A FEW EVENTS FROM THE LAST FEW MONTHS

January – Maryville Baptist from Maryville, Illinois sent a team to train six of our village women in Community Health, First Aid and CPR.

Practicing  CPR

                        Learning to take blood pressure manually.                                 I must admit, I was surprised how quickly they learned this skill.

All good workshops in the DR end with certificates!  

 February – First Baptist Church of Kahoka, Missouri sent a team to build a bathroom.They are looking a little dirty and exhausted in this picture because not only did they complete the bathroom project . . .

Toilet that flushes with a bucket of water and space with a drain to bucket bathe.

Part of the thankful family.

… They trimmed a LOT of branches and cleaned leaves that were causing damage to our tin roofs . . .

… extensively cut back one large tree . . .

. . . to make an extension on our red building.   We are hoping that this extension will allow us to use the red building on rainy days.

They also cleaned up all the downed branches, which was no small task!  Besides helping with the cleanup . . .

. . . the ladies of the team taught some of our women how to make a simple, cool house dress.  They also helped me prepare some teaching materials.

This was the first international trip this church has undertaken. Quite a successful one from my perspective.  (By the way, they are from the church I grew up in, one that greatly influenced my life.)

The QUEST team and a Gordon College team came to Cercadillo this spring for some day trips.  They finished painting the completed extension to the red building. . .

. . . so it’s a building built by folks from Pennsylvania, extended by a group from Missouri and painted by two groups from New England!

February through May – TUTORING & SUPER SABADO

I have spent a great deal of time with three of our village women to train them to be tutors.  I’m so proud of how they’ve grown and the way they are working with our children!

Aurelia teaching addition doubles.

 Marcelina helping with a letter/syllable/word  sort.

Carmencita leading a listening/letter identification practice.

 During Super Sabado we work with the same students in larger groups and with the very-much-appreciated help of college students from Santo Domingo.  Students rotate between stations of reading, writing and math.

Volunteers teaching students to use 5 Star Writing.

Thanks to folks from Seacoast Community Church in Portsmouth,  New Hampshire for saving bottle caps for our children to use to spell words, separate syllables, etc.  And thanks to Jean Smith for making cute drawstring bags to contain the alphabet sets!

Another wonderful addition to our teaching times this year is the reading program Estrellita.  I am thrilled beyond words to have found these sequential, systematic materials!  It is the reading program I have dreamed of for years!   And listen to this . . . the folks at Estrellita donated the curriculum to us!  A thousand thank you’s to Karen Myer for writing the program and to CEO Steve for sharing it with us!  (Feel free to go to Estrellitas.com and thank them again for us!)

Using sombreros to teach the letter “s.”   (Students are holding their take home books.)

Our children love the games and activities!

Notice the boy with his hand up? He WAS one of our most reluctant leaners!

I’m thrilled, thrilled, thrilled with how much progress our students are making!  And I’m thrilled to be teaching others to teach!

Using their new reading comprehension skills to trace Paul’s journeys during Sunday School.

Marcelina confidently teaching a small group on Sunday.

IS IT TIME?

A school has always been part of the vision I’ve had for Cercadillo.  (I always say, “Not just a school.  But the BEST school on the island!)  Is it time to officially start?  These last months of concentrated tutoring and Super Sabado have me itching to begin!  We would most likely start with a preschool and add a grade each year.

Our open-air buildings on leased property have served us well, but do have some limitations.  Rainy days can be tough.  Without a secure storage area all materials must be brought out to the village for each activity.

Is it time to pursue securing land to build a block building for a community center?  A building that could house a school, church, space for our sewing/crafting initiative?

Pray with me that my advisors and I will hear clearly about the next steps.  And as always, I so appreciate all of you who support me and the various activities in Cercadillo.  Eleven years later and still so much to do . . . so many exciting things lie ahead!