Volleyball Club at Anija

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Anija's Club Volleyball team. This year Anija is having a tournament for the girls who attend or have attended Anija over the next few months. The girls were split into teams and will play games every Friday until May. The overall winners will receive medals :) Traditionally there is a ceremony whenever a new sports season starts (here in the DR) and so that's what we did. I was an honoree along with 4 others. A few people gave some encouraging words on working hard and sportsmanship, we sang their National Anthem, and Leslie (another KAI missionary) and I did the first play of the tournament.


Shoes that were donated for the volleyball girls. Over Christmas I asked friends to donate athletic shoes for the girls playing volleyball as the girls were wearing shoes with no backs, no support, no cushion, etc. I'm excited for them to see the difference although I couldn't quite explain in Spanish why athletic shoes are so much better to play sports in than crocs or converse. Thank you again to everyone who donated! We still need smaller sizes (5-8). Let me know if you have any to donate :)


One of the 6 or 7 teams formed. This team has all girls that live at the Ark.

I was so proud to see these girls attempting sit-ups. This was the first time I saw any of the girls doing strength exercises.


One of the volleyball players and also my student. It's great to bond with the girls outside of English class. They ask me to play but I keep telling them I'm not talented with any sport that involves a ball. I'm the type of athlete who runs and fetches the ball. Hopefully I'll get better...

Sojourners Women's Retreat 2010

Last weekend I went to a Women's Retreat with several other missionaries from Kids Alive. The retreat was held at a Catholic Retreat Center located on the outskirts of Jarabacoa. The theme for the retreat was Community. We spent time as a whole group, in small groups, and had a lot of individual time as well. It was a great and needed time to get away and be refreshed with fellowship, being in the Word, and worshiping God as a community of women. Here are some pictures from the retreat.

A view from the retreat campus.

Another view from the retreat campus.

The ladies in my small group.

All of these women live in Jarabacoa and work for different organizations (Student International, Doulos, Jarabacoa Christian School, Escuela Caribe, Kids Alive, Young Life, and more). We had a little 'Jarabaco' party on the last night.

Update on helping Haiti

Here is an email I received sent by our Field Director.

Hello everyone,

We are practicing the virtue of patience with respect to helping Haitian children.

Today, Victor Herrera and I attended another large four hour meeting in the United Nations building in Santo Domingo that was changed from Monday to today due the child trafficking uproar over the last few days. We thought that UNICEF and CONANI were going to share the results of the hospital survey and they would continue with their request from last week that we take 40+ children (along with their caregivers) from the hospitals. This issue was not discussed nor was the information available. We did learn that UNICEF, which has been more assertive in this process, is now taking a back seat to CONANI because UNICEF is only here by invitation and CONANI is the proper authority.

Victor Herrera will go to CONANI in the morning and try to get more information. We continue to believe that we are uniquely positioned to help some children from this crisis and will pursue this end simply because we think it is the right thing to do. We have also made UNICEF in Haiti aware of our capacity though immigration of children presents additional issues. We think there are 160-220 children in DR hospitals and they will need to go somewhere at some point. This remains the most likely place for us to help.

We will wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow.

Thank you for your patience and support.