Dads vs Maggots... aready hosed with water, sprayted with bleach..now thinking about gasoline!






Our third day and immediately when we stepped off the bus our kids were swallowed up in the greeting from El Arca kids. The boys ran down the hill to play ball and the girls sang songs and played games. The group picture is Aoife, Danica and Ellen with Inidana and Winifer. Aoife gave them the notes she made for them last night and they were delighted. The smallest of gestures of love mean so much to the children here.

We accomplished more shoe fitting this morning which by the way may sound easy but it is really hard when you are constantly bending down/standing up. My challenge is speaking Spanish, and then the taking off of shoes and socks, putting on the school socks and the trying on of shoes. I feel it is so important to give the kids the feeling of “choosing” the right shoe so, many many fittings take place to find just the right one! The kids are just so excited, this is the one time during the year that they get a new pair of shoes (if they have enough to go around). I think of how many times my kids get new shoes throughout one year and how we really don’t buy them based on absolute need.Things are about to change for the Tejada kids!!

Today we were invited to join a family for lunch. We were assigned to Heidi and Marianno. They have a total of 9 children in their house, 2 of their own and 7 orphan teenagers...al boys! The calm and happiness is the first thing that struck me when we came into the home. I'm not sure what we ate but it was delicious. Eric got was amazing at translating and we learned all about how they gave up their comfortable lives to come live at El Arca to be house parents. They, like all the house parents are devout christians. They are provided a small stipend for the work they do, Hilda runs the home while Marianno does maintenance around the compound. There are 10 homes here and all teh house parents work in El Arca.

After lunch we had our meeting with the house mothers. The purpose of this is basically to show our support for them, listen to their stories of their day to day life and the challenges they routinely face. There is one house here with kids from Haiti and both house parents are also from Haiti. The father speaks Spanish but, Violina the mother, only speaks Creole. When we met with the other house mothers yesterday, I learned that Violine is a little isolated primarily because she doesn’t speak Spanish and they don’t speak Creole. There is also a cultural barrier and traditionally, the people of Dominican Republic are not welcoming of Haitians and she has not had much opportunity to join in the activitites of the other house mothers, nor does she enjoy the support they offer each other. I speak some French which has some commonality with Creole so last night I logged on to Google translator and I wrote down several sentences in Creole so that we could visit her today and invite her to join us when we were meeting with the other house mothers. She greeted us with her infectious smile, (like Julia Roberts' smile!) and was so happy to join us! We brought pizza supplies and showed the moms how to make pizza. It was a ton of fun, we laughed so much and of course, Arhalia brought us her special coffee. She is the only single mom and she has 7 children, 1 of her own and 6 others...she has the 5 Delgado children mentioned earlier. Arhalia is known for her coffee and singing..thats her in the red shirt! Meanwhile, the rest of the Tejadas were working hard!

Today Tighe was assigned staining benches and digging the road that runs through the Arc.
Aoife was also staining and of course,Indi and Daiety glued to her side. Eric helped fix some electrical issues this morning and then it was back to basketball and soccer. He said it feels like he has been sent to "Fat Camp"!

I already emntioned the power outage and the maggots...the dads finally won after several attempts..see picture of the dads trying to come up with an attack plan. The kids had lots of fun playing the dark with flashlights. It was pouring rain and dark and Giovanni came on his motorcycle (no helmet or any kind of protective clothing) to see how we were doing..this is an example of the selfless caring nature we are seeing in these children. His home is 3 miles away along dirt roads filled with potholes and it was raining with thunder and lightening! The day ended with all of us feeling so thankful for this experience..the kids are saying "it's the best vacation ever"...that makes it worth all the sacrifice for us! XOXO

Tuesday

No electricity tonight..which means no toilet....no gas for the stove (dont ask why the gas doesnt work when the power is out!), and of course no water in the sink..and in case we were not being taxed enough an invasion of maggots. The score...maggots 2, dads zero! THat's all, running out of power for laptop...will try to load some pictures and will hopefully get some time tomorrow to catch up on writing! Pictures are of Tighe doing his job this morning and Aoife with Indi, who has attached herself to Aoife. Picture of Eric who has been running soccer/basketball camp. In spite of the inconvenience...we are having a good time! XO

