The First Weeks: Part II

Thanks to all of you who have started reading and following our blog, Caminando Por Fe!  It was great hearing from many of you and we hope to continue to hear from many more.  Part II of “The First Weeks” will be a run-down of many of the happenings of our first week in Jarabacoa. 

Our last post ended with us getting dropped off by our shuttle driver, Julio, at Doulos Discovery School, which is where we will pick up this week. 

Since we had only been in country for about a week, we still didn’t have cell phones or many other means of communication established with other staff at Doulos.  However, we had received an email from the Managing Director, Tim, informing us that for the first week we would stay with another married couple from the school.  When we arrived at Doulos, we were to call Keith and Kerrie, who would drive to the school to pick us (and our numerous bags of luggage) up. We asked our cab driver to borrow his cell phone to call Keith, but as soon as we were connected and had informed Keith who we were and that we were waiting for him at the school, the drivers prepaid cell phone ran out of minutes.  Not realizing this, however, Joe continued to talk and was starting to wonder if anyone had warned Keith and Kerrie that they would be hosting us as Keith failed to respond to anything said on the phone.  After a few more seconds of hearing nothing, Joe examined the phone and realized it had hung up.  Still not knowing what had happened, we told the driver he could head out and we would hope that Keith understood that we were waiting at the school.  As the driver began to pull out of the parking lot, Keith called his number back and we were able to explain things to him and forewarn him about the large amount of luggage we carried with us.   Fortunately, Keith and Kerrie WERE expecting us and Keith showed up about 15 minutes later in his late 90’s model Toyota Corolla station wagon.  Recall now the last photo on our first post:  all of that luggage somehow fit in the back of the car (minus one bag which was strapped to the luggage rack) and Christen sat on Joe’s lap in the passenger’s seat for the ten minute ride through town to Keith and Kerrie’s house.  We’re sure it was a sight to behold…..

We got settled at K&K’s house for the evening and then woke up fairly early the next morning for church.  They attend a monastery high on one of the mountains outside of town and the view is fantastic.  Since the congregation is fairly small, they’ve gotten to know some of the monks and frequently share bread (made by the monks themselves) and other goodies with them after church.  We were fortunate enough to share in this on our first week, which was a real treat for us.  The monks cheerfully shared bread, cheese, marmalade, and a hot chocolate with a tapioca pudding-like consistency with us.  The company was great as the two monks, Laro and Fransisco, were incredibly friendly and hospitable to the two of us as newcomers, which helped to ease our minds as we headed into our first day of work at Doulos. 

The first week was filled with ice-breakers and team building activities which were great for us as new staff.   Doulos is classified as an Expeditionary Learning (EL) school, which means that students learn both in the classroom and through rather elaborate experiential activities, which focus heavily on community involvement.  Since we, as a staff, are expected to teach within this paradigm, the director of the school set up a “SLICE” of an expedition (which is basically a condensed version) for us to take part in over the course of the week.  The theme was Education in the Dominican Republic and so as a part of the expedition we had the opportunity to visit both a public and a private school in town.  The contrast was absolutely staggering.  Following our visit to the schools, our executive director, Krista, informed us that as our “Service Day” (which Doulos includes in every expedition) we were partnering with a public elementary school in a local town to clean up/prepare the physical structures for the upcoming school year, construct a new preschool and library building, and accomplish other beautification initiatives at the school.  On Wednesday August 3^rd, we traveled to the town of Manabao, which is about a 30 minute drive up windy, narrow, mountain roads from Jarabacoa.  We broke into several work teams and after a prayer for clear weather (Tropical Storm Emily was bearing down on the D.R.**) and safety for all involved, we got down to business.  Joe worked all day on the construction project digging ditches for the foundation, mixing cement, and hauling wheelbarrows full of cement to pour the foundation.   Doing such work in the Caribbean heat and humidity gives one a great appreciation for the heavy machinery used in America for such work, but also for the folks who toil away daily doing this difficult labor.  Christen worked with another team creating signs for the doors of each room to designate where each class would meet.  Another team hung and painted chalkboards, while another drew a Monet-esque mural, and yet another repainted the basketball court. 

Bathroom building pre-mural (before)

Bathroom building post-mural (after)

The amount of work accomplished in one day was impressive and it was an incredible feeling to be part of a team so dedicated to improving the quality of the learning environment in a country like this.  On Thursday, the Doulos teaching staff thought of ways that we could further our impact to Manabao school and created a threefold plan for continued partnership.  First, they created basic classroom materials for the new preschool such as calendars, center activities, and even a small stage with sock puppets.  Second, they created an awareness poster stressing the importance of education to hang in the hallway of the school.  Finally, they prepared a presentation for preschool parents, which will be given in Manabao by several local Dominicans who are on staff at Doulos at the beginning of their school year.  All of these advancements are especially remarkable given the strong opposition by many in the Manabao community to the entire project.

On Thursday and Friday, we were given some free time in the afternoons where teachers could set up their classrooms and administrative staff could work on their specific tasks as needed.  Since we were free, we were able to use about an hour of this time on Friday to go look at some housing options in the local community.  After seeing an apartment the night before and then two homes on Friday, we had narrowed our housing down to two options – both of which we were quite comfortable with but each posed its own challenges.  We decided to pray on it over the weekend and wait for God’s leading. 

Christen woke up feeling ill on Friday, but since she didn’t want to miss any of the orientation and classroom preparation, she decided she would push through and go in despite feeling sick.  She made it through most of the morning, but was getting progressively worse and eventually had to run to the restroom feeling quite sick in the stomach.  Joe took her back to K&K’s house shortly thereafter to get some rest and try to kick whatever she had.  Before Joe left school that day, he was given some advice for how he should treat the “stomach bug” that Christen was suffering with.  (Since the water here is not potable out of the tap and there are numerous bacteria and parasites living in it, it’s very common to experience an “upset stomach” shortly after moving to the country.)  The experienced staff recommended that Christen give (and therefore, Joe take to the clinic) a stool sample to ensure she didn’t have anything REALLY bad (like a parasite).   Needless to say, Christen reluctantly obliged and Joe took the sample in for analysis.  The true sign of love is someone carrying your poop to the Doctor’s office for analysis, or at least that’s what Joe told Christen.  Our gracious hosts, K&K also sacrificed one of their Tupperware containers for the greater good.  The analysis came back on Saturday morning that Christen had “numerosos” (numerous) bacteria.  We got her some Amoxicillin and by Saturday evening, she was feeling much better and was able to eat something other than saltines for the first time in 48 hours.   By Sunday evening, she was nearly back to 100% and had officially made it through her first bout with third world intestinal issues!

Despite the small setbacks of illness, we are encouraged by the great teachers and staff at the school and the good work they are doing in this part of the world.  Please stay tuned for part three, coming your way soon!  SDG

** Our prayers were answered and the first tropical storm during our time here fizzled before it made landfall and turned West toward Haiti.  We had some dark clouds and some light rain, but nothing compared to what we thought might have come!