Loving on the Kids

Sometimes when I stop to really, truly think about it, it is amazing at how much we North Americans take for granted. And I am not talking about our houses, and clean water, and food; I am talking about something even more significant; love and affection. As Mother Theresa once said: "being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat".

I first fell in love with the Dominican because of the love and affection from the kids; they won over my heart. There are certain kids in my mind that are in our centre that always stick out in my mind for a few reasons. One little girl in particular really made me want to cry today; and for no different reason than any other day except for the fact that it really hit me today. She is eight years old, and I was sitting in a chair today and she came over for a hug. She smelled not so clean, and she really just wanted to sit there with me and cuddle. So for a good 15 minutes she just sat there in my arms, just loving the attention and affection. And even though she does this quite often, I couldn't help but tear up thinking about how much she really needed this. She comes from a rough family situation, and I know she does not get a lot of attention at home.

And really, love and affection from our parents we really take for granted because it begins from day one of our life. So we have never gone without it, we have never been introduced to it, it is just one of those things that people, myself included had never thought about as something with significance to be thankful for. As a child, we always said grace and thanked God for the food in front of us, the people around us, etc. But we never said thank you for the hugs my parents give me, the time before bed when we were read a bed time story, or the fact that my parents always told me they loved me. It wasn't until I started coming to the Dominican, that I realized love and affection is just as much something to be thankful for as food and water. Because all humans need love and human affection in order to survive and even develop as persons; physically and emotionally.

Living in the Dominican for longer periods of time really has given me a new perspective on poverty. I have been exposed to the every day issues that these people are faced with, and I am always amazed at how well they deal with them. For example, a Mother came to me today because her youngest son had a fever. Without even thinking, I gave her some Children's Tylenol and some vitamins, and sent her on her way. Now that I look back on that moment today, I tried to imagine myself in her situation. She had to ask for something as simple as medicine for a fever; when at home I would open my cuboard and something would surely be sitting there for me to take.
Another Mother who had come to clean today asked me to sign the book so that she could be counted as having actually been there to clean. So when I handed her the pen and notebook, she called one of the young girls over, spelled out her name orally, and then asked her to write it down. This Mother could not even sign her own name. Again, an every day issue that people here are faced with every day. Imagine not even being able to sign your own name.

Liz and James returned from Haiti this afternoon. They stayed at our orphanage, and spent the entire day on Tuesday taking the boys to get tested for everything. The girls had already been tested, and it turns out that one of them was positive for AIDS. She had to be taken back to her distant family, who we know do not have the proper means of taking care of her. If she stayed at the orphanage, there is the risk that she would contract it to the other children. Fortunetly, through a friend of James' who works at the hospital with AIDS victims, she is on some new medications, funded by the government, and she will be retested in one month to see if the medication is working at all.

Living the Dominican Lifestyle

It has been a busy few weeks, and I cannot believe that so much time has gone by since I got here. I have been here for 5 weeks now, and it seems like just last week I was packing to come. So much has been going on. My Dad came to visit at the beginning of June, and I was so happy to be able to show him what I have been up to down here all this time.
We have had lots of volunteers, made some great new friends I have been loving every minute of it. Being the field director for DOVE is the perfect job for me. We created a new centre schedule, open five days a week. Jenny and Jencen are here from Canada for one month, and have taken the English program to the next level. They have been having English class four times per week, some days for the kids with advanced English knowledge. The kids are so eager to learn because they know that English is so important for their future. If they want to get a job in the tourism industry, they must know English. The girls are also learning how to make coffee bean necklaces, which are so beautiful and time consuming to make - but they are so talented at it. There is so much going on in the centre right now - I think the kids are having an amazing summer.
We have also been doing some dance, sports and yoga, but those classes dont usually last as long due to the extreme heat. Once 10AM hits, the heat begins to climb into full force, and by 2PM it is the hottest time of the day.
I am enjoying living in the Dominican more and more every day. The country is absolutely beautiful, and so are the people. I love the kids so much, I feel like I have become their big sister. Especially the girls. They love to sit and just talk girly talk, about who each other likes, whos dating, the normal girly stuff. I love being with them all every day.

