Thursday

I would like to spend some time today opening your eyes to the healthcare needs in the Dominican Republic. Rachel and Joan spent the day trying to help meet some of those needs. The day started out with giving antiparasite medicine to the entire school of children at Palo Blanco. The children so regularly drink water that can give them a variety parasites which cause stomach pain, diarrhea, and further compromise their already poor nutrition status. Each child in every grade level was given a pill that they had to chew which by the looks on their faces didn’t taste very good. This is ideally done every few months.

Next Rachel and Joan accompanied Leslie and Christina (the missionary doctor and nurse) on some home visits. A young girl, Rosalina (19 years old), who grew up in the Palo Blanco program had been in a bad motorcycle accident about five months ago. She suffered a broken shoulder, a compound break of her right leg, and an internal brain bleed. Sadly her boyfriend was killed in the accident. She had surgery on her leg and was sent home to her small home to recover. The instructions for follow-up care and surgical site care were written and given to her mom. The problem is that her mom does not know how to read. They missed three follow-up appointments and did not change her dressings a single time. By the time Christina was asked to come assess her, her surgical site had completely opened up, the metal plates that were put in her leg were exposed, and the leg was severely infected. Christina decided that Rosalina needed immediate medical attention. This was however severely complicated by the fact that that path to her car was so narrow and rocky that a car could not drive immediately up to her house. It was also pouring rain so the path to her home and turned into a river – muddy and slick with running water and no lights. Many of the men in the community worked together to carry Rosalina up the path to Christina’s car while Christina held an umbrella over her to try to protect her wound and prayed that the men would not slip and drop her. Rosalina was successfully taken to an orthopedic doctor who treated her as best she could (for free!) but admitted that Rosalina needed more care than he could provide. Rosalina was accepted by Cure, a nonprofit medical group, who ended up performing the needed surgery and saving her leg. There are so many other pieces to this story that are such clear interventions by God that it is too difficult to share here. It is miraculous that Rosalina survived and still has her leg. During our home visit was assessed her, changed her bandages and prayed with her. Rosalina voiced that she knows God allows people to go through difficult things some times and she knows that this may bring her closer to him. She admits that she is not emotionally recovered from the accident and the loss of her boyfriend and still struggles a lot. Rosalina is planning to try to start taking university classes in the next few months. This was already delayed due to the accident. She is experiencing double vision all of the time which will obviously will make reading in school difficult. We ask for prayers for her mental and physical healing, her family, and her education.

More time was spent that day updating the medical records of students, organizing medications, and going on another home visit.

I’m going to end this blog now because I’m out of time to write! More later! Enjoy a few pictures in the meantime!

 

Wednesday

How is it already Wednesday? It’s amazing how many months we spent planning for this week, how much thought went into each  item we packed, and how much time we have spent imagining what our time would be like – and now we are already more than halfway through the trip. Now that Denise has spent a few days of quality time with her sponsored girls, Kimberley and Keidy (pronounced Katie), she voiced “Now I know why you guys keep coming back!”. The truth is the work here is hard work – often harder than at home. For example, in the U.S. a load of concrete blocks would be delivered by a skid loader or truck and set exactly where it is going to be used. In the Dominican Republic blocks are moved by hand one or two at a time which adds significant time to the project. A simple square, block building will often take 2-3 years to build. The work here is often mundane. There truly is nothing special about flying to another country to spend our time hand-making paper books that allow young students to practice writing letters. What is special are the relationships that we form. It is amazing how in a matter of just a few days bonds are formed with the children we sponsor. That picture hanging on our fridge will never be just a picture again. It is a face we have kissed. It is a hand we have held. It is a heart that is melded to ours.

We got to go on some home visits in Palo Blanco. A group of us got to see the FanFan family’s new home. This is a family that has become very special to many of us who have traveled here multiple times. There are five children ranging from 3 to 13 years old. Macson , the oldest boy, is poised, a polite, and cares for his younger siblings without complaint. The next oldest, Rossy (Rosie), is sponsored by the Grossman family. She and Macson help with the cooking in a kitchen equipped with only a coal fire. This home visit warmed our heart because what we saw was a major improvement in living conditions from where they had been previously. The family just got electricity a few weeks ago and were proud to show off their lights. We pray that they will be able to stay in this home as mom has no income at this time and is relying on family members to pay her bills. She is looking for work but has found none at this time. We ask for prayers for steady employment for her and good health and safety for the family.

