Lessons from the DR

In reflecting on my time living in the Dominican Republic and working for Doulos Discovery School, there are a few lessons I wanted to share with all of you.

God calls us to enter into deep, meaningful relationships and communities.
The number of relationships and the types of community will change over the course of our lives, but being forced out of our comfort zone to truly love the people around us is essential for great personal growth. It is no easy task, but it is an essential part of teaching us to be less selfish and need other people. Most people in the United States work so hard to become independent from everyone that they cut themselves off from the communities around them. The DR may be plagued by sporadic supplies of power and freshwater, but it is rich in community and fosters a culture that is attentive to the needs of other people.

God will always be with us and provide for our needs when we trust him.
This may not look like what we expected or wanted. Whatever God brings is bound to challenge us and push us a little further than we really wanted to be pushed, but it will bring true growth. God wants us to trust Him and He is worthy of our trust.

God reigns over the big and the little and our prayers matter in issues of all sizes.
In looking at the massive amounts of suffering and inequality in the world, we often become hopeless when trying to imagine how to begin to attack such insurmountable problems or create grand schemes for solving the worlds problems through organization and planning. The biggest mountains to climb in this world seem to be in the hearts of men and Jesus really is the only thing that can change hearts. We also tend to pray in the midst of our own crisis, but somehow doubt that our prayers to God about problems like global hunger and global inequality are worth God’s time or will have any affect.

It is better to wait and listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit than just doing something for the sake of filling the time. There will always be more tasks to complete and more people to help, but the complicated, messy, and important problems like relieving suffering and redeeming communities, cultures, and people will never be effective unless we are following the leading of the Holy Spirit and allowing God to work through us. I think most of us just decide on something good to do and than ask God to bless it. God will bless and use whatever we give him, but it is more effective to wait and make our choices based on His will and not our own.

It is harder to learn how to serve than to learn how to lead.
If we cannot serve with true humility and give up our pride, we will never be able to lead lovingly. Leadership without love is useless.

Love is not a feeling.
Feelings are fickle and always changing. Love is not a feeling it is a decision. It is a daily decision and stubborn commitment to do what is best for the other person. The same is true of loving God and having faith in God. Self-sacrificing, servant love is the ultimate power in the universe that will bring about true change and redemption. We will not accomplish anything of worth without love. Teaching is a vivid example of this. My students always listened better and learned more when they felt loved and cared for.

God is working to redeem the world now and bring His Kingdom to Earth.
This means that what we do now has eternal impacts. God is bigger than any mess we can make, but our role in redeeming the world now does matter. The point of following God is to take part in the redemption of things now, not just to make a comfortable life, maintain faith, and wait to get to heaven.

Wrapping Things Up at Doulos

The last days of school were characterized by the usual whirlwind of activity. Here are a few of the highlights. The end of the year concluded with a service/workshop week where every class (PK3-11th grade) picked a project that would help the community and spent the mornings completing their projects. To provide the students with a few life skills that are not normally offered in town, the afternoons were dedicated to workshops ranging from cooking to swimming lessons. Many of the students do not know how to swim properly, even though the town is surrounded by rivers, simply because there is no community center or park district where swimming lessons are available. I thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected chance to use my training from many years ago as a swim instructor to teach some of the elementary students the basics of swimming and spend the hot afternoons cooling off in a private pool that was generously rented to us for the week.

Service projects ranged from spending time with some of the orphaned children that live near Jarabacoa’s largest river (Rio Yaque del Norte) to painting a map onto one of the walls of a public school. Half of the 10th and 11th grade classes teamed up with some of our elementary classes to lead them in playing games and spending time with children with disabilities at a neighboring school and with the elderly in a retirement center. The other half of our oldest grades worked with me, my cousin Bob (who was visiting for the last 2 weeks of school) and the Math teacher to complete the final stage in our Water project; painting trashcans.

