The Doulos Difference

*This is slightly dated, but is a story that we really wanted to share

If you've been reading our blog for a few months now, you probably have a good idea of what Doulos Discovery School (where Christen and I work) is all about.  However, for those newer readers, allow me to recap.  Doulos is a Christian school in the central mountain town of Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.  In addition to being a Christian school, Doulos is an expeditionary learning school - put simply, a good portion of our students' learning comes through experience rather than simply classroom intensive instruction.  And in addition to being a Christian, expeditionary school, we are a discipleship school that seeks to educate and equip servant leaders and disciples for Christ.  And finally, in addition to being a Christian expeditionary discipleship school, we are a financial equal opportunity school.  This means that exactly half of our student body attends Doulos on need-based scholarships, while the other half of our students are full-paying. One of the main reasons that Doulos exists is to provide a faith-based community where financially privileged students interact and build strong bonds with students who have grown up in poverty - to bridge economic, cultural, and even religious divisions in the community.  

That said, I'd like to share about the experience of one particular student that we've had the opportunity to get to know in our first year here.  (I will refer to him as Josh as the pronunciation of his name will likely be confusing).


Josh grew up in Queens, NY, the son of a Dominican father and an American mother.  He visited the DR (where his dad lives) every summer and spent the rest of the year in school in New York.  Being a bright student, Josh was accepted into an Economics and Finance High School in NYC.  In addition to being a good student, Josh is a pretty decent baseball player - he is a lefty pitcher with a pretty good hook on his curve ball.  Because Dominicans idolize baseball, his father encouraged him to continue playing throughout high school.  After his sophomore year, while on his yearly trip to Jarabacoa this past summer, Josh's dad suggested that he stay for a while and work on his baseball skills - if he could improve a little, he may have a shot at making it big.  After some convincing, Josh finally agreed that it would be a good experience.  However, being a serious student, he also wanted to find a school where he could continue his studies and transfer his credits back to his US high school.  He and his dad happened upon Doulos (the only US accredited school and one of just two English/bilingual programs in town) and he enrolled for the semester. 

Little did he know the plans that God had in mind for this time beyond baseball.  Over the course of our first semester, I had the chance to interact with Josh several times and I was always impressed by his maturity and his intelligence.  He was always very thoughtful and respectful, but I honestly knew very little about him.  Then, towards the end of his time here, I had a few opportunities to actually talk to him and hear about what was going on in his life.  An amazing story emerged of a confused young man who grew up not knowing anything about Christ.  However, through the unlikely experience of coming to the Dominican for several months, God worked mightily in his life and He came to accept Christ.  He often told people "I thought I was coming here to play baseball, but God had much different plans for me.  Now I am a part of a much bigger story." Not only did his testimony give me (and all of our staff) great joy, but the way that his entire class rallied around and encouraged Josh was a thing of beauty that only God can bring about. 

At the end of March, Josh headed back to NY to finish the school year at his high school there.  The night he was set to fly out, his classmates decided to throw him a going-away party, which Christen and I had the privilege to attend.  It was amazing not only to watch Josh show Christ's love to others and encourage them, even as he was the one preparing to leave, but also to witness this group of 17 year olds laying their hands on him and sending him off with a prayer for peace and encouragement.  The maturity and level of relationship that many of these kids have with our Savior is such a blessing and encouragement to us and we continually thank God for the work that he is doing in this place.  It truly is the Doulos Difference.

Thank you for being a part of all that is going on here; whether it is through prayers, financial support, encouraging words, reading our blog, thinking of us, or all of the above.  

As we near the end of this school year (we are done in just over a month), please pray that God would continue to work in this community.  Pray for teachers and staff to fill vacant positions such as 3rd Grade, Middle School English, High School Geography and High School English.  Pray that God would continue to strengthen us and help us to finish this school year strong!  We know He is faithful!

Thanks for reading and Soli Deo Gloria!

jrb 

It’s already (the end of) March???

I started writing this blog update two weeks ago and its focus was on what had happened in the month of February.  It is now the end of March which means there is even more for us to tell you about.  This is going to be a long one, I hope you can make it to the end!

I have been quite busy in the classroom.  Sixth grade has been studying the classification of matter (elements, compounds, and mixtures).  Seventh grade was in a unit on erosion in February and are now in the middle of their science expedition on caves.  Eighth grade was  studying classification of living organisms and created field guides on specific animals (one vertebrate and one invertebrate) that they shared with the fourth grade students (who had been studying classification as well and shared the books they made with the eighth graders).  It was so fun to see both 4^th and 8^th graders sharing their products that they had worked so hard on!  Now they are also in the middle of their science expedition which is focused on freshwater ecosystems.

