They Want to Take Your Religion and Your Guns

I still will write a second part to my post about the situation in Haiti and proposed solutions/strategies, but need to write about the impeachement trial of President Donald Trump. I have not been in the United States much at all during his presidency, but have caught a lot via social media, reading the news, and talking to family and volunteers who visit.

A few weeks ago, a friend posted this article from Christianity Today where the magazine takes a stance saying,

"To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record,

we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?"

Then there was a run of commentary. What an interesting situation we have here! I remember while living in the U.S. how non-Christians would sometimes relate Christians to a type of judgmental, self-righteous person which is not what anyone who reads Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John about the life of Jesus can see that Jesus was. This issue of people's feelings about Donald Trump and the commentary I saw and participated in under this article is so interesting because it's completely splitting Christianity into two groups. And I couldn't agree with Christianity Today more. Hopefully this will be a statement to non-believers as to what Christianity is and isn't. 

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23). I don't share that verse to judge anyone, but simply to raise the point that not everyone who claims to be a Christian would be recognized as so by Christ himself. 

This Washington Post article by Jeff Flake, a Republican Senator, is also excellent. He shows disappointment in House of Rep. members who simply denied that President Trump did

anything wrong in soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election.

"Regarding the articles of impeachment, you could reasonably conclude that the president’s actions warrant his removal. You might also determine that the president’s actions do not rise to the constitutional standard required for removal. There is no small amount of moral hazard with each option, but both positions can be defended. 

But what is indefensible is echoing House Republicans who say that the president has not done anything wrong. He has.

The willingness of House Republicans to bend to the president’s will by attempting to shift blame with the promotion of bizarre and debunked conspiracy theories has been an appalling spectacle. It will have long-term ramifications for the country and the party, to say nothing of individual reputations." 

In these comments, I'm seeing people say things like "Demon-crat", "we didn't elect him to be our pastor, but our president", "he's doing great things for the economy". And then there are all sorts of talk about there is no better candidate and attacks on past presidents. It is being said that every president has done things just as bad, etc. Jeff Flake said: 

"Before President Trump came on the scene, would I have stood at a rally and cheered while supporters shouted “lock her up” or “send them back”? Would I have laughed along while the president demeaned and ridiculed my colleagues? Would I have ever thought to warm up the crowd for the president by saying of the House speaker: 'It must suck to be that dumb'?"

Like I said, I haven't been in the country, but it isn't hard to catch wind of the hatefulness and immaturity that the Head of State is exemplifying. To anyone who would say that there is no better candidate, I would say that that is a lack of faith. I didn't vote for Hilary or Trump and think that most agree that was quite a radical election. I also agree that there are issues strongly supported in the left side that are not biblically aligned, but there are probably just as many on the right side. 

In response to the Christianity Today article, Trump tweeted that the magazine "would rather have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion and your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close."

Your religion and your guns!?!?!?!?!? Does Donald Trump think that Christianity supports guns? That they go hand in hand? Do other people claiming to be Christians think that? (And sadly, I know that the answer is yes.) Yes, in the Old Testament there was war and killing mandated by God. That was all because creation was corrupted beyond return and God had to build up a population through which he could redeem creation. That all ended in the New Testament. What did Jesus do when an officer's ear was cut off by his disciple, while the officer (or servant of the high priest) arrested him for doing nothing at all? And he knew that the officer was leading him to his torturous death? He healed the man's ear and told his disciple that if he lives by the sword, he'll die by the sword! (Matthew 26:50-52)

But is that not what has been going on in the U.S.? Living by the sword and dying by the sword? Nearly 300 mass shootings in the United States in the first nine months of 2019!?!?! Are we crazy?!?! Are we really worrying about which "team" is in the majority when this is going on in the country!?! Is that not a problem both "teams" can work together to try to resolve?? Is anything more important at this time!?!? I think this has also become so normal in U.S. life that people somehow.... DON'T REALIZE HOW ABSOLUTELY CRAZY IT IS!?!?!?

I recently saw a Facebook post claiming that 198 or so people were killed in mass shootings in the U.S. in 2019 whereas 10,000 some were killed by illegal immigrants. I laughed and knew it was a lie, but just did a Google search to address it in this blog. This came up. It was addressing a post that claimed a much higher number of people killed by illegal immigrants, but even so, I think reading the link I just shared should make the point clear that immigrants have a much lower crime rate than native-born Americans, and that that claim is dillusional, defending the love of guns over people and God.

"For if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?" (1 John 4:20). This is the perfect sign of a gun addiction. Addicts always try to make sense out of nonsense to defend their beloved addiction. Why don't we pay attention to the stats that compare countries and the frequencies of mass shootings that take place there??? Maybe that would help us look our face in the mirror.

