped on one together and he drove us back home. It was a fun Dominican experience! Tomorrow Melissa and Sam get here! It is a Sunday and Liz has some meetings to go to, so I am just going to go to the beach in the morning before we go pick Melissa and Sam up from the airport. Astrid, our other roommate, is going to take me, as well as her friend Beth. I was told today by a guy who was translating for us, Roderigo, that I need to get tanned so I look like a true Dominican, so I will start working on that tomorrow morning! I am looking forward to this next week- we have lots of big plans and it will be packed full with lots to do!

I Am Here!

2009-05-02T03:43:00.000-07:00

I am here! I arrived last night at 5-ish and had my first full day today. I have lots to write, but don't want to write it yet because I don't have pictures! I am on my roommate's computer as mine isn't hooked up to the Internet yet. Hopefully we can do that soon so I could put up my pictures and write a full post. But for now, just wanted to write quickly and say that I am here safe and sound! I am living with Liz
(who runs DOVE Missions) and her friend Astrid, who is here teaching english at a Montessori school. Melissa and Sam, also living with us, will be flying in tomorrow. The house is adorable and I feel right at home- it is great! Had a long, busy, and fun day with Liz and the street boys today, which I will write more about later! Tomorrow we are heading to the beach while we wait to go pick Melissa and Sam up from the airport!

9 Days

2009-04-22T17:57:00.001-07:00

Wow.... it is hard to believe that I leave for the DR in only 9 short days! I am not sure where this past year has gone! Needless to say, I am VERY excited! It still hasn't really set in that I will be in the DR so soon... it still seems very unreal. I am so excited to hug "my" kids and explore different ways of helping the people there that I haven't done before. I have lots of ideas and plans going on, just need to get there and see what will work! A few weeks ago I made the tough decision to switch my trip from 2 months to 1 month. It was a difficult decision but something that I felt needed to be done, for several purposes. But back to the trip- again, I will be going with Melissa, who was my roommate last year, and her friend Sam. We will be staying with Liz, who runs DOVE Missions, and doing a lot of work with her. I am leaving on May 1st and will be back on on May 30th. Just wanted to write a quick note about how the planning is going. Not much else to write until I leave, so the next time you hear from me I will be in the DR (or in the airport!!!)

DR - Haiti

2009-03-30T09:45:00.001-07:00

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ONE MONTH!!! I can't believe that in one month I will be leaving for the DR. This year just flew by. It was so much easier waiting this year, as opposed to last year- in part because I had Ethiopia to break the time up, and also in part because I am going for so much longer this year (2 months instead of 1) and I also feel more happy here at home with the volunteer work I am doing with refugees. It leaves me feeling less useless. But still, there is nothing in the world to me that is better than the Dominican, and I am beyond excited. There will be three of us living together- me, Melissa, and Melissa's friend, Sam, who I have never met. We are getting the final details prepared and have emailed several organizations to work with. My donation bags are mostly packed, and now, I just have to wait... I arrive on Friday May 1st and come home on June 30th. It is going to be AMAZING.

HAITI
As I announced before, Alex and I will be spending our Christmas in Haiti! We were hoping for our friend Kerry to come as well, but she got accepted for a volunteer athletic therapist position that she couldn't turn down, so she won't be able to make it as she will need to be at home for that time to do that. But Alex and I are super excited about this, and we just booked our flights! On Tuesday December 22 we will fly from Toronto to Montreal and then Montreal to Port-au-Prince, arriving in Haiti at 2:40 on the 22nd. We come home on January 5th. Because it is so far away, we have yet to get many details planned, but we do know we will be staying with Lori and Licia, and we have several ideas of things we want to do and see.

Coming Soon...!

2009-03-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
In just over a month I leave for the DR! I am getting really excited, and just this past weekend began getting all my donations sorted and in bags. I am still looking for toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, and children's vitamins to bring. I will be leaving May 1st and coming home June 30th. The past two years I have stayed at the resort Sosua By The Sea in Sosua, as that is where Hero Holiday stays with their 100+ participants. Since I am going with only one friend this year (Melissa) we wanted something a little different, and have decided to rent a room from Liz, who owns DOVE Missions. Her house is in Puerto Plata, which is 10-15 minutes from Sosua, so we will still be close enough to all our beloved villages that we have spent so much time working in over the past years.

HAITI
Yes- Haiti! I have recently decided that I will be spending my Christmas in Haiti with Alex and possibly our friend Kerry. Right now we are searching around for cheap flights and should be booking soon. We will be spending most of our time with Real Hope for Haiti- working in the Rescue Center they have for about 60 kids who came to them sick, usually suffering severe forms of malnutrition. I have been wanting to go to Haiti for many years now, since I went on my first Hero Holiday trip in 2007, and so am VERY excited about this opportunity! I have decided that since most of my experiences in the DR are with Haitian people, I am going to have this blog focus on both my work in the DR AND my work in Haiti, so keep this blog bookmarked to read about Haiti this Christmas!
For now, Alex and I are focusing on fundraising. We recently got back from Ethiopia, and having to pay University fees on top of these trips makes it paricularly difficult. I have Blogs for a Cause to help me out with the $$, so I am going to write a bit about Alex's fundraiser. Alex is going to be running the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, and is hoping that people will sponsor him to do this. It will all go directly to his trip, allowing him to go to Haiti and make a difference in the lives of the kids and families we will work with. There are 3000 KM between Hamilton (where we live) and Haiti. You can sponsor 1 of these KM for only $1! Just go to his blog, Marathon 4 Haiti, and see how you can help.