This may seem like an odd service project, but it is very appropriate. The community of Jarabacoa is chronically short on trashcans in public locations. They are usually sparse in private homes as well. One of the biggest problems we found during our 11th grade Chemistry project studying the pollution of the region’s largest river (Rio Yaque del Norte) was simply solid waste. Trash bags, diapers, Styrofoam cups, soda cans, old shoes, etc. were found pilled up in slow areas of water flow and along the banks of many parts of the river. As a simple step towards resolving some of the pollution problems, the 11th graders worked together to design colorful messages to paint on metal trashcans that would educate the public as well as provide a place to properly dispose of trash.

Our final evening activity of the year was a talent show where students had the opportunity to show off some of their more hidden skills. The program ranged from praise songs to glorify God, to athletic dances, to humorous skits and comedy routines. Many of the students practiced for weeks to choreograph their own dances and come up with songs and jokes. The teachers contributed one skit to the program with a message about God and life. The skit was supposed to be somewhat serious, but most of our students found it hilarious to see some of their American teachers performing in Spanish and even using some of the local slang. It was my first performance in Spanish and hopefully not my last.
The last day of school was filled to the brim with the annual awards ceremony to recognize academic excellence as well as servant leadership, games, reflection, prayer, and goodbyes. All of my students have grown in so many ways over the course of the past two years and I can’t wait to see what they do in the future as the ministry of Doulos continues.

Our Most Precious Resource

I can hardly believe that the semester is coming to a close and my time in the DR is almost over. I will be returning to the US on June 18th to spend time with my family and see what God has next.

The semester has been filled to the brim with expedition projects, math competitions, Doulos’ first formal dance for the 9-11th grade, and we will be wrapping things up with service projects and workshops.

One of the most exciting projects this semester was the 11th grade project on water quality. Being the first trained science teacher to design and tackle expeditions for middle school and high school at Doulos has been a huge challenge, but fun. The 11th grade project grew out of my experience testing water during graduate school. The idea grew into a full-blown expedition studying the water quality of one of the largest rivers in the country, Yaque del Norte. The river looks beautiful in many areas, but is dangerously polluted. There is pretty much no solid data on the quality of the river water so we were starting from ground zero.

Collecting water samples from the river as if flows towards the coast was a true adventure. The sampling adventure kicked off with a three-day hike up Pico Duarte (the highest mountain in the Caribbean) to collect water from the river’s source. My recovering knee wasn’t quite up to that adventure so I sent the three boys in the class with our computer teacher who happens to be a video specialist. The weeks that followed were a continuous adventure of trying to find transportation on days that weren’t raining (which is always a challenge) and then trying to find the right roads without any signs just to collect samples around Jarabacoa. Dominicans are extremely friendly people and always want to help, but they are a bit over-eager and will give you directions even when they have no idea where you are trying to go. Needless to say, this all added to the adventure. Our new math teacher (Roddy) was a huge blessing for our trip to the coast to collect the majority of our samples. Roddy happened to have had a job driving around the entire province for years. He volunteered to be our driver and guide for the day as we ventured off-road to little know parts of the river. Google earth proved essential in finding locations where we would be able to reach the water safely.

Once we collected the water samples, we tested them in class for chemical composition and sent samples off to a lab that could test for bacteria. The results were very alarming. The entire river past the source was chock full of dangerous bacteria like E. coli. This was not entirely surprising since in the absence of a reliable city waste plan and water treatment plan, rivers are seen as trash cans throughout the DR. Sewage pipes are released directly into the river and trash bags can be seen floating down the canals in the bigger cities.

Our next step was to address the problem. After writing a formal lab report, the students took their results to the public. Our computer teacher (Jonathon) helped them to create a 5 minute documentary on what is happening to the rivers that will be aired on the local TV stations this summer. Most households do not own a single book besides a bible, but almost everyone has a TV. Media is rapidly becoming the best way to educate and reach large numbers of people.

Our final step is coming to fruition this week as a service project. You cannot completely blame people for throwing trash in the river when trashcans are a scarcity. We are currently painting several trashcans with bright colors and educational facts and pictures about the importance of protecting the rivers.

There were times when I wanted to throw the project in the trash (pun intended) because nothing was working right, but the final product has been well worth the struggle. All of the 11th graders were fully engaged and passionate about this project and learned quite a bit of chemistry in the process. In addition, we have managed to make a real impact on the community and take steps in the redemption of God’s good creation. Now that is a cool project!

