The goals of the Health & Well Mission Team were to provide a new hand washing sink, teach health classes, take eye exams, distribute eye glasses and clothing. Each goal was accomplished with joy and love!
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Health & Wellness Mission Team Feb 2015
I've been back from Habanero about a week now. I was there for a month with a Health & Wellness Mission Team and a Dental Mission Team. I feel so blessed to be able to serve along side these wonderful people. The use their hand earned money to go and their vacation time. Plus they work their tails off while they are there! I hope their experience is a meaningful one and that each one will return to Habanero again. The people there never forgot the love and kindness you've shown.
The goals of the Health & Well Mission Team were to provide a new hand washing sink, teach health classes, take eye exams, distribute eye glasses and clothing. Each goal was accomplished with joy and love!
The goals of the Health & Well Mission Team were to provide a new hand washing sink, teach health classes, take eye exams, distribute eye glasses and clothing. Each goal was accomplished with joy and love!
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Why Oh Why?
Have you ever wondered why I would leave America and spend
two months working in Habanero? I leave
my family, my church and all the comforts of home to live in a little cement
block house without full electricity and by that I mean you never know when you
will have power. We also never know when
we will have water. The water comes to
the house about every three days. On
this trip we had a 10 day stretched with no water because a pipe broke and it
took that long to get it fixed. Fortunately
a few years back we put in a cistern, so we have access to water. But it’s back breaking work to lift it out of
the cistern bucket by bucket.
Bahai de los Aguilas, huh?
It's been awhile since I blogged because I've spent the last two months in Habanero AND the internet which I was so very happy to get set up SUCKS! I can't say it any other way, it's a throw back to the 1980's when I got my first aol email account. Remember? Gosh we were so impressed by the technology we thought dial up was like greased lightning! lol Little did we know we'd one day look back on it as slow as watching paint dry..........
Anyway, while Scott and Chris were in the Dominican I'd thought we'd take a day off from Habanero and go see Bahai de los Anguilas. I'd read so many reviews about how beautiful and secluded it was I was anxious to get there and see for myself. First thing to do? Ask around to see how long it'd take us to get there from Habanero. Well, that was my first mistake! I received answers ranging from 45 min to 2 hours. So we planned on a 2 hour ride and headed out for the day with our beach bags packed.
As we headed out of Barahona and then past San Rafael I became suspicious. I hadn't seen one sign noting either Bahai de los Anguilas or Juragua Park the protected area in which Bahai de los Anguilas lays. Hmmm.... well we kept driving and hit some pretty rough spots in the road and I mean rough. Like you could loose your whole rim and tire in it! We had to slow down and then low and behold we hit construction. Men here, men there, but not much happening. Yep, even in the Dominican Republic, you will see 10 mean standing around and 1 looking like he might be actually working.
The view was beautiful during the drive and then right around one corner we saw a wind farm. Yep, right there in the middle of no where there were acres and acres of wind turbines catching the wind and making electricity. Of course we had to stop, explore and take pictures. It was pretty impressive for this backward country which still uses horses and mules for farming. Hopefully this means that one day we will have electricity 24/7 in Habanero!
Okay, back on the road, we're tired, hot and ready to give up finding this beach when we come upon a police check point. We stop and ask where it is and happily he says take a left less than a mile ahead! Alrighty, we are excited, except we already have 4 hours into this trip and 4 more hours to get back home. We turn left onto a dirt road and go about 10 miles further. And there in the middle of no where is a restaurant open for business and a guy showing up where to park. Excitedly we get out of the car and talk to the guy pointing us onward. He was actually trying to get us into his little area where he cooks and sells food. We were hungry, but thought it best to eat in the restaurant.
We sat down and ordered something to drink and inquired about the Bahai de los Aguilas beach. You have to take a 15 minute boat ride to the beach. Since we'd already spent 4 hours on the road we thought it best to eat and hang out at the restaurant's beach. We had a nice time, but we were disappointed we didn't get to the secluded beach we'd been looking forward to seeing.
We learned there is a hotel further down on the beach so next time we try this adventure we're going to head out early and then spend the night so we can really enjoy Bahai de los Aguilas beach!
Oh, yes, I learned a valuable lesson about relying on information gathered from people that have NEVER been out of their village! lol Silly me.