I refer to a political party as a team a few paragraphs up because that is what it seems like to me at times. It's no different than ghetto gangs: hating each other and not wanting to accept someone because they wear the wrong colored bandana. It is different. There are serious issues up for discussion, but they don't really make a lot of sense. How can you glorify freedom of guns and demonize abortion so? It doesn't make any sense at all.

My two-year-old son and five-year-old son sometimes get sticks and play fight with them. It gets out of hand, someone cries, and I take the dang sticks and throw them out the door. Case closed. Other countries have done the same with guns and they have had good results. Oh but it's in the Constitution. Then pray to the forefathers who wrote the Constitution, not to the God who wrote the Bible and gave you life.

If I remember correctly, 2019 started with a government shutdown about building a border wall/immigration control while mass shootings continued to take place on a daily average. What is our goal? We're trying to seclude our children so they can  play violent video games to the point that they are completely desensitized, and themselves dangerous, while protecting their right to have an automatic weapon, with the chance of them turning out to be a mass murderer increasing?  

I have theories about personal space vs. community living and its effect on mental health. I also feel certain that I am not the only person who has such theories and am looking forward to investigating to see what research is out there. I know I have had very different experiences living in the United States with, what I would call lots of space, compared to living in the Dominican Republic in much closer quarters, experiencing more community living. I was on campus during the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings. I grew up with people who tragically murdered others in adolescence with no motivation other than their own mental issues. I had friends who lost parents to suicide. I lost classmates to suicide. I myself experienced emotional instability while living a very priviledged life. Heck, we couldn't go outside for awhile in school because a sniper was shooting down people randomly around the area. 

I thankfully feel as though that was all part of a prior life. Being removed from such events for so long, it all seems even more crazy. Sure, violence takes place everywhere, but I cannot remember a violent event that has taken place here that had no tangible motivation, whether it be a robbery motivated by coveting the belongings of others, domestic violence, etc. There are plenty of other challenges here, but perhaps those challenges save us from the solidarity that brings the biggest challenge of all, which is ourselves. Perhaps we Americans have a lot we could learn from our southern (and northern, for that matter) neighbors. 

While this post waited in draft form, someone shared this brilliant post: 10 Signs You're Actually Following Trumpianity Instead of Christianity. I couldn't agree more with Mr. Benjamin Corey, except I'll admit that I haven't yet figured out what number 3 is referring to.  

I'll close by saying that I am endlessly grateful to have been born and raised in the United States of America. I recognize my priviledges and do not take them lightly. The fact that I spend very little time in the United States should not be understood as a lack of patriotism or anything of the sort. I just dont' think that God intended us to hoard our priviledges. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48) 

Haiti Cheri

Years back we had two young men in our group home, Elvio and Daby, who were aspiring rappers. Well, there have been many more than those two, but these two were quite into it. Their rapper names were Snake and Violent Poison. These are young men who have left Haiti and immigrated to the Dominican Republic "in search of life".

Anyway, Daby, I believe it was, wrote a song called "Ayiti Cheri", which is how you would write it in Creole. It means "Dear Haiti" or "Darling Haiti". The first verse went like this:

Ayiti cheri
Lon tan ou pa t pe soufri
Sa pa fe m plezi
Ak kriminel sa yo

Darling Haiti
You didn't used to be afraid to suffer
That doesn't make me happy
With those criminals

A few days ago, a friend of mine in New York posted this article on Facebook. It's talking about how Haiti is facing a humanitarian calamity and most people outside of Haiti don't even know about it. I am here in the Dominican Republic. My husband is from Haiti. Most of Project Esperanza's employees are from Haiti. I have been hearing about what's going on there and we have felt some effects of it, but reading this article made me realize that I have grown somewhat numb to it throughout the years. It makes me sad, but I also had thoughts like, "What else is new? There's no Civil War or war against another country but simply a war against themselves. How can you help them? In general, they're so upside down," and more. I also thought things like, "Isn't this just proof of what you get when you endlessly play with the devil... or worse."

But as I continued to read through the article, I was moved to tears. I am not sure of all the details, but from what I understand, rioting has been taking place for months by people who don't want the current president in power. This article says the crisis started in July, but I remember hearing of an attempt to burn down the perhaps Haitian equivalent of the White House earlier than that and being forwarded videos of various Haitians' opinions on the matter. This article tells more about the current president, as well as informs and counsels about the country's politics.

I just keep shaking my head and thinking, "Sure, shut down your schools. That's a productive way to advance the country." It has also been said that gangs have been paying uninvolved people to do chaos-creating things. What seems to have happened in the more recent past is that gas prices rose, so rioting worsened.

Haitians here in Puerto Plata always talk about the president and money as if it all just goes straight into his pocket. There is no accountaiblity (claimed in the way they talk) and all presidents are stealing the country's money. I don't know how it really works, but it's surely not the most organized system. It makes me think of the several people who I have hired (not simultaneously) to help me out with housework. They always seem to stack plates with the smaller plates beneath the bigger plates, or with no order at all. What they definitely do not do is stack the biggest on the bottom, smallest on top.