Our Flights Are Booked!

2008-10-13T13:03:00.001-07:00

I have booked my flights (Melissa is flying down on Air Miles, but should be coming around the same time)! I am so excited to have this step done... it makes it feel much more real. I will be flying American Airlines:
-Driving from home to Buffalo
-flying out of Buffalo on May 1st at 7:20am to Chicago
-flying from Chicago to Miami at 9:05am
-flying from Miami to Puerto Plata DR at 2:10pm
-arriving in the DR around 4:05PM!!!!
Eeeeeekk! I can't wait :) I will be coming home on June 30th (I will be celebrating my 20th birthday in the DR on June 24th!). Me and my Mom searched around at flights for a long time and managed to get this one pretty cheap- $630 Canadian (480 with a TON of tax). I am still busy planning for Ethiopia right now, as that trip is sooner (in february) but I am starting to get things ready for the DR too. I have about 50 pairs of underwear packed and ready to go with me, to donate while I am there. I brought a lot of small sizes, as in the Haitian villages, most kids under 5 or 6 wear nothing but underwear. I have also just ordered copies of over 100 of the pictures I have taken in the last two years there. I am putting together photo albums for all my friends there... especially the kids in Arroyo. I made a list of the kids with whom I have become really close to and found about 10 pictures of each of them to print. I have to go buy 15 tiny photo albums and then will start preparing the gifts. They just love looking at the photos on our cameras after we take them and it is so nice to be able to give them something that they will treasure likely for all their lives. Photos are so special like that.
We have also been emailing around to different organizations that we plan on working with while we are there. I am most excited about working with DOVE Missions. I have been emailing with Liz McKie, who lives in the DR and helps to run this organization, and it sounds like it is going to be really amazing. We have some big plans in the works with them. I am most interested in their work with the street boys. I copied this from Liz's blog...

This is a lovely picture of Jose and his family in Agua Negro. Jose is the oldest. He is on the far right, kneeling next to his brother. He has four younger siblings. He is a bright young man with a dim future. You see, his mother has AIDS and is in the last days of her life. Unfortunately, Jose was part of Pedophilia ring. He and his friends (at least four that we are working with) were lured into performing sex acts by a man from England who was part of a pornography group. He is now in jail. Now the boys have lost their innocence and it is difficult to go back to shining shoes. It is a huge responsibility to be the provider for a family at age 14, especially when your mother needs expensive medicine. The younger children will be placed in a home when the mother passes but Jose is too old to be in foster care. We convinced him to come back to the program at Integracion Juvinel. We fed Jose and some of his friends this morning and it was the first day of “school” for them. They are unable to get into school because of the lack of proper paperwork and they are too old. They were practicing writing today and were so excited to be in the program. Jose’s story is like most of the street boys we work with. They will have to overcome many hardships at a very young age. Please pray for them.

DR and Haiti

One Tiny Starfish

Future Plans

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Happiest Place On Earth

Still Pouring

Rain Rain Go Away

Orphanage, Hospital, Club

My First Day!

I'm Off!

Stones Into Schools

My Dominican Dreams

Contest For Haiti

Judging and Stereotyping: Who I DONT Want To Be

Christmas Prep

Vitamin Update

DREAM

Melissa, Sam & Nicole

Three Cups Of Tea

Shoppers Optimum Points

Angry Boy: A Haitian Adoption Story

KIVA: Global Lending In the DR

Luis and Jacoba

My Friend Sonia

100 Years

Wideline and Medika Mamba

A Few More Videos

DOVE's New Blog

157 Days!

More Videos!

Pool

Girls Club Video

Favourite Memories

Future Plans

Last Few Days

Saturday = Club Day!

My Favourite People

Arroyo Seco

Girls Club and "English Class"

Best Birthday Ever!

My Family Is Here!

Club Kick Off!

Day At The River

Gratitude and Pride

The Simple Things

Liz Is Home!

Saturday and Sunday

Past Few Days

Interviews

New Kids

More On Chickendie!

New Recruits

Good News and Bad News

Friday Boys' Club

Macarena

Sam's Last Day

Chickendie

Stressful Day!

Happy Birthday to Bibi???

Music Video

Last Few Days

Day At The River

Ruth And Her Brothers... Plus The Melacon

Boys' Meeting

Long Beach Video

Long Beach

Feliz Cumpleaños

Playa Ouesta

Videos

Are Canadian Women Easy?

Jose, Alberto, Domingo, Seliel

Little Update

More Haiti Videos

Rainy Day

Video: Mother Theresa's

Cite Soleil

Mother Theresa's Orphanage

Gertrude's Orphanage

Back From Haiti!