Check out my web album for more pictures!

Crossing Borders

The semester has flown by and I can hardly believe that I have less than 6 weeks of school left. My time in the Dominican Republic is winding down and it is hard to admit that I will not be returning next year. Nonetheless, I feel at peace about my decision and am determined to be fully present and enjoy the time I have left in the DR. I look forward to reconnecting with friends and family in the US and seeing what God has next.

The spring has been eventful and busy. My leg is healing slowly, but surely, despite some struggles with tendinitis in the operated ligament. One of the most significant events was my recent trip to Haiti for Doulos’ French teacher’s wedding.

I have greatly appreciated the friendship and humor of our French teacher, Basile, as we shared stories about what it is like to be a foreigner and learn a new language. He even taught me a few phrases in French. I had been hearing about his fiancé in Haiti for the past two years and couldn’t wait to finally meet her. Basile had joyfully announced his engagement in January and proceeded to invite the entire Doulos staff to the wedding in Haiti. Doulos staff responded by banding together to buy our new couple a stove and stock their pantry. The invitation and the responding excitement was a true testimony to the community at Doulos and the ways in which God is breaking many of the prejudices between Haitians and Dominicans by bringing people together in our staff for a greater purpose.

Four other teachers, the director’s family, and myself set off on our first adventure in Haiti midway through our Spring break (second week in April). Due to a change in bus schedules, we ended up in a cramped minibus. Fortunately, we all know each other quite well and did not mind being cramped together with our luggage.

Customs and crossing the border was something else. Somehow, the entry and exit taxes kept mounting and the border officials refused to accept anything from us except American dollars even though we were still in the DR, which is run on pesos. We successfully exchanged money with a series of old men sitting in front of a near-by grocery store. After struggling to carefully fill out our customs papers and make sure they were stamped at the proper stand, we were escorted to the gate on the bridge. There were numerous UN peace keepers standing along the bridge that served as a strong reminder of the turmoil that has often been associated with the Haitian border. Once we reached the gate and waved our paper work in the air, the military officers opened the gates. We followed a train of goats, market men, and shoe-shine boys across the border into Haiti. Children that wanted to carry our bags for a small fee swarmed each one of us. I thought I was a magnet for attention in Jarabacoa, but this was a whole new level. This was the first border I have ever crossed on foot and by far the most interesting. Once we reached the Haitian customs office, we waited for a while to have our passports checked and arrange a bus to our final destination (Cap Haitien, on the Northern coast). Just before I left, I went into the back of the customs office to use the solitary toilet. To the left of the toilet was a pile of carefully filled out customs tickets from innumerable tourists like myself.

The trip to the coast revealed a surprisingly beautiful countryside. From the aerial photographs, I expected Haiti to be a brown dessert in comparison to the green DR. Deforestation in Haiti has definitely devastated the lush, thick carpet of green that covers most of the DR, but the territory was still speckled with small bushes and flowering trees. Once we arrived in the town, it became obvious that we stuck out like a sore thumb. I did not see another white person outside my companions the entire time we were in Haiti.

Seeing the cities in Haiti was also a strong reminder of the importance of simple things like a city plan for garbage disposal. The rivers and canals running through the city had become the most convenient trashcan and the beaches near the river mouths were heaped with trash. I think the sign of true poverty is not how poor a towns ghetto is, it is how large it is. The slums along the coast went on for miles.

The wedding was held in a church/retreat center just outside of town. We were humbled to be treated like kings while we stayed there. Basile even made time to show us around town the morning before his wedding. The town is an interesting mixture of decrepit French architecture from the colonial era, shacks, and modern fast-food restaurants. The church was beautiful and almost made you forget that you were in one of the poorest countries in the world. Several times a day, a mysterious pot of spicy goat stew would show up for all of the visitors. The wedding was beautiful. The church choir sang rhythmic a cappella songs in Creol and the groom’s cousin translated the service from French into Spanish for us. We finally got to meet Basile’s lovely bride and experience a glimpse of life on the other side of the island.

Please check out my web album for more pictures of Haiti.

