Makarios Journal

Listen Up!

2008-10-22T18:57:00.000-05:00

from now on, all our blog posts will be on the main page of our new website, not on this site. check it out: www.makariosinternational.org

méxico!

2008-10-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

here's a video from our time with the kids in mexico city. more on that later...

toothbrushing!

2008-10-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

Isaiah. Or as my dad would say, "I-zi-uh"

2008-10-13T12:30:00.000-05:00

I have found these verses to be encouraging and wanted to share the encouragement.

Isaiah 58:10-11

If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

The Guagua

2008-09-24T05:41:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered what happened to the guagua that burned? You probably thought that it was taken away and used to find parts for other guaguas. You are wrong. Our guagua was taken away, repaired, and is now running as public transportation (the Puerto Plata-Rio San Juan run). Cara and I were lucky enough to ride in it on our way to Sosua for some grocery shopping. Here are some pictures of the new and improved MAK guagua:

Cara next to the sign on the window: Puerto Plata - Rio San Juan

The dashboard...look familiar?

There it is, our old guagua bustling with life

Cristina

2008-09-23T14:50:00.001-05:00

This is Cristina. She is one of the teachers at our school. She's Dominican. I suppose a lot of you won't be able to understand her but I wanted everyone to get an idea of what she looks like, sounds like and see her smile that overflows with love and joy!

Ambiolix and Estiven

2008-09-19T05:08:00.004-05:00

Ambiolix is one of our preschool students. He's so little! His mom is Evelina; a wonderful, hardworking single mom (her husband died suddenly about 14 months ago) who wants to learn English and always has a sweet smile on her face. Ambiolix doesn't talk too often. He's missing his front 2 teeth (pulled by dentist because they were rotting) and has about 4 other rotting teeth in his mouth. He calls me Lubi (Robin here sounds like Row-been and is sometimes shorten to Rubi because Robin is too difficult) because he is Haitian and therefore switches the 'l' and the 'r' sound...I think it's precious! Today Cara and I went to spend some time in Chichigua, just sitting around, hanging out. After about 45 minutes, Ambiolix come running out of his house with the most precious hat on! Here are some pictures of my little Ambiolix:

Estiven has huge ears, a wide nose, and a big smile! He recently has a little accident with a bicycle and has a wound on his foot. Cara Jane has been trying to help it heal but it's difficult. She's cleans it and wraps it but an hour or 2 after arriving back to Chichigua, the bandage has fallen off and the wound is full of dirt! Today when we arrived the bandage was still on but fell off about half an hour later. He then began hopping on one foot to keep the wound off the dirt. Cara decided to look for a walking stick for him to help him keep his foot off the ground. Here's the result:

Estiven already looks like an old man and with the walking stick he looks even more so! I know that his right ear looks strange, but fear not! His ears are so big that he can tuck them in. He gets a kick out of tucking in his ears!

Diori in his glasses!

2008-09-19T05:08:00.002-05:00

Ashley

2008-09-19T05:08:00.000-05:00

This is Ashley. She is a chunky, solid little lady with a sassy attitude and a precious lisp. Here she says: Soy Ashley y estoy comiendo sancocho (I'm Ashley and I'm eating sanchoco)

Some videos from preschool

2008-09-11T20:19:00.001-05:00

Singing in line before entering the school

Memorizing scripture with Cristina (Genesis 1:1- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth)

Videos of Jakob and Isaak

2008-09-11T19:43:00.003-05:00

Sharla and I were going out to eat one morning but arrived a little too early to the restaurant so we decided to visit the grocery store (it's in the same building). The twins decided that they would go shopping for us and here are the videos of our time in Tropical:

Jakob is closest to me and Isaak is with Sharla. We're in the cereal aisle.

Isaak had, just before this video was taken, run full force into the cooler with the apples! It was funny. But look at their skill. They can turn corners, reverse, and stay clear of the obstacles that stand in the way!

Jakob gets around tights corners, runs into the plungers and looks for Mama. He's decided to start talking recently! And Isaak has as well. He says 'mama' and 'powpow' and some other things. It's all very exciting!

Playing with pillows is fun! Isaak is in white and Jakob is in maroon.

Garrett beats up on the twins

Cara teaches Jakob Spanish and Isaak continues to take the wrath of Garrett.

Sancocho

2008-09-11T19:43:00.001-05:00

Sancocho

Today for the first time our Doña Cristina made sancocho! It's a kind of soup/stew with yautilla (a root crop which is grown and eaten like potatoes), ahuyama (a very large pumpkin-like squash with orange flesh that is moister and sweeter than pumpkin), zanahoria (carrots), cilantro (same in English), yuca (also called cassava), plátano (plantain), pollo (chicken) and it is delicious!

Doesn't it look yummy?!

Our Doña cooking some rice to go with sancocho

Construction!

2008-09-08T15:29:00.002-05:00

it's really exciting to see the house go up. it will be even more exciting to see how God provides the money that we'll need to finish the house! prices on construction materials have more than tripled since we began the project. i think God just wants to show how nothing can slow Him down, so i look forward to seeing His provision unfold. here are some pictures of the house.

side view of the house from the road

the men and the container

front carport view

you gotta buy it all before the prices go up again!

the back staff area

view from the back

looks like a living room, right?

this is where you'll sleep

roller blades and the start of a new school year

2008-09-03T12:42:00.001-05:00

here ronni is wearing pink roller blades. let's discuss. where did he get roller blades? i hadn't seen them in this country until recently, and i'm seeing them in poorer areas. so this makes me wonder if a big shipment of used roller blades came down from the US. also, he's wearing these in chichigua. if you have ever been to chichigua, you might remember that there is no flat, paved surface. all dirt and rock. ronni was just walking around awkwardly in them. it didn't seem fun. but what i do i know about fun in chichigua? maybe it was a fashion statement.

on a different note, this week is what one might call "the calm before the storm." although now that i say that, it's not all that fitting because hurricane hannah has been raining on us since sunday. but from a school perspective, it is quiet - the summer program has ended and monday is the first day of the new school year. i think it's gonna be great! stay tuned for pictures and posts.

graduation

2008-08-27T01:57:00.001-05:00

There will not be students over the age of twelve in the upcoming school year, so we had our first graduation ceremony and party for all of the older students in our program. It was really special planning the event for my students, and having them and their parents come all dressed up and participate. We showed a quick slide show and then had the ceremony. Preparing for the graduation.

William

Yunior

Ernesto

Jonatan

Luis

Natanael

Rubén

Francesa

Francia

Lissi

Yoslena

Albertico

Ronni (who at first hid under the table after hearing his name called)

The whole graduating class
plus Weston, Robin, me, Kate, and Cristina

Ernesto and Ronni, the two from Chichigua, were wearing new clothes (that were matching). They both also got haircuts. It was really precious!

Ronal was one of my former students. He moved to Haiti and was gone for a majority of the year. This graduation was the first time for me to see him since coming back, it was really exciting.

some pictures i like

2008-08-21T15:20:00.001-05:00

we're in the process of redoing our website, so i've been going through lots of new pics. here are some of my favs.

A tour of our garden

2008-08-08T10:13:00.002-05:00

Behind the school we have a little fenced in area and some unfenced landed that is teeming with life! Here's a little picture tour of the food growing in our backyard:

The ranchito with the garden behind it. Our little cunuco (vegetable garden)

Limones
Limes

Picante o Aji
Hot peppers

Molondron
Okra (the pictures is poorly focused, sorry)

Berenjena
Egg plant
Dominican Spanish saying: En lo que dice berenjena (In what the eggplant says)
It means to go quickly. If someone were trying to catch up with a group, but they were walking, you would say En lo que dice berenjena and they would begin to run!

Tomate
Cherry Tomatoes

Frijoles o Habichuelas
Beans

I don't know what it's called but it's pretty

Cereza (not to be confused with Cerveza)
Cherry

Zanahoria
Carrots

Plátanos
Plantains

Our composed heap. We put all the egg shells, banana peels, and left over food from the school

Melon o Sandia
Cantelope or Watermelon (I can't remember)

Coco
Coconut

Guineos
Bananas

Auyama
I don't know what it's called in English. It looks like a watermelon on the outside but a pumpkin on the inside.

Ronni told me that it's called Ñami or something similar. I have no idea, really!

Mango
Mango
This tree is just beginning so it didn't produce this year. It is currently mango season here, so if anyone really likes mango, plan a trip down to the DR during late summer. They are huge and cheap here. If you are like me and detest mangoes, you should still come down here during late summer because it's the season for:

Aguacate
Avocado
They are also large and cheap during this season!

Lechoza
Papaya
This is one of my least favorite fruits ever! The tree is kind of strange because the papaya grows like a goiter on the main stem on the tree. This is a baby tree on our fence line.

That's a lot of what we have in the garden, but I'm sure that I have missed quite a few things with my untrained eye.

Taking Diori to the doctor in Santiago

2008-08-08T10:13:00.001-05:00

From our visit to the doctor in Puetro Plata it was decided that Diori needed to go see a specialist in Santiago. His vision in both eyes was great and so the doctor said that she did not have the technology needed to diagnose any further what my possibly be the cause of Diori's eye.

Jennie, Diego, Catie (summer intern), Diori and myself loaded up in the Makarios truck and headed to Santiago. Diori slept through most of the trip, until getting car sick

We arrived at the doctors office, checked in and waited. In the meantime, Diori got to play in the kid's area of the waiting room and enjoyed the toys.

We get in to see the doctor and she checks his vision with all of her tools (it was such a new experience for Diori!) and the entire time he sat patiently and answered all of her questions.

She was testing his vision and trying out different lenses to see which one was better ("Which is better, number one or number two? A lot of us have been there!)

After doing her initial check, the doctor ordered that his eyes be dilated. In this country the process takes an hour. So Diori and I waited in the waiting room while Jennie, Diego, and Catie went to La Sirena (our version of Target) to pick up a few things. After waiting the full hour, we get called back in and the process of looking at his eyes begins again.

It was concluded that Diori will need glasses. They are hoping that in using glasses, his eyes will have a specific thing to focus on and the muscles that are overpowering his eye, therefore causing it to turn in, will be corrected. He will wear glasses for three months and then we will have another visit to see if the lenses have helped sufficiently. If it is decided that the issue has not been corrected sufficiently, we will begin to talk about a possible surgery.

After the visit to the doctor, we headed to the Santiago airport to pick up our mail brought in by Missionary Flights International (the service that brings mail from the US to the DR and Haiti, as there are no mail services in these countries). The plane was quite late. After a three hour wait, we had our mail and made our way back to Puerto Plata. Diego, begin only three months old, was not enjoying his day away from home and proceeded to cry a lot of the way home. Catie held him and let Diori sleep on her shoulder. We got him a Dramamine and he did not get carsick! It was a long but productive day!

This week or next week I'll be taking Diori back to the doctor here in Puerto Plata to have him fitted for his glasses. I hope he likes them!

Interns - Session Dos!

2008-07-28T15:35:00.010-05:00

Four new interns arrived at the beginning of July to join Emily and Paul and have hit the ground running (Picture L-R: Catie Houser, Jennifer Domingue, Sarah Haugh, Sarah Penn)! After some orientation, community building, 27 Waterfalls and a retreat, they were in charge of developing and leading school. Sarah H. and Jennifer (both UT students) proposed a co-project with art, and therefore the theme of school was discovering the beauty of God's creation through art. Each day of school, two or three days of creation were discussed and portrayed through various art projects such as watercolors, vegetable stamping, chalk, and other mediums. Now, Jenn and Sarah are going to do follow-up "workshops" with the older kids that have showed the most potential/interest in art.

Catie is our UT pre-nursing intern and is assisting Cara at the school with tending to minor injuries, taking kids to the local clinic and a couple of more serious cases to the hospital. She is also observing/researching ways to better Makarios' knowledge and treatment of minor injuries at the school.

Sarah P. is one of our Pennsylvania Biblical University interns and is developing curriculum for school to teach some basic business and entrepreneurship concepts to the oldest class. Our other PBU intern, Paul Weitzel, with the continued participation of the interns, is continuing the development of relationships through summer Kids Clubs at the Wharf (downtown barrio of Puerto Plata) and a village behind the Mak house that we so affectionately call Poopie's Place due to one of the little boys named being Poopie.

Emily Falk, our full-summer Harvard intern, is continuing with her sociology research as well as building beautiful relationships with the children at school and the wharf, our neighbors at Poopie's, and of course the staff.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated as the interns have only a couple weeks left in the country and with each other and seek to finish strong for His glory. These are definitely some of the most flexible, joyful and passionate people I've known in quite some time and hope you are as honored as I am o their work with Makarios.

la casa makarios

2008-07-23T10:27:00.001-05:00

here are some pictures of the house we're in the process of building. you are welcome to come and stay here any time - the cistern is big enough for guests and we could through a few mattresses down in there for you. Or you could come stay in the house we're renting now and help us build this house!

how long does it take to get from puerto plata to austin?

2008-07-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

posted by sharla, who has traveled more than the average osa.

about a week and a half ago i left the DR for austin. I have done this many times - about 50 times, in fact. this was the worst and longest trip i have ever taken. here are the highlights/lowlights:

saturday, 12pm: flight is delayed out of puerto plata. i find this out before i leave for the airport and plan accordingly.

1:30pm: taxi runs out of gas on the way to the puerto plata airport.

2:00pm: i get to the airport an hour and a half before the new scheduled time, but no delta workers are at the desk. other airline workers tell me they have closed the flight.

2:10pm: i track down another worker who tells me that most of the people had already checked in for the flight (they didn't know it had been delayed) so they closed check in.

2:30pm: i finally find someone from delta and get him to allow me to check in. i start composing my letter to delta headquarters in my head.

4:30pm: the flight leaves 2 hours late, giving me less time with my friend kate in altanta. the original itinerary had me arriving into atlanta around 5:30pm on saturday and flying out sunday morning at 10am.

7:00pm: i arrive in atlanta, and go through the weirdest customs set up i've ever seen. i won't bother explaining, but it took forever and involved a non-english speaker telling me to get my luggage from the "sous" terminal. "south?" i said? "no, sous." he said.

8:00pm: after getting my luggage from the south, yes, south terminal, i finally meet up with kate. we go out for dessert in downtown roswell. it was lovely.

sunday, 8:30am: kate drops me off atl.

8:45am: the kiosk computer doesn't recognize me as having been on an international flight and only wants me to check 1 bag (you can check 2 for international fligths). the delta lady instructs me to get in the back of a long line.

9:20am: i get to the front of the line, a little concerned that i'm going to miss the 45 minute cut off. but i get called up just in time. or so i think. the flight is at 10:04 and it's 9:20, so i've missed it by a minute. it's a computer controlled thing so they can't override it. they put me on a flight at 11am.

10:45am: we're boarding the plane and a thunderstorm rolls in. they're still going to try to take off before it gets bad. they need 2 volunteers to take a 1pm flight and get a $200 voucher. i volunteer as i don't think that plane was going anywhere anytime soon.

