November 2008 Archives

Today was a very fun day--probably the most fun day we've had the whole time. Early in the morning we went to a project. When we got there the kids were singing but soon it was time for recess. I'd love for my recess to be that long (though I think they made it much longer than usual because we were there). I played volleyball, monkey in the middle and a game where we passed a soccer ball back and forth. My dad helped some of the girls and boys skip. We also tried to play a game kind of like dodge ball. We served them their snack that was a kind of cornmeal soup or mush made with milk.

After this we visited a very bad neighborhood. When we got out of the bus we saw security guard right beside us carrying a really big gun! We went into the neighbhorhood and walked around. We saw lots of really skinny dogs and a dirty, gross stream that flowed right through the center of the community. The people were very, very poor. They must have been thinking that we looked very rich as we walked by. We went to a church that had a giant water filtration unit in the basement that had been built by Compassion. It costs just ten pesos to fill up a jug full of water there. This is important because the rest of the water in that neighborhood was very dirty and there was pollution in it from factories that gave the kids sores and fungus on their skin. So now the church can offer 9,000 gallons of clean water every single day and everybody in the neighbhorhood can have it.

We ate lunch at a nice restaurant. I had a mini burger and played murder wink with Paige and two of the Compassion staff from Dominican Republic (Keren and Ivan). Then we went shopping at a market. Shopping in Dominican Republic isn't like shopping here. If they have something that costs 10 pesos, you can say no, I'll give you 5. They'll say no 8. And then you say, no 6. And you keep going like that until you agree on a price. I thought it was a very interesting way of buying things. I bought a souvenir for myself and a gift for my mom. Dad bought gifts for Abby, Michaela and mommy.

In a few minutes all of the bloggers will have dinner together and then tomorrow morning we are going to head back home. I have had lots of fun here, but I'm ready to go home.

I am going to write a couple more times when I'm at home, so keep checking my blog. Bye for now!

And if you haven't done it yet, please read this post and think about sponsoring a child just like the ones I played with today!

Today I am going to answer some of the questions people have asked me in the comments for my other posts.

Do the people there carry things on their heads?
Yes, quite a few of the people carry things on their heads. When we stop at a stop light you often see people selling things, walking from car-to-car trying to get you to buy something from them--water, soft drinks, chips, cell phones, cables, phone cards--all kinds of silly things. Sometimes one of them will wash your windows without you asking and he hopes you will give him a tip. Some of these guys have big boxes or buckets on their heads full of the things they sell. My dad has seen ladies working around their homes with things on their heads as well.

Does your family sponsor a child?
No, we don't. We came here to see if Compassion was a good organization and if we could support a child with them. Now that we've been here, we know we can and we will sponsor a child as soon as we get home.

What does a classroom look like?
The classrooms in the projects are one big room with just dividers (big pieces of wood) between them. So the classrooms are really, really noisy because all the kids in the whole school are in the same room. Only some of the classes have blackboards. Most have lots of pictures and posters on the wall. All of the kids eat at school and most are only there for half the day. We've eaten lunch at the schools every day and they've always served us rice, beans, boiled vegetables and beef. Sometimes they've also had chicken.

How far are the metal and wood shack like homes from the more affluent areas?
It's kind of hard to tell because we've been on a bus and haven't always been paying attention. But it seems to gradually change and gets worse and worse as you go on. So usually, I think, the really nice houses are quite a ways away from the real shacks. The batey we were at yesterday is way out in the countryside, far away from the city.

Do the richer people in the Dominican Republic help the poor people?
I don't know, but I haven't seen any giving money or giving them something. I don't really think so. They each mind their own lives.

What do you think the children need the most?
I think they really need hope--hope that everything can turn out well in the end. Hope that they can lead good lives and have healthy children and see that in the end they've lived good lives because they haven't given up. Compassion gives them hope through education, through learning skills so they can get good jobs, through teaching them about God, and through taking care of their health. All of this together gives them hope that they can support a family and live a great life. It helps them break the cycle of poverty.

I really think that you should think about sponsoring a child. It is very important. I have seen so many children who are being helped by Compassion and I really believe that it is a great organization. Even a kid can sponsor a child--it's only $32 per month.  If you are like me and you are eight years old and you sponsor a child who is three, by the time that child graduates you will be around twenty-five. Maybe you can sponsor a child together with your brothers and sisters. You could get a job like a paper route to help pay for it (I have a paper route). I think you should ask your mom and dad if you can sponsor a child.

You can see some of the children who need sponsors by clicking here.

Today we went to a batey which is a sugar plantation. I can't tell you who owns the plantation because first I never found out and second I'm not allowed (even if I did find out). But it is probably owned by a big American sugar company. The people there lived in small houses with concrete floors and walls and roofs made of wood or metal. The roads were dirt and very bumpy.

When we arrived we went into a school. The students sang a song for us called "Open My Eyes" and then we went out and played because it was recess. Some of the younger kids got stuck to daddy and thought that he gave a great piggyback ride. I played baseball and then tag with some of the boys. I couldn't speak their language and they couldn't speak mine but we did pretty well. It was a little bit frustrating. Because I speak French and their language was almost like French, I could understand quite a bit of it. When I asked how they were, they said "Bien." We had translators with us who asked the questions for us and then told us the answers. I found it very cool. We will have those translators with us for the whole week.