God reigns over the Big and the little things.

Truth be told, returning to a rugged environment this semester with no mode of transportation and a bad leg was slightly unnerving. I knew that I would at least be spared from having to face crutches on icy driveways again.

My vulnerable and dependent state has been a chance to see some interesting blessings…..

The first blessing I received in January was to run into a slew of other Doulos teachers in the Miami airport. I had not been able to arrange a ride from the airport to my house in Jarabacoa prior to my departure from Champaign. I was going on good faith that there would be taxis available at the airport in Santiago, DR or I would meet some one I knew from Jarabacoa on the plane ride into the country that already had a ride and was willing to take me along. The director of Doulos happened to be in the Miami airport and has a satellite cell-phone. She called up a taxi and we all enjoyed sharing a taxi ride back to Jarabacoa and had a chance to catch-up.

The second and biggest blessing was already awaiting me in our apartment. Fortunately, my roommates were already home and could open the door for me. I had misplaced my key somewhere in the mess that was my room in our apartment. Being in a cast with a leaking ceiling and no crutches meant I took to throwing things around my room….I was not looking forward to dealing with the mess of dirty, dust clothes that was sure to be awaiting me in my bedroom. The open ceiling and massive amounts of rain in the fall were sure to have made most everything moldy. On top of that, all floors in this country seem to attract a layer of dust that is visible by the end of a week! I had been gone for three months. What gross floor would be awaiting me? How was I going to clean my room when it hurt to stand and I couldn’t bend down to clean anything?

I arrived at our apartment around 10PM and was floored to walk into a sparkling, clean bedroom that had fresh sheets on the bed and was far more tidy and organized than I had left it. Our neighbor Frilandia (the secretary for Doulos) had felt God speak to her about cleaning my room and had spent all morning mopping the floor and cleaning out the dust and mold. I was stressed and discouraged about returning to my apartment for no reason. God already had every detail covered!

The ongoing blessing of learning to depend on others has been to see how the community around me has been very aware of my need for transportation. There are days when I am running late for school and had forgotten to arrange a ride and some one has shown up at my door just in time. I was even walking through town and getting tired and my leg was starting to ache when the 4th grade teacher’s husband pulled up and offered me a ride. In addition, my student’s parents have driven me around town on various errands and helped with the planning of various fieldtrips.

What a blessing it is to take a risk and see how God has blessed my life through it and grown my faith. I am also learning a lot about what a truly godly community should look like. My leg continues to heal slowly, but surely and I continue to be blessed by the community around me.

Back in the swing of things!

The Spring semester has started well and promises to be full of challenges and excitement. Much to my relief, the transition back into teaching full time was smoother than I expected. I feared that I would have to start building up the classroom and relationships all over again, but I have been so delighted to see my students again and they have been so welcoming and especially receptive that teaching has been a joy and not a struggle.

I have already been graced with a visit from one of my pastors, Jim Linder. Jim traveled to the DR for the first time to bless the Doulos staff with a workshop on positive discipline in the classroom. The workshop was thoughtful and uplifting. All of us felt renewed excitement for developing positive teaching practices and also for generally learning how to handle relationships in a more Christ-like manner. Jim’s visit was a pleasure and a blessing for all. I am excited to see how New Covenant Fellowship (my church in Champaign) can continue to interact with Doulos in the future.

I am excited to launch into our Spring expeditions. We will be studying the local water quality in 11th grade chemistry and alternative energy sources in 9th grade physical science. It is refreshing to be able to use my background in chemistry as well as biology. I am extremely grateful for all those that have donated science supplies. The students are so much more excited to learn about science when I have the materials to design cool labs for them.

The beautiful weather certainly provides added motivation for walking outdoors, but the healing of my leg continues to be slow. All of the walking and standing required of life here and teaching has been a bit of a strain, but I am managing. I won’t be playing any more soccer this year, but I have refused to sell my red soccer cleats!

Step by Step...

I am finally walking without crutches!! Due to popular demand and those of you with medical interests, I have posted some pictures on my web album of my episode with knee surgery. I am healing well and returning to the DR on January 7th. Happy Holidays!