I also want to talk about a big accomplishment for me. Being field director, I have had to drive quite a bit. Well the DOVE vehicle is a stick shift, and since I drive automatic in Canada, I was not very well practiced in a stick. I have driven sticks in Canada, but it has never gone so well for me, mainly due to the fact I never had much practice. So the first time I went out, I went with James so that he could give me a refresher on driving standard. It was a disaster; the car broke down, I was nervous, and it was soooo hot. So the next time I went out was 2 weeks later, and I went on my own. I knew what to do, but was really nervous on my own. And PS - driving here is nutso...so learning standard here is much harder. Finally, after a few days of driving volunteers around, several moments of being honked at in rush hour because of stalling, and one incident of me actually opening my car door and yelling "MOMENTIGO" at some truck driver who would not let up on his horn, I can do it. I have learned - in the Dominican Republic - to drive a stick shift.
On another note, another quick little story, we went to the beach yesterday...since Sunday's are family days where everything shuts down, the only thing to do is go to the beach. Well it was windy, and I was floating around on my air mattress when all of a sudden, this GIANT wave caught me, and I was liturelly under this huge wave. When I made it up for air, I was sitting on the beach, covered in sand. The wave had actually washed me up on the beach.
So, between the amazing kids, great new great friends, the beautiful sunsets, the honking truck drivers, and the forceful waves I must say I am very much enjoying my Dominican lifestyle.

Visit to Haiti

Two weeks ago, we visited Haiti. I am just posting the blog now because the time since we got back has been crazy busy. But, finally, here is our experience in Haiti.

Monday, May 31, 2010

Today we began our journey at 6:30AM from the Dominican Republic to Haiti. We started by taking a taxi to the bus depot to hop on a small, over crowded bus to head to the next bus depot one hour away. We transferred buses here, and got on another small, over crowded bus. I liturelly had people on both sides of me with both backpacks on my lap, cramped like sardines - and I loved it! It was all part of the experience of our venture to Haiti. Our drive on this bus took over two hours and we finally arrived near the Haitian border. We stopped for something to eat and then started walking to find a taxi to drive us across the border. Today is market day, and this means that hundreds of Haitians will cross the border into the Dominican Republic to buy goods to bring home - this equals complete craziness and chaos. Market days are not the most ideal days to cross the border - especially being a person with white skin.

There are five of us in our group; me, Abby and Hope (two volunteers from the States), Liz and James. James is from Haiti, now living in the Dominican Republic and he is taking care of everything while we are in Haiti; holding our money, finding transportation etc.

We could only find a taxi to drive us to the border - not right across. So Liz gave us instructions, and with James’ lead, we put our backpacks on front words, made sure there was nothing in our pockets (pick pocketers), put our heads down as to try and blend in, and walked right across the bridge. It was a little nervewracking, and as soon as we had crossed, James found us Motos to take us to the Tap Tap station. A tap tap is the equivalent of a Gua Gua in Dominican. A big van that they cram pack full of people. Well once we reached our tap tap to ride in for the next one hour, we began our drive to Cape Haitien. Well about 10 minutes down the road, the Tap Tap breaks down. So we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere in Haiti, waiting for another van to come along. Surprisingly, it came quickly, so we loaded up and we were off again. It was a very crammed packed ride and I could not even move at all. The man beside me fell asleep on my shoulder…everyone was very close.

We finally arrived in Cape Haitien, and jumped in a taxi to head to the hotel. Throughout this whole trip from Dominican to Haiti, I cannot even describe the people begging for food and money. I have no words to describe the experience with this at the border, which was the worst, and throughout the whole day.

We were relieved to arrive at the hotel, where we could take a breather and have a cold drink. It had been a very long 7 hour venture, and we needed to unwind and discuss the trip. Late afternoon arrived, and the Father running the orphanage we are going to be primarily working with came to pick us up. He was going to take us to the orphanage to meet the kids, and eat dinner. The orphanage was amazing.