Heck, just yesterday I believe it was, I asked my husband to help our two-year-old use the bathroom as I was occupied. Poor little Gabe was losing control and started to go in his pants. But instead of helping him remove his pants, my husband started taking off his shirt...button by button. God love him. I just am constantly shaking my head...or worse.

So after reading this article, my negative thoughts and numbness was broken. I remembered the children who are growing up with the same type of experiences as the previous generation, leaving little hope for the next generation. I remembered the church members in my husband's hometown who rang a bell every morning at 5am. It was pitch black as there is no electricity, yet they got out of bed and joined in prayer every day. Talk about faithfulness!

I started brainstorming. What could be done here? They can't arrest everyone causing trouble. Everything is basically shut down. What is going on with prisons, anyway? I heard that some U.S. troops have been sent to help and that that has done some good. They also can't give in to gangs and let them run the show!

Well, my long term vision, hope, and prayer for Haiti is free, quality, nurturing elementary education for all. I suppose I should say all children. The opportunity for adults through a night program would be great too, as well as workshops for parents of students in elementary school. Sure, high school and college are great, but educating a portion of the population may not be effective when roughly 50% never go to school at all.

I also think that the educated folks are still affected by the rest, as they seem to still believe all sorts of tall tales, such bats being rats that grow wings when they get old. The majority of the members of society have never done activities like this:

Which is longest? How can you tell? Is the ___ longer or shorter than the ___? Why does the marker look like it's longer than the pencil? How could we fix that?

These photos and questions were taken from this blog post. 

Sure, many things are learned through living life. And some skills are mastered much more than us educated folk, such as washing clothes by hand! It's truly amazing the stains that the average Haitian woman here I know can get out! But in the end, we know that formal education for all is a must in order to raise a developed society.

When I give an orientation to volunteers coming to volunteer with Project Esperanza, I explain that a way I wrap my head around the unstable state of Haiti is this. Columbus conquered the island of Hispaniola, making it a Spanish island. Spain ceded the Western third to France. France brought over boatloads of people from West Africa and enslaved them to do their work and profit off of them in their colony. If you read a book by Dr. Paul Farmer called Uses of Haiti, you can gain great insight into the brutality of that slave system. It was said that more slaves died during that time period which lasted around 150 years than in the United States slave system!

The slaves led a revolution that lasted from 1791 to 1804, where they basically were successful in killing and chasing off all the French, and became the first black republic and the second democratic nation in the New World after the U.S. Why has that not been made a Hollywood movie? It's an amazing and heroic story.

But then you have to run a country. Most of your population (excluding the Mulattos - offspring of French and slaves who would've received education) was treated with extreme brutality, lived through an autrocity of war for the last twelve or thirteen years, and never received any formal education! That's quite a challenge! To make matters worse, the country continued to be abused to France, and also the United States, I hear. I am not sure as to the facts of this article, but you may want to take some time to read its claims. I would highly suggest reading The Uses of Haiti for more info on the matter. 

People sometimes ask, "Why don't you do this work in Haiti?" Project Esperanza has two schools full of Haitian children in the Dominican Republic. I first say, this is where God brought me. I just jumped on a volunteer trip and learned about intense need that wasn't being met. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. I didn't need to go looking for need anywhere else. I also believe that creating a healthy refuge in the neighboring country while encouraging immigrants to commit themselves to the development of their motherland can be just as effective as working right in Haiti. 

But there is also a good point in that question. The source of the problem is in Haiti. My end goal for our schools is to create the best elementary schools possible for this specific population. A main focus is to create social conscious change makers, as well as loving and well-educated problem solvers and critical thinkers. Teachers and students will learn the best practices we strive to implement. I could go on forever about the process it has taken to get our teachers to use behavior charts rather than disciplining kids by making them kneel, slaps on the hand, kicking them out, etc. They have one thing engrained in them, and I have another engrained in me. It's a fight at first to bring about change, but the kids growing up and becoming teachers will be a different story. 

Once we can "perfect" our schools and are able to claim actual financial sustainability, I would love for Project Esperanza to collaborate with others in reaching the goal of helping Haiti to have free, quality, nurturing elementary education for everyone. I envision this happening by providing grants to private schools in Haiti coupled with visits, organizational and academic materials, and trainings. We would also either employ or provide financial aid to teachers and students of ours who are dedicated to working in the sector of education in Haiti. This should be a fairly lucrative position compared to other local jobs for those who are selected as top notch candidates. 

This is the vision that fills my heart. I don't think it's something I came up with myself, but something God has shared with me. I think it's what he wants. After all, Jesus did say that the greatest commandment is to love God and then to love others as we love ourselves. May all of our hearts break for the innocent people who are stuck in the chaos that is going on there; in the upside down-ness where bridges break down because people stole the nuts and bolts from them. Think about that the next time you're frustrated with a long line at Starbucks! 

