Tuesday at Palo Blanco - work, play and home visits.

This morning started extra early so that we could make it to ANIJA school in time to be a part of the student’s opening ceremony.  We were quickly greeted by many of the Ark orphanage kids that attend school at Anija. Many of the Ark kids recognized us from last year or from church service on Sunday and were excited to see their sponsors again! We also got to greet a lot of our sponsored kiddos that we hadn’t seen yet this trip. We will have time to have a little party with them and hand out gifts on Friday. The opening ceremony consisted of some announcements, raising the Christian flag and singing the Christian anthem and also raising the Dominican flag and the singing of the Dominican national anthem. Gabriel Peralta, sponsored by Reed and Sue Juday was proud to be the one to raise the Dominican flag up the pole!

(Gabriel, sponsored by Reed and Sue Juday, before the opening school ceremony.)

After the opening ceremony at ANIJA we exchanged out dollars to pesos so we could do some shopping a little later in the week and then headed back to Palo Blanco care center to do more construction and play with the kids. Today was hot and sunny and the construction crew got their workout hoisting over 100 cement bricks up a pulley system one at a time to the second floor of the building we were working on.  Chris B, Chris W, and Rose went out to the barrios of Palo Blanco to get to see the living conditions of some of the homes of our sponsored children. They went to the home of Patricia and Yordaliza, twins sponsored by Jamie and Jackie Mullet. The girl’s home had five people living in it and only had two rooms. All five people shared one bedroom and up until the family was recently given a second mattress the girls shared a mattress at nighttime that was smaller than a twin mattress. The home had no bathroom and no refrigerator. The family bathed with buckets of water filled from a neighbor’s water spicket. If any of you want help putting things in your life into perspective I strongly suggest you take this trip at least one time. It breaks your heart and makes you even more grateful for what you have all at once!

(Yordaliza and Patricia’s home.)

(Yordaliza)

In the afternoon some of us returned to the construction project while the rest made bead bracelets, colored and played games with some of the classes from Palo Blanco. It doesn’t take long to fall in love with these precious kids and realize that even though they live in extreme poverty, broken homes and abusive situations, they each have their own hopes and dreams for the future.  While in many cases it is easy to look at a child and hear their dreams and think that it will be impossible for them to achieve anything due to the situation they live in, it also gives us great hope that these kids are able to hope and dream. Thanks to Kids Alive and the amazing staff that works with and loves these kids everyday each of them has the chance to plan a great future for themselves and break the cycle of poverty and abuse in their family. It was such a blessing to be able to meet a few adults that were products of the Kids Alive program that are now teachers, working in administration at the school, and one woman that is training to be a dentist. Our church family is a part of something that is changing lives and changing communities all over the world! Stop for a minute and look at the pictures of these beautiful children and really take a minute to think about the impact that Kids Alive is having – and we are a part of it!!

(Leona helping a boy tie his bracelet.)

(Braldy, sponsored by Denny and Sandy Fisher, wearing the bracelet he made.)

We thank you again for all of your prayers and ask that if you are reading this blog that you take a moment to leave a comment for the team, or even a particular member. We have lots of people missing their friends and family and children and the comments are a bright spot in our day!