Gift of Joy (Part 2)

We spent most of our days "hanging out" with the children of Los Robles & Don Bosco.  Don Bosco is right in the heart of the city of Barahona and mainly Dominicans live in this village.  Los Robles is out amongst the sugar plantations and mainly Haitian Dominicans reside in this village.  The living conditions can be called primitive.  Corrugated metal roof housing which may have mud floors and some cement floors, some have indoor plumbing but most don't, lots of garbage strewn throughout the villages.  In the midst of these conditions what has made it's indelible mark on my heart is the tremendous amount of joy which overflowed and was encountered not only with the children we spent time with but also with all the staff who worked for the Children of the Nations.

In both of the villages, we spent time reading English/Spanish books to the children.  Because of our project supplies were with the lost luggage and so the Ohio team graciously lent us the books they had brought along to donate to Los Robles.  As a parent, before this trip I took for granted the simple act of spending time reading books to my girls and saw it more as a chore. The look of joy and excitement on the children's faces as we read and interacted with them put a very different spin on that "chore".  Most of the children came either from single parent homes or were orphaned or were the head of the household taking care of their younger siblings while parent or parents were working.  So that the luxury of an adult's or anyone's undivided attention to a child is so welcomed and appreciated.

Most of the staff of COTN were Dominicans.  Some of them had benefited through COTN's child sponsorship program , which provides tuition for school and feeding program and medical expenses for the children.  Others were Dominicans who have chosen to work for COTN to reach the marginalized Haitians and yet others live and work in the villages like Don Bosco. I was very struck by their hospitality, joy, and specifically their sensitivity to us as a team with young children.  I appreciated how they were concerned with how our children were handling the humid and hot weather and making sure that our children were getting the "siesta" they needed.  But their dedication and desire to serve their own community and children was inspiring.

Gifts of Joy (Part 1)

How life moves so quickly.  I started this blog entry 3 times now since our return from the DR in July.  I'm a bit embarrassed that it has taken this long but have to keep reminding myself that there are seasons and that's how life goes sometimes, or maybe I'm just trying to assuage my feelings about my long overdue blog post. ;-)

Part of this excerpt was written originally on 08-07-2013.

"It has been almost whole month since our return from the Dominican Republic.  I have been pondering our trip and wondering how I was going to encapsulate into words all that we experienced as a team and as families.  Joy, Resiliency, and Reflection, these are the words which reflect our days in the DR and hope to capture these words in the stories I share.

When I reflect back, there is joy weaved throughout this journey.  My concerns were for endurance and patience as we traveled a great distance with young children, the children were great travelers and did better than I had imagined throughout our trip.   In my very last post before the trip, I was anxious about everyone's health while we were in the DR.  Most of the team had a day or so of issues with traveler's diarrhea but thankfully had antibiotics on hand.  Even around the unseemly topics of bodily functions, much laughter and "togetherness" was established with the 3 families. There were no medical emergencies that would need evacuation as I had feared ;-) other than a swimming pool being drained (inside team joke).

When we finally arrived in Santa Domingo, 2 out of 3 families' luggages with all of their personal belongings were lost.  Other than the clothes they wore on the plane, the prospect of no clean clothes or underwear for days or even the whole length of the trip was disconcerting & frustrating."

Through a 12 member Ohio church team, God provided what our team needed.  The "Ohio" team graciously shared their clothes and resources (that were with the lost luggage) we needed to do our projects with the children of Los Robles & Don Bosco.  The gift of generosity of the Ohio team, reminded me of what happens when Christ's body works together, so much goodness.
By the persistence of one of our own teammates, our luggage did finally arrive on Wednesday morning.  Being in a different culture and country forces people out of their comfort zones and stretches your capacity to handle stress in very different ways than you are used to doing. It was very encouraging to me that the 9 months we spent as a team, forming our relationships allowed us to grow together.  The challenges and the stress points each of us went through as individuals, as families, and as a community, just solidified our team bond even more.  Being able to share this type of meaningful trip with our community brought a great deal of joy and satisfaction to me.
(to be cont)

Tminus 4 days we're leaving on a jet plane

The craziness of the end of the school year activities have concluded and now trying to get my head around the fact we will be flying out this Friday.  We will be flying out of Seattle at 10PM to Philadelphia and onto Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from there we will have a 3 hour bus ride to Barahona.  Needless to say, it will be a long day of travel.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  Please continue to keep our team in your prayers for patience and stamina in traveling together.

