Teaching on the Beach

I thankfully returned from an amazing week at the beach with my sixth grade class before the current tropical storm hit the island. I teamed up with Reef Check for a week of studying coral reefs in their natural environment. I was reminded why I wanted to work at this school in the first place; to teach students in the most hands-on, experiential, Christ focused manner. It was a blessed and highly enjoyable week filled with snorkeling, searching for critters in the sand, rock climbing, and adventure. I don’t think that learning can become more hands-on than this! My students learned more about coral reefs and the global problems occurring with them in one week on the beach than they would have in sixth months of classroom work. Living with my students was an awesome opportunity to bond with them as individuals and learn to appreciate the differences in our backgrounds. Before I knew it, my 12-year old boys were shimming up the palm trees, kicking down fresh coconuts and hacking them open with their machetes. We spent our days snorkeling and having class on the beach with one of the few marine biologists on the island and our evenings around the campfire or collecting plankton from the ocean. It was a bit crazy to write sub plans for the other 6 classes I teach, and come back to the two weeks of madness before x-mas break, but school was canceled today due to the rains. I live on the same street the school is on, which is fortunately on a hill, so I will be high and dry. Please pray for the families near the rivers in town that are struggling to keep their houses from flooding and energy and patience for the teachers as we finish out the semester.
I have uploaded more pictures from my week at the beach with 6th grade on my webalbum.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ewissema/PlayaFronton

Staff Appreciation

Several of the board members for the school came to visit this week and took all of the staff out for a relaxing dinner at a restaurant in the mountains. It was encouraging to have an evening where the staff were thanked for all of their hard work. It was also wonderful to see all of the staff outside of school, enjoying themselves, and connecting on a new level. We have staff from the US, Haiti, Columbia, and the DR. I am constantly amazed by how loving and supportive the staff is here across all cultural and racial boundaries. I really do feel like the staff is part of my family here. The local staff even let me practice my Spanish with them!

Cultural Weekend

One hour after our return from living on a mountain with our students, the new teachers headed off to the capital in public transportation to spend the weekend learning about the culture of the Dominican Republic. The conference was held in a Catholic retreat center on a cliff overlooking the seascape. I learned a lot about the various family structures of my students and my own reactions to cultural differences. The weekend was exhausting, but I was thankful for the opportunity to learn more about the culture I am living in. There are so many miscommunications that occur due to differences in culture and I hope to be able to avoid more of them now. Living in a different culture is humbling and a great opportunity for personal growth. I highly recommend it to all of you. This picture is of all of the new Doulos staff. I thoroughly enjoy all of these teachers and we always have a lot of fun together. For more pictures, visit my web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/ewissema/

Living in the Mountains......

Every year the school takes the students up on top of a mountain in the midst of a coffee plantation for a week of outdoor education. Many of the students look forward to this week all year and talk about it for the rest of the year. Classes are held in the woods and students learn to appreciate the amazingly beautiful natural world around them. Living in the mountains with 55 12-16 year old students is slightly less relaxing than the usual camping experience, but it certainly was an adventure. The mountains were breathtakingly beautiful even through all of the rain. I had the opportunity to talk to many of my students on a more personal level and build better relationships. This picture is of the girls in my cooking/sleeping group in our outdoor kitchen. It poured for more than half of the 4 days that we were on top of the mountain and many of the sleeping bags were soaked, but thankfully no one was hurt in the slippery mud and everyone saw the rain as more of an adventure. I was exhausted after this trip, but delighted with the experience.

Surviving the Storm

Dear All,
I just wanted you all to know that we are surviving the storm. It has rained for six days straight and the rivers have been dangerously high, but no one at the school has been hurt. The entire town has been shut down for the past three days since the rivers have been dangerous to pass. The school and my apartment are both built with solid roofs and located on one of the bigger hills in town. My clothes and shoes are perpetually wet and the wet weather is not helping my ear infection heal, but I am in good spirits and taking the opportunity to rest. No teachers or students have been hurt to my knowledge. There are numerous houses that are poorly constructed and built within feet of the river that have been destroyed and several people have been killed in the process. For the most part, living in the mountains has protected us from the high winds. The main problem is the massive amounts of water. I think I am getting a taste of what Noah must have felt like when he was building his ark. Please continue to pray for protection for the school and its students as well as the families that live too close to the river and are still in danger.

