Meeting the Child You Sponsor :)

One of my favorite parts of summer (and the rest of the year) is my role with sponsorship. I love sharing with work teams a little more about the kids we are ministering to and how they can help. Another one of my favorite parts of sponsorship is helping connect Sponsors with the children they are supporting when they are here on a work team, visiting, etc. Last week I got to go with Stan to meet the girl (from Anija) he's been sponsoring for the past 2 years. He not only met her, but got to see where she lives and meet her family as well. Here's are a few pictures from the visit.

Here's Stan and the girl he sponsors who goes to Anija. This was their first time meeting each other. She had been making a little book for him with pictures and writings that said things like "take care of yourself" and gave it to Stan.

Here's a picture of the kitchen.

And another space outside for cooking.

Their newer, "inside" bathroom. The actual toilet is the only part inside. If you look at the top of the picture on the right side of the roof you'll see a half pipe used to funnel rain water into the barrel. This water is scooped out and put into the toilet to flush.

We are pretty sure this is where their old, outdoor bathroom was.

A sister of the girl Stan sponsors.

Kids Alive is funded through Child Sponsors and we are in need of 500 new sponsors asap to cover the costs of our Kids Alive ministries here in the DR. We currently have 9 different ministries sites in the DR and are helping over 1,000 kids. If you are interested in sponsoring a child through Kids Alive or know someone who is, please contact me through email (julieannebailey@gmail.com) and I will get more information to you and/or answer any questions you may have. Remember, as a sponsor you can help impact the kids that I work with daily for Christ and for the rest of their lives.

Visiting Yosanny

Visiting one of our Anija students.

Visiting the Los Candelarios Barrio

Last week a few of the summer interns at Anija, Brian, and myself walked a few of our students home to Los Candelarios. Here's a few pictures from the walk.

This is one of our students at Anija. Her mom also works at Anija.

This is another one of our Anija kiddos who lives in the Los Candelarios Barrio.

Los Candelarios ends at the river.

One of the houses down by the river.

A couple of our students jumping into the river!

Home Visit Update

This weeks home visits were a little different than normal. Over the past several weeks I have gone with each of the teachers who do home visits so they know what kinds of questions they should be asking, what types of things they should be observing, etc. As the school year is coming to an end and as I'm heading to the States for a visit in 10 days, we still have a lot of home visits to do in a little amount of time. So this week, all of us went out to do home visits. Together we must have visited over 20 students this week! Here are some pictures from the visits I went on.

During this home visit out in a campo (outside of Jarabacoa), there were lots of kids that lived nearby running around and they all treated me like an American! Most people in town see Americans (missionaries, tourists, etc.) semi-regularly but it was like these kids had rarely seen a white person. One of the girls couldn't stop playing with my hair, another kept saying "americana" to get my attention, and they all ran beside me and held my hands when we were leaving. It was so cute!

Home Visits in Piedra Blanca

Here are some pictures from today's home visit. In general, this barrio was one of the poorest I've seen as a whole. I'd say about 90% or more of the houses are made out of only wood. Two of my students houses are partly dirt floors. I also saw holes in the tin roofs which means not only is the inside of their house getting wet but parts of it get muddy as well. Some of these pictures only have the parents because the student wasn't home, only the student because the parents weren't home, etc. Thanks for making ministries like Kids Alive and Anija possible through your prayers and support!

Week 5 Home Visits

We actually found 5 houses this week, unlike like last week when we only found one house in an hour and a half! Up until this week I didn't know that many Dominicans (at least in Jarabacoa) have never taken a bath before. Our neighbors and fellow KAI missionaries, who have a 5 year old daughter (Melia), told me that one of Melia's Dominican friends came over and they were given a bath. When her friend saw the bath full of water she said, "Wow! You have a pool!!!" She was so excited to be completely covered with water, to play in it, and even discovered that she couldn't hear when she was under water. Another story I heard involves one of the girls who attended Anija and became good friends with one of the missionary families. She had just taken a shower for the first time in their house and afterwards came downstairs and asked, "How do you turn it off?" She had never bathed in an actual shower before. She was about 14 years old. A third story i heard, involved the Haitian boys and their last night with Kids Alive. The Field Director took them to the capital, where they were being dropped off the next day, and they stayed in a hotel. All of a sudden, they heard one of the boys yelling in the bathroom and come to find out he had turned the hot water on and 1. probably didn't know what a hot shower felt like and 2. didn't know how to make it colder. One of the other boys went in to help him out. :)

Here are a few pictures from today's visit. I've included a couple of pictures of these families bathrooms.