Generally I don't get anxious about getting sick but this trip especially has kicked up my worries about being ill while in the DR.  It probably has not helped that one of my girls has a swimmer's ear infection and the other had 100 degree temp last night and my right eye has been still recovering from a virus for almost 3 weeks.  I don't know what to expect, but my mind is conjuring the worst case scenarios...which includes one of us being evacuated because of a medical emergency.  Pray for God's peace and comfort in regards to everyone's health and entrust that all things are in His hands.

There are many things I hope for our team and as individuals that we learn through this experience.
The single greatest hope that I have is that we walk away from this experience with a deep sense of gratitude and love for God and for people that propels us to live differently.  I don't have any grand illusions that our lives will be changed on a grand scale but even if we make small changes like forgoing that daily latte so I can sponsor a child through COTN, or waste less food because I saw many who were hungry, I would really savor the taste of ice cream because it is considered a "luxury" in the bateyes, or to make a donation to fund books for a library in the DR.  I know it's so easy for me to become overwhelmed by such huge needs of poverty and injustice in the world and throw up my hands and think "what difference will my small decisions make? "  Yet, it's in those little choices that I make and people as a collective make which can make a difference or at least that is my hope.

This might be the last post until our return.

Belated Updates

I can't believe it has mean well over a month since I've written a post.

Our team yard sale on Sat.  April 20th was a great experience to bond and huddle together (under covered canopies) on our camping chairs, in our blankets and down jackets, to sell our "goods".  It was forecasted to rain that day but thankfully the rain held out until after the yard sale.  This was a good team building exercise for both the adults and the kids.  Prior to the actual day, the kids along with their parents, went through their toys and books and belongings to donate to the yard sale.  We also had a "craft night" where different types of cards & pretty origami gift boxes were made to sell.  The kids also helped by making baked goods to sell. Though, not alot of money was raised,  we will use the proceeds to buy art supplies for "creating your own books" project.

Our team's plane tickets were purchased last Friday May 10th.  We have been preparing for this trip since September and it is now zooming towards us and the departure date will be here before we know it.  Unfortunately, one of the original 4 families will be unable to join this trip because of the lack of funding.

Your continued prayer would be appreciated:
1)The end of the school year is a bit crazed, please pray for stamina and patience for the kids and the parents.
2)The team's health (before, during, after the trip).
3)Many of the details of organizing and packing and traveling will go smoothly.
4)Our team will have a red eye flight to Philadelphia then a connecting flight to DR.  Pray for patience & stamina as we travel tired with exhausted children.

Thank you for journeying with us as a family and team, through your financial gifts and prayers.

Erica

What I hope for.....

One of the main quandaries I find myself in as a parent, is teaching my girls how to be grateful, thankful, and to not take the privileges of their lives for granted.  I was raised in an immigrant family. Because my family did not have the disposable income to put us into extracurricular activities (i.e. sports, playing an instrument, the variety of activities that is available to my children today), I learned to do without.  After school my days were spent watching TV and running around in my neighborhood and during summer vacation I spent time doing chores around the house and summer jobs picking berries and working in the daffodil & tulip bulb fields.

My parents worked tirelessly so that their children could have a "better" life here in the US and they succeeded.  So thus my girls have a “better” life that includes a lot of privileges that I was not afforded.  And so I wrestle with how to teach my girls the value of a hard earned dollar, the sacrifices of time and resources made on their behalf, and teaching them gratitude for it when their daily life is very different than mine.  I know the appreciation for these values come with time and sense of maturity and awareness.  But I also know that the sheer fact of my life circumstances of having to do without taught me valuable lessons of not taking my privileges for granted, delaying gratification, a sense of accomplishment and deep satisfaction of working hard and reaching a goal, how to be satisfied with less and an awareness and empathy towards who did without.

How do I teach these lessons to my girls when much of their “world” and others in it are surrounded by the same privileges and they are not constantly surrounded by people who have deep needs?  I realize the irony in having the privilege and raising funds even to go on trips like this one.  Yet drawing back on my own experience of being raised an in immigrant family & my own 2 years living in Rostov, Russia in the 90s, there’s something pretty profound about being among something wholly & holy different that guides to see our own worldview in such a different way then before. 

There a couple of lessons that I hope we learn together as a family in our preparation time and as we go to the Dominican Republic:

1. A sense of deep gratitude & the sense of responsibility that the privileges of abundance, wealth, resources, and opportunities affords us to make the world a better place for others, too.
2. I hope that we as a family would learn to think more globally and act locally.  I know this is so cliche but this is part of the purpose of who we are called to as believers.
3. We would grow in our love for people and love for God and His purposes.