11:30am: the plane i had been on takes off for austin and makes it there with my luggage.

12:30-3:30pm: i watch the computer screen as my flight keeps getting delayed because of storms. soon all the monitors fill up with "cancelled" and mine follows suit. i am number 13 on standby for a 5:45pm flight and have a seat for sure on a 7:30pm flight.

5:45pm: the flight is delayed until 6:30pm. though i am number 13 on standby, they call 16 names and mine was not among them.

7:30pm: my flight has been delayed for an hour and i am no longer in what one might consider "a good mood."

10pm: after many delays, my flight is cancelled because there are no pilots. all of this because of thunderstorms.

10:15pm: i get on the train to take up to kate's neighborhood. i make two phone calls to delta, and both people tell me there are no seats on flights to austin the next day. i call a third time and get booked on an 11am flight for the next morning.

10:30pm: 30some hours of travel and 14 hours in the airport bring me to the point of tears while i try to listen to some uplifting music on my ipod. people on the train look at me funny and/or pretend they don't see me crying. americans are so nice.

11:15pm: kate and scott pick me up at the train station. i go to their place and go straight to bed. thank God for friends that live nearby.

monday, 9:30am: i arrive at the airport and the computer has no record of me on any flights that day. the nice delta lady let me get in the business class line as it's shorter. they find that i am, in fact, scheduled to fly at 11am. i am on my way.

11am: the flight is delayed a half an hour and i start getting nervous.

11:30am: the flight leaves and i arrive safe and sound in austin, more than 48 hours after i left the mak house in the DR. i am tired.

moral of the story? don't leave the DR? don't take a voucher? don't fly delta? atlanta is trying to trap me? you tell me.

Diori

2008-07-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

If any of you have been at the Makarios school within the last year, you've probably met or seen Diori. He's a 7 year old who lives behind the school property with his grandparents, uncles, mom, and little sister, Ivi. If you've met Diori you know how much he loves hugs and playing with group members. You may have noticed that he enjoys running around in his underwear. You have most definitely noticed his eyes. He has a lazy eye.

This week Cara and I took him to visit Dr. Daisy Sanchez at Centro Medico Bournigal, the private hospital in Puerto Plata. We had assumed that he was having vision problems, as did Dr. Daisy. But after performing an eye exam, we realized that he has great vision in both his eyes. This means there must be something else going on with his eyes.

Next week Cara, Jennie, and I are going to take him to a specialist in Santiago. He going to have his facial features measured and the results will be sent back to Dr. Daisy. She'll go over them with us and we'll decide how to go from there.

When we told Jinet, his grandmother and care-taker, that we were going to take him to a specialist in Santiago she got goose-bumps all over and said that she was so thankful that we wanted to help Diori. She has always wanted to take him to a doctor but she's never had enough money.

Here are a few pictures from our visit:

Cara and Diori waiting for Dr. Daisy to arrive

Diori in the exam chair

los tweems

2008-07-05T20:40:00.000-05:00

posted by sharla

the twins are getting bigger and bigger and cuter and cuter. I offer proof:

The adoption process is actually moving along. Plenty of hitches in the process, but right now it seems I'm making progress. I'd saying I'm at least another 9-12 months from being able to bring them home. All in God's timing.

Freedom Day, as told by Kate Krone

2008-07-05T20:38:00.000-05:00

It truly is Freedom Day here in the DR. An appropriate name as we remember Jamie Lamb's Mom who died a year ago and also the Breaking Free study we have been diving into with the interns. Freedom is our prayer here.It isn't quite the same celebration as in the US but we had watermelon and did grill...we brought some American flags from my folks that helped to get in the spirit of the day. Oh, and we had chocolate cake for dessert to celebrate two of the girls birthdays here. Yum! We were ready for a celebration as it has been a busy week.

Monday, Annalie and I went with two of the interns to The Wharf to visit Dona Linda who lives there. She had invited us for lunch. We sat and talked and Annalie played with some of the girls of the neighborhood. I was very proud of her, out of her comfort zone but willing to go and play and walk around with them. She ended up enjoying it and making some new friends.Dona Linda is a Grandma and as we sat she told us about her bad headache and arthritis that day as she cleaned and made coffee and our lunch. We felt badly that she was working hard but it would have been an insult to try and help her. She made coffee for the interns. I don't drink coffee and Emily just told her it gave me headaches when she questioned why I wouldn't want any so we didn't offend her. She gave us the best chairs in their very, very small home. It is made up of odds and ends of wood, with two bedrooms, a main room and a tiny (the size of a small closet) kitchen. The kitchen consists of a small propane stove on a broken table and a refrigerator on concrete blocks. They have bits of fabric over the few windows to try and provide privacy. She and her husband live there with their daughter and her three children (she is pregnant again).She talked a lot about the village and warned the two unmarried intern girls to stay away from dating the men in the village. She did try to set up Hailey with a fisherman she said knew a word or two of English but Hailey declined. :)Emily ended up going with her daughter to the Colmado (corner grocer) to get food and Hailey (the other intern) and I sat and talked. They brought out a fan without the guard over it to keep us cool and while talking Hailey got her finger caught in it. (Hailey is the one who cut her leg and got stitches before at the Wharf) I looked at it and realized that we needed to go to the hospital and she needed stitches. So, we ended up all riding on Motos (motorcycles-they are a popular way to get around the city ) to the hospital where she ended up getting 5 stitches. Goodness!

The Westlake Youth Group came in that afternoon and it was so good to see them! They have been a real blessing here and have greatly blessed our kids. Helping at the school, helping me pull weeds in the school garden (Kat and TA were great examples in being willing to do it, even in the scorching sun!), helping us clean the Mak house (our cleaning lady can't work anymore due to knee surgery), helping to watch the twins and Adaline so Andy and I can go into villages together...among other things. We have really enjoyed coming along side of them, eating with them, seeing their servants hearts and praying with them.

We spent Tuesday and Wed. at the school. We went around the village as a family to round up some girls to go and play. We ended up with a number of them and all our girls did so well. We played with chalk, bubbles and jumped rope among other things. One little girl ended up spending the day with us so we ended up sharing lunch with her. She had quite an appetite which is usually the case here. Elliana found a sweet little friend named Evie and the two of them walked around the played for hours. Ella spoke English to her and Evie spoke Spanish but somehow they communicated very well. Others commented on how neat it was to see them together.

Unfortunately, that same day Annalie (and others) witnessed a Haitian man beating his wife. We weren't there at the time but Robin the principal told us about it and we talked Annalie about it. Evidently the Haittian man thought she had cheated on him and had her in a headlock punching her head. The people of the village eventually calmed him down but it was the talk of the day throughout the village.Thursday we went back to the wharf with some of the high school kids. I prayed protection for our group before leaving! We all did well and Emily went back to Dona Linda's house to let her know all was well and to apologize for us leaving so quickly. One of the sweet little girls at the wharf had quite nasty moto burn on her leg (a too common injury here). We tried to clean it out the best we could, but she was in a lot of pain. We hope to go back soon with better meds to put on it.

Friday has been a day to spend with my girls. Emma went to one of the villages with the groups in the morning. Annalie, Elliana and I were able to do Bible studies together and play. I did get a good quiet time in too which is such a blessing. Of course Adaline was crawling on me the whole time but I think it still counts. :) Andy was at the beach with some of the guys, playing with them and feeding them lunch. The evening was spent laughing with some people of the house and sitting in on devotions the WBC group. It ended with a late night discussion about God with two of the youth group girls, great way to end the evening!

Today we went to the beach with a bunch of the kids from the Mak school. There were 40 kids and the high school group did a really good job of keeping track of all of them. Our girls always love hanging out at the beach so it was a good day for them too. One of the boys did get a fish hook in his foot but Andy was eventually able to pull it out.Yes, such a busy week but also so very good. God continues to work in us and hopefully through us for His glory. Please continue to pray and thank you so much for those prayers!

27 Charcos & Retreating with the Interns

2008-06-01T21:43:00.004-05:00

After getting oriented to the villages, school, and Puerto Plata, the interns, along with Anne, Garrett, myself, Andy, Annalie, & Emma Krone, & friends Ritchie & Brittany Sparling headed on a team-building adventure trip to 27 Charcos (27 Waterfalls). None of us had driven to the waterfalls before, so after finally spotting the TINY washed-out sign, turning around, driving through a cane field, and guessing at the fork in the road, we discovered our destination! One of the best (coolest/well-kept) tourists spots I've seen thus far, we paid our pesos, requested our guide - La Machina (The Machine), got suited up in life vests, helmets, and for those without water-type shoes, classy Dominican water shoes (yes, they are rubber and look like 1980's loafers), and were off through the jungle of the DR!

We swam/hiked/climbed/were lifted up a series of pools, waterfalls, and hills in order to get to the "top", where we proceeded to jump/swim/climb/slide down. Our guide would go before us and somehow LIFT/THROW us up from the water to the next pool or hill, then tell us exactly how and where to jump or slide down into the next pool. The natural beauty of the area was amazing, and we had so much fun that some of us are already planning on returning! We also were able to bond in the approx. 5 hours spent hiking, being magically lifted up the side of a mountain, and supporting each other as we jumped from up to 20 foot drops.

The end of the week ended with a retreat at Cabarete to further introduce the staff and their experiences thus far, discuss the roles of the interns and their projects for the summer, as well as mandatory fun and "icebreaker-vegas"...I think they might like us...and we LOVE them! It is so evident that the Lord is working and has answered prayers already.

Highs and Lows

2008-05-28T21:25:00.001-05:00

Fifteen things I will miss...
1) Having a little hand in mine at all times
2) Conversations in Spanish and actually getting the jokes
3) Taking time one on one to care for a child and calling them by name
4) Walking miles a day between public, school, pharmacy, hospitals and exercise
5) God honoring times in prayer and study with each other
6) Talking and walking all over the DR with Kara
7) Laughing, dancing, singing at any given point in time with the staff
8) Being needed...even for little simple things
9) Rice, beans and chicken
10 Taking kids with their parents to the doctor and good conversations along the way
11)Friendly people along the walks
12)Cows, horses, chickens, dogs, and cats in every street
13)The people I share life with
14)Seeing the cycle of poverty slowly but surely change due to believers being faithful
15)Children running to me down the street with arms wide open yelling "Laura!"
Bonus thing: Spending time at Cabarete, eating great food and making friends with the locals

Ten things I will not miss...
1) Never, ever looking like I care about myself...hair a hot mess and heat edema
2) Feeling dirty all the time
3) Sweating the second you wake up to the second you fall asleep
4) Taking a shower and 2 minutes later having black feet
5) Not having a microwave
6) Not being able to drive, although I'd be scared to drive here anyway
7) Flying cockroaches that attack
8) Ginormous spiders that stare at you and then run faster than anything you've ever seen
9) Waking up with new bites every morning from who knows what
10)Not being able to put toilet paper in the toilet...and never flushing until truly needed

My time here has been one of the best things I have ever experienced. No regrets. Even the things that I won't miss, I would gladly put up with for another month if I were able. Those things were actually hard to come up with...until I remembered all the insects. You learn to adapt, but it doesn't make it easy.

It's so hard to leave, but I take comfort in the fact that there is a strong staff that God has put in place, He is working, and I am planning to return for a bit in November in between nursing assignments if I do this whole travel nursing thing. Who knows, maybe I'll end up in Austin for a while.

los interns estan aqui!

2008-05-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

the first round of interns arrived on sunday and after several days of orientation, team building, and jumping off of waterfalls, they were ready for their first day of school. here's a picture of them as they headed off in their new school clothes...

from left to right, interns Hayley, Emily, Paul, and Tepera, with Laurin and Kate. They are all awesome. cream of the crop!

Fire, fire, the guagua's on fire

2008-05-22T08:20:00.000-05:00

I am sure that many of you have already heard the story by now but for those who haven’t sit back and here a tale of how the guagua caught on fire. Although it has been a little over a month since our van caught on fire the wreckage that still sits outside on the street makes it feel like it happened yesterday. After a productive day in Montellano the women’s group from Westlake Bible Church were ready to return home to the comforts of cold showers and oscillating fans. When we arrived to the house I noticed that Anne had parked the truck in front of the carport which meant I needed to leave the guagua on the street. After the group unloaded I went inside to say hi to Anne and grab the truck keys so I could move it and the guagua under covered parking. When I stepped outside I noticed smoke coming from under the driver seat in the guagua. After casually telling Anne the van is on fire and asking for a fire extinquisher I returned outside. We didn’t have a fire extinguisher so Anne brought out some flour to throw on the flames. When she met me outside and saw the amount of flames accumulating under the van she simply noted “I don’t think flour will put this one out.” If you haven’t been to the Makarios house then you must know that we are located at the top of a hill. To make things more interesting, the emergency brake on the guagua doesn’t work so we always park it in gear. Apparently the fire produced enough heat to start turning over the engine and the van began jumping forward. It finally succeeded and began making its way down the hill. Luckily we also have a broken down Nissan Pathfinder that has never been removed from the street. The van stuck the front end of the Pathfinder allowing us enough time to steer the guagua to the vacant lot across the street. It is not hard to draw up a crowd in the DR so when 12 American women begin screaming and running into the street and flames engulf a van people stop to look. Within minutes every neighbor, construction worker, taxi driver, dog, cat and chicken began showing up. After 10 minutes and two stops at the wrong address the fire department finally arrived. They immediately try to break out the windows but there tiny hatchets just wouldn’t do the trick. So the logical solution became for each member of the fire department to pick up rocks and throw them at the car windows. Needless to say they succeed, more oxygen enters the van and the flames double in size. After another 10 minutes of attempting to put the flames out Miguel and I are questioned about registration papers and insurance. We tell them that everything was in the glove box. Seeing as this was not an acceptable answer Miguel worked his way between two firemen and began kicking the glove box. After 3 powerful blows the box opens up and he salvaged what was left of the paperwork. The police got all of our information, the fire department thought they put out the flames so everyone began to leave. Before the fire department made it down the street the battery in the van caught on fire again and Miguel flagged down help. After a few more gallons of water the fire was out Everything was finally over...I wonder when the clean up crew will come? Oh yeah, there isn’t one...so Miguel and I swept up the broken glass, pushed the guagua out of the street (using the truck), hosed down the car fluids that were all over the ground and finished just in time to start up the grill, it was burger night and everyone was hungry.

Happy Birthday Kate!

2008-05-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

Today the wonderful and amazing Kate turned 24. We joined her with her parents in Cabarete to celebrate. Her family made a meal of tapas and Kara made an incredible chocolate cake to top it off. We attacked her with silly string, sang happy birthday and she did her own toast. It was a great night of fun and laughter! David presented to her a bunch of cards her students made and we showed her a video of them wishing her a happy birthday.

Not the best picture of all of us, but you can see imagine the joy of our hearts to be in air conditioning for 3 hours.