One of our students with their family posing in front of a bathroom that they share with other families that live near them.

The front of their all-wooden house.

Visiting with one of my students and her mom.

This is one of the smallest houses I've been in. Behind the curtain on the left is another small room where they sleep. There is a bathroom outside that they share with their neighbors.

A community bathroom.

A view along the way while we found the student's houses.

Thoughts from Last Weeks Home Visit

Thank-You Lord for helping Natahly and I find the students houses during home visits last week. I feel a little weird reflecting on today's home visits. During the visits, I felt like saying, "these houses weren't too poor" or the situations weren't too bad." I can't let myself get numb to seeing these living conditions or compare their needs. No matter the situation, God is good and He is our Provider. I continued to reflect on the day as I took a shower. I remembered seeing one of the girls moms through a window outback who had just finished bathing. It was most likely a bucket shower as this family doesn't have a bathroom. Wow, how grateful I was to be standing in an actual shower, inside my house, and with hot water. I have to remind myself that my life is not fuller or better because I live "comfortably." Yet why do I always find something to complain or be ungrateful about? God is Provider for all His people. God, I ask You to bring these families into having personal relationships with You and that they would seek You as their Provider.

Philippians 4:12-13 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."

Home Visits Round Three

Wow. Today was not a good day to spend an hour looking for students houses as it was really hot out! We spent almost an hour driving on my pasola up and down rocky roads, asking someone about every 100 meters if they knew where such and such lived only to find out that we had been passing the students houses the whole time. Gracias a Dios, we eventually made it to 4 students houses.

These kiddos are in 1st grade. They were really quiet while we were there. Their dad was making tostadas to sell while we talked.

Six or seven people live in this house with only 2 bedrooms.

Natahly with one of her students. This first graders mom was just finishing bathing out back when we walked up as they don't have a bathroom.

This student lives with his grandparents. His mom died and his dad doesn't live in Jarabacoa.

Home Visits Round Two

This week's home visits were a little different than the first week. Judit (a second grade teacher at Anija) and I had no clue where any of the kids lived (there are very very few street names and no addresses). We only knew the barrio name, La Joya, which is close by where I live. So we just stopped and asked random people if they new a certain kid and where they lived and eventually we found all four houses! Some of the people were hesitate to tell us where the kid lived. Judit explained to me that a lot of times when someone is asking where a person lives it's because they are in trouble so that explains why people in the community don't like to say where people live. Here are some pictures from the home visit.

This is the home of one of our 5th graders and her 5 year old brother who also attends ANIJA. Their mother wasn't home but we talked with the kids for a little while anyways. About 5 minutes after we got there (and we had arrived the same time as the students), I heard the sound of a baby cry. Sure enough, their youngest brother who is about 9 months old was in the room... the surprising thing to me is that there were no adults home!

A picture with her English teacher :)

This is one of Judit's second graders. She has lived with her grandparents since her mom got married to a man other than her father. Two of her older uncles and cousin live there as well. The house only has 2 bedrooms. She seemed quite happy and loved and gets to see her mother almost every day.

A picture with her teacher.

This is the house of one of my third graders. We passed by twice but no one was ever home. We were told by neighbors that the parents both work from about 7am to 6pm every day.

First Day of Home Visits

Today was my first day of home visits. Our goal is to see where our students are living, build relationships with the parents, and get a more accurate idea of what a kids home life is like. I went to Barrio Blanco (near by) with the first grade teacher, Rubelina. We visited four different houses of first graders that go to ANIJA that live in this area. There are no street names here so once you get to a barrio (or neighborhood) you just ask whoever is around where this or that person lives.Once we arrived at a student's house, Rubelina talked with a parent and filled out a form about the student's family, house, living situation, etc. while I sat there just trying to understand what was being said. I also took a few pictures.

People here are great at greeting and welcoming guests into their homes.

Although we mostly visited first graders today, I got to see one of my third graders (who has a sibling who is in first grade).

This is a "kitchen." This family has no bathroom and I literally saw one of the little girls pee in that bucket while we were sitting and talking with the parent.

The outside of a few houses.