This is nice and ideal for the future, right? But it's November 17th and the school year still has not started for most in Haiti due to these riots. I have some ideas I would like to share about what could be done now, but will do that in a next post as this one has become quite long. Let me finish by inviting your support in the work that Project Esperanza is doing. 

At this point, we have 150 more students we need to get sponsored this school year. We have three levels of sponsorship: 

Level 1 - an annual donation of $150 which covers daily lunch, a uniform shirt, and some materials. 

Level 2 - a monthly donation of $30 which covers daily lunch, a uniform shirt, some materials, and contribution to teacher's salary.

Level 3 - a monthly donation of $50 which covers daily lunch, a uniform shirt, some materials, contribution to teacher's salary, and contribution to the facilities.

You can learn more here. Thank you for considering investing in someone so worthy in the eyes of our creator. Let's not give up. May his kingdom come. 

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JW.org

Probably about six years ago I met a young, British Jehovah’s witness woman who was going through our neighborhood. She was very friendly and invited me to have some Bible based discussion. She started visiting my house every Saturday morning, often accompanied by another English speaking friend. The friend changed weekly for the most part, early on. So I got to meet many English speaking Jehovah’s witnesses in Puerto Plata. I had already met a few through working at a private school in 2008 and I found them to be very friendly and cool.

In college my roommate and I received two nice Jehovah’s Witness ladies who came to our door and did a weekly study, but they were not as confident as this friend. They did not follow the topics as well as her, and didn’t seem to know their stuff as well as her. We had a teacher in Project Esperanza who was also a Jehovah’s Witness. He is an excellent teacher and used to do studies with Jeres and I, often bringing his wife along.

Growing up, I remember being curious about a boy in my class who wasn’t allowed to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I learned that it was because he was a Jehovah’s Witness. I grew up in a non-denominational Christian church and somewhere along the line was told that the organization of Jehovah’s Witness was a cult.

I am not easily scared off. Someone friendly coming to you and asking if you want to have a Bible based discussion? Well I had fallen in love with the Bible – especially in college. I figured that the Bible would speak for itself and I didn’t think I was in danger of falling into a cult.

In our short lived college study with the two nice ladies, we didn’t get very far. Somehow we got on the topic of a mathematical prophesy and the witnesses weren’t ready or prepared to talk about it. After that, I’m not sure if we stopped being around at the time they came or they stopped coming, but the study ended there. I thought it was a little weird and was curious about the mathematical prophesy, but didn’t give it too much thought since we stopped meeting.

With our teacher who did the study with us, he mainly focused on the fact that God’s name is Jehovah and this text has been changed to LORD in most Bibles. I had heard of this previously but he really tried to impress on us the importance of using God’s name. I had a hard time with that at first, and understood that Jehovah was one of several names for God, but did not realize that it was his main name as in my main name on my birth certificate is Caitlin, (although people call me Catalina, rubia (blonde), morena (because my family and “circle” are dark), gringa (foreigner), etc). While it is a great and important point, I don’t think it fully affects someone’s relationship with another if they don’t know or call them by their real name. But it does have some effect if you think about it.

My JW friend started the study with me not long after my father died. My father was who instilled a love of and faith in God in me, I would say, from early childhood. He always prayed with my sister and I together since we shared a bedroom. He always encouraged our family with Bible verses, prayer, and faith. And he represented Jehovah God’s love with his endless and overflowing love for us. He was really a beautiful man that touched many lives. He gave me a Bible with Christ’s words in red and said, “Read the words in red and do what he said”. Though it is a little beat up, I still have and use this Bible.

It was very nice to have someone else pop in with such encouragement in his absence. I will always be grateful for that. However, some of the things I was being told and pointed out from the same Bible were quite different than the ideas and notions I grew up with. I did extensive Bible study in college and read the Bible in one year. I took an intensive class through my church which they called a year of seminary integrated into your regular university. We had various speakers come and read various books together along with Bible reading assignments. I ate it all up and learned a ton.

But my Jehovah’s witness friends were touching on the very, very basics; stuff that I don’t know if I was ever exactly taught with verses specifically or if they were notions and ideas that were so integrated into the religious practices I had been around that I just assumed they were true. And this was radical stuff like, “When you die you either go to heaven or hell”. 

Does the Bible say that? Can that be concluded 100%? They showed me many verses and gave me some original text/language knowledge surrounding the word that is translated to “hell” supporting their theory that when you die you are in a sleep state. At some unknown point people will be raised from the dead and given a second chance to learn about Jehovah’s will before judgment day that is outlined in the book of Revelation. This sounds kind of scary, but there’s no denying that the Bible says that.