Medicine in a Third World Country

I always wanted to know what it was like to live in a third world country--not just as a tourist or visitor. My recent adventures with the flu and ear infections have exposed me to more of the local life than I would have otherwise seen. Jarabacoa-the town which I am living in has some local doctors, but the regulations are somewhat lax and there are no specialists. After struggling with an ear infection for a week I asked the local staff who I should have look at my ear. They all told me that I needed to travel to the bigger town (La Vega) an hour away if I wanted an accurate diagnosis. Having no car or other means of transport I crammed into the local bus (GwaGwa) with our Computer guy who has classes in La Vega every night. I left school early to try and make it to the clinic before it closed at 5PM. There is no time schedule for the buses--they leave when they are full and not before that. The bus driver kindly dropped my friend off at his house and dropped me near the clinic. There are no such things as appointments. You put your name on the list and wait. The first time I visited the doctor I waited for 5 hours before I was admitted to have my ear examined. The lights periodically shut down, but the generator at the hospital was decent and the lights usually came back on within a minute. The doctor was trained in Spain and seemed to know what he was doing. Trying to explain and understand a medical problem in Spanish certainly put my vocabulary to the test. The pharmacy was out of some of the medicines that I needed to buy so I waited another hour for someone to go pick up a new supply. The real adventure was trying to get home. The computer guy kindly returned to help me travel to the bus station. The last bus returning to my town leaves some time between 6 and 7PM. If I had really been stranded I could have called another teacher that had a car or waited for our Computer guy to finish his classes at 10PM. Fortunately, I managed to catch the last bus home, but it was dark by the time we arrived in Jarabacoa. I sat next to a very kind lady who found a friend of hers to take me home on the back of his motorcycle since I didn't want to walk in the dark by myself. This woman had also been to La Vega to visit a doctor; unfortunately she could not afford to buy the medicine she needed. Medicine is extremely expensive here considering the average salary. My consultation with the doctor was only $15, but the medicine has totaled to over $100. I had the local experience of having to take 8 hours out of my day to visit the doctor, but at least I could afford the necessary medicine. Despite my tired and grouchy state, I was reminded of how thankful I should be for what I do have and how gracious it was for a sick woman to be taking care of a foreigner.

Two worlds meet

This Thursday I had the surreal experience of visiting the brand new Hard Rock Cafe in the Capital (Santo Domingo). The director invited me to come with her to a fund raising event for the first underwater conservation park on the Dominican Republic. This park will be a huge step towards protecting the remaining coral reefs. I have been put in charge of the annual sixth grade coral reef trip. I will be traveling to a beach the first week in December to work with Reef Check to teach the students about the importance of coral reef conservation and the damage that has already occurred. Working with Reef Check is an exciting opportunity to use my recent Master's on coral reef microbes in my current teaching job. Traveling to the Capital was a surreal experience. I went from the muddy streets next to my apartment with fresh pig legs hanging next door to hearing famous artists perform live in the Hard Rock Cafe and looking at guitars from Maroon 5, and real jackets from the Beatles in the space of a 3 hour drive. Visiting the nicest part of the Capital and being admitted into the VIP room (only because I'm a teacher) was a strong reminder of the huge disparity between rich and poor in this country. I am so excited that the school is able to fund raise and provide my students with the opportunity to work with an international organization on real corals. Many of my students have never been to the beach even though it is just 2 hours away.

Whew!

Dear friends and family,
My apologies for not sending out an update for the past few weeks. A lot has been going on. I have been sick 3 times in the past month and a half. Nothing life threatening, just exhausting. I currently have an ear infection and a sinus infection. Prayers for a speedy recovery would be much appreciated. I did spend a wonderful weekend at the beach recovering from a previous flu/cold. I have moved into an apartment with another teacher since the local family I was living with needed the room I was staying in. My new roommate Melanie and I are slowly acquiring the necessities of life here. With the help of packages from our wonderful mothers we now have enough dishes to cook. I think I am going to enjoy living with her and coming home to a peaceful place that I can really call my own. I promise to provide more details soon, but for the moment I am just hanging on and trying to recover enough to teach for a full week and learn how to have more patience with middle school children.
I hope that you are all well and blessed

Thief! Ladron!