Anyway, while Scott and Chris were in the Dominican I'd thought we'd take a day off from Habanero and go see Bahai de los Anguilas. I'd read so many reviews about how beautiful and secluded it was I was anxious to get there and see for myself. First thing to do? Ask around to see how long it'd take us to get there from Habanero. Well, that was my first mistake! I received answers ranging from 45 min to 2 hours. So we planned on a 2 hour ride and headed out for the day with our beach bags packed.
As we headed out of Barahona and then past San Rafael I became suspicious. I hadn't seen one sign noting either Bahai de los Anguilas or Juragua Park the protected area in which Bahai de los Anguilas lays. Hmmm.... well we kept driving and hit some pretty rough spots in the road and I mean rough. Like you could loose your whole rim and tire in it! We had to slow down and then low and behold we hit construction. Men here, men there, but not much happening. Yep, even in the Dominican Republic, you will see 10 mean standing around and 1 looking like he might be actually working.
The view was beautiful during the drive and then right around one corner we saw a wind farm. Yep, right there in the middle of no where there were acres and acres of wind turbines catching the wind and making electricity. Of course we had to stop, explore and take pictures. It was pretty impressive for this backward country which still uses horses and mules for farming. Hopefully this means that one day we will have electricity 24/7 in Habanero!
Okay, back on the road, we're tired, hot and ready to give up finding this beach when we come upon a police check point. We stop and ask where it is and happily he says take a left less than a mile ahead! Alrighty, we are excited, except we already have 4 hours into this trip and 4 more hours to get back home. We turn left onto a dirt road and go about 10 miles further. And there in the middle of no where is a restaurant open for business and a guy showing up where to park. Excitedly we get out of the car and talk to the guy pointing us onward. He was actually trying to get us into his little area where he cooks and sells food. We were hungry, but thought it best to eat in the restaurant.
We sat down and ordered something to drink and inquired about the Bahai de los Aguilas beach. You have to take a 15 minute boat ride to the beach. Since we'd already spent 4 hours on the road we thought it best to eat and hang out at the restaurant's beach. We had a nice time, but we were disappointed we didn't get to the secluded beach we'd been looking forward to seeing.
We learned there is a hotel further down on the beach so next time we try this adventure we're going to head out early and then spend the night so we can really enjoy Bahai de los Aguilas beach!
Oh, yes, I learned a valuable lesson about relying on information gathered from people that have NEVER been out of their village! lol Silly me.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Ten more days...........
Ten more days and my feet will be on Dominican soil. I am so very excited and thankful to be going back to Habanero. I miss the children. I miss Yanet. However, I know I will also miss my family and friends that I am in leaving in the USA. It's a struggle sometimes.............Seems like I'm always leaving someone.
Since my husband Scott has no vacation time he will be staying in Longview. The last few weekends we've been trying to squeeze in every minute we can together. Thankfully he will have vacation time next February when I will return to the DR with the dental team.
This trip we have lofty goals for such a short period of time. I will be in Habanero for just three weeks. I hope to get the covered play area complete and an outdoor kitchen built. We also have a team coming that will paint the classrooms, redecorate using bilingual materials, distribute uniforms and backpacks and take photos of the children. We will be happily busy.
Please keep us in your prayers for safe travel!
Monday, April 15, 2013
A Sad Day
The young man that robbed our house in Habanero was shot and killed last night attempting to rob another house. My heart goes out to his family that is left suffering. He traded his life for "stuff". I am sure his family would trade anything they own to have him back again.
It is a sad fact of life that the lust for "things" drives us to exchange our relationships, our time and our very lives for things that will pass away. We think these "things" will bring us what ever it is we are seeking, fulfillment, prestige, happiness, friends. But we are chasing empty dreams as this young man did. He was just 18 years old. What a tragedy.
Please pray for his family and all the other young men in Habanero. Pray this tragedy will be a reckoning for those seeking things of this world to bring them happiness. For our joy and sure satisfaction can only be found in living a life of self control, service, love and forgiveness in relationships with others and with God.
It is a sad fact of life that the lust for "things" drives us to exchange our relationships, our time and our very lives for things that will pass away. We think these "things" will bring us what ever it is we are seeking, fulfillment, prestige, happiness, friends. But we are chasing empty dreams as this young man did. He was just 18 years old. What a tragedy.