The Priest running this orphanage is Haitian, however he has attained his Masters of Psychology at Ottawa University. He is currently the executive director of his orphanage, as well as counseling Earthquake victims in Haiti. He has many more dreams for the expansion of his orphanage, but right now he is in the process of completing phase one. He has a beautiful house rented, with 12 kids and 5 on the way. It is extremely well kept, as are the children. He has house mothers to look after the kids, and he lives with two other priests in a house in Cape Haitien.
We got the grand tour when we first arrived at the orphanage, and then sat down to talk since the kids were napping. We found out a lot of information, including the fact that all of the children are true orphans - the Priest has made sure of this. The house that the orphanage is in is quite big. The children live on the main floor, and the second floor is where visitors, volunteers and missionaries can stay. The Priest has just had a huge container of donations arrive, including brand new mattress and appliances. The mattress’ will be used for visitors. The second floor also has a kitchen, living area…basically a full area for visitors to stay. It is very clean, and would be a comfortable place to stay.

We were later served dinner, which was really yummy and fabulous; there were a few different things to eat. On the way home, as we drove through the streets of Cape Haitian in the dark, it was a very eery feeling. There are no street lights anywhere, and there are people everywhere. People have candles lit on the side of the road to see. I am taking everything in today - although I have been to Haiti before, I am in a different city, and the country has been through yet another major disaster since. The streets are a mess, I was bouncing everywhere as we drove around. There are people everywhere. I have no proper words for my observations and what is going through my head tonight.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Today we spent the day at the orphanage with the children. We began by getting down to business. We want to find a sponsor for all of these children, so we collected information, and took some solo photos of each child. Then, we spent the rest of the day just playing with the kids. The Father could not emphasize enough how much affection and attention these kids need. An organization in Ohio just sent a huge container of donations, including a huge jungle gym for the kids. It was just set up, so the kids were more than excited to play outside on it. We spent a few hours pushing kids on swings, climbing up in the tree house, and just being with the kids. They were so exhausted that a few of the kids actually fell asleep while on the swing. We went in for lunch around one PM, and apparently the kids normal schedule is lunch around noon, and then nap around one. Well after lunch, they were all back outside, just ignoring their tiredness. They were so excited and so happy just to have us there playing with them; and getting some one on one attention.
When the day was over, we were all exhausted; mentally, emotionally, and physically. It was so amazing being with the kids, but at the same time it is hard to think about the reality of the situation. We found out today that the set of twins in the orphanage are orphans because their parents were killed in the Earthquake. I am so grateful that we have found Father Andre and his orphanage. The kids are really special, and they are in very good hands. Their home is clean, quiet, and safe. I cannot wait to come back and visit them again.

Mother's Day is on it's Way!

Today was a long and wonderful day. Saturday’s are always days I look forward to because at some point during the day I get to see all of the kids. They rotate in throughout the day, group by group, all just as happy to be there. Next weekend is Dominican Mother’s Day, so today was centered around that. The kids started making beautiful gifts for their Mother’s. They are so imaginative and creative, I just love it! The kids were also practicing for the Mother’s Day play they are going to put on next Saturday. During the lunch period, two of the teachers stayed at the center to sort out some donations and put together Mother’s Day packages.

Each Mother is getting some sheets or towels and toiletries. Sheets and towels are a huge necessity; often times each household has only one towel to use for everything. By the time we had gotten back from lunch, the teachers had everything sorted out; all that was left to do was wrap and decorate the gifts. So we spent the afternoon doing so. They look so pretty, I can’t wait for Mother’s Day!

As well, at the end of the day I gave away some clothing donations that I received from my company clothing supplier in Canada; South Paw Canada. I gave them to the older boys, and they really loved them; a lot of the clothing was jersey material, and that is VERY popular down here.

One of the boys today I noticed had a very infected toe, with some white cream all over it. I did not really understand what had happened to his toe, but for some reason he decided that deodorant was the best medicine for it. We corrected this by sending him to the washroom to clean it up, and then giving him some anti biotic cream to put on it. I also gave him some Tylenol for the swelling and pain.

Cutie Pies

Today was Girls Club and the older girls were practicing for the play they are doing, and the younger girls were colouring. Sometimes I cannot get over how cute they are! They just want to hug and want so much for recognition of their work. At one point I was standing there amongst the younger girls, and was hearing my name in every which direction. Everywhere I turned the girls were holding up their colourings to show me. I would enthusiastically tell them how beautiful their colouring was, and their faces would light up and an even bigger smile would emerge on their face.