I thought you all might enjoy one of my more amusing stories. The local family that I stayed with for the first 2 months of my life here in Jarabacoa has a small chihuahua named Suzi. Suzi is the smallest, most active dog I have ever met. She is so little that sometimes she wags her tail too hard and falls right over. I can hold her in one hand and carry her around the house. One night when I was walking into the kitchen before bed to get a glass of water, the mom of the family picked up a gray piece of cloth on the floor. She asked me what it was. I took a look and realized that it was a pair of my underwear! How embarrassing! The mom (Mary) started laughing and told me that the dog was known for stealing items of clothing and dragging them around the house. The picture is showing the dog Suzi and Michelle- the little girl who's room I was staying in.

My children!!

I have now been teaching for four weeks!! I still have no books for 9th or 10th grade. Hopefully customs will let them through soon. I am starting to feel slightly more on top of things (some days anyway). I wanted to introduce all of you to my home room class, 7th grade. I have them for devotionals and Earth Science 4 days a week. They are all sweet in their own way and I do love them, but when you put 10 boys and 5 girls into a small classroom they have so much energy and ideas for mischief. I am rapidly learning that their is a wide gap between what works to teach a 10th grade class and what works for 7th graders. I have 1 student from Germany, 2 from Canada, and the rest are all born and breed in Jarabacoa. It is interesting to have such a mixture of second language learners. We are working together to make our classroom a productive, fun, safe and godly place. If any of you have words of wisdom on teaching middle school boys, I would love to hear them. I am always surprised by how many lessons are universal. For example, not poking your neighbor is something I have to tell Kindergartens and seventh graders alike. I hope and pray that I can be the teacher that this class needs me to be and that we can learn to trust each other and have more meaningful times learning about science and about God.

La Cucaracha

I thought I should share some of my more entertaining stories with you all. Have you ever heard that cute kids song "La cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar......" I always thought that was such a fun song--that is until I recently realized it was about cockroaches. I always wanted to live closer with nature, but I never planned on living with so many bugs. I think I have killed 5 cockroaches a week on average. I felt slightly hesitant to kill them until I found one sitting on the toilet seat staring at me, waving it's little antennaes at 1 in the morning. I think the prevalence of bugs explains why everyone always wears flip flops in their houses. You need a flip flop handy to wack at the bugs. I have now mastered the wack of death---one strike and the roaches are done for. It's a small achievement I know, but it's one step forward for Emily and one strike against the roaches! I thought I would include a picture of my most recent conquest......

Life as a teacher in a Third World Country

We are now in our second week of school. We never did find a sixth grade teacher or an art teacher so the other high school/middle school teachers are covering these classes. I am teaching 8 classes I have never taught before and am feeling quite overwhelmed. Fortunately the classes are small (8-14 students/class) and the kids are great. They are so excited to learn and full of energy---ok-- sometimes a little bit too much energy. The challenges of teaching here are slightly more than expected. I hope and pray that I can provide these kids the kind of education they deserve without completely exhausting myself. Teaching and living here is a huge challenge on how to do without. I need to quickly learn how to teach science in a creative and interesting way with a cardboard box full of lab equipment, no text books yet for 10th grade since they are stuck in customs, and no resources from prior years. On the one hand this is the chance to let my creativity shine, on the other hand this is just going to be hard. I just have to remind myself that God brought me here for a reason and that I do have the skills and experience to pull this off. I hope you are all well and blessed. If you have any ideas or lesson plans for science and art projects on less than a shoe-string budget I would love to hear about them.

Thoughts on Development Work

During these first two weeks before school starts, all staff gathered in the library for our daily devotional before we began workshops and lesson planning. We went through the book of James, one chapter a day. We have had some really profound and thoughtful discussions.