Cheyenne and Silas giving the FanFan family their gifts.

 

We got to enjoy dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in town – Columbianos. We enjoyed the company of Tami Griffin and her three precious kiddos, Jan (the missionary from Palo Blanco), and of course Karen Green. When we got back to the team house we had some time to relax and unwind and enjoy being serenaded with the guitar by Luke.

Tuesday

2/7/17

When you are here in the DR, you are welcomed as family.  Though the work continues, our second day at Palo Blanco would prove to be just that – family.  Just as we set aside time at CCW to make sure we invest in relationships, so we echo it when we work with Kids Alive.  So, let’s get down to the business of how the day unfolded and give you some great stories and examples of the family atmosphere that occurred.

The day began good and early as usual.  The team, minus Rachel and Joan who would serve medical needs at the Ark, headed off for a full day at Palo Blanco.  However, we were met there by the already arrived Chris Russell and Neil Boston who took off early to help lead worship and devotion for the staff at the school.  Thus, example numero uno of the day of service as a family.  According to Neil, helping lead the worship was an amazing uplifting experience to start his morning.  He will get the chance to start that way again tomorrow, but will pass the guitar off to Luke who will join Chris for Thursday and Friday’s devotions.

                                              Neil working on his art project at Palo Blanco.

 

A great second example of the family based concept today was the time spent by several team members on the playground with the kids at Palo Blanco.  Whether being a human jungle gym, pushing the swings, being chased, or making the merry go round go faster (Chris Null was the vehicle of choice here) the kids became our own children for those moments and the joy that fills them enlarges our hearts even more.

All the little girls love Chris Null!

 

Denise spent some great time today on the roof of the school with the aquaponics and sort of, let’s say, created life!  Thus our third example of family concept.  She got dirty planting two different kinds of lettuce (romaine & leaf) and well, gave us a picture of a more fun and loose side to her that we may not yet have been aware of. J  Needless to say, her extra efforts to help plant in the lower section on the side of the school will provide a great visual for the kids at the school to see the plants grow and how God feeds into his creation.

 

Denise having some fun working on the aquaponics project!

                                               Strawberries growing on the room of Palo Blanco

Lettuce growing in the beds.

 

A solid group of the team has been spending time both completing concrete mixture to lay the final section of the new basketball court and continuing to lay block for the new building of classrooms.  Example number four is the teamwork near the end of the work day.  Two great assembly lines were created to unload the truck that brought more blocks.  One for a stack on the ground and another up to the second level of the building.  The use of teamwork (family) helped get those blocks unloaded in less than 15 minutes!

On a side note – there was a very competitive basketball game at the end of the day that included Luke and a group of the volunteers and a couple teachers at the school.  Luke got invited to play by the teachers and the family atmosphere continued through a lot of laughs on the court as they battled for victory.

The final chapter for the day was written as the first home visit took place with one of the sponsored children.  And nothing that has been noted in this day about family hits as close to the heart as this.  Chris Null and his wife have been sponsoring their boy, Winyer (win – jer) for 6 years and today, Chris (accompanied by Luke, Tyler and Jan, the director at Palo) got to meet him and spend time at his home with his family.  Instantly, Chris & Mary became a part of the family because of the role that he and Mary play in their support of Winyer.  Chris was able to have conversation with Winyer and his parents.  He passed on some great gifts to Winyer that he had brought along with him which included some baseball equipment, Winyer’s favorite sport.  Also, Winyer’s father had been in an accident at work and had his right arm in a sling.  The guys and Jan were able to pray for him with the family and establish the higher family connection with our great God in heaven.  An emotional, but uplifting time to be sure and one that Chris will not soon forget.  Chris can only convey his feelings on the visit by saying, “I’ve seen poverty before, but because there was no personal connection, I’ve never experienced it like I did today.  Words and emotions simply escaped me to see the reality of their lifestyle.”