Welcome Diego Miguel Morel! The little lad was born May 12, weighing in at 7lbs. Both Mom and Baby are doing great after an unexpected and quick delivery. Please pray for a speedy recovery for Jenny and join us as we praise God for this new life!

So...I'm the new girl

2008-05-08T19:40:00.000-05:00

Hello Makarios readers all over. My name is Laura and I am about the only person on staff not from Texas. I am from Dayton, OH where I work as a nurse in a pediatric emergency room. I absolutely love my job, but what I love most is that God has given me a skill that is needed everywhere with constant opportunites to serve others and honor him. I came with a small group from work in the fall and it was during that trip that I knew this would not be my last time coming to the DR to work with these kids. God began working in me and I got the time to come off and spend the month of May here with a job description to "heal all the children." I laughed when I heard this. I'm very aware that this will not happen, but I will do whatever I can.

I've only been here a week, but have had many medical discoveries. The usual infected wound, scalp fungus and burns. This week, we have had the pleasure of having Dr. Glennen and his assistant Connie at the school for dental work. They have managed to see every child and pull lots and lots of teeth. I was highly impressed with their skills and how well the children handled it. And seeing how I am always a part of the shoving the tooth back in as opposed to taking it out, this was a learning and interesting experience. Edwin, AKA Bobo, had 8 (yes, count 'em 8) teeth extracted and slept through it! Not only that, he was snoring and had one tooth that had four roots instead of the normal three which made it extra hard to remove. He didn't care. I know he was numb, but good glory, there is still pressure. And we all know the doctor means when he says "you're going to feel some pressure." Oh yeah, he had an infected wound on his leg, so I cleaned and dressed it...he woke up for that, go figure.

I am always amazed at how children react to situations. I think only three of all the kids actually cried and got upset. Only two of them were we not able to work on b/c they wouldn't cooperate. This would have never happened in the States. We would have had to use all sorts of distraction and papoosing. I notice it even with the latinos that come into the ER back home. They are the most well behaved kids and don't cry until we leave the room or are told they are allowed. It's the machismo culture. And never in the States would we be able to just pull teeth without consent to treat from parents.

We will be doing more dental work tomorrow. If you want to see more pictures or see what life is like in the DR for a midwest lady, you can check out my blog. It was created for this trip and will only last a month. http://totheleastofthese-laura.blogspot.com/

For whatever reason, I am not able to post any pictures or video at this time, but I will do my best to post some soon!

another picture of the Doña

2008-05-01T15:59:00.000-05:00

We're building a ranchito!

2008-05-01T15:44:00.000-05:00

The guys are taking a break from building the house (they recently poured the concrete footings) and are back at the school building us a little ranchito. It's going to be a circular structure with a thatched roof away from a school a little bit so that we have a some more space for our students. Here are some pictures and a video from the first day of construction:

Rick (a volunteer who came with his wife to help for a day during their vacation), David, Charlie and Juan tie steel.

David and Juan dig the to put in the footings

Charlie bends steel

The area that will soon be our ranchito and our garden behind it

David explains how to tie steel

Josh and Royce come to visit!

2008-05-01T14:06:00.001-05:00

Josh and Royce, who work for the non-profit Proskuneo, came to worship with us for a day and a half! Royce came down as an intern last year and taught the students some songs and how to play the guitar. This year they came with new songs and new instruments to show off. The students were full of energy and sang and danced and clapped with joy. The music of the Dominican is generally blaring, and sometimes scary and so they are not used to softer sounds like acoustic guitars and violins. Here are some pictures and a few videos of their short stay with us:

Royce and Camille lead songs in Camille's morning class

Preschoolers learned to sing as well. This is Camille and Weston's class. Lisbet is in the white shirt and Bebé is on the right.

Kate and Cristina's class watched Royce play the guitar and Josh with the violin.

Cristina's morning class is learning the movements to a new song

Camille's class watches as Josh plays the violin

Kate and Cristina's preschool class

Camille's morning class

Camille's morning class, again

presenting doña cristina

2008-04-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

there are some people that we work with that some of you never get to hear about or hear from unless you come here. (which is why you should come here.) so, i would like to introduce our doña cristina. she is the cook at the school, and she is awesome. she never stops working. when she first showed up at the school for robin to go over some things with her, jennie had warned us that she was "older," but i remember thinking, "this lady is too old to work here in our crazy school." but she does it, and does it well. so here is the doña and some pictures of food!
cooking

pantry... very dominican

arroz y habichuelas (rice and beans) the food the preschoolers eat

Se quemó (no one was hurt, praise Jesus!)

2008-04-13T12:30:00.003-05:00

This was how we drove groups around. It's called a guagua. It burned. Huge flames. Electrical. As Miguel said, "No más guagua"

t.i.r.d.

2008-04-11T15:00:00.001-05:00

If any of you have seen the movie Blood Diamond, you may recall the idea of saying T.I.A. (This is Africa). When things happen or regardless of the insane things that go on, it is still your country. We all feel that this idea fits perfectly in this country. I often find myself mouthing the phrase "soooo dominican!" because that is really the only way to describe the things that go on in this country. This is Republica Dominicana.

Please enjoy the following pictures and videos, along with their captions. Feel free to enlarge the pictures to see every humorous detail. All of these pictures and one of the videos were taken within the 15 minutes of each other, I kid you not. The other video is bonus.
We were the first car stopped at the stop light. As we waited, slowly but surely motos wove in and out of the cars up to the front until we were completely surrounded by them when the light finally turned green. T.I.R.D.
It wouldn't be a day in the Dominican Republic if you didn't see someone drive by carrying something on a moto. This time it is a Haitian man carrying paintings over his head. Why transport your goods any other way? T.I.R.D.
On the main street that runs through Puerto Plata, which also becomes the highway when you leave town pass all the speedy cars and motos on a mission to get somewhere and to get there fast. On the same road passes a man with his horse and cart. Notice that his cart is actually a car axel. T.I.R.D.
The back windshield of the car reads "C VEND." What the owner was clearly trying to write was "C VEN D" there just wasn't enough room. What does this mean? Well, nothing to tell you the truth. However, it would be pronounced the same way as the phrase "SE VENDE" which means "For Sale." Clearly though, one would use letters with the same pronounciation (instead of the actual words which take longer to write). T.I.R.D.
Look closely at this tractor driving down the main road with its entourage of motos. There is a motorcycle in the lift. What?! T.I.R.D.

Garrett and Anne's T.I.R.D. faces.

foundations.

2008-04-07T10:45:00.002-05:00

Over the past few weeks, construction on the new Makarios team house has continued to progress. The foundations have been dug...by hand I might add....pretty impressive, huh? For a while there it looked as if it was a Makarios archaeological dig. A few artifacts were found...but unfortunately didn't amount to much. At this point the guys are laying down the varrilla or steel supports before they start pouring cement.

The April and May rains have started which is good because we really need the rain. Its been so dry lately; however, as you can imagine...the guys are scuttling about trying to get the foundation done before too much rain falls from the sky!

kids crack me up

2008-04-07T09:39:00.001-05:00

posted by sharla

i was translating notes from our kids to their sponsors last week and this was my favorite. keep in mind they are learning english at school. My comments in parenthesis.

I L(heart) you.

mandame una bicicleta
(send me a bicycle)

The bicycle part was erased, most likely because a teacher came around and noticed and told her to erase it. Kids make me laugh.

Corn in Chichigua and Kittens for All People

2008-03-30T14:38:00.000-05:00

Hello!

I took this picture during Semana Santa two weeks ago--the one of corn in Chichigua. If you look closely, you can see what I think are corn kernels drying out on the blue tarp in between these houses. No one was around to ask what it was for (presumably to eat?) so I just took a picture instead. I like photos like these because they remind me that Chichigua isn't just a place that I visit to talk to students but it's where people live. And certainly there's no problem taking a picture of the corn in front of someone's house, but it does make me smile thinking about some of things about my life at home in the U.S. that would be weird or funny or charming to the families here. That's all. :)

The kittens were born LAST WEEK at a colmado near the school. Natanael's mom runs the store and Natanael, who is in Camille's class, always tells me when they have kittens because he knows that I'm borderline crazy about animals. At least I've become that way here. I miss them so much! Besides, look at this picture! They can't even open their eyes! So. Enjoy the little guys. More than once I've considered taking a few home. Stay tuned...

tutoring

2008-03-29T15:59:00.001-05:00

Yoslena just turned 15. She is one of Camille’s students that we almost didn’t let enter our school because of her age, but she is so far behind that Camille really wanted her to be able to come to school. She doesn’t know anything. She can’t identify letters or numbers, she can’t read or write, and on top of all of that she is a little rough around the edges. It is for children like Yoslena that I feel I have been called to help. I’ve started tutoring the students that we have that are much further behind the rest. Yoslena is one of the worst, and I try to spend the most time with her. So I’ve set some goals for us; I want her to be able to know the entire alphabet and sounds that every letter makes by the end of the year, setting her up to start reading. This is my first time to teach someone to read.

When doing education ministry as a ministry it is important to evaluate what we do as a means to accomplish our goals. It is our hope that the children and their families would know the Lord and that He would be glorified. So I have been questioning what it is exactly that I am doing and if it is necessary in order for Yoslena to know the Lord. In the states we are given the mindset that we must be educated and successful. But does that mindset work in this country? If Yoslena never knew how to read, could she work? Could she have a family? And most importantly, could she have salvation? Does she have a need to be educated? She could work, she could clean houses, sell fruit, and other various jobs. She would be capable of being a mother, but would she understand the importance of teaching her children all that she knows? And of course she could have salvation, but she would never be able to read the Bible.

I believe that Yoslena has a need in her life to be educated, but I question it every day. I what to be able to meet her need and in doing so, love her with Christ’s love. Pray that I would have discernment, that I would know what to teach her, but pray that I would not become frustrated with her situation. There are other factors that play in to the difficulty of her education. I’m certain she has learning disabilities, but I’m not sure what they are and what the best thing is to do for them. She also comes to school quite infrequently. She has to care for her sister’s baby. It’s had to progress when I can’t work with her every day. Although she has all odds against her, I have seen progress, which is proof of Christ’s doing. The other day for the first time she was able to identify every letter of the alphabet. When we first started she would say, “I don’t know,” or “I can’t,” or “tell me again.” Now she has started to say, “No, no, no don’t tell me. I know it.” I can be very rewarding.

Pray for this child. She is hard to love. In some ways I don’t even know what to ask you to pray for. Pray that God would know.

A few highlights:

My mom came to visit. What a blessing! The Lord has given me such a wonderful family.

My Spanish is to a level now that I can fully communicate and teach!

Elizabeth, the intern from last semester came to visit.

I have been getting by with finances and the Lord has provided, but I still have money to raise.

Thank you for your prayers, love and support.

Cara

march group

2008-03-25T21:34:00.000-05:00

spring break austin brings us a group of high schoolers from hill country christian school. led by spanish teacher and board member (of the year?) laurie majcher, this group probably wins the title of "most prepared." they come ready to take over the school and teach the kids with their spanish skillz. they also bring a LOT of stuff to bless the staff, the kids, the community, and pretty much anyone who looks at them. here are a few pics from their trip:

afternoon in Chichigua

2008-03-18T14:33:00.001-05:00

Chichigua

2008-02-20T18:39:00.001-06:00

Some of you may have visited the batey Chichigua on your trip to the Dominican Republic with Makarios and some of you may be hearing the name for the first time. Chichigua (Dominican Spanish meaing Kite) is a small Haitian batey set in the sugarcane fields overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It has about 100 people living there and about 20 of our students our Chichiguans.

Because the view from the top of the hill where Chichigua sits is so lovely the land surrounding the batey has been sold to make room for multiple hotels and multiple golf courses. We have known for a while that the land had been bought but we weren’t sure when construction would get underway. Well, it has begun and the land in front of Chichigua, where many of you have played baseball and soccer, has been leveled in preparation for the golf course.

We’re still not exactly sure what will happen to Chichigua. I have heard that they will be moved but I have also heard that they will not be moved but rather a wall will be built up around the complex. After all, who would want to see a poor batey on their vacation in the Caribbean?

Ambiolix playing, looking at Chichigua from the construction sight

Franchesca and Ambiolix playing on a dirt mound

I think we bought a truck from a drug dealer.

2008-02-20T17:44:00.001-06:00

posted by sharla, who has never used drugs.

we have been looking for a good quality truck for some time now. we've needed one for a long time, but didn't have enough money for one that wouldn't break down every month. then in december, the Lord provided the rest of the money and we were excited. but then we shopped and shopped and shopped and found that there were very few quality trucks available (except for brand new models that were VERY expensive).

and so we were discouraged, and I, for one, was tired of shopping. it was getting frustrating because we were having to rent trucks for various needs - at the construction site, for groups, for other mak needs.

then last week, a truck came up on a dominican car shopping website that i hadn't seen before. it looked like a great truck for a great price. it was in bonao, a city that i had never been to, about an hour away from where i was in santiago.

teresa white and i set out for bonao on wednesday. we looked at the truck. it was great. a mechanic looked at it. he said it was great. then it started getting weird.

we went into the dealership office. now picture this with me. this is a small, corner lot dealership in a small town with maybe 30 cars. it doesn't seem like the kind of business that makes a man filthy rich. but what do i know? the office was fancy as far as these kinds of offices go in the DR - expensive art, the latest technology, people offering you beverages left and right.

we were invited into the president's office. turns out he had a big tv that he kept watching - it was showing surveillance of his lobby. ok. then we got up to go to the bank. he pulled a hand gun out of his desk drawer and put it under his shirt. now mind you, we were NOT carrying a bunch of money to the bank. no, no. the bank was going to run my credit card and put the money into his account. the bank was two blocks away. were we in danger of some sort of violent crime in a country that suffers from a mere 7.6% of the aggravated assult rate as the US? (I looked it up.)

so you put this together and i fear we bought our truck from a drug dealer. i think it'll be okay. why don't you come down and go for a ride with us? (p.s. the twins were just modeling. we do not drive with them in the back.)

pain and hunger

2008-02-15T14:54:00.000-06:00

Pain

I used to think I had felt physical pain. I mean, I have broken my arm and had stitches 3 different times, not to mention the countless times I have fallen, tripped, or burned myself. However I, as most Americans, had plenty of medicine to help with the pain and a doctor to go see if any complications arose.

In this country, though, and for our specific student it's just not that easy. Let me introduce you to just one of the many cases that we have seen at our school this year. Sili, 11 years old, lives in Pancho Mateo with his parents, 3 sisters and niece...they are poor.

A couple of weeks ago, Sili came to us and told us he had a toothache. We ask him to show us his tooth and discovered that he not only had a toothache but that his molar was actually decaying away. Over the next week his cheek began to swell and the pain became even more intense. We gave him some ibuprofen hoping it was relieve at least a little bit of what he was feeling. He family cannot afford pain medication or to take him to the dentist to have the tooth pulled.

