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La Romana is a large city (pop. 350,000) located approximately
60 miles east of Santo Domingo. The town is surrounded by huge sugarcane
plantations where many of the people make their living. Pierdra Linda
is an extremely poor barrio (neighborhood) that is only a few minutes
from downtown La Romana. This orphanage currently serves as a home to 50 children ranging in age from several months to 16 years old. The Director and founder is a dedicated woman named Sonia. The operation of the orphanage is based totally on faith as there is no consistent outside benefactor. The orphanage has a Christian focus, but is not affiliated in a formal way with any one church in La Romana. The team would be involved in a ministerial type project targeting young children and/or youth. Villa Duarte is a highly overpopulated community located on the outskirts of Santo Domingo. Most of the housing in the area is government subsidized, which makes for very large families being stuffed into small, decrepit homes. Due to overpopulation and high levels of poverty Villa Duarte has lent itself to crime and corruption, two factors that have had costly effects on the lives of the children who grow up here. PROJECT: Centro de Desarollo Integral DR#244 18 years ago, the Assembly of God Church began a Compassion International sponsored student center in Villa Duarte. Currently the project has 203 children, with more in attendance each year, and operates out of one small apartment where classes are held daily. A new location is necessary for the growth and prosperity of this program to the children of Villa Duarte. The local A.G. church of 120 members has allowed the compassion project to use the top of its building for the construction of a new student center. Construction has not started yet, but they will be ready to begin as soon as they have the adequate funds to launch the project. Groups to this site will initiate the construction of the new student center. This will include lifting and laying a lot of block, tying re-bar, and mixing and pouring cement. This is an excellent project and will also expose group members to many of the harsh realities of urban life in the developing world. There will be many children to hang out with, church services to attend, and community activities to be a part of. Other excursions and historical trips may also be options as there are plenty of sites to see in this area. LOGISTICS: Teams will stay in a hotel near the project and commute daily to the work site. PROJECT: Community Development Primer Iglesia Bautista (First Baptist Church) has been working in Batey Munoz outside of Puerto Plata to assist the Haitians living there to improve their living standards. They have no running water and had no latrines until the church built several for the community. The church now is working to raise money to buy materials to build more latrines as well as to put in concrete floors into the one room houses where the Haitians live. Many of these one room habitats house up to 7 people. The church also hopes to build a vocational school in the community once they have permission to use the land from the government. The team would be involved in the building of latrines and pouring of concrete floors in the one room houses where the people live. This will be an excellent project for groups that wish to work in extreme poverty and improve the living standards for hundreds of people. The group will have the opportunity to attend and take part in local Church services, as well as interact with the surrounding community. There will be plenty of children around to play with, soccer games with the locals, and other community activities as well. Other excursions and historical trips may also be options. LOGISTICS: Teams would need to stay in a hotel near the project and commute daily to the work site. Batey Bienvendio is located near the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, and is home to several thousand Haitians who work in the sugarcane fields. PROJECT: Centro de Desarollo Infantil DR#160 Elizabeth Sena is the director of the Compassion Project DR#160, which has 254 children from the community in attendance. Batey Bienvenido is an extremely poor area with a mix of Haitians and Dominicans who live in mostly wooden and tin homes, mostly without running water or electricity. Currently Elizabeth and her staff are renting what used to be a bar in the neighborhood to hold classes for the kids, but have recently been given a piece of land to build a new student center. The local Church of God congregation in the batey is supporting the project and working hard to raise enough money to build the new student center. However, this is extremely difficult and taxing, due to the stark lack of resources in the church community. The new school plan includes several classrooms, bathrooms, and one small office. Once the school is finished, they hope to build a small vocational school in order to train youth and adults in life skills. The team would be involved in the construction of the new student center. They would be digging footers, tying re-bar, pouring cement, laying block, and mixing concrete. In other words, working hard alongside the local Dominican community. This will be an excellent project for groups that wish to work in a marginalized, rural area with a mix of both Haitians and Dominicans. There will be plenty of children around to play with, church services to attend, and other community activities to be a part of. Other excursions and historical trips may also be options. LOGISTICS: Teams would need to stay in the community and would most likely sleep on the floor of a rented house. There is water, but there may not be flush-toilets, so latrines should be expected. Higuey is a large city located on