What about heaven? They believe that when Jesus comes to reign and Satan is finally destroyed as outlined in the book of Revelation, that the earth will be restored to the Paradise it was created to be, and people will enjoy eternal life on an earthly Paradise, as was originally intended. Jehovah God will remain in heaven and some people will join him there to govern. I guess that will be Jesus’ HQ as well? But the majority of people will be on the earth.

Hell? Eternal torture? A fire that burns you forever but doesn’t turn you into ashes and be done with it as fire is known to do? Where exactly did this idea come from? It’s explained this way in the Bible? There is a parable about Lazarus and the rich man, but is that conclusive of the existence of this actual place? The book of Revelation talks about a lake of fire where everyone who, after their resurrection and chance to come around (and I believe even after Satan is chained up for “1,000 years” will be destroyed in the lake of fire. Destroyed, turned into nothing as fire does – not burnt alive for eternity. I'm not saying I have completely concluded that someone does not necessarily go directly to heaven or hell upon death, I just don't feel as though the Bible 100% concludes that they do. It is clear that one has eternal life through Jesus. But does it really give us all the details? 

So that’s very different than what I grew up with, not that anyone sat me down and taught me this, but it was infused into… well I don’t even know if it was church or TV or school or where I initially learned this. It was just the facts! But my JW friends taught me something very different and have quite a lot of biblical proof to back it up. This sure got my attention!

So they touched on many other subjects as well. Some I said, “You’re right. That seems like a very plausible theory.” Others I said, “Okay, that’s a theory and I respect that. It may even be correct, but I don’t feel as though there is enough clear proof in the Bible to conclude that 100%.” They have always shown their respect for that and continued to meet with me when we can throughout these years.

Do I plan to convert to the Jehovah’s Witness organization? No. I fully enjoy calling myself a non-denominational, Protestant Christian. I don’t want to attach to any denomination that would seemingly exclude other denominations or show any sort of division, basically. We have visited the Kingdom Hall on a few occasions, especially their Easter celebrations, and went to a conference in Creole in Santiago one time with some of the boys in the group home. They have some awesome movies and in Creole, as well as many other languages. They really are a very impressive organization. They are adamant about not conforming to the ways of this world. They are non-violent and environmentalists.

However, they don’t have a children’s church. My kids are not the type to sit still in such a thing. This has been one of the main reasons we have had trouble finding a church throughout our time here! Thankfully we met a neighbor where we now live who does children’s church at the church nearby and our kids started attending. And recently we began attending a house church in Costambar started by a couple who actually volunteered in our school in Padre Granero throughout 2018 giving sewing and karate classes! This is where I feel we have found our home as it is super kid friendly, outdoors, oversees the ocean, the pastor wears a button up shirt and jeans, my husband can wear his casual clothes and feels fine, they show family movies on Saturday nights, service is in English and Spanish…. I’m just really glad that we have found a place where we feel we can all go together. The teachings are very rich as well.

I also don’t really believe in door to door evangelism as the go to practice for every single member of a church, although I think it does work for them and respect it. Jesus did do it, but I find their teachings hypocritical at times as though they pick and choose what still should be practiced today and what they write off as being “what they did back then but should not be done today”. For example, you don’t think you should lay your hands on the sick and pray for them because that is what was done then but is not how things are done now. However, you do think you should do door to door evangelism exactly as it was done back then?

I don’t want to go on criticizing but I could make a huge list of pros and a huge list of cons. I haven’t seen JWs being the best good Samaritans. I think they are with people within their congregation, but not to those who they visit their houses and see their problems. They will offer their time to study the Bible and encourage you, but not take action to dress your wounds as the good Samaritan did. He didn’t ask the suffering man to convert before he dressed the wounds, did he? Someone may be offended in reading that as maybe they have “dressed someone’s wounds” while visiting their house and observing their needs, but my observations have been that such aid is reserved for those within the congregation, with the exception of natural disasters.  

Lastly, I’ll just share that I dislike how there seems to be a superiority as though JW is the true Christianity and any other Christian practice is pagan. There is almost a fear of everything else and the desire to convert everyone to JW. I wish they would more so/simultaneously take on a role of teaching others the misconceptions that don’t align with the Bible that are prevalent in hopes that they will alter teachings in other churches rather than having a strong agenda to get everyone to convert to JW. There is no fear in love. God is love. They will know you are his followers by your love. 

In conclusion, I don’t feel as though I need to become an official Jehovah’s Witness to be impressed by a lot of what they have opened my eyes to, interested in what I may not be able to conclude as strongly as they do, and willing to share and discuss such findings with others. If you believe that the Bible is the book that Jehovah God the Creator left for us to understand the history of what he has done, what people have done, what his will is, and where he is headed with us, then I think we should dig into it together and find our common ground. 