Last week, it became obvious that we needed to step in and help him out. Cara Jane took the initiative and began investigating how we would go about removing the tooth. We knew that it would take a while to figure this out, since all things Dominican take longer than they should, and so Cara bought him some pain medicine and an antibiotic for his swollen cheek. After a few days of asking around and waiting for the dentist to get back, we finally had his tooth removed.

His cheek has now almost returned to its normal size and he said that he hasn't been feeling any pain. But, like I said, that's just one of the many stories we seen.

Sili's swollen cheek and rotting tooth. You can see that the front part is almost completely gone.

after having his tooth removed

Hunger

I'm not even going to say that I've ever thought I was truly hungry. I have felt times when my stomach wanted food and I have felt "hungry" compared to what I normally feel but I am learning to say that I have never in my life been truly hungry.

That's not the stories for some of our students. We have some kids who are hungry. Here are 2 of them: Emilio and Bernito. They are brothers who live in Chichigua with 2 other brothers, a sister and their parents. Each day that they come to school they are ready to eat. Bernito, who is in preschool, will generally ask for more food. We serve rice, beans, and chicken on Tuesday, Mangú (boiled mashed-up plantains) on Thursday, and Spaghetti with Salami on Monday and Wednesday and we will normally have enough food for all the kids to have seconds, if they want. Bernito would eat thirds and fourths, if we allowed him to. If we were to feed him the amount that he wanted it would make him sick or it would expand his stomach to think it needs more food and we are trying to be conscientious of this. His brother Emilio comes to the afternoon program and is continually searching for more food to eat. He has begun taking food from the other students before they have finished eating, much to their dismay, and will jump at any chance to eat food they don't want and is continually searching any food sitting in the kitchen. We have started giving him some of the extra eggs at the end of the day to take home, but he normally eats them before he leaves.

Emilio with 2 eggs, a tall glass of milk and a banana, after having eaten 2 other eggs, 3 pieces of bread and 2 other bananas.

Bernito with his food in preschool. He will generally ask for at least 3 bowls of whatever we are having.

I write this knowing that our students do not necessarily experience the most pain nor are they the most hungry in the world. But I do write this knowing that there are varying degrees of pain and hunger and that I'm experiencing what they look like to a new degree.

CARIBBEAN WORLD SERIES!

2008-02-06T19:31:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday a group of us had the chance to make the drive to Santiago to watch a doubleheader for the Caribbean World Series! Here are some pictures from the adventure:

Piled in the car on the way from Puerto Plata to Santiago

Arriving at the stadium with Bernabe driving

Cara and I in our seats, getting excited

Bernabe, David, David, Kate, Camille, and Cara

Licey (Dominican Republic) vs. Venezuela; Licey won

Flags of the 3 countries represented: Mexico, Venezuela, DR

LAS AGUILAS!! The Dominican national champions and the team that officially represented the DR in the series

That's what time it is...and there are still a few innings left

This is what I look like at 1am at a baseball game when we still have a 2 hours drive home.

Despite of how exhausted I was the next day, it was loads of fun! How great to watch baseball in a country that is slightly obsessed with the sport. There was lots of dancing and cheering and flag waving...so fun!!

the last 2 weeks.

2008-02-05T12:05:00.000-06:00

The middle of January rolled along, and in came a wave of busyness for us. Miguel and the crew started on the massive cistern for the new Makarios team house/conference center. When I say massive, I mean its about the size of an average house here, but under ground. The projected gallons of water it should hold is around 35,000. Because of the rain, we were able to see that more work needs to be done on leveling the ground before the foundation is started on. And you'll also see the cave-in that one side of the cistern hole experienced. It has made for some muddy, busy days, but they are thankful that it is coming to a completion this week as far as the cistern goes. The guys are working all day pouring the top on the cistern and hope to be done by 7pm tonight.

I on the other hand, have been getting bigger and feeling it! (for some of you who don't know, Im six months pregnant). But aside from that I've been doing a lot of running around and errand running for the school. We have been able to, with more sponsorship money, start a little more sophisticated feeding program for the kids at the school. Up until now, we had been able to give an egg, piece of bread, and banana to the kids that come to school. Now, we are able to offer a warm breakfast for the morning kids, a hot lunch for the preschoolers, and a healthy snack for the afternoon kids. I have been busy buying the cooking utensils and kitchen supplies; organizing the cleaning and cooking ladies; and helping Robin (school director) to get it all organized. Last week was our first week of cooked meals and it went surprisingly very smoothly. Of course there are always a few kinks to work out, but we are excited to be up and running with this program. Although the food benefits all who come through the program in significant ways with added nutrition and food in the bellies, it has especially been noticeable in a few kids who come through and are literally scarfing their food down. Its obvious its the only food they have received all day. We are so thankful for the kid's sponsors who make this possible for us to do.

Some pictures of the massive cistern!

Lake after the rain.

the cistern with 2 rooms!

los tweems turn 2!

2008-01-29T18:33:00.000-06:00

pictures from the party on the roof!

to answer the most commonly asked questions, (1) no, i have no plans to cut their hair anytime soon. (2) yes, they are a handful. (3) they hear about the same amount of english and spanish, know about 70 signs in sign language and some phrases in creole.

The Dominican Workout: Burro Burn

2008-01-23T17:42:00.001-06:00

This is Weston again here to tell you about my brand new fitness program: The Dominican Workout: Burro Burn. BB has been acknowledged by leading health professionals as the number one way to transform your gordo body into a Beach Bod. At the end of the six stage program, you will look Pain straight in the face and laugh. Check out the stages:

In all six stages Caribbean there are heat, humidity, and 6 hour sessions.

Stage One: Till soil with a pickax.
Stage Two: Shovel dirt at a consistent pace.
Stage Three: Alternate the first two stages.

In the last three stages the distance is 100 yards and the terrain is muddy and under one foot of water.

Stage Four: Transport 40 lb concrete blocks.
Stage Five: Push wheelbarrow full of sand.
Stage Six: Carry 100 lb. cement bags on shoulder.

REMEMBER: I along with the Dominican people GUARANTEE this fitness plan. Trust me it works.

First Week Back on the Isla

2008-01-20T18:22:00.000-06:00

I love yall. I am back and rocking. Thanks for those of yall that care and saw me over break. Ha. For those of yall that missed out, wait seven months for your next chance.

Bueno....I have rekindled my friendships down here on the island. Great news. Mario (aka Super Mario) recently told my friend Rachel how much he likes me. He went on to ask her what religion we were. In the past, he has seen Christianity turn their back on him because of his lifestyle. However, seeing the witness of my friend Rachel and I, he has become curious about what OUR RELIGION is about. Mario told Rachel that he has a Bible in Spanish, but doesnt know how to read. Perfect. Guess who gets to read and share scripture with him? That is right....God has set this up to be an amazing opportunity for me to tell this Dominican man about Jesus. I am stoked. Pray for that.

Besides receiving hugs and warm greetings back to the island, I have been getting dirty. Life as a missionary does not keep you clean 24/7. Out at Makarios' land, a team of Dominicans and Haitians, Garrett, and I have been pickaxing, shoveling and hauling sand, dirt, and mud out of a huge hole. What is this hole? A swimming pool? I wish but no. Actually, we are working on our massive 35 thousand gallon cistern. While the nationals and Garrett flung the dirt up 15 feet, I scurried to hurl the earth particles away from the edges. Real man work. After every days work, I feel muscles I never knew I had.

Please continue to pray for me. If yall email me, I would absolutely love it. My email address is real simple: westonwoodward@gmail.com. Memorize it.

Introducing nap time!

2008-01-20T15:16:00.000-06:00

Last Monday at school we decided to start having nap time during preschool. For Camille and Cara's class it was a struggle and none of the kids slept the first day. For Kate and Cristina's class it was a success. Their little ones apparently have been needing naps! Here are a few pictures from the first day:

Everyone squished in the corner on the alphabet mat. We're hoping to have small mattresses for them to all sleep on as opposed to all being placed on the mat.

Davidson fell asleep without issue!

Marta got comfortable and it didn't seem to bother Ambiolix one bit!

Hopefully Camille and Cara's class will catch on in the near future!

a piece of heaven

2008-01-11T13:35:00.001-06:00

Sunday I was able to see a piece of what Heaven will be. We had a group from the Austin Stone with us at our Dominican Church, Templo Biblico. This was a special moment for me to begin with, because both the Austin Stone and Templo Biblico are my church families. I was excited to have the Austin Stone group with us, regardless of whether I only knew a few of them; it is like having your church body coming to see you when you have been physically separated from them for so long. It offers relief of community, even if it is only for a short time.

Robin and I had been talking a lot about we love our Dominican Church so much, and they have become family to us; however, it is difficult to study the Word of God, worship Him, and be in biblical community in a language by which your heart has not be conditioned. I was beginning to think that it wouldn’t matter how much Spanish I could understand, I would never be able to reach a place where I could truly worship and learn more about our Lord in another language. I was able to share this struggle I was having with some of the people from the Austin Stone group. On Saturday Robin and I went to visit the Pastor of Templo Biblico, and our friend, Amaury. He asked us we were able to go to our churches while we were home. Robin explained to him how difficult it is for us to worship in another language. He understood completely and said, “You must have been so hungry and thirsty for the word of God.” Which is exactly how I felt going home.

I woke up Sunday morning excited to have both of my church bodies together. I could tell the Holy Spirit was trying to tell me something, and preparing my heart for something. Traditionally when we bring groups to Templo Biblico the church has them stand up and sing a song for everyone. The Stone group sang the song, “Mighty to Save,” which a song that I know in both English and Spanish, as do many of the “jovenes” (youth) at church. It was neat to be able to sing that song in both languages.

At Templo Bibilco we share in the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. For the first time this past Sunday the Holy Spirit lead me to say, “I take part in Your flesh Jesus, and I am cleansed by Your blood, WITH THESE PEOPLE. I am part of the body of Christ here, here with these people, in the Dominican Republic.” That is the most the Lord’s Supper has ever meant to me in my life. The Lord is beginning to teach me that I am a part of the Body of Christ here in this country.

After communion, there is typically one last song that everyone sings standing up. Last Sunday, everyone stood to sing, “Open the Eyes of my Heart,” a song everyone knows. The group we had with us probably equaled the number of Dominicans that we in church that day. Everyone recognized the song and sang in their native language. You could not hear one language over the other. Everyone sang “holy, holy, holy, santo, santo, santo.” And suddenly it hit me; this is what the Lord desires. Even though it was only a small piece of what it will be like, one day every tongue will be praising our Lord, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!” I was brought to tears of joy, an experience that I am afraid these words here cannot express. Why am I privileged enough to see a piece of what eternity will be like with our God?

Afterwards, Amaury, our friend and pastor, stood behind the pulpit to preach. We soon realized that he had translated the entire sermon into English. As a side note, the sermons at Templo Biblico are generally anywhere between forty-five minutes to an hour long. Amaury knows some English, but translating an entire sermon would be a lot of work for him. Ryan King, the Austin Stone group leader was asked to come up on stage and read the translated version of the sermon. Amaury preached on Luke 8:22-25. It’s the story where Jesus and his disciples are crossing a lake in a boat and a storm comes. Jesus is sleeping in the boat and the disciples have to wake him, and then he calms the storm. I’m sure I have read this passage many times, and even heard it preached on, but this time the scripture spoke to me in a very new way. Amaury had put his heart into that sermon, and scripture became alive to me for the first time since I have been here. As Ryan read the English translation, he began to take on Amaury’s words and preach them. Both Amaury and Ryan became more and more animated and more and more excited as the message went on. However, in truth I know that those words were not even Amaury’s, they had come from the Lord. Amaury and Ryan were able to present the word of God to two groups of people in two languages. Everyone was literally blown away by the message that the Lord had for us that day.

After the sermon and the service had ended Robin, after greeting our brothers and sisters, found Amaury and began to thank him for the beautiful message he had given and to tell him how much she had appreciated the translation into English. Amaury then began to explain to her his heart behind the translation. “Yo estaba pensando en lo que me dijiste el día anterior. Que cúando tu te fuiste a tu iglesia en Los Estado Unidos despúes de tanto tiempo aquí, tu estabas moriendo de hambre. Y pensé, yo estoy matándote de hambre. Tengo que hablar en inglés porque estoy matando a Robin.” (I was thinking about what you said yesterday. That when you went to your church in the United States that you were dying of hunger. I thought, I’m killing you from hunger. I have to speak in English because I’m killing Robin.) And so it was that Amaury told Robin that he stayed up until midnight translating his sermon so that he could feed her with the precious Word of our God. It wasn’t until later that we found out that he was really awake until 3:30 AM working on the sermon. He is just too humble to admit how hard he had worked on it. I just wish that I could express to him my gratitude for his willingness to love like Christ has loved.

When I came down here, I thought I’d just be working in a school and helping Makarios, but there is so much more to it. We have a life here. I love being here, and loving and teaching the kids doesn’t seem like work. The only sacrifice I could say I have made is not being with my church. I have asked to the Lord to provide that for me here, and He has, in a way different than I had imagined. He did not send me a friend from home, or any other American people; He allowed me to be a part of the body of Christ here. I have experienced love, the love of Christ through my friends here, Amaury, Bernabe, Benjamin, Luz, Perla. Forever they will be in my heart. Forever, Amen.

As an ending, and for those of you who read the blog frequently, I apologize that I have not ever introduced myself. I am Cara, I have been here for four months and I love it. The end.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-22T20:23:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas card and letter.

Dear Friends and Family,

As we enjoy the holidays, life goes on as normal for the families that we serve in the bateyes of the Dominican Republic. Please remember to pray for those who will be hungry, sick, and discouraged this Christmas.

God has blessed us and we don’t want to take that for granted.
With that in mind, here are some of the ways the Lord has blessed us this year:

After three years of holding classes in stuffy, inadequate buildings, Makarios opened its first school this fall, located in the town of Montellano. Through our sponsorship program, we are able to feed, clothe, educate, and share the gospel with 160 children from three villages.

Using money from both an individual gift and The Great Society Fund from the LBJ School at the University of Texas, we were able to purchase land for a farm project. This program provides vocational training and employment for people in need.

We added six new staff members in the DR and two in Austin, and have been blessed by the gifts and spirit of service they bring to our team.

We hosted 20 work teams and 18 interns who blessed and encouraged us and the people we serve. Sure, some of them got parasites, others unintentionally swam in the toxic river, and one fell into a village cistern, but they all got to go to the beach, right? No complaints there.

We only had a few fender benders, and considering the way they drive in the DR, we’re quite pleased. Wait, there was that one time Jennie backed the jeep into an open manhole – well not the entire jeep, but one of the tires. Fortunately some men came along and lifted it out.

In a year of joys and challenges, God has been faithful and has given us a glimpse of Malachi 3:10 where He says “see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

For more stories and pictures from this year, please visit our website at http://www.makariosinternational.org/.

Thank you for praying for us, for loving and encouraging us, and for being a part of what God is doing in the Dominican Republic. You are a blessing to us!