 

Chris Null with Winyer

 

After returning to the team house, our family was joined by our own Karen Green as well as Kids Alive country directors Vic & Leslie Trautwein for another great Dominican meal.  Vic gave a great presentation on the overview of the ministry of Kids Alive in the DR which our new team members soaked up!

Games and fun were had as always to finish off the evening before people wandered off to bed at various times.  Farkle was especially competitive!

Another day of solid work awaits the morrow…and of course, family!  Peace and goodnight!

 

Monday

2/6/17

 

Yesterday was fun and games but today it was time to get down to work. We headed to Palo Blanco school to help wherever we could. A large portion of the group helped work on the construction project. They are still working on building additional classrooms as the current rooms are overflowing. The whole building is constructed with concrete walls. There are open louvered windows in each classroom that allow the sounds of exuberant children to seep out in the hallway and bounce off the concrete walls. The level of noise in the building is not very conducive to learning and when the classrooms are pushing capacity it makes things even more difficult. These new classrooms will allow the students and teachers to spread out.

Rachel and Joan helped Christina, the missionary, in the nursing clinic with vaccinations. A few hours were spent updating records and determining which kiddos needed some vaccinations. One of the 8^th grade students helped us get the kids from the classrooms and at times you could hear them crying as they were ushered toward the enfermaria (nurses clinic). They were all brave and the tears stopped as soon as they were offered dulce (candy) as a reward afterwards.

We spent a few hours before dinner playing with the kiddos at the Ark orphanage. As is typical there were many varied activities going on. The older kids helped supervise the younger ones. Children could be seen playing games of soccer, riding scooters, coloring, playing tag and playing on the playground. Chris Null was egged on by a 13 year old boy names Darwin and could be seen chasing him all over the campus. Amazingly Chris had some serious speed and caught him! It did take him quite some time to catch his breath afterwards!

 

 

 

We walked into town so we could connect to the wifi at Pizza Pepperoni to post this blog and connect with loved ones. Have a great night everyone!

 

 

Sunday

 

We are so thankful for a smooth travel day on Saturday. We had a super quick layover in Atlanta but were relieved to find out that or next gate was just about as close as possible. That allowed us to have a quick bathroom break and grab some quick food. We had no complications and were grateful to finally arrive. We enjoyed dinner at the pica pollo in Jarabacoa with the Griffin family, and our very own Karen Green! Everyone was in bed around 9:30pm to make up for the lost sleep from our 2am start to traveling.

We were all eager this morning to get to the Ark orphanage where church was held. Our arrival at the Ark marked our first time this trip to get to spend time with our precious kiddos. For some of us it was a reunion – an easy continuance of deeply developed relationships. For others who were on their first trip it was a moment to be remembered. That first time that you get to wrap your arms around the child whose picture has been hanging on your refrigerator is unforgettable. Randy and Denise Landis got to meet their two little sponsored girls, Kimberley and Keidy, for the first time. The girls were initially shy but by the time we transitioned from the church service to our waterfall trip they were warming up and ready for fun. It didn’t take them long to start splashing Randy and Denise and using them to help them jump higher as the leaped into the water. They also enjoyed making ‘snow’ angels in the sand. I have no doubt that those girls carried a ton of sand back to their homes in their clothes! Cheyenne got to spend quality time at church and the waterfall with Daniela, the precious little girl that our senior high youth group sponsors. Everyone had a great time, although some of us enjoyed jumping on the swinging suspension bridges that led to the waterfall more than others (Denise!).

 

Tyler with his sponsored child Darwin

Randy and Denise with Daniela and their sponsored girls Kimberly and Keidy

 

Katie and Derrick Allen, another amazing missionary couple, were gracious enough to host us at their house tonight to watch the superbowl. They have a great set up on their roof outside with a big screen and Katie made us a feast of sliders, sausages, monkey bread, buffalo chicken pull apart bread and eclairs. Those not interested in the game shared many laughs playing board games and just being silly. Derrick and Katie sure gave us a spoiled evening before we get down to business to work.

