La Plaza

To all who donated....This is La Plaza where all the donations are stored in El Arca. Today I got to help when the kids came to get clothes that they needed and they were also there to see what they could buy. I think I mentioned earlier they earn up to 450 ($12) pesos every 3 months and can use it to buy extra things. Each child is accompanied by his/her house mother and first they check their account to see how much they have earned/saved. Then they browse the shelves looking for that extra special something. There was lots of happy chatter and excitment in the air....Sad to say, but when I take my kids shopping there's not this much happy chatter and excitment..quite the opposite sometimes...hmmm!
The teenage girls were especially excited about looking through the hotel toiletries many of which were brought by our group. The Plaza is well stocked now (thanks to your donations) with most types of clothing for children but the moms told us that underwear is scarce and bras for the teenagers and the moms are really scarce. So, (for all you Moms) in the coming months, as you discard your bras and gently used underwear, think of these girls and moms who could use them and drop them off at my house and I will make sure they get into the next shipment.

First barrio visit outside Jarabacoa

When we were finished working at the orphanage today we were taken to see a drop-in center in Palo Blanco that Kids Alive has been running for several years to serve the needs of the children who are not fortunate enough to live in El Arco! We met Jan who runs the center; she is from Oregon and has been doing this for work for 20 years and is very non-plussed about it when she shares her stories. She reminded me of Mother Teresa when we met with her. The center provides the children a full meal in the afternoon Mon - Fri and after school academic support. These children live in a barrio, no running water or electricity let alone a desk to do homework on! Some of the shacks have a chair and maybe a little table. As we walked the rocky lane in the barrio Jan explained that the conditions had improved since she started in 2001...hard to imagine that conditions were worse that what we were seeing and smelling! One of the issues Jan shared with us was that witch-doctoring still exists and a short while ago they had an issue with an 18 month old baby who was ill. The grandmother who was raising the children believed that draining the blood out of the baby would cure her; intervention didnt work, they drainined the blood and of course the baby died.

some pictures from the Haitian barrio

Still here and its still an incredible journey!

Since my last blog we have been to hell and back....we have seen poverty at its height.We have visited two "barrios" one Dom.Rep and one Haitian. I don't even know how to process it into the blog...I have lots of pictures but I am not sure they can tell a true story of what we are seeing...without the smells, the heat, the sounds, the defensive glances of the adults and, the eyes and hands of the kids seeking your attention; simply put, this is stuff you think might exist but you prefer to think it doesn't...and the difference b/w here and the US; the government here doesn't have a process, or a system, or anything in place to advocate for these kids..there's no CPS here..the lice, the stench, the heat, the shacks they live in....these kids are on their own... except where Kids Alive steps in to help.

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.