In Him,
Sharla, for the Makarios crew

death

2007-12-11T18:51:00.000-06:00

I was thinking a few weeks back on things that I have seen over the past 16 months. During that time, I was told that the older brother of three of my students was killed while riding on a motorcycle. Though he was significantly older than his younger siblings, I still saw him quite often in Pancho Mateo.

Many of you who have been down here know the Martinez family, David, Damari (otherwise known as Cindi), Daribelto, and Danilo. It was their brother Kelvin that died, he was 14 years old. Kelvin had gone missing for a few days and so his death wasn’t confirmed for a while because it happened in an area closer to the capital. An 18-wheeler and his moto crashed, instantly killing him and the person he was with. I went to visit his mom, Charito, a few days after I found out, it seemed kind of surreal to see an old picture of him and a few lit candles in the house, but then I got to thinking about it.

I have seen more deaths this year than I have in my entire life in the states. Little boys with tetanus (Salvador), neglected infants, old men and women, young men and women, the dad of Fiordalina, Rosa, and Felix Manuel in Pancho Mateo, Papo the uncle of Delvin and Daniela in Pancho Mateo, the witch doctor in Pancho Mateo grandmother of Marta one of our preschool students, Cristina’s cousin and her baby, Evelyn’s husband and dad to Yunior, Ernesto, Yes Marco, and Ambiolix in Chichigua. People’s husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, moms and dads, cousins, grandparents, all people that I knew or related to people I know. And this is all as of recent.

Two weeks ago there was a young man in Tamarindo that lived two houses down that died. The last pathway to get to our school was filled with people gathered visiting with his wife, people playing dominoes to keep the energy up because that’s what they do, his body in a casket in the house with a glass door so you can see the face. He was young. Last week they had a little ceremony at the house when they took the body away.

There is a woman in Chichigua that has AIDS. All of a sudden last week her health went downhill and was immediately on her death bed, lifeless for days. I went to Chichigua to see for myself, everyone telling me she was just waiting to die. I saw her lying in her house, sleeping, looking dead with the exception of a snore that I heard every once in a while. She died a few days ago. I knew her, and she is now dead, a mother of a little boy that is about a year old, precious as can be.

Why is it that death is so prominent? Why is it that my students who are 3 and 4 and 6 and 8 and 10 years old come up to me and tell me that their brother or father died with a big smile on their face?

And why is it that little Bienvenido always wants double of everything he eats at lunch at preschool? He raises his scrawny little arm asking for more whenever we say there is extra. Why are his arms covered with really bad eczema and just this past summer it was covered with second and third degree burns from a boiling pot that knocked over? Why is his brother Gerald’s head covered with scabies? And why do people not really say anything about it?

It is common. Everyday occurrences that happen to all families. Death. Sickness. Poverty.

I was thinking about all this, as I am thinking about it now. I am so thrilled to go back to the states, and literally count down the days. Why do I do that? I know that it is Christmas, and I am homesick. I wonder though, am I getting away because I miss family and friends or is it to escape the surroundings here that are so harsh. I hope it is the former.

independent reading

2007-12-11T00:03:00.000-06:00

los tweems

2007-12-04T16:17:00.000-06:00

here's our pic for the christmas card. they are officially toddlers now...

paint

2007-11-29T05:21:00.000-06:00

We had a group from Westlake come in early November, they painted the alphabet on the classroom walls, other need to know information on the classroom tables, a mural on one of the walls, the name on the outside of the building, and so much more.

Shelves were also built and grass was laid in the back to provide a better area for the PE classes.

The kids walked in the next day mesmerized by all the things that they saw.

Pictured is the new and improved school with "Makarios" painted on the front.

Fake Coffee

2007-11-20T20:17:00.000-06:00

Hi Makarios Blog Land! I've been living here for almost three months with nothing written on the blog. I am so sorry. For those who have no idea who this is, my name is Kate. I'm a teacher here and I'm also very nice.

I wanted to share my favorite thing from class last week. My morning kids and I were sitting in the corner for story time, when I had a craving for coffee and voiced it to the kiddos. Then I just felt like taking a few minutes to be silly, so before the story started, we pretended to make coffee for everyone. They all handed me their mugs and passed around the cream and sugar (so so cute). The best part, I think, was when they were ALL silent while the fake coffee brewed. They just sat around grinning and waiting for the coffee to be ready. We smelled it and listened for the drip of the coffee machine. Then they waited for me to pour it--watch out it's hot! THEN, we blew off the steam and drank. Oh it was so sweet. I'm told and have seen that kids in our villages are rarely creative. They're not really taught to think. So I considered these few moments priceless. It was fun to do something different and silly--especially fun to see their faces. I think we'll have coffee break from now on and work on those imaginations!

It's not a big deal. But it was sweet. More to come.

diori's abscess

2007-11-18T23:18:00.000-06:00

During the last week of October, we had a medical group come down. They checked out a few of our students and were able to provide medicine and other treatments for the kids that needed it. During their time here they also taught the Makarios staff specific medical and first aid information and tactics. This included things from how to treat a burn to dealing with seizures and infections. They spent their last day with us teaching us this basic must know information before their beach day.

The very next day when we were at the school, we found a large abscess on Diori, one of the neighborhood kids who is always hanging around the school. Though this medical group had already left Puerto Plata, we were able to help Diori because just the day before they taught us the exact procedures for getting rid of an abscess.

An abscess looks like a giant pimple on the skin. It's middle is filled with puss and debris and apparently is very painful. It cannot be cured by antibiotics alone, but must be opened and drained.

Elizabeth and I popped his abscess. Sorry if this is a little grotesque, I just wanted to share with y’all the neat story of being able to use what we had learned from this group just the day before.
And, I will have y’all know that Diori’s arm is no longer big and swollen and is healing rather nicely. Elizabeth and I have given each other several high fives since that day.

On a side note, for those of you that have been here and know Diori, he is now enrolled in our classes and comes every afternoon to our program. On another side note, there was a little girl the very next day who abscess I was able to pop.

Pictured is Diori's abscess before it was popped.

Graduation at Colegio Adonai

2007-11-02T07:29:00.000-05:00

The entire Senior class marches down the streets of MonteLlano and then enters into the church where the ceremony will take place.

Perla and her uncle

Carlitos, his mother and his youngest brother Misael

Benjamín and his mother

Cara, Weston, Benjamín, Carlitos, and Robin before marching down the streets of MonteLlano.

Last Friday, Cara, Weston, and I went to the graudation of Colegio Adonai. It's the private school that meets in the same building as our church, Templo Bíblico, and also where Compassion International hosts their students. We met up with our friends and their families at the church and then walked to the park, where we waited for the march to begin. As our friends marched down the streets we walked alongside them, taking pictures and discussing how proud we were of them.

Once we arrived at the church, all the vistors piled in, searched, unsuccessfully, for seats and then waited for the graduates to walk in. Cara and I found standing room near the front and waited for our friends' names to be called. After we saw them each take their seat, we quietly pushed through the crowd and walked outside to the fresh air. Weston, it seems, had done the same, not wanting to stand through what could have been a 3 hour graduation. We waited outside and chatted with some of our friends from the church during what turned out to be a 3 hour graduation. After chatting with our friends for over an hour, Cara, Weston and I went to go eat dinner and came back just in time to watch the graduates leaving the building. All in all, it seemed a lovely ceremony (we can only assume).

After the ceremony, the rains came with a vengeance. One of our dear friends, Antonia, had a sudden, painful headache and we went with her to the hospital. After receiving a shot and the doctor prescribing her some medicines, we took her home and carried on with the evening like all was normal. Cara and I hopped in the car with one of our friends, thinking she would be taking us back to Puerto Plata. Then, 4 of our dominican friends piled in trying to escape the rain. We asked them, "Where are we going?" They replied as if it were claro (obvious), "To Perla's." Cara and I were slightly confused, but went along thinking, this is so dominican (a word we often use as a synonym for strange). Entonces, we headed to Perla's house to pick her up. We continued to ask, "Where are we going? (Adonde vamos)" and got the typical dominican response of, "Alla (Over there)." We thought that it was strange to have so many people in the car just to take 2 gringas back to Puerto Plata.

Little did we know that we were not heading back to Puerto Plata, but rather to Bernabe's house for a graduation celebration. We arrived at the house and were told, in typical dominican form, to sit down and make ourselves comfortable. We began to realize that we would not be heading home for quite some time. The celebration began with story telling and general chatting. It progressed to a worship of the Lord through prayer and some singing. Cara and I were smiling ear to ear (not singing because we don't know any of the songs) and clapping with the beat. Suddenly, Josue (the youth leader at the church) turned to the 2 of us and said something to the effect of, "And now the gringas will sing for us." Ok, he didn't say it like that, but that's what it felt like. Cara and I nervously laughed and told him that we would not be singing by ourselves. A couple of minutes later we were singing the song "Cantare de tu amor para siempre (I will sing of your love forever)" and doing the same hand motion we do with our pre-schoolers! Our solo lasted for about 10 minutes, with all of the dominicans watching/staring at the gringas. Lucrecio added, "Cara you singer." The only English he knows. Hopefully I have captured the embarrassment of the evening and shed a little light on woes of being the token gringas in a group of dominicans.

The night ended with telling jokes and eating freshly made spaghetti. All together an eventful and highly dominican evening. Happy graduation to all our dear friends from Colegio Adonai!

Written by Cara Jane and Robin

A Tribute to Francisco

2007-10-30T12:19:00.000-05:00

He came, he saw, he hid under the tables.

it's raining! cancel school!

2007-10-29T20:59:00.000-05:00

Noel, the tropical storm, decided to pay us a visit today. the south coast was hit harder than we were, but we did get rain all last night and through much of today. dominicans do not enjoy go out in the rain, and school tends to get cancelled when it rains. so we were at home cleaning and preparing for our work team that comes in tomorrow.

we had to run a few errands, one of which including buying a machete for cutting the grass. yes, they use machetes to cut grass. is that weird? there are different types of machetes. long, thin ones for clearing land, short, fat ones for gardening. I was at one hardware store that didn't have the kind I needed. I pointed to one that looked similar to what I was looking for and asked what it could be used for. the man replied "for cutting meat." ah yes, I use a machete to cut meat all the time.

so come to the DR and get your meat cutting machete for only $4!

Gustavo sings

2007-10-13T07:27:00.000-05:00

During pre-school free play, Gustavo, on his own, started singing about the telephone we have to God that doesn't have a number and doesn't have rules ; it's the telephone of prayer.

The Rubia dances and Weston scares the kids

2007-10-13T06:46:00.000-05:00

This is during pre-school. Janisa is jammin' to her own beat and Weston is thoroughly enjoying scaring the students

dust!

2007-10-13T06:25:00.000-05:00

Before leaving to come down here, I spent time reading the various packets of information that Makarios has put together for people coming down long or short term. I noticed there was a part about people with contacts and how the contacts were sure to dry up more quickly with all the dust that is in this country. For some reason, I decided to ignore the statement and continue packing as usual. Upon my arrival, I began noticing that my contacts were becoming unusable after a week, instead of the normal few months. Sharla, the all-knowing person that she is, introduced me to a new contact solution that cleans your contacts and makes them feel as though they were new! It's amazing and my contacts are no longer being thrown away every week.

Once school started, we began to have the daily job of sweeping the school and it was then that began to see for myself the amount of dust that the DR has. Here are some pictures of a pile that was swept up in just one classroom after only half a day:

some pics from the new school

2007-10-12T17:20:00.000-05:00

who has a buck fifty to spare?

2007-09-28T16:35:00.000-05:00

Each child is required to pay 50 pesos for registration. This is the equivalent of $1.50, and is really just to show us that the parents are willing to give to help in the education of their children and show that they are generally interested and will make the effort. The finances in which we use to purchase supplies and school materials comes from you people who make donations from the states.

Our preschool children have already received a backpack and school uniform (which includes Makarios shirt, khaki pants, and underwear). Every child in our programs will also receive a tooth brush and notebook, in addition to a snack each day. As of right now, we do not have enough funds to run each of our programs so we are using the dollar fifty from each child.

On Wednesday two of my older students, Francia and Yoslena, approached me while we were crossing the river to go to class. I had warned them the other day that if their parents do not pay the 50 pesos that they could not continue coming to the school (trying to teach responsibility is such a pain). Francia told me that she and Yoslena had collected bottles and turned them in for change, and she handed me some coins and some small bills that amounted to 50 pesos, 25 pesos per girl, that they had made so they could come to school. I was so touched.

I was perfectly content with allowing that to be sufficient, but on Thursday the girls turned in the other 50 pesos. There are 6 children in Yoslena's family, and not all have paid. It has been two weeks into the program, and we are not wanting to cut kids from the list, but there are a few parents who have not completed their children's registration by paying the fee. We will see what happens come Monday.

Please Sponsor Us?

2007-09-21T19:41:00.000-05:00

I think I may have a parasite!

2007-09-19T21:44:00.000-05:00

My walk across the river in Pancho Mateo this morning turned out to be quite the experience. Everything started out fine. The mud was especially gross this morning due to last night's rain but otherwise manageable. As we were walking back the before-school classes a small cloud seemed to form directly over my head. Doom was pending. The first child I carried across the river made it to the other side safely (ie dry). The second child, however, did not. When the twelve-year-old girl jumped onto my back I knew the truck across was going to be difficult. Her feet were inches away from the water, and I was bent over in an old man position to keep them from getting any closer. Victory was so close. We only had a few steps left when tragedy stuck. Suddenly, the child next to me fell into the river and emerged soaked with toxic Pancho water. My head turned to look at the commotion and my right foot came out from under me. Within seconds the girl I was carrying, as well as myself, were in the toxic river and soaked. The children started chanting, "Gringa! Gringa!" A few of them circled around me to help me up and tried squeezing the parasite infested waters from my skirt. The next three hours were awful as I walked around in wet, sick, toxic clothes. I immediately detoxified myself when I arrived home and had a huge laugh at dinner over the story. Oh disgusting Pancho Mateo river, how I loathe thee!

is fransisco really praying?

2007-09-18T19:49:00.000-05:00

Colegio MAKARiOS has officially opened!

2007-09-17T20:43:00.000-05:00

Today was the 1st day of school at Colegio MAKARiOS (Home of the Fightin' Kates!) and it was quite exciting! Here are our thoughts on the highs and lows of the day:

Sharla- high: after all the construction craziness the school was finally opened!
low: some of the kids have gotten attitudes as they've gotten older and did not enjoy the day in the slightest

Cara- high: watching the tweems (jacob and issac) discover bubbles
low: the 5 o'clock poo and screaming

Elizabeth- high: the students in their precious outfits
low: seeing the kids pee in their precious outfits

Kate-high: finally getting the overall vision of how school will go
low: half the little kids wanted to go home

Camille- high: the faces of my former students as they saw their new huge (or hoosh) school
low: the older chichigua kids and their attitude towards class

Robin- high: being called directora (principal) by the students...silly but true
low: being bitten by one of the students because she wanted her juice

Weston- high: fransisco peeing all over the place
low: franchesca and some other kids were running around like crazy and laughed when i said to come here

Tomorrow starts a new day and we are looking forward to the challenges it will bring...after a lovely night of sleep!