February brought the first round of progress reports for second semester.  It seemed that over Christmas break, many of our students forgot how to behave in the classroom and what it means to be a responsible student.  Over half of all of our 6^th and 7^th grade students (8^th grade was the exception) were failing one or more classes.  Instead of meeting with each parent individually and saying the same thing over and over again, the middle school team decided to plan a meeting for all parents of students who were failing.  Our focus was to be on a number of things including test results, curriculum standards, student responsibilities (behavior, homework, quality of work), and good examples of student work.

We began the meeting by showing our parents the results of a country wide test comparing Doulos student’s scores on math, Bible, and reading comprehension to other students in public schools around the country.  The results were staggering and showed Doulos students scoring up to 50% higher on math and reading than their public school peers.  While I admit this test did not take many variables into consideration – the majority of public school students come from low socio-economic situations compared to Doulos where half of our students are on scholarship, or difference in class sizes – it is hard to say that students at Doulos are not far ahead of their public school counterparts, especially after spending time in the public schools on various occasions and talking to public school teachers. 

After starting on the good note of student test results we went on to discuss the curriculum standards that teachers must follow here at Doulos.  Because we are an ACSI accredited school, we have adopted the Washington State curriculum standards and must get through a certain number of standards per year.  Our middle school math teacher attempted to explain this to parents so that they do not think we choose whatever we want, but that we have chosen a curriculum that will prepare their children to continue their education in the United States if they so desire once they graduate from Doulos.  After, I was the bad guy and discussed the general problems us teachers had been seeing with our students.  This included laziness, sloppy, non-quality work, not taking work and tests seriously, and behavior that resembled that of baboons.  Our geography teacher, Maggie talked about rubrics and how we teachers give our students specific guidelines for all of their work (students like to give the excuse to their parents that they don’t know what to do on assignments and that is why they are getting low grades!)  Lastly, our English teacher, Justine brought the parent’s attention to a gallery of quality student work that we had put together for them to see.  Overall, the meeting went very well and we have seen a huge improvement in most of our students since then!  Report cards come out next Friday and we will see how many students were able to improve their grades after the progress report talk.

Katie, Heidi, & Eric Neel

February was very exciting especially for Joe and me because it meant the welcoming of our very first visitors here in the DR!  Eric and Katie Neel (friends from Tennessee) and their 4 month old daughter, Heidi, came for 9 days to see just what it is we do here.  We began their trip by picking them up late from the airport on a Thursday night and driving straight to the beach.  After a 2 hour drive we arrived at 1:30 in the morning and went to bed shortly thereafter.  We spent a long weekend in Cabarete and spent a whole lot of time on the beach.  Heidi was a trooper and loved the water.  She had a good time putting her toes in the sand! 

Heidi with her toes in the sand and looking so cool

Katie, Heidi, Me, & Joe enjoying the beach!

On Monday we headed back to Jarabacoa and spent a restful day preparing for a week of hard work.  Eric and Katie had planned their visit to coincide with our school’s Service Week – a week where students are out of the classroom and helping in the community being the hands and feet of Christ.  On Tuesday we headed to school, baby in Bjorn, ready for a hard day’s work.  Joe and Eric accompanied a work team up to Manabao to assist in the finishing touches of a classroom that was built for a school there.  Katie and Heidi hung out with me and the 6^th grade class and helped us prepare for our service project which included going to a local public school, Escuela Rincon, and spending time with students there.  On Wednsday, Eric and Joe returned to Manabao to finish their work there which involved a whole lot of laying concrete (the hard way).  The girls went along with the 6^th grade class to the nearby public school where we passed out food, played games, and made “faith” bracelets with 5^th and 6^th grade students there.  In the afternoon we walked around town picking up trash.  Thursday looked much the same except this time Eric and Joe accompanied the girls with 6^th grade.  The week was exhausting and Joe and I were so thankful for friends who were so adaptable.  Heidi was the true champ, going wherever we went and being such a good sport! 