One of the ideas that came up this week is why this school is so important and why we all work so hard to be here. I think that every country that is struggling has a different set of problems. There are so many people here that live without clean water, jobs, or money, but the country is so bountiful and lush that most people can find enough to eat and have family that will keep a roof over their heads. The second highest concentration of Dominicans outside of the capital is New York, New York USA. A lot of money is sent back from the states to family members still living in the DR. This has created a culture of unmotivated adults that are living off what their family members in the US send them. There is a point where handouts and aide create a culture that thinks they can’t do anything themselves. There are also a lot of mountain villages with no US connections that have no means of improving their lives and work very hard just to put food on the table. It is different for the DR’s neighbor Haiti where most people barely have enough food for one meal and all of the natural resources have been destroyed. In the DR, there are resources available to change communities for the better. What the DR needs is educated professionals who have seen better models elsewhere and can work to improve their own towns. Many of the problems in the DR come from poor quality workmanship (eg. the roads). What this country really needs is more people who have a passion for changing things for the better and have the education to do it. There is also a lot of corruption in this country that needs to be replaced by conscientious and compassionate leaders. In terms of what work can be done to help this country, educating the poor who are motivated to learn and teaching them to have compassion on their country is one of the most powerful tools for change at the moment. I’m excited to be teaching some of the most dedicated local students in hopes that they will bring needed skills and a compassionate heart to a country desperately in need of both.

Local Waterfalls

Today several of the new teachers crammed into the truck of one of the teachers that was here last year and ventured out to one of the local waterfalls. The waterfall was a 20-30 minute drive out of town through windy dirt mountain roads pitted with holes. The waterfall was breathtakingly beautiful and there were relatively few visitors. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my coworkers just as giddy about climbing over the rocks at the base of the falls as I was.

For more pictures of the waterfall check out my new web album....
http://picasaweb.google.com/ewissema/LocalWaterfalls

The Beatiful DR!

Even though I live in a crazy city I have to remind myself to look up past the dirty streets to the beautiful mountains just beyond the city. I stayed with the director of the school and her husband for my first three nights in the country at their gorgeous house in the mountains. Their house was so peaceful compared to the city and I was able to catch up on sleep and hear more about their vision for this school. These are pictures of the view from their porch. I am slowly adjusting to my new surroundings and my Spanish is improving daily. There are definitely amazing things going on at this school and I am humbled to be a part of it. We are currently preparing for school which will start on the 22nd. We have workshops every morning and planning time for the rest of the day.


We had an adventure day last Friday and an all staff retreat to talk about our goals for the year and get to know each other better. I am really amazed by the passion and dedication I have seen in other staff to improving children's lives through a relationship with Christ and a loving environment where they can obtain an awesome education. For our adventure day, we visited a place called 27 waterfalls where guides take you on a climb up numerous small waterfalls. It was breathtaking!

Request

My school (Doulos) is still looking for qualified 4th &6th grade teachers. If you know anyone who might be interested please ask them to take a look at the website and think about it. I moved in with a local family yesterday and am comfortably settled in their spare bedroom. The power outages have not been too lengthy lately and I am getting to know the other staff who are all amazing individuals.
blessings

I'm in the DR!!

I just wanted to send you all a quick note that I have safely arrived in the Dominican Republic. My flight into Santiago was delayed for a day, but for once the airline put me up in a hotel room and I didn't have to sleep at the airport. It was actually pretty exciting to have my first free hotel room---with my choice of fluffy white beds! One of the school staff picked me up from the airport and I am staying with the director and her husband at their lovely home in the mountains before I move in with a local family. I will probably move in with the family the school found for me tomorrow. I feel safe and well feed---I had oatmeal and mangoes for breakfast with fresh organic grown coffee!! Yum! The director even has a cute kitten named Buster whom promptly curled up on my lap and started purring when I picked him up. I miss all of you very much, but am feeling affirmation in my choice to come here by the wonderful people I will be working with.
I hope you are all well and I will try to post some pictures later this week.
-Emily

Background on Doulos Discovery School

Doulos is a private K-12 school that was started only 5 years ago. The school consists of local and international teachers with roughly 160 students. The school was started with a vision of building bridges for rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant students and community members. The teaching is based on experiential and explorative learning. US national standards are used as a guideline for content and to prepare students for educational opportunities past high school. The main goal of the school is to equip future leaders to be socially responsible and active with Christ as the guide. I have already been impressed with the school’s dedication to experiential learning and community service. For example, the ninth grade physics class last year built a mini hydroelectric plant on a local coffee farm as part of their learning process. The students actually studied and learned about the plant themselves and involved community members. This is exactly the kind of teaching that I have always wanted to do! The picture below is of the front of the school. If you want to learn more about the school, click on the link above my picture.