You highlight a verse that the Sabbath is actually on Saturday? Let’s talk about that. Obviously now I'm referring to another denomination. Is that the most important point the Bible has to make? I don’t think so. Jesus was clear about the greatest commandment. I think if we can focus on obeying what he said is most important, then everything else will fall into place. The question of which day the Sabbath should be practiced to me should be lower on the list since we first have to tackle – How do I love God? How do I love others? What is love? And do it! Sure the discussion of Sabbath can come up in how we love God, but I would like to Biblically conclude God’s priorities.

If you don’t believe the Bible is the Creator’s handbook for us and feel as though that claim is arrogant and exclusive of other handbooks like the Koran, well, then I simply don’t agree with you and wish you would really delve into it! I am willing to read other such books as well, but only to better understand others. Because when you are married, you can learn about others for the purpose of knowledge and coexistence, but you aren’t going to abandon your love. You are going to enhance him or her with your increased knowledge.    

So I Guess We Both Were Right

This summer has been a great one. At the volunteer house, we had a few American volunteers stay, but actually even more Haitian volunteers than American this year. Two of the Haitian volunteers have completed a few years of medical school.

When I was learning Creole, the word “lestomak” was listed in the dictionary for stomach. Makes sense. However, once I started practicing and immersing myself, I learned that people called what I know as stomach “vant”. They call what I know as chest “lestomak”. I just counted it off as a mistake. The general population probably doesn’t know very much science and they are misusing the term but it’s become part of the language so I learned to call chest “lestomak” in Creole.

Ten years after first learning to speak Creole I was relieved to hear one of these Haitian volunteers refer to the actual organ stomach as “lestomak”. I told him that he was the first Haitian I had heard say that as others use it to mean chest.

However, I was confused again when a few days later he said that his stomach hurt and he pointed to his chest area. When I inquired, saying that I thought he knew the true meaning of stomach, he said that he did. The region he was pointing to is where the organ stomach is located. An American volunteer and I pointed to where we knew our stomachs were: the belly region around the belly button. He replied that we were pointing to our intestines. We laughed and teased him. But oh too soon.

I ran and got my son’s basic science book that covers the different systems and turned to the digestive system. It turns out that the

organ called the stomach is much higher than the place I thought it was. What I referred to as my stomach was actually where my intestines seem to be located. The Haitian volunteer submitted a little as well and admitted that maybe the stomach is slightly lower than where he was pointing.

But I was shocked! Ten years of just shrugging off the Creole misuse of the word stomach to come and realize that Americans actually aren’t correct either! So this was just another reminder to always be slow to judge and critique.

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”  - James 3:1

Street Census Redone

When Project Esperanza first came to Puerto Plata as a Virginia Tech student organization in the summer of 2006, we conducted a street census with the understanding that the results would be submitted to Integracion Juvenil, a Dominican foundation, that was opening up a home for boys on the streets. We created 140 profiles over the course of one month and submitted the information to Integracion Juvenil. We were told that Integracion Juvenil rejected the profiles as 96% of them were of Haitian youth and adolescents, and they did not intend on receiving Haitians into their home.

This is where our work began. The average age reported was 14. We were told that some of these kids were living with “bosses” who sent them out selling and then took their money at the end of the day. Very few reported living with family, and those who did reported living with a brother, a cousin, or an aunt, but not their nuclear family (mother, father, and siblings). The original profiles were lost in a damaged hard drive before we could collect the exact statistics, but it was remarkable to us that 0% of the Haitian youth reported currently attending school. Some had reported attending school in Haiti before coming to the Dominican Republic, while others reported never having gone to school before. Probably 85% reported living in the barrio of Padre Granero, where we began running a school shortly thereafter, whereas the other 15% reported living in the barrio of Agua Negra on the other side of town. When asked why they came to the Dominican Republic, they all said, “to search for life”. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, so it makes sense that so many venture over to the other country that shares the island with them in hopes of finding “life”.

At the end of the month long census, some found out where our volunteer house was located and they began coming by in groups asking to see the photos we had taken of them for the census profiles. We were sad that the home we thought we would be able to lead some of them to through Integracion Juvenil was not going to be a reality for them. So we began a lunch, tutoring, and recreation program at that time from noon to 4pm. We began learning much more about them and over time, some did disclose their stories.

Someone in Haiti, normally a neighbor, had convinced them to come with them to the Dominican Republic. Sometimes it was with a parent’s consent, and sometimes this person had convinced them to come in secrecy even when the parent did not consent. They promised the boy that life would be better in the Dominican Republic. They would find bikes on the ground easily that they could have and ride, radios as well. They would go to school and eat better meals. Then when they arrived, they were often made to live harsh street vendor lives where they wake up early, search for wood to build a fire, and prepare sweets to sell on the beach. They were taught a route they would walk all day long to sell sweets on the beach. When they arrived home, they would turn their money over to the person they live with, and do an accounting. Some reported harsh punishments if they did not sell all of their sweets. Some showed scars where they reported being hit with machetes. We went with one to the hospital where the doctors found he had internal bleedings from beatings.

