Sorry it has taken me a few days to update you all on what is happening down here. I honestly haven't had any access to the internet since arriving on Monday. Here's what has been going on:
We arrived Monday night in Jarabacoa and were picked up by some missionaries and taken to their house for pizza and a little initiation. We spent the next two and a half days getting acquainted with Dominican culture and going through training - some just as interns, and then some with all of the Dominican teachers involved in Kids Alive. We spent the days listening to sermons and lessons being translated from Spanish, and then at night we got a chance to get to know each other a bit. Including us four girls from Wheaton, there are 16 interns that will be working in different sites throughout the DR. We built a great community the few days we were together, and will all get back together July 9th for a movie night. I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with them and hearing about their experiences.
On Thursday, after the last few hours of training, we set off for Caraballo. It is a little over a 2 hour drive from Jarabacoa, and we were packed into a van with little air-conditioning the entire ride. When we arrived in Caraballo, we went straight to where we would be staying - The Mission House. This house is actually run by another Christian organization called Crossroads, and is run by a woman named Megan. Anyone who is there to help in the Dominican can stay at the Mission House, and so there will be teams coming in and out throughout the summer. RIght now there is another team of 4 staying from Cornell. [[ And Dad, one of them is a huge guy named Jorge - who speaks fluent Spanish and does a great job of protecting us :). ]] The Mission House is rather primitive. We have rickety bunk-beds with incredible thin hard mattresses to sleep on, and of course, no air-conditioning and then only 1 fan during the night. And it is incredibly hot here. I've been told it's 95-100 and high humidity. Showers are done military style - turn on water and get wet, turn off water while bathing, and then rinse. No more than 2 minutes of having water, which is cold of course. Mosquitos aren't too bad. I've been putting on spray everyday, and I've only gotten two or three bites. We eat breakfast and dinner as a House - Megan cooks. So far it has been delicious and it has been nice to eat as a type of family. We also have chores allotted to everyone to make sure the House is clean - our team is responsible for all dishes. The Mission House isn't exactly what I was expecting, but I'm really enjoying it. We even have a rescue puppy whose name is Turtle! He's cute and a lot of fun to have around.
The House is located a stone's throw away from the school we will be working at, and it is right in the heart of the poor village. When you open the door, you are met with rugged houses built out of scraps and naked Haitian children. I think 75% of the people in the village are Haitian, because they came over for the sugarcane industry, which has now gone under and left them with no work or papers to live off of. It's a heartbreaking situation, and living in it has been a hard thing to accept and open my eyes to. This morning we actually went with Megan a few miles over and visited an old man who is dying. He is 90, only speaks Creole (the Haitian language), and has been bed-ridden since he fell in the Sugarcane fields a few weeks ago. He lies on a mattress in a room smaller than my dorm room, with no windows. The room smelled like a mixture of death, sweat, and urine, since he cannot move and so he relives himself on the thin mattress. People have to come in a feed him and bathe him and turn him over so he doesn't get bed sores. Normally, a family of 15-20 lives in one of these rooms, but he has been given space because he won't be around much longer. It's probably the closest I've ever been to death, and I'm still processing it.
On a lighter note, the teachers we will be working with are a lot of fun and have a good sense of humor. I will be working with two women teaching Kindergarten and 1st grade. These two do not speak English at all, which has been a challenge as I work to figure out how I can help and what I am supposed to do. So far I have felt like more of a burden and inconvenience than a boon, but hopefully as school starts I will figure out what I can do and how I can communicate with them. Other teachers speak a little bit of English, which is especially good for Charity who has no Spanish background, but she is picking up on it very quickly! I'm very impressed by how much she understands already. School will be from Monday-Thursday from 8:00-4:00pm and then Friday we will do a fun activity with the kids in the morning and spend the afternoon planning for the next week of classes. 200 kids attend the school, and it's Kindergarten to 9th grade, I believe. Weekends we are free to do what we would like - this weekend there is supposedly a kiteboarding world cup going on at the beach, and then Sunday Megan is showing Veggie Tales in Spanish to the kids of the village at the local church.
So yeah, that's a little bit of what's been happening the last few days. It's really hard to summarize everything - so much happens in one day. Hopefully that gives you all a better idea of what my life down here is like. I could definitely use your prayers. I can already tell this is going to be a very challenging experience for me, and I know I am going to have to rely heavily on the grace and power of God to be my strength these next few weeks. A few prayer request I have are:
1. For team unity and communication. Things are already getting difficult between us as we are all trying to adjust and learn more about people's personalities. Pray that we will be able to love and support each other.
2. For JOY. It's easy for me to get discouraged and depressed and then withdraw from the community, which in turn makes me miss experiences and opportunities to serve and love people. Pray that I would focus on the good points of my day and remember that God is in control of and has plans for the rough parts.
3. For the language barrier. It's really been frustrating for me not to be able to communicate adequately with them, and I feel like this will only increase as I get in the classroom and am in a teaching position.
4. For my own spiritual life. That I will constantly be in prayer and the word. That I may clearly see and know God's love for me in order that I may show His love to the others around me.
5. Being content. Right now things are new and I'm doing alright, but I know that once more time goes by, I'm going to get in a bit of a slump and be more homesick. It's hard having little communication with people that I care about.
6. Patience and low expectations from the kids. They have a lot of attitude and think that the best way to solve things is by fighting it out. Listening is not their strong point.
7. Relationships with the teachers. I want to be a help and be there to encourage and love them as well.
I think that's about it, other than safety and health of course. I'm sure I've left a lot out, but I can't think anymore and I want to give Jill a chance to update her blog as well.
I love you all and can't wait to share more stories and details with you when I return! Because of limited internet access, I'm not expecting to update more than once a week. But know that you all are in my thoughts and prayers, and I miss you all greatly. Thanks for all your prayers and support! Keep an eye out next weekend for another post.
Much love and blessing,
Grace
P.S. I learned the other day that Dominicans are deathly afraid of FROGS! Yes, that's right. I knew these people were smart :).