Joe & Eric outside the finished classroom

The concrete sidewalk - courtesy of Eric

Katie & Heidi hanging out with a student from Escuela Rincon

God really used to this week to teach me a lot about myself and what service really means.  I had been talking to my students all week about why we are called to serve others as Christians, putting others needs before our own.  We talked about a servant’s heart and that when we serve others, it is what is in our heart as we do these things that really counts.  As you can imagine, it is difficult to communicate this to 11 and 12 year olds.  After Wednesday I was cursing whoever had come up with this awful idea of service week.  I had been so frustrated with my 6^th graders – they just weren’t getting it.  I was trying to teach them that God cares most about our attitude in serving…………… and then I had one of those “aha” moments.  My attitude sucked!  How could I expect my students to have a servant’s heart if I was not setting that example for them?  Wow!  I returned to school on Thursday with a whole new perspective – even if a single 6^th grader did not walk away from this week understanding the reason to serve, it was ok.  God called Joe and me here to serve these kids, and if we do not have good attitudes about that – only looking at the bad, being easily frustrated – then our service is deemed null.  With God, it is all about the heart, and man did He do a work in mine that week!

Ysmayar, Abel, & me setting up food for the students at Escuela Rincon

Setting up at Escuela Rincon

Saying goodbye to the Neel family was very difficult.  We had such an incredible time with them here.  Our days were filled with work that glorified God and our nights were spent in meaningful conversation.  Not to mention, there was a whole lot of baby play time with Heidi!  As we have readjusted back to our routine here sans Neels, we cannot help be give thanks to God for the amazing people He has placed in our lives.  The Neel family is one of many who support what we do here and we know they keep us in their prayers always.  We are already looking forward to seeing them this summer during our cross-country travels!  Even better, they are already thinking about a time to come back again next year!  Now, we are anxiously awaiting our Spring Break and time to relax and regenerate before the mad dash to the end of the semester.  April brings with it our second visitors, my grandparents, Chuck and Helen Benjamin, who will be visiting for 17 days!  We cannot wait to share with them as we did with the Neel’s all the awesome things God is doing here at Doulos Discovery School!

Katie & Heidi saying hello to friend's, Tim & Whit's, little one, Charlotte, who is just 10 days older than Heidi

Updating my Resumé

One of our New Year’s resolutions for 2012 has been to be better at staying in touch with friends and family back in the US.  Well, here we are in February and we’ve only posted to our blog once and emails and phone calls have been sporadic at best.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that we (or at least, I) have never been all that great at communicating with far off friends and family, so our resolution of “getting better” is still achievable!  Anyway, the following is some of what happened in our January 2012.

When we returned to the DR on January 6^th, we both knew we’d have plenty to keep us occupied.  We were both able to detach ourselves for the few weeks we got to spend in the US over Christmas break, but toward the end of the break, our minds often wandered to what this semester would hold.  Just before Christmas break, I was informed that the Cafeteria that serves lunch to about a quarter of the school’s 250 students (and snacks and drinks to the rest throughout the school day) would pass to the school and fall under our umbrella starting in January.  Not only that, but our Executive Director was on a three state fundraising trip to the US for the entire month of January – therefore the majority of the Café burden would fall to me and our Managing Director, Tim.  

While the Cafe had been run as its own business for the past three years, it had experienced numerous issues and struggled to break even.  Obviously, as the Finance Director, I was quite apprehensive about the undertaking.  A solid half of our operating budget at Doulos comes from donors who sponsor students to attend Doulos where they would (financially) otherwise have no such opportunity.  Needless to say, we are not in a position where we can afford to take on a money losing food service.  Therefore, since arriving back at school, I have been intimately involved in the daily operations of the Café Taino – from ordering, to cashiering/sales, to accounting (obviously) – I’ve done it all. 

Overall, the first month of running the Café under the banner of Doulos Discovery School has been a pleasant surprise.  January was a short month (only 13 days of classes where the Café served lunch) and we still broke even.  I am looking forward to gathering a full month’s worth of data to see where we stand, but it looks like with a little work and a few more tweaks, things will work out just fine.   I’ve also learned a lot about trusting God through this experience – I was fairly apprehensive about the possibility of the school losing money through taking this on, but God has provided for our needs as He always does.  It sure has been encouraging (although exhausting for the first month back).  The other positive is I get to interact with students of ALL ages at the school more now than I would have ever though possible.  I think I know more kids names now than some of the other teachers who have been here for much longer than we have!    

All this is to say that I have been updating my resumé this month – not because I am looking for a new job, but because of this big change that I’ve experienced in my work during the month of January.  I now have experience with Mergers and Acquisitions (taking on the Café as a new “business segment” of our school) and Restaurant Management.  One thing can surely be said for working for non-profits; you will never be lacking for titles. 

Christen has been busy in the classroom and continues to be a fantastic science teacher who all of her students really seem to enjoy.  (I will leave her stories for her to share, but I had to mention what she's been up to).  

As always, we hope this finds you happy, healthy, and living in God’s grace.  We LOVE to hear from you and are looking forward to our first visitors THIS month!

SDG