After this we went to some of the kids' homes. In the first house there was a grandma who laughed a lot. She had her grandchildren living with her because their mother had died. Their children taught me a neat game. You lay both hands out and put their hands on top. They try to smack your hands while you try to pull them away on time. It's a very fun game. At the second house we stayed outside. One of the children there had a sponsor who had given the boy a new football. I played some games with the boys while the grownups talked. The boy made some great catches (and I did, too, I think).

Next we went to a church where many of the kids were singing. One of the boys gave me a piece of gum that was tasty for just a few seconds. We ate lunch back at the school and then played with the kids some more. There was a little girl who kept chasing me and eventually there were a bunch of boys chasing me too. They drove me crazy, but I actually enjoyed it. They kept trying to take me away from where my dad could see me, but I helped them understand that I couldn't go far away. They liked to poke my skin because my skin changes color when you poke it and theirs doesn't. We gave the guy who was leading our trip all the stickers we brought with us and he gave them to the project director. She will give them to the children.

Finally we headed home. When we got back to the hotel dad said I could watch TV for a little while. I saw lots of commercials and one of them was for laser tag. The commercial almost seemed to be saying that you just can't be happy without laser tag. When I was talking to dad at dinner I realized that all those boys in the batey seemed very happy without any laser tag. They had lots of fun even without fancy and expensive toys. Many of them didn't even have a nice home or they slept in somebody else's home. I am amazed at how much we think we need that we don't really need (or how much other people tell us that we need that we don't really need).

Tomorrow we are going to see how Compassion works with the older children. We will do some more home visits and even visit a university. I'll write again tomorrow!

Here is a whole load of photos from today:

Yesterday I woke up at 5:00 AM and at 5:30 we left the house. After we made it through customs and security and all of that, I boarded the plane really scared but also quite excited. When the plane took off I found that I just loved it. I might even consider being a pilot when I grow up. After we went to Chicago (1 hour flight) and Miami (3 hour flight) we flew to Santo Domingo, a 2 hour flight. We arrived at around 9:15 and, since we had already met up with the group, we just needed to get a tourist card. We went to the bus where we met our guide Keren and our bus driver Nelson. They'll be with us the whole week. Then we went to the hotel and went to bed!

Today we visited a Child Survival Program. This is where Compassion helps mothers and their young babies by telling the mothers how to be good mommy's. Today they taught them about nutrition and how important it is that the babies get the food that they need and avoid foods that are bad for them. To get to this program we had to drive through the city and into a very, very poor neighborhood. Most of the houses had roofs made of tin and the roads were dirt and mud. The program was held in a church. After we saw the workshop for the moms we went to the upstairs of the church (which is actually on the roof) to see where they have a little nursery for the babies. We stayed up there for a while and I talked to one of the moms. She had two baby girls (I think they were twins) and their names were Sue and Lue. One of them took my water bottle but I let her have it since we have lots more in the bus.

After this we went to visit a couple of the homes of the moms in the Child Survival Program. One of the moms had four children and she was renting her house. The rent cost her $25 per month. The house had a metal front door and a back door but all the rest of the doors were made of sheets. There were three rooms--one room was the living room, dining room and kitchen, while the other two were bedrooms. They had no bathroom in the house--just an outhouse in the backyard that they shared with their neighbors. They had no sinks or bathtub in the house either. The floor was concrete, the roof was tin, and the house was made of wood. Many of the beams and rafters were just branches, not real lumber. The whole house was about the size of our living room (and we have a pretty small house for Oakville!).

When we were finished our two home visits we ate lunch in the church. And then we went to Compassion's Dominican office where we met all of the people who work there. We asked them lots and lots of questions (though I thought this part was a littl bit boring). I learned that they usually only allow one child per family to be sponsored. Near the end I was starting to feel a bit sick, so I went to the bus and ate some pretzels. Then I felt better. I guess I was just hungry!

Today I learned the importance of being grateful for the things I have. I met one boy who every time I took a sip of water, he smiled at me. I think he was just grateful for the water he has (which has to be brought to his house on a truck because there are no pipes to his home).  That was probably the biggest thing I learned today. I can see how important it is to be thankful.

I'll write again tomorrow when we get back from another project we're visiting. Tomorrow at the project we'll be handing out some gifts we brought for the kids there--lots and lots of stickers!

Tomorrow at 5:30 I am saying goodbye to my mother and my sisters and taking a bus to the airport. Here are a list of things I'm going to miss:

• My family (my dad not included since he'll be with me)
  
• My teachers
• My friends
• My friends at church
• My house
• My bed
• My Wii

I am going to miss all of these things very much (except for the Wii). One thing I won't miss is my paper route. Here are some things I'm grateful for:

• I did not have to leave before my sister's birthday or before Halloween
• I am sure that I'll be perfectly safe in Dominican Republic

So those are the things I'm grateful for.

Today we went to a couple of stores and bought some things for our trip. We got books and activity books for the plane, we got stickers and lollipops to give to children in the Dominican Republic, and we got some medicine and sunscreen to use there.

We have to get up by 5 o'clock tomorrow morning, so I will need to go to bed early tonight. I'll write on my blog again when I'm in the Dominican Republic. Bye!