Please pray for his family and all the other young men in Habanero. Pray this tragedy will be a reckoning for those seeking things of this world to bring them happiness. For our joy and sure satisfaction can only be found in living a life of self control, service, love and forgiveness in relationships with others and with God.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
March
6, 2013
Iglesia Nuevo
Habanero! 3pm today the community held
a meeting concerning the activities of the church located right beside the
school. The community donated the land
for the church 10 years ago, but the construction has not been finished and
there are only three people that show up when the doors are open. There are lots of reasons why the church has
not been completed, but it seems the main issue is the Pastor has no following
here. He has not established trust in
the community and he is involved in four other churches in different
villages. It was determined that the
church would be handed over to the community to complete and work in
partnership with the school. Yanet has
the keys and we have chapel for the children on Mon, Wed and Fri mornings
before school starts. What a happy day!
One of the guys on the paint team mentioned he used
a bucket
to flush the toilet at the school. And I said, gee there should
have been water to flush…..So I went to check it out. Sure
enough there was no water, so I met with Yanet and Pasqual
and asked why there was no water at the school. Pasqual
said he filled it a couple of days ago, but as soon as he fills it
the water goes away. I asked how does it go away and he
said he doesn’t know, it just goes away. I turned to Yanet
and she jumped right in to support Pasqual, yes, she said,
the water goes away. I asked where does it go? They both
said they did not know, it just goes away. I couldn’t help
but smile.
to flush the toilet at the school. And I said, gee there should
have been water to flush…..So I went to check it out. Sure
enough there was no water, so I met with Yanet and Pasqual
and asked why there was no water at the school. Pasqual
said he filled it a couple of days ago, but as soon as he fills it
the water goes away. I asked how does it go away and he
said he doesn’t know, it just goes away. I turned to Yanet
and she jumped right in to support Pasqual, yes, she said,
the water goes away. I asked where does it go? They both
said they did not know, it just goes away. I couldn’t help
but smile.
It is an interesting problem. Since we are not there full
time, these bumps raise up every now and then. One would automatically thing they would investigate and find out
where the water goes. However, in this culture they are so
used to things breaking down and not getting fixed they
just live with whatever happens.
time, these bumps raise up every now and then. One would automatically thing they would investigate and find out
where the water goes. However, in this culture they are so
used to things breaking down and not getting fixed they
just live with whatever happens.
In the area where the mission house is located, the
houses
are made of cement and block. They are pretty solid homes.
The homes were built for poor families during the President’s
re-election bid as a social services project to get votes. The
houses have 3 bedrooms and a bath. However, not many
homes still have running water or working toilets. For
the most part the electrical still works. It always amazes
me when I go into one of these homes and see things not
working. They just don’t have the money at one time to
buy a new facet or toilet. So they live with it. Sometimes
they don’t even replace burnt out light bulbs.
are made of cement and block. They are pretty solid homes.
The homes were built for poor families during the President’s
re-election bid as a social services project to get votes. The
houses have 3 bedrooms and a bath. However, not many
homes still have running water or working toilets. For
the most part the electrical still works. It always amazes
me when I go into one of these homes and see things not
working. They just don’t have the money at one time to
buy a new facet or toilet. So they live with it. Sometimes
they don’t even replace burnt out light bulbs.
Anyway, I started working to explain to them that we
needed to find where the water goes and that it was
important the toilets and sinks were working properly.
Luckily the water was coming from the street so the first
thing was to have Pasqual turn the water and the pump on
to fill the roof tanks.
needed to find where the water goes and that it was
important the toilets and sinks were working properly.
Luckily the water was coming from the street so the first
thing was to have Pasqual turn the water and the pump on
to fill the roof tanks.
Once the tanks were filled the next morning we
started
eliminating possible ways we were loosing water. Was the
valve at the pump turned off so the water didn’t flow
backwards to the cistern? Check, valve was off, next check
the bathrooms, sure enough there was one toilet and one
sink faucet running like the Columbia River! Well, of
course the water goes away!
Thank goodness I had a couple of handy guys there and they
were able to put on new faucets and fix the leaking toilet. One
small step for Evergreen4kids, one giant step for the school!
eliminating possible ways we were loosing water. Was the
valve at the pump turned off so the water didn’t flow
backwards to the cistern? Check, valve was off, next check
the bathrooms, sure enough there was one toilet and one
sink faucet running like the Columbia River! Well, of
course the water goes away!
Thank goodness I had a couple of handy guys there and they
were able to put on new faucets and fix the leaking toilet. One
small step for Evergreen4kids, one giant step for the school!
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