Please continue to pray for the school and for its staff throughout this week. There are still many decisions to be made and many kinks to work out. Look for more stories and pictures on the blog over the next few weeks!

The First Day of SKool

2007-09-17T19:13:00.001-05:00

Pues, Pues, Pues. I spent my first day off right: spent some quality time with the Throne. Today marked my one month anniversary of being here in the DR soooo....the island gave me a present aka Montezuma's Revenge, Delhi Belly, or as I call it The Dominican Drop. What a great gift right? If I lived in the States, I would stay at home all day near my Bano. However, I am a missionary teacher and we do not have substitute teachers in place yet. Therefore, I prayed to God for mercy on my soul and took off with the other staff to where the school is located, Montellano. Now, our vehicle, The Gua-Gua, sits about 11 comfortably....so it also doubles as a school bus. This entailed our fearless commander, Sharla, to drop us off on the side of the road near one of the villages, Chichigua, where we pick kids up. Thats right. The teachers got three Motos (rundown mopeds) to take us to Pancho Mateo, another village next to Montellano. Are you still with me? hah. The motos were friendly but still charged us 50 pesos a piece (little over a dollar). When we arrived at Pancho we encountered some kids eager to learn. Here comes the tricky part: take 30 something kids across a river while they are wearing nice clothes and shoes. My official job title is P.E. Teacher....BUT my unofficial titles consists of:

House Dad (the only guy besides Los Tweems)
Heavy lifter dude
Caballito (thats what the kids call me...it means horse...cuz they ride on my back)
River Guide

The last name came into play today. In which, I along with the other staff present, got in the middle of the not clean river water and carried kids to safe dry ground.

This event was repeated 6 times during the course of the day.

Here was the rest of my schedule for the day:

830-10Am: attempted to learn kids names and drew many pictures on the ground with chalk

10-1030Am: took Pancho kids back across river, successfully pegged the smallest girl with my flip flop straight in the face, and picked up the Preschool kids

1030-130Pm: told kids to be quiet, come back, go. Also, hugged crying kids, watched a kid pee literally all over the bathroom walls, sink, floor, himself, and almost me BUT never actually in the toilet, showed kids how to kick a ball (they already knew how...duh they are Dominican)

130-2Pm: Crossed the river...yadada

2-330Pm: Managed to make it through the day...laughed a ton at kids doing ridiculous stuff

All in all...the day was tiring but awesome...oh yeah...and The Dominican Drop did not own me at all during the school day...I win for now.

Day one over....day two.....I dont have a clue what I am gonna do.....BUT stay alive.

progress; puppies

2007-09-06T20:02:00.000-05:00

kids are going to school in montellano (larger town where our project is located -- the more or less middle class villa built around the now defunct sugarcane plant in the middle of a trillion square kilometers of sugarcane fields, with a charming and perplexing sense of community built around civic duty and dominoes), and it's cute.

kids will soon be going to our school in tamarindo (smaller neighborhood where we build -- the poorer part on the unpaved road with the radioactive blue sludge creeping through town, just down a steep embankment and across the river from the hatian batey called pancho mateo, with a charming and beautiful sense of community built around kids with shovels and stickball), and it's slow and sometimes frustrating but just about ready for class.

here's progress in pictures:

roof (el techo)

stucco (el stucco)

floor (el piso)

paint (pintura)

kids (cute. like puppies)

crew (cute. like a dominican dog)

lil' abner

2007-09-05T13:28:00.000-05:00

Below is something that I posted on my personal blog that I thought many of you would enjoy...

As many of you know through your experience here or because of the stories I have told, our car that we drove this past year was not quite up to par. I don't think that I have ever mentioned much about our Pathfinder on the blog, so I will do that now.

We have given the name Lil' Abner to our wonderful jepeta, not Abner, not Little Abner, Lil' Abner. You see, our land lord is named Abner and he is an interesting character. He gives us some problems on occasion because for a while there he never paid any attention to all the problems we raised about the house, for example awful filtration problems. So, we kept paying rent each month and he would never come and fix the things he was supposed to. Essentially, he gave us problems. Now, our car did too. Alexia and I paid rent on him each month, but things kept going wrong so he was always in the shop. Hence the name, Lil' Abner.

Also, I might add, during the time we chose the name, we were on a musical kick (and maybe still are...) and would often times break out into song throughout the day. For those of you who don't know, Lil' Abner is the name of a musical. The character Lil' Abner is strong and handsome, but is dumb and lacks any sense of emotional ties (particularly love) because of the medicine he takes daily. He can easily be paralleled with our jepeta in that the Pathfinder is a pretty big car and looks pretty, but like the musical's character is completely annoying and frustrating. Lil' Abner, where's the love?

With that being said, I would like to discuss the character traits of our own Lil' Abner. Here are some precautions if you ever want una bola (a ride) en la jepeta:

1. beware of getting bonked in the head, the trunk does not stay open unless you hold it up
2. prepare for a little accapela, the radio does not work
3. like every other place in the country, there is no working AC
4. ten cuidado when you are driving because the horn no sirve, but no worries we have an air horn
5. hope you are flexible because the driver's door doesn't open so you have to climb through the passenger side
6. the driver's side window used to not roll down, then it wouldn't roll up, now it is cracked, being propped up by a stick
7. therefore don't offer to drive because the driver gets no air circulation and when it rains you get a little wet
8. the outside handle of the driver's door broke off, so even if it could open, you wouldn't be able to from the outside
9. know your numbers, we have to count off before unlocking the door, if you're not quick enough the doors will lock back before you can get it opened, so get the rhythm down to a t.
10. the emergency break stopped working, so don't park on a hill
11. going into 1st gear is like arm wrestling with Hercules, pray that you've got strength because it is dang hard to move
12. the gas door sometimes doesn't close, which is fun because it gives the car wings (well, at least one)
13. the gas gage is always on empty, hope you don't run out
14. it is likely you could star in a motion picture if in proximity of the car, remember our rendition of Little Miss Sunshine?
15. basically if you can drive this car, pat yourself on the back because you got skill

people that have learned this skill in country: alexia and camille -> constance -> robin -> weston (sort of)

As you can see, the problems have accrued to such heights that it is really not wise to drive it, not to mention pretty dangerous. This past weekend when most of us were in Santiago, Phillip, Kurt, and Andy were at the house. They planned to go to 27 Waterfalls on Saturday. However, on the way Lil' Abner died and was towed to the mechanics. I think that was the last straw because we are not going to pay to get it fixed, so we have seen the last days of our lil' friend.

So, here is to you Lil' Abner, as we bid you good night.

"So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Goodbye... goodbye... goodbye..."

haiti

2007-09-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

The author apologizes that this is long and meandering and possibly offensive and only loosely about Makarios, but thinks this is how being rich among the poor feels a lot.
The author dislikes bad emo music, but is a hemophiliac and sometimes bleeds all over the paper.
The author thinks you should see Haiti.

----

This taptap is annoyingly proud -- the word OMNIPOTENCE painted all bright and broad and African and blazing across the back of the rusty pickup, packed with people and bouncing through the sickly dirt streets of Cap Haitien -- and I'm not buying it. Omnipotence means nothing for the taptap when the tire popped a minute earlier. It means little for this city that just feels like disease and darkness. And it's meaning is sure lost on me when I'm in Haiti and it's a thousand times more desperate than anything I've ever seen and all I'm thinking about is the camera I lost the night before.

Nothing about the people. No struggle with truth.

Why, then, are we here?

Because Makarios works with Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Because those Haitians, quite apparently, prefer living in small impoverished sugarcane villages in the DR campo to what they left behind here on the other side of the island. Because we came to Haiti to see why, and to gain perspective and understanding for our ministry back at home.

Here’s a more accurate list of reasons we came to Haiti:
-- Because we, as people, are drawn to extremes.
-- Because we, as people, are drawn to exotic passport stamps.
-- Because we, as people, are lacking startling photos.
-- Because we, as people lacking perspective and longing for enlightenment and in need of a plan, ask the poor to deliver us.

I speak only for myself.

We cross from the Dominican town of Dajabon, where twice a week Dominicans flock seeking unfairly underpriced goods and where Haitian vendors flood to provide them, where there are trees and some of the streets are paved and the buses air conditioned and not at all ridiculously uncomfortable, into the Haitian border town of something I couldn’t pronounce where none of the above were true.

It’s decidedly hotter, and there’s a UN tank.

Within minutes we’re on motos, zipping off into town. The group gets split up. Ben, who grew up in Haiti and speaks fluent Creole hops off. We don’t know why and drive off into some town without him. It’s raining and we don’t speak Creole and this just got fun.

Ben is the best tour guide possible. Ben is a test of faith.

Ben reappears and puts us on a bus called conviction. All the buses are called patience or immaculee conception or divine or all sorts of things about dieu – voodoo twists on scripture, charms painted bright. An older woman and I trade glances. I'm thankful she looks away. It’s crowded and there are cocks ready to fight and I stick my head out the window to breathe and see Haiti. While hanging out a bus in Haiti everyone – everyone – makes eye contact with you, including the cop who chases down the bus looking for passports and bribes. Ben charms the cop; we don’t pay. The man with the roosters doesn’t have permits; he complies. This article didn’t mention a thing about chickens. There are people on the roof, illegal roosters hanging off the sides.

We go to Cap Haitien, and it’s not pretty. We see a soccer game. The streets are dirt and there a trenches full of congealing trash and we see clouds of disease. Haitian men on taptaps flick us off. UN man flashes a peace sign.

Here are some things I think while walking/driving/existing in a place like Cap Haitien:

They all want to rob me.

They all want to befriend me.

They are not thinking about me as much as I am thinking about me.

Who is blan?

It sort of looks like Vancouver. No it doesn’t. No really, it does.. just with trash. Mountains, and water, and stuff. Pointed peaks. Neat shapes.

The soccer is relieving.. something pure.. distracting.. clean..

Haiti is: Black and Frenchish and out of place in Latin America.

Maybe we can move everyone for a bit -- someplace huge and empty, like the Astrodome, or New Mexico -- and just start over. Clear everything out. Give it a good scrubbing. Make the sewage go into underground pipes, pave one or two roads. We’ll need tractors.. lots of sponges. I know a guy..

This should challenge sovereignty.

I hope this challenges sovereignty.

Why isn’t this challenging sovereignty?

The poverty does not challenge my belief in sovereignty, but it’s easy to forget about it where there’s nothing beautiful.

I don’t know how to understand this.

We stay at in a missionary house. Safe. Sane. On the wall a sheet describes Haiti for guests, and tells me it’s the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and third poorest in the world. I didn’t realize this because saving Haiti is not trendy. Today was madness so I appreciate the ranking. I cannot wrap my mind around the place without a ranking. The subconscious of charity and understanding needs rankings. I do not know what to do with Haiti, but rankings are a good place to start.

Haiti is: less poor than Darfur; worse than Bolivia.

Haiti is: still easier not to deal with.

Chris, Ben and I take off through the dark streets to find food. It’s shadowy and people seem surprised to see three blan on a stroll through their fair city. We are stubborn and confident and not at all concerned for our safety, or their ranking.

The next day we climb to The Citadelle. Ben gets in an animated argument with a man on the bus; they end up shaking hands, smiling. It’s like a billion feet up the mountain and we’re wearing flip flops and men want us to pay to ride their horses. It’d be a fine way to support the struggling Haitian tourism industry, but we decline because we’re stubborn and confident.. and blan! The men join us for a third of the way up the mountain, saying they’d follow us in case we got tired. They were smart. The trail was steep and we were overconfident and wearing flip flops. One assigned himself to me, called me friend, made it personal – he’s smart. He told me my horse’s name was Suzuki, making it personal – he’s foolish – I’d never ride a Japanese horse. This fort is ridiculous – a work of paranoia. It guards nothing. More mountains. Against the horse guides, maybe -- no wonder they eventually turn around. Ben knows 137 people on the way to the top, some of whom tell stories about him as a kid. A white kid in tie-dye in Haiti is like a purple man in a pope hat in the states -- I’d remember him too. Kids along the trail ask for dollars; I wonder if city Haitians envy their meager but unpolluted existence this high up. An elderly man finishes the hike with us, and gives Ben a flute. The top is relieving -- above the clouds of TB, perfect views, something finally unspoiled.

There are cannons everywhere and Ben knows a restaurateur from Cap Haitian -- blan!, up from the city to cater a meeting for the something something Minister of Tourism and Culture. They offer us drinks and dominoes. We hitch a ride down the mountain with the driver something something Minister of Tourism and Culture.

He takes us off the mountain, into town, to the restaurant where there are white people – USAID workers, OXFAM maybe, or UNESCO. We’d seen signs for projects by all of them. At the restaurant we eat shrimp and goat, and decide that Haitian food is the best on the island. Sensing that we are poverty tourists, the driver wants to show us the worst slum in Cap Haitien. Shadowy. People everywhere on doorsteps, one candle each. He rolls up the windows, and we decide that Haitian music is the best on the island.

He takes us to the house and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. I’m thrilled for the small bond with this Haitian. I get distracted trying to thank him in the Creole I don’t speak and leave my camera and 65 pictures of Haiti in his car. The next morning we are in Haiti and I’m missing my camera. We’re riding on an omnipotent taptap with Haitians who speak English and are delighted to meet us and want to talk, and I wonder how much it will cost for a new one.

I want to look up everything about this place on wikipedia when I get home. I want to read everything ever written by Paul Farmer and hear Jared Diamond’s explanation. I want to know why the trees are gone, what the UN troops do all day, and whether or not the people know they desperately, inconceivably and unnecessarily poor. Haiti is worse – a thousand times worse – than any place I’ve ever seen, but I’m only sort of engaging with the people here. My heart never breaks.

Nothing for the people. Someday later I'll read about truth. Now it's my camera, because anything more is hard.

I shake it off. A UN helicopter swoops low. I begin to wonder.

Here’s a list of possible reasons why:
-- We don’t speak Creole/ empathy requires communication.
-- It’s too exotic -- almost not human.
-- The poverty is impossible. Not worth trying. `
-- The poverty is cyclical, cultural, a tradition, ancient. Not for me to change.
-- I don’t know these Haitians like I do those from I pray daily in the DR.
-- We are essentially poverty tourists. We observe, but don’t touch. We’re here for perspective – no time for a plan. We’re not ashamed of it because we’re worldly and want to know about earth’s plagues, and also because were working waist-deep in it on the other side of the island. As worldly and seeking travelers, we struggle for understanding. We know stats and discuss politics, but we need it to be human. We need to see the denial of need. We need them to be friends. Without connection we’re stuck in history books.
-- We are here for three days. It's just not enough.

But could this have been enough?

Is perspective enough?

When’s it enough?

