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)