Monday

Monday
Today was our first day helping at El Arca. First, we had to make breakfast (Deena and I have been assigned that for each day) and then everyone helped to load our bus with all the bags of donations…at 8:00 am it was already 70 + so by the time we were done we had already felt like a day’s work was done! The drive to El Arca gave us our first glimpse of Jarabacoa in daylight. The hussle and bussle of the morning had already begun with motorcycles darting in and out everywhere. We passed many little stores, maybe 10 x 10 and the highlight; the roadside butcher shack with a full skinned pig hung up to greet customers.
We arrived at “The Arc” to a warm welcome from everyone there. The kids came from all directions to greet us. Some are very shy and others, like Indiana, come right up with a big welcoming smile. After a team meeting and some waiting (we are getting used to waiting here because things have a habit of not going according to plan…) and then we all got to work. Deena and I were assigned to sort the donations…we divided the shoes into rows of cleats, school shoes, sneakers and casual. We sorted the uniform shirts, pants and skirts into respective sizes. Then the children came in small groups to be fitted. They were so happy to get new school shoes, so much so, that if we didn’t have a pair to fit them, like little Darwin who kept saying “bien, bien” even though we didn’t have his size because he desperately wanted to leave knowing he had a new pair of shoes. It didn’t matter to him that another pair would come before school started. I am struggling to learn the language and failed miserably when I tried to console Darwin so once again Deena came to my rescue! TO those of you who donated, we experienced their immense gratitude and, most importantly, we saw first hand how much they needed supplies. The supplies are organized by size in a large room called La Plaza. The children can earn 450 pesos every 3 months and with that, they must purchase all that they need, including shampoo and underwear. Before we arrived most of the shoe and uniform shelves in La Plaza were empty and the donations our team brought filled them to capacity! So, THANK YOU to everyone who contributed. I will post pictures of La Plaza later.
Eric and Tighe were assigned to run the soccer camp this morning and therefore spent much time running which in this heat, was challenging. The boys love soccer and are super good. Eric is doing an awesome job and the kids, especially the boys really seem to enjoy their time with him. Tighe is making friends with the younger ones and today was filled with many spray water bottle fights.
Aoife was assigned to the bench staining team and jumped right in and got to work. She is also trying to make friends and forcing herself to speak Spanish.
After lunch we were assigned into other groups. Eric, Aoife and Tighe were assigned to the children’s activities and I went to the book group for the house mothers. THese women are amazing. THey and their husbands, and their own children, live at The Arc, with anywhere from 8-12 children in one house!! The houses are approx 1200 sq feet. THese women shared their wisdom on how they gain strength from God in the knowledge that they are following his wish for them, and, much like our book group, they gain strength and wisdom from each other. Their sense of humor, their comraderie, the love and affection they have for the children, (children who come with tons of issues and many with zero social skills or even knowing how to use a bathroom) and, their true joy in their journey in life is inspriring.

We each have attracted a little pal or two...Tighe is followed by Willy..everywhere and poor Tighe carries him most of the time. Aoife's new BFF is Indiana a spirited 10 year old, Eric is frequently surprised by Steven's "sneak attack" when he runs and jumps up on his back, over and over again and we can also see that he is fast becoming Diego's pal. Little Gabriel has adopted me!

Our one treat each day is the dinner a little local lady comes in to cook for us. So far the food has been delicious. The power went out for a little while which apaprently happens frequently, not sure how often so fingers crossed.