Later on, one of the girls wanted me to read her a book. So she brings me this Doctor Seuss book written in Spanish. I speak enough Spanish to get by here, but it is rare that I have to read anything. I felt like a small child trying to read this book. I know that my pronounciation was off sometimes, and I read very slowly and choppy.

At the end of the class Ernestina decided to give away some of the clothing donations. So it was seperated into bags for each of the girls, and they all lined up to recieve their clothes; they were sooooo happy!
Overall today was a great day with the SUPER CUTE girls.

And the summer kicks off!

Welcome back to my blog! I am down in the beautiful Dominican Republic, once again for three months this time. It is going to be an amazing summer, and I hope that my blog will be of some interest. I am going to dive right in, to my first day here.
Today was my first day back in the Dominican. I woke at 4:30am, to roosters and a very loud bird outside my bedroom window – but no problem, I grabbed my headphones and turned my IPod to my “relaxing music” playlist, and let myself drift back to sleep.
Today just happens to be a Saturday – the perfect day to see all of the kids again. They all came at different times today, depending on which class and group they are in – however even if it’s not the kids time to be there, some come to just hang out first – a fun and safe place to be with their friends.

It was so great to see all of the kids today – as usual some were waiting to get in before we arrived, and they bombarded the car to say hi and give hugs. It is such an amazing feeling to be welcomed back like that. As the kids came in during the day, I could tell that some of them were not themselves. It had poured rained the night before, very hard rain, and it is guaranteed that all of the kids homes were affected somehow. I could hardly sleep due to the noise of the rain, in a proper building, so I cannot even imagine what it must be like for the kids and their families living in shacks with leaky roofs. It was very evident that they had been up most of the night; they were very tired and less energetic than usual. However they were still ready to go for their classes, and excited to be there.
DOVE has hired a new music teacher to extend the existing music program. He is a very talented friend of Liz’s, and I have even been to see him play a few times. He started today, and jumped right into it – he is so great with the kids and had all of them engaged the entire time.
A new program that has been implemented since I was here last is a special program for the older boys. It exists of body building, nutrition, exercise, and will also include other aspects like skills for finding a job, etc. The program started out by the boys learning, and making their own weights out of recycled materials and concrete.
It is a perfect program for teenage boys and they are loving it. They are setting goals, and it is really a great program to keep them engaged and learning at the same time. The teacher’s name is James, and he is really good at connecting with the boys.
After the club, we decided that we needed to do some grocery shopping. So we loaded up, and went home to unpack everything. Tomorrow is election day, which is HUGE here. It is like a holiday; everything shuts down, and everyone has the day off work. Since election day happens to fall on a Sunday, which means everything is shut down anyways, the government made Monday an extra day off. Even the local discos, and anywhere that might serve alcohol is closed down on Saturday night so that nobody is voting under any sort of influence.
I am starting to unwind, and get back into the Dominican flow. I love this Dominican laid back culture but it always takes me a few days to settle into it.

Hasta Luego Chicas!

Today was my last day with the girls - who I have become quite close with. I love them all so much, and it was hard to say goodbye. They all wrote little love notes as a parting gift.

We ended the class with a fun girls only dance party - and let me tell you - those girls can dance! We also had a fun game of Stella Ella Hola - I taught the girls this game last summer, and they LOVE it. Generally, the girls love any kind of hand clapping game, but it is funny because they just slur all of the English words of the song together.

After a heart wrenching goodbye with a ton of hugs, and too many tears for me to handle, all of the girls left.

We stayed at the club for the rest of the afternoon sorting through our suitcases full of supplies. Things like sheets, towels, clothing, shoes, toiletries, candles, all stuff that we were saving for our emergency relief fund. We sorted it into bags with a bit of everything in each package and we will be flying it over within the next few days. With the donations that DOVE has raised so far, we were able to buy some medical supplies. Our good friend Jorge, who owns a pharmacy matched what we bought in supplies from him as donation. We will also be flying this over ASAP.

DOVE is still accepting donations. This relief effort is not going to be a one time thing. It will be a long journey for Haiti.