Buenas noches from the Dominican Republic!

I arrived last night after a day full of seeing God work through blinding eyes of people who could have stopped me for the size of my carry-ons! All of my luggage made it safely without being checked by the TSA officials (there was nothing illegal in my totes, its just that if they had opened them then the lids may not have stayed shut and stuff could have fallen out, so I was praying they would not need to open them.)

I was greeted by Michael and Katie Anderson, missionaries here in Jarabacoa with Kids Alive. I met them at MTI in August, so it was really nice to see them again! They took me to their new home and I quickly fell asleep on their comfortable guest bed!

This morning I was greeted by Jeff, the VP of Operations for the Caribbean and Latin America. We traveled to Caraballo on the North Coast of the DR to a care center they have there. The care center works to supplement the public education in that community and provides lunch for over 200 children each day.

Caraballo is actually a Haitian community here in the DR. I guess it started a while back because there was a large sugar cane plant there and the Haitians could work there. The plant closed down 5 years ago but it seems that most of the Haitians have stayed and are doing other jobs now. One very interesting thing I found out this afternoon is that most of the Haitians do not have official paperwork (like a birth certificate) so the children cannot go to public high school or really get good jobs even if they are educated because of their lack of papers. So basically they are setup to work labor jobs or create crafts of their own to sell to tourists who visit the area. Its sad that it is so hard to break the cycle of poverty just because of a lack of paperwork.

I was reminded today just how hard it is to be in a country where you don’t speak their language. I found myself attempting to speak to the kids in Creole today, only to be looked at with a blank stare :( I am looking forward to heading to Haiti on Saturday.

Tomorrow promises to be a full day as I will be going to see ANIJA (the Kids Alive School here in Jarabacoa) tomorrow morning, another care center (Palo Blanco) tomorrow morning as well and then making the trek back down to Santiago to buy bus tickets for Saturday and to purchase some household things I will need once I get to Haiti.

It is shaping up to be a busy few more days here in the DR before heading to Haiti on Saturday afternoon! I am overly excited to get there and start using my Creole and learning more!

 

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