Play ball!!

I’ve been told that if you ask any one of the young boys in the Dominican Republic what they’d like to be when they grow up most will say they want to be a baseball player. There are actually quite a few major league baseball players from the Dominican Republic. Even in the small village that Daichela and José live in the community has a dirt baseball field for the children to play ball.

I love learning what children think they want to be or do when they grow up. It’s interesting to hear their dreams and hopes for their futures.

Child sponsorship programs provide educational support to disadvantaged children and it goes a long way toward helping them pursue a better life. The children and youth in these programs are then empowered to discover their potential and reach their dreams... Even if all they want to do is play ball.

A cooking pot with a lid

Child sponsorship costs so little and covers some of the basics like medical and dental care, educational assistance, a few items of clothing each year and access to basic food items, but the sponsored children's families struggle with extreme poverty every day.

There's a special day each year that is set aside by the organization to honor the families of the sponsored children by giving the family a special and needed, practical gift.

A few weeks after designating a few dollars to go toward this venture, I received a letter saying my donation had been used to purchase a large cooking pot with a lid for the children’s family.

As I thought about this family needing and receiving such a basic item like a cooking pot with a lid, I imagined that it might be replacing an old unsanitary or rusty item that had been witness to most, if not all, of this family’s meals.

Full of guilt, I thought of the many pots and pans in a lower kitchen cabinet of mine.

I think I’ll be going through pots and pans soon to donate what isn’t used enough to warrant keeping.

Now the wait

Plans to visit Daichela and José in the Dominican Republic have started to come together. I’m almost finished with the handful of preventive shots and I’ve got my passport and travel plans ready. The hard part will be the wait until I leave.

I’m really starting to get excited about going! Being able to go to another country will definitely be an experience for me.

I wrote to Daichela and José last week and mentioned to them that I was working on arrangements to come visit them. 

I wonder if they’ll be as excited as I am.

With a heavy heart

As I write this post, it's hard to think about much else. It’s only been a few days since the earthquake and tsunami devastated many communities in Japan.

I worry about the lives lost and those that are now left behind with everything they own gone and family members missing. The devastation is profound and the thought of clean up and the rebuilding of these communities is immeasurable.

My prayers are with those families that have lost so much and will need great strength to put one foot in front of the other to try and rebuild their lives.

Progress and laughter

Mrs. Wendy,

Thank you for the letter you sent to my niece.

She is happy with your letter. She is learning to read and to write, so she can write her own letter. Say hello to your children and to your family. God bless you.

-Says goodbye, Daichela and her aunt

Daichela’s progress report says she is now 57 lbs. and 4’7” tall and her favorite subject in school right now is math. Her favorite playtime activities are still painting and riding her bike.

Mrs. Wendy,

Thank you for the letter you sent to José and his family.

Thank you for keeping him in mind. He is very happy because he and your son have the same birthday.

-Say bye, Felipe, aunt of José

José’s progress report says he has grown to 3’4” tall and weighs about 44 lbs. According to José “he thinks” his favorite subject in school is art. (That made me laugh a little.) His favorite things to do outside of school are playing with toy cars and running, but he says his talent is singing and dancing. (More laughing on my end.)

I would love to know how close what I perceive their personalities to be from their letters, actually are to their real dispositions.

Building excitement

I received new photos of Daichela and José early in the fall and it was hard for me to believe how much they’d already grown since the initial photos.

As I continued to get acquainted with this family through short letters, I began to wonder if it would actually be possible to meet these two beautiful children that lived more than 2000 miles away.

With the help of my pastors and the sponsorship representative we considered the possibility of a trip to the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2011. There would be a few months of planning to get a group organized, and plenty of things I needed to take care of beforehand (like precautionary immunizations and a passport) but the opportunity was gaining steam and I was starting to get very excited.

What would I say to them if I actually got to meet them face to face? Better yet, what would they say to me?

Fried, ripe bananas... yum...

When my children come home from school the first place they head is to the kitchen for food because they think they’re starving. Of course they do not pick the healthiest choices available to them, but as a mom, I do what I can.

When I think of the possibility of them coming home to an empty pantry, or them telling me they’re hungry and there’s nothing I can give them to comfort their hunger, it makes me very sad.

In the Dominican Republic less than half of the sponsored children’s parents are steadily employed because they lack marketable skills. This makes it almost impossible for them to afford items like healthcare, education, clothing, shoes or even food for their children. These are often painful limitations that may hold the child back or prevent them from realizing their own potential.

Hello Dear Mrs. Nieman,

This is Felipe writing on behalf of your sponsored child José. José is very happy to be able to write for telling you what activities and places he likes the most. José likes to run very much. He likes the ice cream. He likes coloring and he likes to ride bikes. He likes to go to the park. His favorite food is fried ripe banana. He likes to eat a lot of rice. Thank you for all you do for your sponsored child!

-With love says good bye of you, José and his aunt, Felipe

I am very grateful that there are organizations that help the millions of children in the world like Daichela and José. Though they may live in poverty, these children have been entered into a sponsorship program that is there to assist with the simplest pantry supplies to help feed their hungry tummies with things like ice cream, fried ripe bananas and rice.