WHAT, THEN, WAS THE POINT IF IT’S NOT ENOUGH?

It’s easy to miss when nothing’s beautiful.

It’s just three days.

The omnipotent taptap blows out, so we hop into taxi that will take us three hours back to the border. The taxi is made of rust and drags along the ground, and a line breaks half an hour in, leaving a trail of gasoline melting into the dirt for 29 steps down the highway. The driver disappears into a village, and comes back planning to fix it with soap. We decide it’d be better to hitchhike. We hope for a UN tank, but settle on this:

… and these kind of days, I decide, are the best in my life.

We go and it’s dusty and hilarious. The driver unloads after an hour, and we fly the rest of the way down the dirt highway, past chickens and NGO water sanitation projects and an army checkpoint and cops looking for bribes all the way to the border. When hanging off the back of a truck in Haiti, everyone – everyone – makes eye contact with the blan, but their eyes are glazed. I look back. I nod back. I wave back. I tell God to tell them I’m trying.

Everyone sees me. It's blurry. I’m still dying for a connection.

A Day in Tamarindo

2007-08-30T21:10:00.000-05:00

With a tap on the shoulder, Anyelo woke me up. “Kurt, esta malo?” I sat up on the railing that I didn’t remember falling asleep on and noticed about five other workers and locals in front of the school giving me the “Are you okay?” look. I had dozed off during a quick water break at the work site, and was quickly embarrassed at my lack of attentiveness. I assured them that I was fine and was ready to get back to work. They would not allow that. Papo, the most protective of the workers, motioned for me to lay back down on the railing. Because of our previous exchanges, I knew it was no use to try to convince him that I didn’t need to rest anymore. If he ever catches the slightest hint that Phillip or I might possibly be tired or hurt, he insists that we take a water break. One day, I was stung by a wasp while throwing some wood into a pile at the perimeter of the work site. I laughed about it with some of the guys, using it as an opportunity to learn how to say wasp in Spanish (awispa), and got back to work. Papo quickly came to my aid with an ointment and pulled me clear away from where I had been stung. For now on, if I ever need to work near that spot, I have to make sure that Papo isn’t looking because he won’t allow it. Papo is a tender-hearted, hard-working man that Phillip and I idolize. Anyway, to ease the concerns of those around me, I figured I’d lay down for just a few minutes. I fell asleep again. Diori woke me up next. He’s six years old and makes me laugh more than anyone I’ve ever met. He carried a chair over his head not much smaller than him that he had brought from his house. “Kurt, Kurt, you must sit in this chair or else you will fall off the railing,” he explained to me. He translated to me a sense of urgency and worry that made me feel like my life was in danger, and he grabbed my arm to make sure that I followed his instructions. I did so while laughing. The chair was nicer than laying on the railing, I admitted, and fell asleep. The next time my eyes peeled open, I saw Javier, one of the workers, who was very happy to present a mattress that a lady had brought for me. I couldn’t believe it. I felt … loved. Haha. I’ve only been here for a few weeks and these people care for me so much. It’s like some strange cult experience except the only agenda is hospitality. I laughed and tried to convince everyone that was watching and waiting for me to lay down that I was really okay. Javier very gingerly laid down the mattress on a flat part of the lady’s porch, and covered it with a yellow blanket. I convinced myself that it was okay to lay down in order to not disappoint or offend anyone. A noble excuse for a break, I thought. I had one of the best naps ever. Of course, when I woke up, I made a big deal about how much better I felt, and everyone was delighted. Some were still not convinced that I was okay and kept asking how I was throughout the rest of the day. I have been shocked by the hospitality expressed by those that we "minister to" ever since I’ve been here, and this experience is just one of many in which my care for other people is put to shame. Women gladly invite you into their house, give you the chair they were just sitting in, and offer you something to drink if you stop by to just say hello. The workers at the site continually demonstrate God’s love to me and anyone else that comes to help, and it is truly a warm place to be … the sun helps. My desire to work hard is amplified by being around these people. Dominicans teach us a lot about loving one another.

Later in the day, Ruben wanted to take me to a store to look at tennis balls. I was at a stopping point at the work site, so we left and took a couple of younger kids with us. He kept me up to speed on how close we were roughly every minute until we got to el cienda. “This is it.” He smiled. It was about the size of a concessions stand, was in between two houses, and was made of rotting wood. Brown tattered books were on display behind the counter next to a random assortment of old board games, crayons, and a variety of paper products. Snack items hung overhead. In the glass display case were used watches, sunglasses, cologne, scissors, and tennis balls. I had never seen tennis balls in a glass case before. Looking at the kids’ faces, I understood that we had come to worship the tennis balls. Ruben wanted to take pictures of them, so I got out my camera. Of course, it was difficult for me to feel the same way they did about the tennis balls because I had enough toys at their age to entertain an entire elementary school. For them, a tennis ball was the toy to have. I asked Ruben if he wanted one. He was strong, reminding me that we only came to look, worried that surely it would cost too much. I assured him that I would be able to pay for it, and he agreed. I asked each of the younger kids, and they looked down at their feet, trying not to smile and then looked up at Ruben to make sure it was okay to say yes. They took turns picking out their favorite, and after we payed, they wanted to pose for a photo. I fought back my disbelief, not wanting them to detect how strange of a tennis ball shopping experience this had been for me. We went to the baseball field nearby, and they hesitated throwing them for a while, not wanting them to get dirty. If they did hit the floor, they were wiped off. I was almost worried for one of the boy’s mental health when I caught him talking to his. They took pics, and as we walked back to the work site, we were glowing, especially me. “The time spent here in the D.R. has been the greatest few weeks of my life,” I thought to myself, “and those were the best three dollars I have ever spent.”

Oh, Pancho!

2007-08-26T22:07:00.000-05:00

Well, 3 weeks gone visiting in the states and now I am back in the saddle again. There is a new staff, a new group of interns, and a new feel for the upcoming year. I have been here about a week, and have enjoyed every minute of it.

Robin, Weston, and I went to Pancho Mateo on Friday, and were greeted by the usual love/hate reactions of the kids.

Camila!! Camila!!

Why were you gone so long?

Hola Camila!

Uh, why didn't you bring anything back for me?

You're my mom. Camila es mi mama!

I don't want to have to walk to class, I'm not going.

YES!! Class! Oooh, I want to be in your afternoon class.

Why aren't you going to my house. Tu eres mala (You're bad).

Why did you chop all your hair off? It's ugly.

Meanwhile,
Weston has become the newest jungle gym for David, Daribelto, Liso, Gerald and Berni Wiliam, and Robin is hopelessly trying to figure out how in the heck to spell names like"Berni Wiliam" on the school applications she is helping me to fill out.

Oh, it's good to be back!

doctoring; plights

2007-08-25T00:35:00.000-05:00

one thing i realized i love is carrying bandaids and peroxide around. it's so simple and easy and necessary.

we play soccer with a bunch of kids. when we finish this kid is bleeding out his foot from something he stepped on. the wound is shallow -- just a scrape. i have one alcohol pad left and use it. then this skinny goofy endearing haitian kid shows me that he is bleeding out his thigh. the wound is a puncture -- deep, with goop bubbling out. i reuse the alcohol pad and he screams and crawls away. all the kids laugh and drag him back, holding his arms and legs down while i do it again. he's skinnier than the rest and can't move. he screams in creole this time, and i laugh. i put on a bandaid. he laughs.

i stop laughing and get concerned, cause it's ugly. i tell him to show his parents or a doctor. suddenly he seems really haitian, and i wonder if his parents have the resources for the care necessary if it gets infected, and it makes me sad.

the haitians here need help.

it's good every once in a while to be sad about the haitians.

then ruben takes off his shirt and puts two bandaids over his nipples. i laugh and buy him juice.

it's good to carry band-aids for the haitians.

The New Guy...

2007-08-23T21:13:00.000-05:00

Hola

At 2:35 PM August 20th, my plane landed in the tiny airport in Puerto Plata, my new home for the next year. Awaiting outside with open arms were hundreds of taxi cab drivers waiting to sweep me and my money away. However, Makarios was sweet enough to come pick me up in a rundown jeep.
I arrived at my new dwelling place, a two story duplex. Since I am the only guy staffer, I get one whole duplex to myself. The place is nice and its located in a real safe neighborhood (Dont worry Mom). I met two of the girls I will be working with: Camille and Robin along with two guy interns who are leaving in a few weeks. They are solid people and I will enjoy doing ministry along with them. Instead of writing a novel to yall here are the highlights of my last few days in list form...yeah I love lists:

1. there are a billion mopeds
2. I witnessed a fight which consisted of plastic chair throwing and slashing tires
3. The population includes: chickens, mangy dogs, and pathetic looking horses
4. Got my hair braided.
5. little naked Haitian babies jumped on me
6. I became a horse for local village kids
7. Saw a witchdoctor's house and church a few houses down from eachother
8. Fell in love with all the beautiful foreign women
9. Sweated a ton
10. Learned how to drive stick

I am truly blessed to be here. I can already see where I will need God to aid me. So....here is a list of prayer requests:

1. Become fluent in Spanish
2. Acclimate to the heat.
3. Flourish in fellowship...even when I am the only guy
4. Strength and patience in dealing with ill behaved kids
5. Keep focused on why I am here
6. Not get homesick...I love my family and friends to death
7. Dont get sick!!!!!
8. Remember kids names....there are tons of them
9. Find a Dominican wife....just kidding....but seriously...
10. Continue to learn and grow in my walk with Christ.

Thanks for yall's prayers and financial support....I will keep yall updated monthly...so get ready for stories of adventure, love, heartache, and victory. My mom doesnt want me to do anything dangerous down here....but why not learn from my mistakes right? ha.

Missing you,

Weston Armstrong Woodward

hurricane; hiv

2007-08-19T22:19:00.001-05:00

We spent this weekend at the Makarios farm in San Jose a Dentro, riding out the edge of Hurricane Dean with some of the family whom Robin wrote about below. It was compelling and tragic and ridiculous and perfectly beautiful, and an embodiment of the human complexity of ministry.

Nothing's easy about anything sometimes, but at least Kurt has a great camera.

2007-08-19T22:19:00.000-05:00

beach day at sosua

2007-08-16T19:59:00.000-05:00

Constance, Phillip, Kurt, Jennie and I took a few kids from Tamarindo to the beach at Sosua today and had a wonderful time. Here are some
pictures from our adventures:

Phillip, Ivi, Constance, Robin, Kurt, Jennie

Papito, Christopher, Ruben, Diori, Vladi

¡Y un cangrejo!

the making of a house

2007-08-16T18:50:00.002-05:00

WOOD for making bunk beds?

√

WASHER for the laundry?

√

SHEETS for beds?

√

TOWELS for bathing?

√

SKILLED WORKERS?

√ Fermin

√ Wisly

STOVE for making rice and beans?

√

GAS TANK for turning on the stove?

√

PLYWOOD for the beds?

√

PEOPLE to help me, cause I have no idea how to build bunk beds?

√

After a lot of work, sweat and help, Makarios is happy to welcome Marianela and her family to their new house in San José Adentro. Marianela, her husband, and their 8 children are a family affected by AIDS. They lived in a poor neighborhood near the MAK house in Puerto Plata and shared a house with another family of 3 children. Early in the summer their house was washed down the hill when heavy rains came, leaving them with nothing. The parents are unable to get jobs because of the disease and so the family has been living off what they can get.

We are excited to say that this past Monday the family boarded a bus and safely arrived to their new house which contained: newly build bunk beds, new mattresses, a washer, a stove, and a kitchen with some food to cook. We owe a huge thank you to all the people and church groups that have helped us prepare the house for their arrival. Calvary Bible Church in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania brought in clothes, toys and other household items to give to the family. The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas worked along side us to cut the plywood for the beds and brought some kitchen supplies. Westlake Bible Church helped us pay for food for the family, along with bringing clothes and toys.

Please continue to pray for this family as they settle in to their new lives and as they live in the overwhelming reality of the illness.

Progress?

2007-08-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

Well...we've been doing some sweating, working some late hours, and hopefully are making some progress on the new Makarios school house in Tamarindo. We might be a little late in getting it open, but better late than never! Many thanks to all the hands that have taken some part or another this summer in making the school become a reality.

school progress; warfare

2007-08-15T22:50:00.000-05:00

the roof is going up on the school. here's what it looks like:

arriba? spanish?

juan, to whom we sometimes refer as "the image of god"...

cheap labor...

juan make it look like this..

and if i have my way..

austin stone group dos (2)

2007-08-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

Below is an update from one of the Austin Stone group members. You can check out their pictures at http://austinstone.myphotoalbum.com.

The last few days have been challenging. There is so much to take in and process that my mind almost seems incapable of doing it. We are told so much and sing so much about God's goodness, but I am finding that that is easy to say when I live such a comfortable, content life. I wonder how easy it would be to say that if I lived the way these people do. Being in the village of Pancho Mateo the first day (yesterday) was an awakening for me. I know that God is sovereign and He is always in control. I know that God is good, that He is incapable of evil, and we live in a fallen world. I am searching for God's goodness here. At first it is really hard to ignore the darkness. I see it in the village: it's a child squatting to defecate in the midst of a crowd and the mother cleaning it up like I would clean a litter box. It's in the lives of some of the teenage girls that surely get raped on a regular basis. It is enough to make some not want to go back. But we do. God is there and there is hope. It is visible in the eyes of these children. They are so full of love and are starving for affection. In the states we teach our kids to not talk to strangers, and these kids come running and leaping into our arms without hesitation. They want to be carried and to hold someone's hand. It was so great to go back a 2nd day and recognize kids and to have them recognize me. I am making a deliberate effort to not focus on the darkness, but to see the light of God in this place; to trust in His sovereignty and goodness; and to see where He is working and glorifying Himself.

nos vemos. adios. bye bye.

2007-07-30T20:02:00.000-05:00

i guess it's time for me to give my official goodbye. i don't remember ever making an official blog announcement about my departure, so i guess this is it. i leave puerto plata tomorrow at 4pm, and i'm not quiet sure when i'll be back. but there is no doubt that i will come back.

i'm returning to austin to work on my master's thesis, which is about 2 years over due. i now only have one year left, so i decided it would be wisest to get going on that.

it's kind of strange as i sit here in any empty MAK house, my suitcases on the floor - and full. it was this time last year that i was UNpacking them, and now i'm repacking. it's all a bit surreal.

it has been an incredible year and i will truly miss this place. but the great thing is that my goodbye doesn't mean the end of the work. even after i leave, 3 summer interns will remain (constance, philip and rebecca), with 3 full time staff (robin, jennie & miguel) waiting for the return of camille and the arrival of a new teacher (kate), not to mention those who are always here, like crisitina and ruben.

please continue to pray for all of these people as they continue with the work that the Lord is doing through MAKARiOS.

nos vemos!

sponsor a child!

