The best two weeks of my life...Volunteering!

this is Carlito, 4 years old...one of 9 children! he's the lucky one I am sponsoring next year!
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The most amazing part of the trip was the two weeks of volunteering at Crossroads. We did all the different ministries that I listed on the previous entry about my arrival...but this will focus mostly on the constructing of basic houses in villages so the poor who were chosen to live there could have a more stable and sanitary village life. We also did education programs for the kids as well as recreation.  It was very tough because some kids spoke spanish, some creol, but none knew any english.

the 'sports field'...which flooded alot, and had cows roaming on it, so lots of trash and manure too!
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We drove to the villiage each morning, and either spent a whole day or a half day inthe village of Nazareth with the kids.  We did basic construction: painting, rebaring (putting together frames of houses with bars/wire), shoveling dirt into houses for floors and pounding the floors level.  It was tough work, but we all managed to have fun too!  The other workers in the village were all volunteers and they laid the bricks and concrete and finished off the houses with the ceilings.  Funny thing about construction though was that many of the kids really enjoyed watching us and helping us.  They would grab up a pickax in a dress and barefeet and pick away, then again they had nothing else to do except to play.

a kids coloring with one of the volunteers
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The education part worked breifly, but then we had to do mostly recreational activities.  The kids loved to play with any sort of ball, to color, to braid your hair, to HANG on you, and just to be crazy!

We tried teaching colors, shapes, animals, etc. in english and in spanish.  Once they could recognize everything in spanish, then we helped them recognize it in english as well.  It was fun to play simon says, fishing for shapes, a shape walk, masks, arts and crafts, books, and so many other games and songs (hokey pokey) to keep them occupied.

one of the pics of the flash flood which kept us in the village for a few more hours one day...
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While we were working in the village of Nazareth, the constructors informed us that a school was in planning to be built by the following September, and that we had an opportunity to sponsor students to attend. At first I gave it no consideration, because how could I possibly donate 35 dollars a month for uniforms, books, and an education for one student. But, as the week progressed, I became close with a 15 year old boy who had never had education before in his life and a four year old boy who taught me so much with just his smile and the minimal Spanish I understood. I finally realized that if it hadn’t been for my education, and my decision to attend the R.E.C.H.C., I would have never gotten the chance to go to the Dominican Republic and meet these children. I realized that my education gave me goals to strive towards, friends to help me through struggles, teachers and counselors I could confide in, and most of all, a sense of personal achievement and a desire to improve if I was not satisfied with myself. After thinking about funding, I came to the conclusion that if I had the honor of receiving this enhancement fund, I could at least afford to give back that amount of money to send Carlito, my four year old boy, to school. I explained this to his parents, whom were overjoyed, and as it turns out three of their other eight children were also being sponsored along with Carlito. I can not express how great it feels to be giving someone else a chance. I hope that Carlito really uses this opportunity and will one day be able to help someone else like I have helped him.

more kids coloring outside...yah, this is where we did our 'teaching'...
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I learned so much about how to appreciate my gifts and talents, my education, my family, and my job, because many poor Dominicans only have family, talents, and school if they are very fortunate. I did notice how the families and children had so much more joy in their everyday lives than most people do in our society.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring, or sweeing more photos...just ask!!