the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic. The team will work in Batey Magdalena, 20 minutes from Higuey. The bateys are the "neighborhoods" in and around the sugar cane fields which house the sugar cane workers who are predominantly Haitian. PROJECT: Centro de Desarollo Infantil Magdalena The team will assist in the construction of the Centro de Desarrollo Integral "Enmanuel" (a student center for economically marginal children). Members of the local Assembly of God church established the center, which is assisted by Compassion International (a child sponsorship program). Currently the center serves 150 children and is housed in a rented facility. They are in the middle of constructing a new facility. The team will continue the construction in progress, i.e., laying blocks, leveling floors, pouring columns. In addition to construction the team would have time to interact with the children and to participate in worship with the local church. Centro de Desarrollo Integral "Enmanuel" The team will assist in the construction of the Centro de
Desarrollo Integral "Enmanuel" (a student center for economically
marginal children). Members of the local Assembly of God church established
the center, which is assisted by Compassion International (a child sponsorship
program) -see http://www.ci.org for more info-. They are in the middle of constructing
the new facility. The team will continue the construction in progress,
i.e., laying blocks, leveling floors, pouring columns. In addition to
construction the team would have time to interact with the children and
to participate in worship with the local church. BELLA VISTA SCHOOL AND CHURCH CONSTRUCTION Bella Vista is a small village located a half an hour west
of the capital, Santo Domingo and on the road to Haina. In this coastal
city of 100,000, the main industry is the sugar cane production. San Pedro is a large city located on the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic (about an hour east of the capital) and is famous for its sugar cane and baseball players. The area is also known for its beautiful beaches. PROJECT: Centro Medico Biblico Cristiano The mission team will assist in the completion work of a new medical clinic facility begun and sponsored by the local Iglesia Biblica Cristiana (Christian Bible Church). As part of their ministry to the surrounding community the church has established a medical clinic to treat people who can not afford medical treatment at the local hospital. The clinic currently operates out of a rented house that is too small and they are in need of a largerbuilding. On average 30-40 people visit the clinic on a daily basis. LOS GUARICANOS PROJECT: Centro de Desarollo Infantil Mateo 19:14 The team will help with the construction of latrines for the community as well as conduct a health education workshop relative to the importance of using the latrines. This marginal community was a former Haitian batey when sugar cane was grown in the area. Few if any of the homes have bathrooms or outhouses. The director of the Compassion International assisted student center is very concerned about the health and sanitation situation in the community. Many of the health problems in the community are a direct problem due to the lack of bathroom facilities and poor drainage. In addition to construction the team would have time to interact with the children and to participate in worship with the local church. Chicken Farm / Trade School / Elementary School Barahona Barahona is located on the south coast of the Dominican
Republic near the Haitian border. It is a dry desolate area famous for
its cacti, larimar mines (local blue gemstone), and Lago Enriquillo which
is below sea level and is inhabited by salt-water crocodiles. Sugar cane
fields surround Barahona and are inhabited and worked mainly by Haitians,
who live in small poor communities called Batey's. Project B: Chicken / Rabbit Farm Preminus has started a
chicken farm in hopes of helping the community with the sale of cheap
poultry as well as an additional source of income for residents in Batey
#3. Excess income earned from the sale of chickens and rabbits will be
used to assist in the expenses of the school. Preminus currently has 1
chicken coop with 300 chickens, but would like to build 2 more and raise
the population of chickens to 1500. He also has several small rabbit hutches
with rabbits. This is a Compassion project located in Hato Mayor on the Eastern side of the Dominican Republic. The Director of the project is Victor Mateo Gil and they currently have 268 children registered. 90 of the children are above 16 yrs of age. The project is supported by the local Baptist Church which has approximately 300 members. The Baptist church is currently building a large school and are allowing the Compassion project to use 2 of the classrooms for their center as well as one of the Church offices for a computer lab. The church has a large piece of property and has given a portion of it to be used for the construction of a Student Center for the Compassion project. Plans have been drawn up and estimates given for the total construction of the student center which will include several classrooms, a laboratory, a library, bathrooms, offices, and a cafeteria. Teams would be able to stay at the school, church, or could rent a house. Water and bathrooms are available. This is an amazing project. The center is extremely
well run and organized and has a lot of programs for young adults. Victor
has done amazing things with limited resources and has the full support
of the church. He has plans to expand but has no facilities to accommodate
the students. This is worth investing in as his center is already doing
great things for the youth in Hato Mayor. With a building, he could do
much more. back to "about dominican republic" |
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