Some boys had even reported during the census that they lived with their father, and then we came to find out that the man they lived with was not their father, but someone who had brought them here in this manner. Over time, we found out certain men who were involved in this trafficking business. Women were involved in the kidnapping and enslaving that was going on here as well. It was a quite common practice. It is for this reason that we sent close to 50 youth back to Haiti to be reunited with their families who they reported being tricked. Their families thought they were doing a good thing for them. The adults running these operations said that their parents knew what they were sending their kids to. They didn’t want them or couldn’t take care of them. That is why they sent them.

We did not do the street census again until this year, 2015. I had thought about it in the past and quite frankly the idea scared me. The need and sadness we found during the first census was overwhelming and running an organization that was attempting to respond to the need had taken over my life. We have some great success stories from the first street census. Some young men who had never attended school before are now close to graduating from high school. Some have steady jobs. Some have started families. Some have been more responsible in starting their families than others. Some are here in the Dominican Republic while others have settled in Haiti. But we have lost some as well. Others spend time in and out of jail. 

Anol

I wrote a tribute to two we lost, Anol and Etienne, in the book I published, but since then we have lost two more. We have lost two of the first three who we offered mattresses on the floor to in 2007 when they reported sleeping on the beach or on someone’s porch. Both were scarred and problematic boys but had they had the chance to be given a permanent and loving caregiver and secure home and family, they could’ve done great. I am talking about a foster or adoption situation. Yes, they were a part of our group home, but both fell back into the streets as they needed much more individual attention than we were able to give them at the time. Here is a group home video from 2015 memories. The last slide which mentions Michael and Tina Reeder is actually out of date. For family and health reasons they unfortunately were not able to stay for the year they had hoped for.

I won’t neglect to say that it saddens me that so many volunteers (although not all volunteers) came and met these boys and then returned to their lives in the U.S. without doing anything to better the boys’ lives. Maybe these volunteers had other things going on in their lives that kept them from doing that, but I just think that if I have dedicated pretty much my whole life, then more could have at least written from time to time to ask how so and so was doing. I am not saying this to pat myself on the back or put others down but it is truly something that I have a hard time understanding. We all (volunteers) have our nuclear families, quality education, secure housing, food security, and job opportunity. I don’t think anyone can say that their problems have been too great to spare an occasional check in. Anyway, what is done is done and I hope we can only move forward for a better future. 

Alin did not last long in the group home. When there were 18 boys in the beginning (we tried to help everyone) and lots of fighting and power struggle, he requested to be sent to Haiti to visit what family members he had there. Upon returning, we did not allow him back

into the group home because he had many accounts of stealing and

Alin

other vices. However, had he expressed extreme interest in coming to school each day as others did, he may have been given a second chance. He did not. He continued to come to soccer practice some. Then I didn’t see him for quite a while. A few years ago, Jonel told me that Alin was in jail in Santiago and needed someone to sign for him or represent him at his hearing. I said that I could not. I was just overwhelmed with responsibilities and he had not maintained contact as others had to the point that I felt like I could vouch for him in any way. 

It was maybe a year later that I asked Chinaider about Alin and he said that Alin had been shot and killed in Sosua. The police shot him as he ran away from a theft. In law school, I learned that deadly force cannot be used to stop someone from theft or anything that doesn’t create extreme deadly risk to others. Someone running away from a theft should not be shot. However, here you hear of this sort of thing without repercussions to the shooter. I did not learn about this until after he was buried. Chinaider thought that he was buried in Sosua. 

Luis did not return to the group home after he stole a laptop from the administrative space he broke into in a separate building in 2008. He lived in town ever since and lived a fairly calm life. I never heard of any more problems from him and he did not seek any more help from me or any teachers or employees. He seemed to play a lot of Nintendo and eventually found a job with the trash truck. He even attended the public night school in town regularly and would have started 8^th grade this year. He was very scarred. I wrote about him in this blog post. Luis is the boy I was referring to who was said to have been used by the police for violence in Port-au-Prince.  

Jeres told me this past summer that Luis had gone to Haiti and was very sick. I was busy and did not ask and was not told anything further for over a month. Then one day recently we drove through the area of town where he lived and I asked Chinaider, who was in the car, for an update on Luis. He replied with, “Luis died”. He said that someone had taken him to family members in Haiti and he died within a few days. When I asked what sort of sickness he had he said that he became extremely thin and had no appetite. That is all I know.  

Rest in peace Alin and Luis. 

