A Rainy Week in the DR

posted by Brian

Rain stops thing here like snow in the states. It has rained everyday for the past week. It is a little more difficult to deal with rain here because no one has driers and everyone depends on the sun to dry their clothes. It is also difficult to deal with the sound of rain hitting a tin roof when you are trying to teach.
The classes in Pancho Mateo are great. We are discovering that there are some really inteligent children in these areas. It is our hope to nurish this and give them a chance to do something in life other than cut sugar cane.
There are some problems that go along with the extreme poverty these children are brought up in. Bethany and I witness fights daily. Some of these kids even resort to throwing rocks. Just today i watched two children ages 8 and 10 fighting outside our center in Pancho Mateo. the adults in the village watch them go at it and did not stop them. I had to run from the class and pull the 2 kids off of each other. We have developed strict rules about fighting. We even have had to punish one of our best students. It is very important to set a good example because the parents use the same violence to punish the children, Bethany and I are trying to combat this problem with some positive reinforcement. we love these children and we hate to see them continue in these behavior patterns but we know it will take a lot of work to change the attitudes of the children.
Please continue to pray for the children of the villages. Especially a brother and sister named Franki and Mary Magdalena Feliz. They are 2 of the hardest children I have ever seen.