“Some people give time, some money, some their skills and connections, some literally give their life’s blood. But everyone has something to give.”
– Barbara Bush

 

We are all humans – it makes no difference to a child what your job title is, what your status economically is, where you live, etc. What matters to a child is that you care, love, respect, and take the time to understand. The children of Rio Grande, Constanza, Dominican Republic are beautiful and full of love, energy, spirit, and now, thanks in part to our mission, they are also full of hope! Our mission of hope and construction is for the entire community and especially for the children. During our time we played games, sports, etc. with the children. Often their parents were working the fields, tending their stores (colmados), and they could not play. The importance of play and socialization has impacted me and our new friends in many, many ways.

From Eduardo (pictured with me at the left) on my shoulders yelling “caballito” or little horse, to Alex (pictured in the red shirt) playing baseball every day and really connecting with us, the play was as meaningful as the physcial labor.

Their current educational options for the children in Rio Grande are quite limited. They can attend the one-room school that serves grades 1-4 or they can walk 5 miles round trip each day to an area called the Japanese Colony for grades 1 through 8.

For most educationally speaking, that’s it  – 4th grade then work – or “other”! The Cecaini School in Constanza (shown below), is the one that previous LifeTouch memory mission trip workers helped construct under the guidance of their Dominican supervisors. This incredible school starts to fulfill Pastor Angel Moreta’s vision of transformation. The school serves children in

another part of Constanza in grades 1-8. In addition, in Cecaini a vocational school has just been created too, as part of the LifeTouch memory mission and commitment to the Dominican Republic. The vocational school at Cecaini is post 8th grade and it has coursework in computers (both science, engineering and repair), cosmetology (specifically as a way to help prevent teen pregnancy by providing other income earning opportunities for the girls and young women), culinary arts, artisan work (crafts, jewelry, etc) with other options in the works. The children in Rio Grande will have the opportunity to also attend the Cecaini vocational school after they complete the 8th grade in their neighborhood.This vocational school serves children after they complete 8th grade. With this new vocational school they will learn vocations and trades that will earn them an income and additional opportunities for life that currently do not exist in this part of the world.

 

For many it is simply not practical to walk 5 mile round trip daily on an unpaved, rocky, potentially unsafe route. As stated, for many than it is no education post 4th grade. This mission trip is helping change this and bring hope for change to these forgotten people! Our school in Rio Grande- the one on which we made AMAZING progress in one week – is scheduled to open in August 2016 – this fall. There are two more groups of mission trips coming to continue and help complete the construction in April and June 2016.

Rio Grande (current project) and Cecaini (project just dedicated by the government) represent two of the six schools that local leader (and hero) Pastor Angel Moreta has in his vision to change the lives of his people.

 

Getting to Rio Grande

Prior to reaching the worksite and our new neighborhood we travelled for more than 12 hours. From our arrival at the airport in Atlanta at 7:30am, we flew to Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic, this 3.5 hour flight, with a one hour time zone reflects the first 4.5 hours of our travel day … Then at the airport we put all of our luggage – more than 100 suitcases – into a pickup truck as we

boarded two small buses for a 4.5 hour journey north into the mountains. We left Santo Domingo’s international airport at 3:15pm. We went from sea level to nearly 4000 feet above sea level in our journey. We arrived at our new home, the hotel Altocerros in Constanza, around 7:30pm.

In the DR there are around 10 million people, 4 million of whom reside in or around the capital city. The capital city resembles any typical large city. There is a subway system, tons of businesses, a lot of traffic, well built and maintained bridges and roads and the appearance of multi-national investment. In the country the infrastructure is somewhat spotty.

There is the juxtaposition of highly developed engineering and irrigation through the mountains into the farms with the tin roofed small (300 sq. ft.) domiciles that dot the roads and the landscape. In terms of economy, Constanza is also a well stocked city – but a short distance away in the mountain area where we lived and worked, the economy is RURAL and remote. Specifically the economy is in the form of farms and storefronts (Colmados) as part of the homes. An interesting phenomenon is the presence of many unfinished structures, we were told that the people build what they can afford and as they accumulate more money they continue building until they ultimately complete the project (homes, stores, etc.).

We traveled on solid infrastructure and we traveled on treacherous (by USA standards) mountain passes on dirt and stone (boulder) roads with little to no passing space. The area of Constanza contains a mix of city and country, farm, and mountain, wealth and poverty. The 90 thousand residents reflect a variety of the faces of society. The folks with whom we spent the majority of our time were somewhat forgotten by

the authorities, they did not live with highly advanced housing or infrastructure. But though their world has differences from ours, the similarities between us that we discovered on our journey far outweigh any differences. These folks love their families – just like us, these folks want a better life for their children – just like us, these folks work hard for their living – just like us, and these folks have pride, integrity, and now they have hope!

We came here to build a school and in doing so we accomplished a whole lot more. We did hard labor and manual construction and we’re quite proud of this! We also did life’s work and human work. What does this school represent? Among other things, it represents hope, possibility, change, diplomacy, love, compassion, opportunity, etc. The LifeTouch officials have done an incredible job of logistics, planning, training, execution of mission, safety, facilitating team building and reflection. Each day we worked, played and learned and each night we reflected, shared, and grew as humans.

Our team of more than 50 had representatives from Brazil, Canada, the United States, and of course our amazing Dominican translators (some of whom are shown in the photos) and workers with whom we are now friends for life. The translators with whom we worked are forever bonded to us as friends. The love, care, humor, learning, explaining, laughing, and working side by side have impressed upon us for life. We hugged, shook hands, exchanged numbers and emails and connected on FaceBook. The workers first looked at us like a bunch of crazy North Americans (at least that is my thinking) and we left, after working really hard on many construction tasks, as friends sharing pictures, stories, laughs, and relationships. We earned their respect on the job and we earned their admiration and appreciation for really doing the work and trying so hard to do the work right.

We completed construction tasks like moving rocks (boulders), placing cinder blocks (more than 1000), making mortar and making concrete, placing mortar on the blocks, leveling the blocks, pouring cement in the blocks, using rebar (cutting, tying), stuccoing walls, framing stairs, framing a chasm for rain

water, digging trenches, sifting sand, shoveling dirt, rocks, sand, using pick axes, trawls, hammers, nails, a rebar cutter, we literally helped to build a school by hand! Our group bonded in a close, strong, and reflective manner.

We did not organize as superintendents, or principals, or teachers, or photographers, we organized as people. We did not distinguish tasks based on gender, age or station in life. Our group ranged in age from 29- late 60’s. We were a united team who developed a care and concern for one another that seems unusual in today’s “dog eat dog” world.

Day by day the people with whom we interacted became warmer, friendlier, more interested in us and our presence, caring, loving, and engaged. Daily we took at least two half hour “recess” breaks to walk up the road, across the river to a field. This field, on privately owned pasture land, was used as our play field. We were allowed to play with the children, teens, and young adults during our time. Each day more and more townspeople joined us as we played catch, soccer, baseball, cards, or just hung out learning about one another as people.

Day by day they saw our sweat equity and our truly hard work on their behalf. Day by day the power of hope and diplomacy and mission and work became more evident. We came here to support the visionary dream of Pastor Angel and other community leaders to change the lives and future of the people who live in the forgotten outskirts of Constanza. We changed and grew as people each day and we reflected as people, team members and also we reflected on how this work and these experiences can and will be applied to our “day jobs”.

I’ll continue to share more this week!

Comments are welcomed.