Some misc pictures

This is the last blog..there are 16 POSTS so when you get to the end of each page click on Older POSTS...Enjoy!

Team House where we were locked in every night..

Winifer, Aoife, Indiana and Nicholas

Tighe and Rhino beetle

Tighe and Peyton blowing up the soccer balls ..thanks to all who donated!

It's not really "chipper here!" Haitian barrio

Eric with Nicholas and Diego saying goodbye!

Tori..happy bday! Waterfall near Jarabacoa

No seatbelts? Tighe and his pal Willy..who we are sponsoring.. Willy's reaction when we gave him a picture of him and Tighe. HE ran around and showed it to everyone and then proudly displayed it on shelf in his house!

At the team house Beauty in the barrio

Tighe with Angelou and Carlos...rescued when their dad's efforts to sell their body parts came to the attention of a neighbor.

More beauty in the barrio..

couldn't resist this....she protests having her picture taken!

Our "bus" that took us to El Arca every day and then took us on the 4 hour journey to Sosua.

Journey to Sosua. Only a little cramped...I am standing to get away from the air conditioned floor..Looks like Eric's already passed out from the fumes!
Deena offering a cool mist!

THE best coffee in the world... made by Arhalia!

we fit 15 into a car made for 5!

Aoife and Danica's floor space



And we would do it all over again!

Haitian Village/barrio visit

Here are some pictures of the Haitin village, Caraballo that we visited.

Getting bathed......

We drove to the town of Montellano then down a long dirt road, through cane fields, to this remote location. It is completely isolated, far away from any form of civilization, hidden by miles of sugar cane fields. And it is hot. It was here that a Haitian community was ruled by a witch doctor (he is still here with others in the shanties on the other side of the river).

Witch doctor shanties.

The women who live here (in the shanties above) are slaves to his desires. Aids, hepatitis and other diseases are rampant. They live in filthty conditions with no running water, using the cane fields for bathroom needs, and subsisting on whatever food could be scavenged. Evil abounds in this shanty town. The poverity here was intensified when the cane factory shut down in nearby Montellano and anyone who had a job (earning maybe $2.month) lost it.

Several years ago an artist named Jana Amelingmeier and her husband started an effort to rescue these women and their families from the grip of the witch doctor and the poverity. Jana is a well known artist and she sold all of her art and possessions to fund her efforts. She built these houses for the females who were living in these awful slum conditions. If the women live in the homes for 5 years they are given ownership and certain freedom from the squalor they lived in. The houses while small with only 2 rooms, each have a toilet. Water is available at various locations throught the village.

Jana's husband Bob, a veterinarian, provides medical care to the Haitians here and in surrounding areas. The witch doctor has now lost most of his power and control over these people.

. Kids Alive is involved in the educational needs of this community and they had their 1st high school graduate this year!! It is a dangerous place to be and the volunteers here have to be secure (locked) in their rooms by 7:30PM. This is where they stay, upstairs in this building.

I'm not sure I could stay here....

One of the women doing her laundry.

The women and some of the men of Caraballo sell their crafts to provide income.

This is the end of our Kids Alive trip. Hard to believe but I am sad that we are leaving. At the beginning of the trip I wasn't sure I could survive but I would do this all over again! We have all grown in profound ways. We are so very proud of Aoife and Tighe who gave 100% of themselves each day to complete whatever chore was set before them. They never complained about the conditions we lived in, about the food, about the heat or the work they had to do and, were so respectful to all they met. They both embraced this adventure and are leaving with what I am sure will be a life changing lasting impression.

Tighe with WIlly who we will be sponsoring! Saying goodbye :(

A special thank you to Tom and Tori Dabisinkis who are the ultimate cheer leaders! It was their trip here 2 years ago with their children that inspired us. Tom worked his magic and made it happen for us and we are extremely grateful to him and Kids Alive. Last but not least, thank you to all who supported us and who donated.

This is Tom and Carmen de Maria. Carmen is one of the twins who came from an extreme abusive situation. Tom is our leader who keeps us motivated and on task every day!

A sneak visit to the coffee shop! I ran out of Peets!

