July 22, 2004 Vol.1 Newsletter 11

Flamboyant Tree

The national tree of the Dominican Republic is the Flamboyant tree. It is sometimes called the fire tree because it usually has bright red flowers crowning its appearance. The flower is orcid-like with one pedal revealing a spotted variety of colors. The remaining pedals are usually red. There are some rare type of flamboyant that are yellow or even purple. Here at the orphanage we have several yellow trees.

In studying about these trees we learned that they are native to Madegascar and were brought here by the Spanish.

Roller Skates are Dangerous

Raul, one of our orphans who is 10 years old broke his leg this week in two places. His shinbone and his ankle were broken in a fall while roller skating. We took him to the emergency clinic (there is no hospital in our town of Esperanza). He was in a lot of pain. After two days of rest he is now learning to walk with crutches. Dale has been carrying him to the bathroom and outside to see activities for the last two days. Now he gets some relief if Raul can manage the crutches.

Hatian Worker Village Visit

Yesterday the student volunteers visited a local Hatian worker village and taught about 50 children lessons in Spanish, French, and English. It was an exciting day but shocking to many of the Americans. Many of the children have no clothes, the village has no medicine, or access to a clinic. A doctor comes once a month paid for by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The men in the village are contracted both by the Dominican government and local farmers to come for one year at a time and work in the sugar cane fields and rice fields. They are migrant farm workers. Most get no pay but a shack to live in and only food they can gather from the fields. They walk about a mile to get water from a ditch in which the cattle drink.. Dale has appealed to the town of Esperanza to provide bottled water and this week they made their first delivery to the village. Also, the children have received new clothes.

Volunteers This Week Teach Nutrition

In the learning lab at the orphanage this week we have one learning station that teaches manners and nutrition. It is a big hit with the kids, They are learning about many kinds of food and as a reward for right answers they get to eat some of the foods. They have been learning ho to say please and thankyou and how to eat with knives and forks. Games and contests have been created to make the experience fun.

New Orphan

We received a new orphan this week. Yefri is six years old. He has no father and his mother is a local prostitute. She says that she cannot care for him. Besides it is dangerous for the child to be around drugs and strangers. He needs a good education and we can provide that for him here. It has been difficult for Yefri, especially the second day when he began to realize that he was not going home. He has been fighting and crying a lot. It breaks your heart to see a child go through a process like this. The other boys have been so good to him by not hitting back when he hits them. They tell him that they are his new brothers now.