lots and lots of mud

Today was a day like no other. Constance and I were driving Drew to the land to work with Miguel where we are building the school house, when the car died. After some funny moments and success in car fixing, we made our way into Montellano. We got to the land and walked around some while waiting for Miguel to come. I'm glad that we did because I wouldn't have seen the land and everything that happened there.

The night before had rained so much that the river rose and flooded all the houses for several blocks, as high as 4 or 5 feet inside the homes. There was so much mud everywhere that I wished I had big rain boots, but my sandals had to do. A woman said that in the 17 years living there, she had never seen a flood so terrible. Miguel was even surprised that the river had risen up to where our land was.

We walked to another street where the houses backed up to the river. Families were surveying the damage and sweeping mud out of their homes (to the extent that that is possible). Miguel, Chris, Drew, Constance, and I each went to a different house to help in whatever way we could. The home I went into belonged to Miriam and her children. It was a three room house made of sheets of tin and plywood. She gave me a broom and I began to push the slushy mud out of her home, mud so deep that just like walking outside, your foot gets stuck like a suction cup and you can't get it out.

We decided to take everything out of the house so that we could get all the mud out. I helped some of her little boys carry out the little Dominican stove and washer they had, along with a table and some chairs. We filled containers with mussy clothes, sheets, a nd things that had literally become unidentifiable. I stood there gathering up the clothing, wanting to mourn with this woman over the things she had lost.

Our house in Houston flooded a few years back during Tropical Storm Alison, and we were out of our house for 6 months. It was a hard, and sad, and expensive time, now we are doing just fine, but this family does not have the resources that we did.

There was a package of salami partly still in its wrapper that I picked up off the floor in the bedroom. I sat it down on a pile of other things, but one of the boys took it to his mom and they all proceeded to eat it because it was what they had. I couldn't believe it.

The song Turn! Turn! Turn! (to everything there is a season) came into my head, and I thought of Ecclesiastes chapter 3. "There is an appointed time for everything..." I wanted to cry in that moment.

We stayed there all through the day not stopping until after 3pm. I made friends with the kids, particularly with one little girl named Ariana who asked me twice if I would be her mother. Miguel wanted to do something for them, and decided we should at least get some food for them so they could have a meal today. He went to the store with Constance while we continued working, and bought enough chicken, rice, beans, tomatoes, and oil for about 15 families.

Alexia started an English camp this morning that we are helping out with and going well, but hopefully we will be able to return to the land at some point tomorrow.

before and after

Get excited for what you are about to see. The following is a true story about a miraculous change taking place in the Makarios house. Prepare yourselves for something extraordinary. wow. Are we livin' it up or what?!


I have no other words, just a lot of pictures, clean laundry, and yummy dinners.

summer fun

Last week came the first round of interns. Monday and Tuesday were my last two days of class. We had a party, complete with juice and cookies. Tuesday morning while I was in Chichigua, Sharla drove the van down with the interns (we have a big van now for groups) and met up with me and Cristina during the second class. Thus far we have: Constance who will be in charge of everything as it relates to the groups, Carley and Drew who are interns, and Barrett who will be helping out with all sorts of things. There was also a guy named Logan also came down for a week, but left today. It has been great fun getting to hang out so far with everyone, and discover the dynamics of the group.

Constance, Jennie, Alexia, and I have been meeting with Sharla to discuss summer plans and the like. While the guys, plus Carley, have been with Miguel working on the land where the new schoolhouse will be. I don't remember if I had mentioned this before or not, but the land has now been purchased in Montellano to build the schoolhouse. They have been using machetes to cut down overgrown grass, plants, and trees, as well as knocking down walls from a partially built building already located on the property.

More summer staff, interns, and volunteers are coming within the week prior to the first group, and then more come throughout the summer. This past week has been great, so I am excited to see the dynamics when the house is full.

water and clothing for chichigua

do you remember, way back in march, when we had 80 people in the house? ok, so it was only about 40 at a time. but out of those 80 people, we had a few willing guys who spent several days scooping poop so that chichigua could get water. well this morning i was in chichigua and decided to go see how the progress was coming. apparently i'm a little behind, because as i walked up, i saw several people filling up buckets full of water. they say it's not good for drinking, but they can use it for washing. so, a few days scooping poop in exchange for water for a whole village. who wants to come help out in the DR?