It's already Thursday and the week has flown by. It is now so routine to go to El Arca each day to help out. Today Aoife and Tighe started out the day sanding and staining chairs, painting one of the homes (and himself), in the afternoon they helped with crafts.

Deena, Kristin and I were asked to clean out the school supply room and organize the existing supplies. All I can say is thank goodness the ceilings are high or I would certainly have banged my head when the cockroaches came out and at times crawled up my hand and arm! I jumped so high....this was the dirtiest job I think I have ever done....there were roaches everywhere and roach poop everywhere; it's especially gross when it gets under your nails! The house mothers got a good laugh at us shreiking and jumping whenever the roaches ran out from a box we moved or emptied. Here's some pics of the room and the end result with all the supplies neatly stored in containers... a perfect job for Deena to lead, she did an excellent job coordinating the effort!
Today we (Eric the kids and I) had lunch in Indiana's home. Indiana lives with Wilkins and Diana, their 3 children and 7 other orphans. It was a fun time, Diana is 32 and has a bubbly personality, always smiling and laughing and Wilkins has a very kind gentle nature; he told us is studying on weekends to obtain a teaching credential. The biologocal children of the house parents do not get any additional food, clothes or exra treats, they live the same as the orphans. The homes are interesting and quite a contrast to how we live. The furniture is all made locally, some of it by the house fathers and older boys at the orphanage. None of the chairs have cushions so there is no soft place to sit! Of course there is no TV and no radio. There is a schedule of the days events posted on the sparten wall. Chores are listed as well as family meeting times. Other than soccer adn basketball disputes, we have not seen any discord among these children and the concern and respect they show for each other is in abundance! The dishes, pots and pan etc are mismatched and old. We didnt have enough forks to go around so some of the children used spoons to eat their lunches. Diana made what has become my favourite food item..I cannot recall the name but it is made from Yucca and deep fried (so bad but so yummy).



After lunch we strolled over to Arhalia's home to enjoy a cup of coffee and a song. I am going to try and post a video of this visit...

We then (the women) joined the house mothers in their afternoon group meeting and they taught us how to prepare that Yucca snack I love! We had so much fun...it is neat to experience their comraderie and friendship. The rice they use is the cheapest rice and they showed us how they pick out the bugs etc prior to cooking!

Eric spent the afternoon in soccer camp again..the boys are really getting to know him and he is getting to know all of them and its fun to see how they interact with him on and off the field.

At the end of the day as we were leaving I noticed the kids lining up outside the door of the multipurpose room. They were each taking turns to come in and speak with Janina (the director of El Arca). I learned it was 'Pay Day!" they were coming in to find how much they had earned

In the evening we learned how many of these children still need sponsors. We will be sponsoring a child (probably Willy who remains glued to Tighe's side). Each child needs 9 sponsors to be fully supported here. A sponsor ship starts at $35/month...11 lattes! If you're interested let me know and I can send you the email address of the person coordinating that for El Arca.

After dinner we walked into town and everyone enjoyed a well deserved ice-cream! Of course when we returned the power went out. We are used to it now. The night was so hot that I could not sleep...our free standing fan does not cover the whole room and until someone moved it I had enjoyed it's breeze every night..now it's someone else's turn!

THe maggots weren't the only visitors on Tuesday night!

Before the power outage and the arrival of the mmaggots, the Bruel family came by to join us for dinner. Sally, John and their 3 boys are from Burton Valley in Lafayette but have been living here working for Kid ALive for 2 years. They are an amazing couple who gave up the Lamorinda life to live here helping these orphans. They run the Aniha school where the orphans and other poverity level kids study. Most of the orphans do not have birth certificates which creates another bureaucratic problem when it comes to school attendance. In DR one needs a birth certificate in order to obtain certification of education. Among other things such as teaching, and providing basic medical care Sally and John are in charge of the Advanced Educational Fund which serves to support these children into their college studies. What John and Sally are doing and have accomplished in this program is inspriring You can go to the Kidsalive.org website and read more. That's Sally in one picture telling us about the injuries on one of the boys in the Haitian village; he received them in a ritual where the body is given lashes that cause welts.. John is in the other picture proudly telling us that the boy beside him is the very first high school graduate of this Haitian village.