Tomorrow morning we are off to the schools – Palo Blanco and ANIJA – to help with some building projects and meet some healthcare needs. Good night all and thanks for the prayers!

And another team has launched!

It's 2:30am and another CCW mission team is on the road to O'Hare airport for our first flight on the journey to the Dominican Republic. We are loaded down with supplies and gifts for the missionaries and precious kiddos that we get the privilege of loving on this week. We ask for prayers for smooth travels, more energy than we should have given our limited sleep, that all of our luggage would arrive without a hitch, and most importantly that we stay focused on our mission - sharing God's crazy love with everyone we encounter. As we put a lot of people together under one roof who are are all used to different routines and lifestyles we also pray for team bonding and patience with each other. We are pumped up and ready for this adventure!!

Here is a list of team members so you can pray for us by name.
Chris Russell
Rachel Russell
Chris Wert
Chris Bennett
Luke Aadalen
Tyler Hager
Keith Miller
Randy Landis
Denise Landis
Silas Grossman
Cheyenne Grossman
Joan Troyer
Chris Null
Neil Boston

Thursday, May 6, 2016

Thursday May 6, 2016

Our final morning at Palo Blanco began much like the others. Our team split into their respective tasks – which by this point we were becoming pretty proficient at. The Dominican men in charge of the construction project requested that Steve, Chris B and Duane stay a little longer because they are now well trained at laying block and have proven themselves to be hard workers! Neil finished another beautiful mural on the roof next to the aquaponics project depicting the tree of life. Rose, Lynnette, and Chris W put in more hours covering books and organizing the library. Chris R went swimming with the fishes again – capturing the larger fish in a net and moving them to another tank to make room for the baby fish. The nursing crew worked with the children again to meet their health needs, while the rest of the team worked on miscellaneous projects such as painting.

 

Chris R. swimming in the (stinky) fish tank!

Meeting the health needs of the children today meant working to delouse the worst cases of lice. Little Mayori (12 years old), and her sister (8 years old) were first up. These girls were very patient as we applied the lice treatment, rinsed, shampooed, and conditioned their heads in a mop sink on the floor with cold water, and then set about to the tedious task of combing out the lice and nits from the severely tangled hair.  It was nearly impossible to get a comb through their hair and when questioned we learned that they do not have combs or shampoo at home. Their hair had not been brushed or washed one single time since they had been treated for lice by the Palo Blanco nurse nearly three months ago. Mayori then explained that they only wash their hair on their birthday. We were heartbroken and holding back tears while Mayori looked innocently up at us and then proceeded to make silly faces and giggle. The combing process became too long and painful – because if you remember these are the girls that had healing chemical burns on their heads from cockroach spray their father tried to kill the lice with. Mayori’s little sister started to cry when we got to a sensitive spot on her head and she couldn’t take the pain anymore. We tried to distract her with treats and smiles but there was no way we were going to get all of the nits out her hair. By the time the combing process was done thousands of lice and nits surrounded both girls on the ground. The task felt hopeless. Christina, the nurse, told us that the reality was that we would never get rid of the lice for these girls but at least in this moment they had some relief and felt cared for. As Christina did the final combing and braided their hair she told them “Do you know that when God looks at you he sees the most beautiful girl in the world?”  Maybe, when these girls are having a bad day they will remember those words, and this moment of being cared for and remember that they are precious.

 

Rachel, Erin, Verray and Rose removing lice from the sister's hair.

The evening was filled with laughter, play, music, and fun as we spent time with our sponsored kids from the Ark at Jeff Vandermolen’s (director of Kids Alive Dominican Republic) home. We played volleyball, foosball, jumped on the trampoline, ate fried chicken and tostones (fried plantains), sang worship songs together while Luke played the guitar (yes, the girls asked for his autograph), and passed out gifts. Everyone had a great time and it was obvious that the Ark kids had a lot of candy in those gifts you all sent down!!

 

 

Luke and his fan club!

 

Tomorrow morning we get to go on a field trip to a butterfly ranch with the kindergarteners of ANIJA. It sounds like some chaotic fun will be heading our way!