chichigua has also had the opportunity to buy really cheap clothing thanks to donations from people like you. here is a picture of Altamen selling some of that clothing.

one by one and two by two

posted by sharla, up to her ears in summer logisitics

does anyone know how to say logistics in spanish? it's logisticos (the g has an h sound). the summer in makariosworld has officially begun. constance, who you may remember from last year's cast, is back to run the summer show. this "show" includes 15 summer staff and interns, 7 work teams, and a variety of visiters. and guess who gets to put everything into a color-coded spreadsheet? oh yes, it's me. and if you know me, you're probably thinking that I have the spiritual gift of color-coded spreadsheets, but at some point, even I can become weary of logistics.

however, I am VERY excited about our summer in the DR, and if I could, I would stay there the entire time and enjoy the fun, service, growth, etc. but alas, someone must stay in austin and pick up the mail (among other things). actually, we have 2 interns in austin, so good times here as well!

the interns begin arriving today - one today, two tomorrow, two on Mondayd, etc. please pray for us this summer. that the Lord would use those that He's bringing down for his kingdom work, that He will use it as a time to transform both American visitors, MAK staff, and the people they serve.

we will have LOTS to tell you about, so check in with the blog regularly for prayer requests and updates.

pan con mamba

In Chichigua for the past couple of weeks, Wisly's mother (Guerda) has had homemade bread and peanut butter to sell to people passing by the village on the road. She set up a little table next to the church, which is where we have class, because the church sits on the edge of Chichigua right next to the road.

It reminded me some of kids who set up a lemonade stand outside of their house for the passerbys. 25 cents a cup, remember those good old days? Guerda sells her bread for 3 pesos a piece and her peanut butter for 3 as well. So, a freshly made roll covered in homemade peanut butter can be yours for the mere price of 6 pesos, about 18 cents.

That particular day when she had her bread and peanut butter out to sell, our food program bread was looking a little skimpy. I decided to say all that we had left for the last class in the afternoon in Pancho Mateo, and buy this homemade treat for all the kids in Chichigua to go along with the other food we were to pass out.

This was a huge hit. All the kids were so excited to have peanut butter with their bread, and it also gave Guerda some income to financially support herself. People in the Dominican Republic use the word "mani" for peanut butter, so somehow that transfers to "mamba" when it becomes peanut butter.

Pictured below are some of the kids in my oldest class excited about their pan con mamba.

un dia loco

ok, so today wasn't so much crazy as it was completely random. today is tuesday, so it's a day i'm in pancho mateo all day. i begin with kids english classes and library time in the morning, and then adult english classes in the afternoon.

i arrived in pancho mateo this morning and went in search of my students. when i greeted them they said, "vengo ahora," which means they'll be there anywhere between now and 30 minutes from now. for them it usually means in about 5-10 minutes. but they never showed up. in an effort to teach them responsibility and not continually look for them, i sat and waited.

one girl finally showed up and asked if we were having class. i said yes, if the other students arrive, but first we need to clean the escuelita (it was unusually messy today). without an ounce of resistance, she began sweeping. later her sister showed up and began helping. a little bit after that, another girl showed up and also began helping. they continued cleaning for a long, long time. they threw out tons of trash, moved the benches to be able to sweep and mop near the walls and in the corners, and even cleaned up all the trash and leaves in the front yard. during this time, none of my other regular students had come for class. when it was all said and done, these 3 girls (plus a few other kids who stopped by sporadically) took 2 hours to thoroughly sweep, mop and clean out the trash of the escuelita. i don't know if it's ever been this clean. it's almost sparkling clean, if that's possible.

as a reward, i allowed them to take some old magazines that had been left in the school, as well as let them color during library time, while others were only allowed to read (not that reading is a bad thing!).

and then this afternoon we had a "special" visitor to my last adult English class. his name is Chino and he's probably in his late 50's or 60's. i've never seen him sober or without a bottle of rum in his hands. he proceeded to hit on every girl in the class (me, cristina [camille's aid] and elisa, who is about 14) while also keeping us from starting on time. since we were sitting outside on the porch, cristina was able to lean over to peak through the bushes at Nani, who lives across the road from the escuelita, and yell, "Nani, ayudanos!" "Nani, help us!" Nani saved the day by coming over and running Chino out of the schoolyard. but this did not happen before everybody got quite a good laugh at this poor, alcoholic man.

it's always an adventure in la republica dominicana.

picture updates on ian and his family