2007-07-30T17:16:00.000-05:00

hi

2007-07-29T23:55:00.001-05:00

My name is Phillip. I am 24, went to the University of Texas, came here more or less from California, and will be here in the DR until mid-September. I’m here to help build the school and to help with the groups and blog a bunch.

I’ve recently learned that:

-- Walking about town without a shirt is considered an affront to the Dominican police.
-- Dominican wine is terrible.
-- My Spanish is terrible.
-- I actually, quite literally, get seasick from surfing. It’s terrible.

But really, my Spanish is hideous. I go to Tamarindo to help build the school almost every day, which is good because it takes me a week to finish a conversation with anyone. I took between ten and 13 semesters of Spanish between high school and college, and to me it’s no more discernible than Turkish. It's maddening and humbling and hilarious all at the same time.

My favorite things about the DR are:

-- The cows. The Mak house is in an upper-class neighborhood in Puerto Plata, where the houses are huge and beautiful and gated with views of La Isabela to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. The mayor lives nearby. Several of the streets are not paved, there are Haitian squatters in at least three houses within spying distance, the next door neighbor takes bucket baths in the backyard, and cows roam freely. Cows! Who owns them? Can I have one?

-- Taking public (beat up guaguas [vans] that take us to and fro for cheap). We pile in. Twenty or 25 more pile in. Some with geese or chickens or lizards pile in. One driver prays out loud with his eyes closed each time he pulls back on the road. It’s hot and sticky and large men inevitably end up on my lap — and it’s the epitome of Dominican culture. Hot and humid and sweating shoulder-to-shoulder — we’re all in this together.

-- Chickens. I want to kick one. It’s wrong, I suppose, but they’re the perfect height — like a teed up football. It might mean some family might not be able to eat for a month, but I can’t make any promises. I also hear the mayor of Chichigua has some for sale – some gallitos (roosters) muy furioso y peligroso! My cockfighting dreams may yet come true.

-- That this place is wonderfully, terribly, wildly stimulating. En serio, can you believe this place? It’s so unpretentious, so perfectly unkept, so delightfully disordered. So raw, so spoiled, so dynamically beautiful. It’s so impractical yet so resourceful. It’s so hopeless, so helpless, so humbling -- so human. Isn't the heartbreak just fantastic? There’s so many problems to solve, so much room for solution and so much impossibility. Too much impossibility -- the crushing weight of which hangs in the salted air. There’s so much of nothing to do at so many perfect beaches.

Can you believe this place? It’s enlivening.

I hopped into a guagua my first morning here and the world exploded into action. Cars drive on the wrong side of the road, and no one gets in wrecks. There’s trash everywhere and all I see is the mountains. Chickens cross the road. Big dead pigs get strapped on motos. There are people everywhere on donkeys. Donkeys! There are no men on donkeys in Texas, and that is a problem.

The plumbing can’t handle toilet paper (it goes in a trashcan). We don’t refrigerate our eggs (found one with a feather). Gas is almost $5 a gallon. Lunch stops turn into dance clubs at night, and you can do laundry and wash a car at the same place with a swimming pool. The drive-by fruit man with a loudspeaker sounds like he wants to start a revolution. There are cows in the neighborhood. Why is this?

Why is this country so left behind, yet so for ahead of Haiti on its immediate left? Why is Chiquito so left behind? Why is Papito so pensive? Why is Dominic so forgotten? How are kids like Ruben so smart yet so already stuck?

Why is naturalized citizenship impossible for the children of Haitian immigrants? Why aren’t the sugar companies going to harvest the cane this year? Why is homelessness so hidden here — so much less obvious than that in Austin or San Francisco? Do they realize that people live like the Haitians do? How do people keep track of their chickens? When will I learn Spanish? What do you do when a mother of six kids gets HIV? Why does this just one of a 1,000 similarly desperate places around the world? Why are the human elements of pride and selfishness and greed the same in each? Why isn’t Americanization the answer? What do we do? How do the Haitians sing Merci over and over and over in their comfort-less church? Why do I feel it too? Who created these mountains but forgot about jobs for the poor? Does this poverty even matter in war-torn Africa? Is this -- this place, these problems, this time for me -- real? When do I stop asking questions and just serve?

I’ve been here two weeks, and already there’s a thousand of them.

Can you believe this place? It’s exhausting.

But exhausting in all the right ways. It’s why we all came. Here, then, is a beautiful baby we call “Toad”:

jaina

2007-07-27T13:58:00.000-05:00

One of the things to affect me most here in the Dominican Republic has been my relationship and interactions with a girl named Jaina. Jaina is an 11 or 12-year-old wheelchair bound girl who suffers from Cerebral Palsy. There’s a hut at the edge of the village in Chichigua where Jaina usually sits all day while everyone plays around her. She doesn’t really speak but seems to understand and can make some noises that sound like words. That said; she is one of the happiest girls I have ever met. I love getting to sit with her, or bring her into the schoolhouse when we are doing activities. One great memory of mine is when I brought some bubbles that a group had into her hut and blew bubbles for her. She tried so hard to blow them as well, and after about 15 tries, succeeded! Even the other kids, who often ignore her, cheered.

Yesterday, the group (an awesome youth group from Philadelphia) and Constance and I went to Chichigua for the afternoon. When I went to see Jaina, she was smiling as usual, but a complete and total mess. I think she had been eating sugar cane and so she had crumbs and drool all over her, plus her arms and legs were covered in dirt. She just smiles and squeals when people come in so of course she was excited. I had some antibacterial wipes on me that the family group left the other week (thank you guys for leaving those!) and so I took them out and cleaned her up. She loved it! She took one of the wipes once I was finished (I used at least three to get all the dirt off of her) and started wiping it up and down her leg the same way I had. Her skin is so cracked and dry so I might bring lotion next time I head over there.

Many of the group members came to sit with this sweet girl as well, just to be there and to read some Bible stories we have in Spanish. She absolutely ate up every second, smiling and laughing and just enjoying the attention she so deserves but never receives. The group who is here this week has tons of energy and so they were running around playing tag with the kids and Jaina kept pointing outside, partly because we could see her horses, cows and her father, and partly because she wanted to be out there so badly having fun. So, I picked her up and ran around with her in my arms. It brought me so much joy to see her so happy and laughing! I loved seeing some of the guys from the group pick her up as well and run her around. I’ve never seen a smile so big. Overall, it was one of my best days in Chichigua.

I think part of why being with Jaina is so special to me is because of my own sister, Abi. I see a lot of parallels between the two of them, as my sister is handicapped as well. It kills me seeing Jaina’s legs, scrunched together and unable to be straightened, knowing that if she had the resources we have in the States, she might have been able to have the physical therapy to make her legs straighten out—maybe to even have walked. I guess we can't know for sure. It reminds me just how much I have been blessed to live where I do and that my sister has had the opportunity to thrive under her circumstances. However, I think I am affected more by the fact that Jaina is still one of the happiest children I have ever seen even though she does not live under the best of cicrumstances. God has used this sweet little girl to be an example for me!

some reflections

2007-07-15T09:52:00.000-05:00

My name is Rebecca Rawson and I am interning with Makarios here in the DR for the summer. I am a senior at UT majoring in Spanish and Public Relations and came here because I have a heart for Spanish-speaking nations and the Lord called me to be here. I truly cannot believe that I have been here over a month, and I don't even want to think about how quickly this next month is going to pass. Before I know it, I am going to be back in Austin. That's exciting in some respects, but a lot of me doesn't ever want to leave! I am trying to enjoy every minute, to not be frustrated when I am exhausted, to love even the hardest to love well.

I think that one of the biggest lessons I have learned being here is just how little I need to survive. I was sending an e-mail to a Young Life girl of mine whom I love and I made a list of things I missed about Texas. Surprisingly, I found my list to be very small, comprised mainly of people--my family and friends and roommates, etc. All the comforts of the US -- my bed, air conditioning, reliable water, my car and cell phone and clothes; all those things are nice, but here I am, not just surviving but thriving without any of those comforts! Really, we are spoiled here in the MAK house. I am sitting here, on the Internet, with a fan pointing at me.

I am so thankful that the Lord is teaching me not to depend on my earthly possessions. I feel like he brought me here to break me of sin in my life and that each day he is forming me more and more into someone who possesses a joy not from anything this world can give, but solely from him.

miguel and jennie

2007-06-28T17:18:00.000-05:00

Perhaps this is an introduction for some of you. For some of you, maybe we've been able to meet you on a work team that has recently come to the Dominican Republic. Miguel and I work behind the scenes in the DR alongside Makarios....kind of like the people "behind the curtain." I'm ashamed to say that Sharla has gently urged us to contribute to the blog before on several occasions, and its just now that I'm taking up the duty. I have to be honest in saying that we're not very good at this kind of thing and it took my little brother going to Iraq (not part of the military), and being able to read his blog to inspire me to start one as well. I now realize what an important form of communication it has become to post blogs every now and again. So we start out introducing ourselves in this blog with hopes of more entries to come. Miguel is Dominican and we were married at the end of this past January. I've lived here in the Dominican Republic for between 7 and 8 years, and have known Sharla since 1998 when we were both teaching at Santiago Christian School here in the DR. I met Miguel about 6 years later while living in the batey of Caraballo. We do various things for Makarios, and usually each new day is pretty different from the previous one. I do a lot of running around paying bills, price checking on supplies, buying needed ministry materials, taking people to the hospital and making sure they get proper medical care, managing finances DR side, etc. While Miguel also does various things such as teaching electricity classes, Makarios house and vehicle maitenance, and we both have taught a Bible class in a little campo called Arroyo Leche over the past year. (Right now we are on summer break but will start up again in the fall). What has been occupying Miguel's days recently is managing and working on the school house project in Tamarindo. Hopefully it will be up and running by this coming September. So that's it in a nutshell! Post comments if you have any more questions about either of us! Until next time, Ciao.

to haiti and back with los tweems

2007-06-27T17:30:00.000-05:00

posted by sharla, NOT in haitian prison

jacob gets his hair styled in haiti

here are the cliffnotes of my trip to haiti to take care of adoption paperwork to adopt Isaac and Jacob:

traveled from santiago, DR to cap haitian, haiti with twins, Ben White, and the boys' parents. took van, truck, bus, and taxi over some of the bumpiest roads ever and at one point could hear my brain rattling against my skull.

the boys' mother decided not to sign the abandonment papers, then decided she would but it was too late as adoption agency didn't want to work with a mom who was changing her mind back and forth. mom does NOT want boys, just didn't want to sign papers (main purpose of the trip, mind you).

took care of all other paperwork necessary for adoption and medical visa - hoping to find another agency to work with us.

took boys to mother's village so her friends and family could see that she had not "sold the babies," which was the rumor. were surrounded by many, many haitians who exclaimed that the mother had not, in fact, sold them. met a 1 year old girl named B.I.G. as in notorious. (if you are older than me you will not understand.)

crossed back into the DR without getting arrested for "stealing babies," as we were warned was a possibility. left this out of previous updates so that my mother wouldn't worry. a special thanks to those of you who offered to bring me food and special juice in jail and/or send some sort of military rescue team in helicopters to get us out. fortunately i did not need to take you up on your generous offers.

returned back to the DR and am continuing to pursue other avenues to complete the adoption. confident that the Lord will show the way.

came back to texas. miss my boys.

[a few side notes: the boys are called "los tweems" in honor of our dominican friend who always refers to them as this when attempting to say "twins" in english. we find it endearing. also, should i spell jacob's name jakob? a friend had said from the beginning that this is who i should spell it, but i thought that might be annoying for him to always have to correct everyone. however, i've since realized that in creole, you spell jacob with a k, so i'm reconsidering. thoughts?]

update on Ian

2007-06-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

many of you remember that last august we began taking care of an abandoned 18 month old named Ian. He is now living with a loving Haitian couple in Cap Haitian and I was able to visit him and his new family a few weeks ago. he's doing really well and has bonded with his new parents. here's a family pic.

continued amazement

2007-06-19T16:04:00.001-05:00

i am continually amazed at the groups that the Austin Stone sends to work with us in the DR. this group arrived on friday and spent a few days with ruben before joining us on the north coast on sunday evening. even after traveling they endured my lengthy orientation on what would be happening in our english classes this week.

this group includes several elementary school teachers who were put in my group. they have been a such a blessing beyond my imagination. being the teachers they are, they took all of my plans and materials and taught class for me! it has been wonderful to watch them teach and see my students react to new faces and methods.

and after teaching all day, several from my group requested to meet up with the guys to help work on the new school house we're building. they put me to shame as they continued working and i returned the house for my shower!

the austin stone has also provided the money and manpower needed to begin some foundation and columns for this school house. they guys have been working super hard and are even working "over time" today. our presence in tamarindo (the neighborhood where the school is located and where the flood occured a few weeks ago) helps us to continue building relationships with the kids and families of this community.

thank you for your prayers!

building community in the DR

2007-06-12T15:40:00.000-05:00

we've already had several weeks full of interns and lots of fun here in the DR. our current interns - constance, holly, brad, drew, barrett, chris, and now robin, who is staying for a year - have been doing a great job both in the villages and around the house. it is wonderful to see all of the gifts that we each can use in this place.

in addition to our interns, this week we have the Krone family (including their 4 daughters) spending time with us in the villages as well as in the MAK house. it has been wonderful getting to know and serve alongside this amazing family who is introducing their girls to missions at such a young age. these pale little girls have been the amazement and joy of many dominican and haitian children this week.

after their time with us is up at the end of this week, we (all MAK staff and interns - there are still more to come!) will head to cabarete for a retreat to prepare us for the rest of our summer together. please be praying for this retreat - that the Lord would use it to strengthen our community so we will work together as ONE body, that He would teach us all more about himself, and that our summer planning will be blessed to bring Him glory through all that we do.

weeping

2007-06-08T17:20:00.001-05:00

On Monday I was able to return to the land where the educational center is being built, the neighborhood is called Tamarindo so I am going to start calling it that (even though somehow it got designated as "el boss" by summer staff). Anyway, while in Tamarindo (or el boss) I saw Miriam sitting on a foam pad outside across from her house sorting through books and papers that had been damaged in the flood. If you don't know who Miriam is read "lots and lots of mud."

I walked over and sat with her to see what she was doing. I began to help her peel apart the notebooks, but most everything had to be thrown out. Behind her though she had laid out some birth certificates and other important documents to dry. She started going through some books she used when she went to the university. She was studying to be a nurse, but quit 2 and a half years in for financial reasons. While she was flipping through the pages, she began to teach me the information she had learned and then threw the books out to be thrown away. Then she just started weeping.

As she wept, she told me that her parents were dead, her husband had left her, and that her family consisted of her kids, some of her neighbors, and God. As I listened to her talk, I wept with her. It was so amazing that an older woman with four kids would be so vulnerable before someone she didn't even know all that well and who wasn't even in that stage of life. It was very humbling for me.

lots and lots of mud

2007-05-31T20:45:00.000-05:00

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

2007-05-29T22:14:00.000-05:00

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

2007-05-27T22:10:00.001-05:00

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.