My time in Texas has nearly come to an end, and after really settling here I will be sad to leave, however, I am excited about the adventures to come. Thankfully the next adventure is with my Gateway class, it will be a really privilege to be able to share these experiences with these people and get to know them better prior to moving to the ship.
Sunday at some time in the early hours (i.e. before 3am) I will be leaving Texas and heading to the Dominican Republic for two and a half weeks. During this time the Gateway group will be spending time working with a couple of organisations in Puerto Plata, in the North East of the DR part of the island (which is shared with Haiti). The main place we will be working is Kids Alive, a supplementary school type establishment. The state schooling in the DR is not hugely substantial so Kids Alive run extra classes for the children. The younger children come in the morning and get breakfast and lunch and the older children come for lunch and then classes. Providing these free meals for the children is a way of ensuring they get at least one nutritious meal a day. Unfortunately in this poor area many of these children are unable to be fed properly, therefore Kids Alive is very popular. Each child who attends Kids Alive is sponsored, to provide the necessary funds to run the school and provide the meals. Those running Kids Alive have plans to extend the scheme to more children, however, they currently do not have enough dining room space. This is where we come in, along with providing the rest of the funds to complete the project we will be helping with the construction of this new dining room, we will also be doing some teaching in the classes, and spending time in the community. I probably won't have much opportunity to post much whilst I am away, however, I will do an update once I return.
Some of the issues in the area we are visiting are the interactions between the Native Dominicans and the Haitians, who were originally invited to the Dominican Republic to work the land during the farming season and then to leave, however they did not leave. These two groups live in the same town and there is a lot of tension between the two groups which has previously resulted violent disputes.
What I'm looking forward to most about the DR is spending time learning with my Gateway group, particularly getting to know them better in a setting other than the classroom. It will also be brilliant to spend time in a country with a very different culture to mine.
I think it may be challenging spending time so closely in a group, and interacting with people who speak a different language will be difficult. However, I believe the experience will be really good for preparing me for my work with Mercy Ships and creating stronger bonds with people prior to joining the ship.
Hope everyone is well and I will hopefully update you soon!
Sunday at some time in the early hours (i.e. before 3am) I will be leaving Texas and heading to the Dominican Republic for two and a half weeks. During this time the Gateway group will be spending time working with a couple of organisations in Puerto Plata, in the North East of the DR part of the island (which is shared with Haiti). The main place we will be working is Kids Alive, a supplementary school type establishment. The state schooling in the DR is not hugely substantial so Kids Alive run extra classes for the children. The younger children come in the morning and get breakfast and lunch and the older children come for lunch and then classes. Providing these free meals for the children is a way of ensuring they get at least one nutritious meal a day. Unfortunately in this poor area many of these children are unable to be fed properly, therefore Kids Alive is very popular. Each child who attends Kids Alive is sponsored, to provide the necessary funds to run the school and provide the meals. Those running Kids Alive have plans to extend the scheme to more children, however, they currently do not have enough dining room space. This is where we come in, along with providing the rest of the funds to complete the project we will be helping with the construction of this new dining room, we will also be doing some teaching in the classes, and spending time in the community. I probably won't have much opportunity to post much whilst I am away, however, I will do an update once I return.
Some of the issues in the area we are visiting are the interactions between the Native Dominicans and the Haitians, who were originally invited to the Dominican Republic to work the land during the farming season and then to leave, however they did not leave. These two groups live in the same town and there is a lot of tension between the two groups which has previously resulted violent disputes.
What I'm looking forward to most about the DR is spending time learning with my Gateway group, particularly getting to know them better in a setting other than the classroom. It will also be brilliant to spend time in a country with a very different culture to mine.
I think it may be challenging spending time so closely in a group, and interacting with people who speak a different language will be difficult. However, I believe the experience will be really good for preparing me for my work with Mercy Ships and creating stronger bonds with people prior to joining the ship.
Hope everyone is well and I will hopefully update you soon!
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