Bobby is someone who was in the group home until 2009 when we made contact with his mom and heard of the true story that he was pretty much kidnapped. We sent him back to her and she was so grateful. He came and went after that. He basically lived in between our group home, his mom’s house in Haiti, and another area where he had contacts in the country and worked in agriculture. Every time he came he had a really hard time living in a group setting and managing resources in a humble manner. By this I mean that he always ended up getting into a conflict because he owed someone money or took someone’s stuff. He is an extreme people person and makes friends everywhere but gets into conflicts when he owes money, etc. He didn’t deny his involvement in drugs from a very young age before he was ever in the group home but I do know he was clean for the most part before we sent him to his mom’s house in 2009. But it looks like at some point he fell back into that. 

Normally when he would go to work in the country, people would then report him buying drugs and stealing things. So this may be the root of his problem. 

The last time he was here and left was not even a year ago but without going into too many details, I didn’t want him to come back and didn’t plan on talking to him when he did come back. He turned 21 in January which is the age that we completely kick someone out of the home. At 18, they stop receiving aid with food. However, we had not let him back in the home for quite a while because of these reasons. He stayed with another young man who had graduated from the home, named Biby. Biby knew I did not want to see him, but nonetheless, came with him to my house when he arrived again. My house is next to the group home and was just one street over from Biby’s house at the time. I did not go outside to talk to him when they called me. They eventually left. Biby then saw me leaving later on that day and approached me. He said that he was not planning on accompanying Bobby to my house, but had done so because he sees that Bobby is now crazy. He arrived this morning and isn’t making any sense. It also seems like both of his thumbs are paralyzed. I listened, was surprised, and went on my way. 

The next day Bobby approached me when he saw me on the street and I was able to converse with him and see what Biby meant by “crazy”. He made some sense and remembered everyone, but did seem handicapped. A day later he had a tank top on backwards… one with a scoop neck and high back that was very apparently on backwards, but he did not notice. He speaks quietly and is unable to completely convey his thoughts, which seems to frustrate him a little. He walks around during the days and looks for work. He was caught stealing a bag of bread at a colmado down the street but they went easy on him when people told them that he was crazy. So we’ll see what happens. I am not sure what I can do for him unless someone really wants to take on his case. And even then, I don’t think I should personally be too involved with him directly as I would not like to give him any sort of welcome into my personal space. But someone else in the organization could perhaps help. 

9 years after the first census, I realized that it was time to delve in again. We started with winter break volunteers sitting in spots around town with a clipboard and a camera. This time we gave out bags of rice, beans, and a packet of oil as a thank you for participating in the census. Spring break volunteers participated as well up until May. Our summer volunteers did other activities but I still got a few profiles going around town in the summer as well. The results are quite different than 2006. In 2006 we divided into two groups and did it for one month, so probably 22 weekdays. We conducted the census in the afternoons. This consists of 44 half days. This year we did 15 half days and then I did a bit independently. Therefore, more time was spent on this in 2006. But it was very clear that in 2006 there were simply more youth working on the streets. Tourist police have completely banned two touristic areas to such street vending among youth: the Malecon or Boardwalk, and Central Park. Also, attempts have been made by the government to eradicate child labor in general. Of course we find many teenagers street vending and do profiles on anyone who reports being 18 or younger, and those older ages don’t count as child labor. But there was a significant lower amount of 10 and 11 year olds on the streets during this census. Additionally, it might be due to the fact that we did send around 50 kids back to their families in Haiti and started registering kids in school, and rewarding them with things for going, but the men who were highly responsible for the child trafficking in Padre Granero when we first began seem to have stopped doing that altogether. I haven’t heard of such activity in years.

The most alarming thing we saw during the 2015 census was not kids who were estranged from their families and living as servants, but two cousins and a sister. They live with their parents and say they go to school, but they can be seen often in the dark far from home selling peanuts. I drove the two boys home one day as it was dark and they were at La Sirena when they live far away from La Sirena. They fell asleep in the car and I made it to the area where they said they lived, then asked people on the road if they knew where the boys sleeping of my car lived. We eventually found their family. I talked to them about why they sent their kids out to work on the streets like that alone and until very late at night. They said that an adult usually went with them and would go with them in the future. They have financial needs. I said I would try to find some help to get them some groceries each month. And not to send the kids out anymore! Especially alone! I still see the kids very often, sometimes accompanied by an adult, and sometimes not.

Published Book!

This post will be short and sweet. I've gotten a lot of requests throughout the years to publish a book. I have gotten these requests in reference to my many updates from the ground here in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. I wrote 29 posts on the La Vida Idealist blog on Idealist.org but it was shut down about two years ago. I finally was able to retrieve my posts and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to publish!

I have set the e-book for free for 3 days (as of yesterday). My only request is that people who receive it for free write a review, which can help me sell more. Here is the link to the e-book. 

Here is the link to the paperback. 

In a few weeks, both should be available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, and more. I am excited and have many more ideas for more books to publish in the future! Thank you!