Fundraising

I am currently still raising money to support myself while embarking upon this ministry opportunity. I have only reached about half of the $15,000USD that I need to raise to be able to pay for all of my expenses over the next year. If you would like to become part of this ministry please feel free to click on the link above my picture where you can donate online with your credit card or send checks. Please make all checks payable to Doulos Discovery Ministries and be sure to write “Emily Wisseman” on the memo line. Mail checks to Doulos Discovery Ministries PO Box 3080 Burnsville, MN 55337.

Why do I need $15,000USD to support myself in the DR? What does this money cover?

• Asking teachers to raise their own support, allows the school to focus on funding local students that would not be able to afford a decent education otherwise.
• The money you send to the school with my name on it will be used to support my expenses and all donations are tax deductible since Doulos is a charity organization.

Estimated expenses:

$2,000 for airfare
$1,000 for transportation within the country
$1,000 for medical coverage
$1,000 in taxes, incidentals and service charges
$850/month to cover living expenses

Financial support allows me to be involved in this ministry, but even more important is prayerful support. Without God looking after me, I'm sure I would walk into a tangle of trouble and not be nearly as effective in this ministry.

Why did I choose this school?

This school comes highly recommended by several members of my church (New Covenant Fellowship) who have visited or worked with this school during the past year. I applied to the school with support and recommendations from my pastor (Ron Simpkins) and student teaching supervisor and have received and accepted an offer to teach middle school and high school science starting in August 2007. This job would allow me to use my Bachelor of Science in biology, IL state certification in secondary education, recently completed Master’s Degree in Geomicrobiology (with a focus on coral reef diseases), undergraduate research on outdoor education, experience studying Spanish, and potentially my past experience in coaching soccer and rock climbing. The skills I have to offer seem to be exactly what this school is in need of at the moment. I am also personally in need of a job where I can talk openly about what Christ has done in my life, explore my passion for teaching, and spend quality time with children of all ages. I see this opportunity as a way of serving others, but also as an important step toward a career in third world development. I strongly believe that to solve third world problems, I need to develop a deep understanding of life and people in a third world country.

I am excited to be working in a supportive environment dedicated to innovative teaching with a focus on service and community projects that will allow me to refine my skills in Spanish, teaching, and deepen my understanding of other cultures and the needs of the third world. My dream is to use all of the various forms of education I have been blessed with to find a job that will allow me to work in international development. I see the next two years in the Dominican Republic as another key step in God’s plan for my life and a period of growth, learning, and hopefully making a difference in the lives of the students I will be teaching.

Why am I doing this??

Throughout my undergraduate and recently completed graduate studies, I have been searching for a job in which I could serve others using all of the various skills I have developed. During my research excursions in Latin America I fell in love with this area of the world and the people in it. I have also developed a deep compassion for the problems ailing third world countries and am determined to dedicate my life -God willing- to working toward improving some of the problems which I have observed. Throughout all of my countless hours of searching through mission conferences, job postings and company websites, I have not found anything that fits my own goals and uses my own skills as well as Doulos Discovery School in the Dominican Republic (DR). This school was developed to teach the underprivileged students of the DR with a focus on experiential learning, innovative teaching techniques, and leadership. This school aims to give students opportunities to have a quality education that is designed to prepare them for higher education in the DR and the US as well as being in an environment that is thoughtfully exploring what it means to follow Jesus.

I'm moving to the DR!!

I’ve accepted a job I’ve been dreaming up for at least a decade and now that I have actually finished graduate school I am free to embark upon my dream of working to improve life in third world countries. I will be moving to the Dominican Republic at the end of July to start a science teaching position at Doulos Discovery School in Jarabacoa, Republica Dominicana. I have committed to two years of teaching at this school (contingent upon raising $15,000USD a year to cover all of my expenses).