DR Team Yard Sale

WHEN: Sat April 20th 9AM-2PM

WHAT: 
Come to our DR team's yard sale to benefit our short-term mission trip to the Dominican Republic with COTN! In addition typical yard sale items, we will also be selling baked goods and having a "underwear drive" to build our supply of new underwear for the children COTN serves in the DR.  Please come, browse, buy, and contribute or drop in to say "Hi". See you there!

WHERE: Goos residence: 3032 NE 85th ST, Seattle, 98115

Readers & writers, oh my...

We have finalized the type of projects our team will be involved with during our week in the DR. This news made me very excited!  It finally felt as though our trip moved out of the abstract into the concrete.  There is some traction to our trip.

Tentatively the plan is that our team will be spending some part of our days leading a library time, as well as guiding a writer's workshop, in two batays (villages): Los Robles & Don Bosco.  We will be working with about 20-30 children in each village.  We will be going into each village's library and sharing a story time.  The children either could be read aloud to or could read to one another books in English & Spanish.  Our team will be leading a writers workshop on the topic of ice cream. We will be guiding the kids on how to write, create their own illustrations and books on the topic of  ice cream and then at the end of the week get to experience eating actual ice cream.

When COTN suggested this project, I was struck by  how even the simple joy of eating ice cream (something we take for granted in the land of abundance) is seen as a luxury and that to most of the children who live in these batays, it might be their first time they will indulge in such a tasty treat.  I am very excited that both of these projects will allow not only involve the adults but also the children on our team to use their love of reading and books to bless others.

COTN who are they?

  Children of the Nations (COTN) is a Christian based, sponsorship and assistance charity that serves in many countries to provide medical, dental, educational, and basic needs for children. We will be staying near the "batays", which are shantytowns set up originally to house Haitian immigrants who came to work on the sugarcane plantations. Unfortunately, once the immigrants had children, the children were not considered Haitians any longer as they were born out of the country, but the DR does not welcome them either and gives them no citizenship. As a result, the batays have become communities that are impossible to escape, and are now multigenerational towns in rural areas without electricity, running water, employment, etc.
   COTN has come into these batays and built schools, medical/dental centers, and assists with basic needs through child sponsorships and donations as well. 
You can find more information here: https://cotni.org/where-we-serve/dominican-republic/barahona-dominican-republic/village-partnership-programs/los-roble

What will our team being doing in the DR?

It's still yet to be determined as to the specifics of what we will be doing in the DR. There are several different options. One option is to work with a special education teacher to help set up their classroom. Another option is to be involved with the COTN child sponsorship program (delivering letters to the children, helping children with their correspondence to their sponsors, taking updated photos of the children, etc). One opportunity we are certain of is that we will be collecting as many pairs of children's UNDERWEAR (boys & girls, all sizes, new in package) as we can. If you would like to donate underwear or would like to contribute money towards the purchase of underwear, let us know.

Ways To Help

• We are collecting new underwear for kids to take along for distribution to the DR.
• You can participate financially and support through your prayers
• Praise & prayer for:
• Praise for $1200 of the $6500 of our support raised.  Thankful for those who have given.
• Prayer for full funds to be raised by May 29th.
• Praise for team preparations, continued prayer for team unity & bonding.
• Prayer for fundraising efforts for the entire team.
• Prayer for wisdom & discernment in decision making as Erica facilitates this team.
• Sponsor a child

Stay tuned, I'm hoping to get Helena & Esther to write some of their thoughts and hopes for this trip in the days ahead.

Erica

Our Team

Our team going to the Dominican Republic consists of 14 people: 7 adults & 7 children (ages range from 10-6 years old).  This group was initiated by our common desire to serve together as young families cross-culturally (while experiencing a cross-cultural experience).  We wanted to interact and engage with others who were culturally, socially, economically, and theologically different. The hope is that through this experience we will get a glimpse of what it means to be the feet and hands of Jesus and as a result have God's worldview be enlarged in us and through us.

As with many trips, this trip began months before with preparations.  Since September, we have met every other week to prepare. We have been learning about one another and the Dominican culture and about the Haitians we will be serving.  As many of you are very aware, a short-term missions experience can have many mountains and valleys and alot of unknowns.  It is these unknowns where our faith is stretched and challenged.  Please be praying for our team that our experience of community would grow as we face these unknowns together and that our hearts would be transformed by knowing God in a different way.