Below are some pics from our trip. Some are from construction, some from when we visited Ina´s Village (aka Cercadillo), some from teaching and some are just from hanging around. You will see some pics of a yellow school, bright blue sky, buckets flying in the air and piles of block. These pictures that connect to a story. You need to know about Monica and Mateo. They are movers and shakers. Mateo is the President of the Christian Reformed Church in the Dominican and his wife is the President of the ladies organization. He is the pastor of two different churches, is involved in overseeing a Public High School and he and Monica run their own Christian elementary and high school. This is the family that hosts each of our students. Students spend three nights and four days living with Monica, Mateo and their four children. Students teach at their Christian school and spend time learning about culture as they embrace Spanish through full immersion.
In early March Mateo called us in desperation. The government inspector said that their school was not legally sized for the number of students they had. If they did not get two new classrooms built within two weeks they would have to send some students away. They are developing a high school and want to retain the students of that age so this was a pretty important decision. Mateo called Max and Max talked to me. I reluctantly asked William Groot, our school´s principal, if there was anything we could do. Thankfully he responded and did so quickly. TD donated $5,000 to Mateo and Monica so they can build the necessary classrooms and retain their students.
Mrs. Van Schepen brought the cash with her when she arrived last Wednesday. She, Max and I dropped it off shortly after she got off the plane last Wednesday and the gift was met with near tears by both Monica and Mateo. They were absolutely thrilled and told us a bajillion times, ¨¡Dios te bendiga!¨(God bless you!).
The following day, Thursday, Max, Shelby, Bay, Kari and I took a crew of 10 students to the site to begin hauling so the construction could begin. Our job was to move 1200 block to the second floor as well as a couple cubic metres of sand. By the time we left at 4ish there were four courses of block laid and other walls mapped out. The construction of the classroom was well on its way after a mere 24 hours of receiving the cash. That was inspirational!
There are some pics in the mix representing this story. Hopefully soon (although life shuts down here tonight and there likely be no internet from this evening until Monday morning) I can post some more specific pics of this project. In the mean time, know that a job is being well done!
thanks,
rachael
No comments:
Post a Comment