Calling in the Bomberos

Calling in the Bomberos

There are just some things that you take for granted growing up in the United States.  Okay, maybe a lot of things, but these are a few that we have become acutely aware of during our first year in the D.R.  Homes in the US are so nicely outfitted with reliable, indoor plumbing.  They are supplied with electricity that rarely, if ever, goes out [unless you grew up in California in the 90s] and powers our every need, so long as we can afford the monthly bill.  Our cities/municipalities provide us with clean/potable water for drinking, showers, washing dishes and clothes, etc.  Those niceties, however, are rare in many parts of the world. 



Some DR power lines........not the safest looking setup, right?

The Dominican Republic is no exception - for the vast majority of people here, losing power throughout the day is normal life (“Se fue la luz!” is a daily used expression meaning “There goes the lights!”).  The DR produces most (86%) of its electricity by burning fossil fuels and the country’s power producers struggle to keep up with demand – thus frequent power outages.  Although this presents some problems (typically at night), it is more a nuisance than anything.  That is to say, one can get accustomed to using flashlights at night or taking a break from work when the power goes out. 

Water, however, is a much larger problem on the island.  Christen and I experienced the challenge of water scarcity first hand.  Over the past month as on multiple (3) occasions, we found our water cistern completely dry.  The month of April was incredibly rainy, causing the rivers in town to rise and become very dirty.  This presents problems for the water company as the water that they provide to homes and businesses is simply diverted river water stored in large reservoirs and then delivered to individual residences and businesses via aqueducts.  However, when the water is filled with sediment and other foreign objects (including trash, sticks, mud, etc), the company typically just shuts off the aqueducts rather than having to deal with stopped up water pipes, etc.  This all makes sense, but when the rain continues for two weeks straight, it presents water-users with quite a predicament!  And that is where Christen and I found ourselves just two days before her grandparents, Chuck and Helen Benjamin, were set to arrive to visit our home and see what goes on at Doulos Discovery School, where we work. 

Our patience was wearing thin on Wednesday after already having spent two days without water in the house.  We showered at friend’s homes, bought five gallon jugs of drinking water just to flush our toilets, and the dishes were piling up in the sink.  Not knowing when we would be getting water and expecting these visitors in just two days, we had to act.  

We weren't quite this bad, but it was getting there!

We knew that the firefighters in town (Los Bomberos) were capable of filling a cistern with their 2,500 gallon water truck because our school, when faced with a similar problem, has called them to provide water.  Although my Spanish is quite good, I still often struggle with understanding people whom I don’t know over the phone.  Because of this, I admittedly was a bit nervous to call the Bomberos and try to explain what we needed, where we live, and ask about the cost for this service.  In addition, Americans (Gringos) are often quoted a different price than a Dominican would be, so although I knew it would cost significantly more than our “normal” water, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t totally getting ripped off.  After rehearsing in my head what I needed to say (so that it wasn’t totally obvious that I was a dumb gringo), I called the Fire Department at about 6pm on a Wednesday.  They gave me a quote and I said, “Sure, can you come tonight!?”  They informed me that they would head our way “ahorita” (soon), which here can mean anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours.  Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to see the large water truck bumping down our narrow road about 15 minutes later. Although the cost to fill the cistern was pretty steep (1,500 pesos or about $40) compared to our normal $9/month water bill, it was MORE than worth it when Christen returned home from her Bible Study that evening to see the joy on her face when she heard we again had water.  I think she almost dropped all of the dishes she had brought with her to wash at a friend’s house when I told her that the cistern was (half) full!

Although the water from the Bomberos only lasted us 3 days (we were again without water for almost two days when Christen’s grandparents were in town - they were GREAT sports about it), it was a Godsend and reminded us of the tremendous blessing it is to have grown up in a country that has an abundant water supply.  Calling the Bomberos to provide our home with water is definitely a story that we will chalk up under the category of “ONLY IN THE D.R.”!   

Thanks for reading and to those of you who support us financially especially, THANK YOU for helping to provide us with water this past month!  We are so blessed by all of you and pray for you often. 

Soli Deo Gloria

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