Sunday

Sunday
It was a warm night in our house with no AC and sleeping in a small room with many other bodies adding warmth to the night air. Aoife and I are in a bedroom with 8 other females. Aoife is on a mattress on the floor with her friend Danica, and I am on a lower bunk. We have a fan blowing air which helps. No bugs in our room probably because all of its occupants sprayed deet on themselves and everything (and everyone) around them.
I was up early and made a cup of PEETS!!! (my luxury item) . After my breakfast duty was over several of us went for a walk in the neighborhood. I don’t know why but I was surprised that the streets were not paved…they are paved on the streets (or part of the streets) where the wealthy households are. It was interesting seeing big houses with all the trimmings smack in the middle of what can only be called “shacks”. Chickens and roosters everywhere just as prevalent as the poverty. Evidence of the recent tropical storm can be seen in the large mud holes in the dirt roads. It was warm even at 7:00 am. We did manage to get lost but that added to the adventure. Lots of motorcycles/mopeds, 2-4 on each) buzzing by, all in their Sunday best.
Our bus today is a school bus…not a modern day one but a step up from yesterdays! We drove to El Arca, the orphanage which is approx 20 minutes from our house. This day will go down as one of the most memorable days in my life thus far. I was overcome with immense emotion when we arrived. It is a piece of paradise with happy healthy children running all around excited to greet us. They were looking forward to our arrival and we were all struck by the enormous welcome we received. I know I wasn’t the only one with tears streaming down my face. These children’s stories are so sad and so horrible and they are all so beautiful it is hard to understand how anyone, let alone their parents, could abandon them. Alcoholism and prostitution played a huge role in the reason they ended up in an orphanage and seeing them so free and happy helped us to really get involved and interact.
We sat through the Sunday service..I think it was approx 2 hours long and included many many songs. I didn’t understand much since it was all in Spanish but my personal translator told me it was also Fathers Day in DR and at one point all the dads got to stand up and be recognized, with a song of course. A few of the orphans were visited by their dads. The stories of how these children ended up here is heart breaking. Darwin who is 4/5 is one of five kids who was almost starved to death by his mother to retaliate against his alcoholic father. One child was near death when they were found and Darwin’s black hair had turned red from malnutrition. He and his siblings are so happy and healthy and loved here.
The house mothers cooked us a delicious lunch and then we walked back to our house via a river. This was such an interesting walk, 3 miles through the countryside. When we reached the river it was flowing with vigor and waist deep for adults causing us to form human chains to get through that part of it. The kids were delighted to have an opportunity to cool off so we stayed at the river in the slow moving area for a while. While we were there we watched one local man soap up in his underwear and then jump in to the river to bathe! Two more men in their Sunday suits, stripped down to their underwear and waded in carrying their clothes up in the air! Because of the recent tropical storm our roads back to the house had lots of huge potholes filled with water and muddy holes which smelled like cow dung. We formed a single line and tried really hard to walk on the edge without touching the water/mud but there were so many and it was really slippery that most of us ended up in a pot hole or mud hole. Jack lost a shoe when the mud devoured it!
One of the interesting things about our walk was that our guides are two “graduates” of El Arca. Walkyris is 21 (red tshirt talking to Aoife and Danica) and is a pre-med student and was valedictorian of her high school class. Her brother, Yovanni is 16 and a student in high school and they are two of the most endearing and selfless human beings you could ever meet. Walkyris’ home (tighe holging her kitten) was on the way back to El Arco and she invited us to come in and see it. (see picture) She lives there with her brother and a couple who has taken them in whom she describes them as her godparents. (When children reach late teens El Arco is not able to take care of them and they try to place them with relatives.) Yovanni and Walkyris came to the orphanage because after their mother died their father committed suicide (in front of them) and they were left in a shack in the mountains to care for themselves at age 9 and 4. Her home is such a humble abode but they are so happy. We are learning a lot about the meaning of being without and at the same time having everything.

Tejadas in Dominican Republic

We have arrived....We left Orinda at 4:00 am and it is 11:00 pm DR time. It is so exciting and already interesting....The journey to Santiago was uneventful and the kids did an amazing job keeping themselves occupied and being good passengers. It was alrady dark when we came out of the airport so we really did not get to see the city of Santiago or the little villages we drive through on the way to Jarabacoa. It is a warm night, probably 80 and all along the road there were little shacks and houses illuminated with single light bulbs and music blaring. We saw a ton of barbar "shops"..roadside rooms with men inside having their heads shaved... We saw lots of men hanning out on the roadsides by the vendors cart / shacks, some playing cards others playing pool in open air pool halls. I wish it was daylight so that we could have seen more. Our transportation to the house was interesting. Eric and I lost count of the violations with the bus and the driving ...we have decided there must be a brake conservation plan in effect! Check out Tighe's seat!
As we journeyed here there was a strong manure smell in the air just outside the airport but as we drove up the mountain the air had a distinct odore of jalapeno!

We are settled in..beds made and bug spray (100% deet) everywhere! Tomorrow we go to the orphanage for church and lunch with the mothers and orphans and we will see their school where we will be working.

Eric and I are amazed at Aoife and Tighe's patience, sense of humor and ability to be good team players. We are so grateful that we have the good fortune to particpate in this adventure and hopefully we will all grow and learn from it. Stay tuned!

Getting Ready ..pre-trip shots

We had to get shots...the kids are up to date and were spared the ordeal! We all had to take the Typhoid medications and the Malaria "horse pills"..they taste horrible..one a week for 6 weeks!

Donation Drive

Thanks to all the Del Rey families who donated, especially Ms. Rossler's 3rd Grade class! It was a huge success and we are excited about delivering all of it to the orphange.

Donation Drive

Tighe with the donations he collected from his classmates in Ms. Rossler's 3rd Grade class!

Aoife and Tighe staffing the donation table at MVPC.