ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DR MISSION TEAM FROM MAINE
We have returned safely from our mission trip to Colegio Moriah in San Pedro, from what some have said was their best trip ever. That may have been because people can really see what the school is going to look like now that all the walls are up and columns poured, or it may have been that the people dynamics worked so well. It was the biggest team I've ever led. I had a little stress trying to keep everyone busy with a job, but it's not what we did or how much, but how many lives were changed!
Our team was 19 people strong:
8 of whom attend our church, First Baptist of Bar Harbor 7 more from the Rockland area youth group, led by Mike Updegraff, 4 others are from Mount Desert Island and various churches. We took 2 seekers with us who are very interested in coming to youth group at the church now, We took one guy, Sam, a 20 yr old and a hard worker, who was really touched by the whole experience, rededicated his life to Jesus and started reading the Bible with great enthusiasm. He ended up staying longer and contributing much of his own money to keep the Haitian workers employed until the next team arrived March 5. We had approximately $6500 to give towards construction and paying the workers and we used it all up. Now that all the walls are up and columns poured, the next step is to pour the roof. That is best done all at once (not in pieces) so we need a large amount of money to set that up and go. Pastor Tanis Dérolus, who runs the school, had mentioned to a visitor that $23,000 should be enough to finish the school. We need to find sources for this sum, prayerfully before the summer, so the school can be ready for occupancy in September.
As for what our team did, we dug foundations for columns, set and poured them; we dug the foundation for the church (anytime we had to wait on concrete work, we went over to the church site and dug); we set up electrical service for all the rooms in the school. We also built doors for the dormitory and painted more of it. Then we had an excellent teacher head up English teaching in the school each day. She used great props and teaching aids, had the students do fun projects and games. It was a real load off me to just turn that work over to her and watch her orchestrate a great curriculum. Our electrician was the same way. I just turned him lose and he knew exactly what to do. We also had a carpenter who was able to lead a small team in carpentry each day building doors. It was keeping myself and 15 others busy as we waited for materials or for the Haitian workers to be ready for concrete that was not always running smoothly. but anytime we didn't know what to do, we dug more of the church foundation.
How do I describe the great need of these Haitians? They don't have any of the things we just expect and take for granted: no electricity, no water, no sanitation, no job, no food, no dignity. Let me quote another recent visitor to the DR: a student from Tufts University, Zachary C, "A batey is a sugarcane plantation where Haitian refugees live and work. When there is work. When there is enough food to live. When there is enough clean water to drink. When one is not pregnant and does not have AIDS. The people in the bateys have nothing. They come to these rural communities because they are shunned by the Dominican government and stripped of the rights they constitutionally deserve. Yet, they are happy to be there because their homeland, Haiti, is hell."
The batey community, that Colegio Moriah serves used to work in the cane fields and factory outside the city of San Pedro de Macorís. Now those cane fields are gone and the bankrupt factory is abandoned. The people in this batey used to work hard for almost nothing. Now they don't even have the luxury of hard work. That's why the women who cooked our meals and did our laundry were so delighted to be serving us --- to be useful, to be needed was a great and rare pleasure. It was the same for the Haitian men who worked with us. Many times I heard them say "no hay trabajando in San Pedro" there is no work in San Pedro. How demoralizing not to even have a job or know where your next meal will come from.
The mission of Colegio Moriah is to change that by providing education to those children who are denied public education in the DR and who could never afford more expensive private schools. I believe God's first and primary purpose for this project is to change people's lives. This He is already doing even though the project is not done. He is giving hope to destitute Haitians and Dominicans (as they are already conducting school for 225 children and watching their school building go up) and opening the eyes of Americans. God also wants us to depend on Him completely to see the success of the school. Because they have nothing, our Haitian friends have learned to depend on God completely and to pray, pray, pray for everything. This project has come this far on their prayers!
This project is truly a faith journey for everyone who gets involved. We Americans are joining our Haitian friends and learning to depend on God for everything as they do. Right now, the building effort needs someone knowledgeable who can supervise the construction: someone who can stay in the DR for longer periods than a couple weeks at a time. Pastor Tanis is thinking of someone who can easily go back and forth, so s/he can promote the project in the U.S. I was thinking perhaps it is time for one of the more talented and skilled Haitians to be empowered to take on that role, but as Tanis points out, he would not have the ability to pass to the U.S. easily, promoting Colegio Moriah. Perhaps it will be a team: a Haitian foreman and an American construction manager.
Right now, we are lifting this up in prayer and we don't know what God will do, but we have confidence that He will provide someone to oversee the project. We don't know where the money will come from, but we have confidence that God will provide it and probably from some very surprising sources that we never would have imagined. This is how we live out our faith in practical ways. It may not sound practical, but it is how I have seen God work over and over, so I am amazed at what He does!
Every year that we go down to San Pedro, God puts together a team of just the right people and provides the money (though we always need more money). And this year was no exception! Each year, I am reminded of how this is not the work of one person, but many working together, and all to God's glory.
The next steps for continuing the project as I see them (always subject to God's timing and plan) are to
complete pouring the ceilings for 3 of the first floor classrooms, bathrooms and libraryfinish the floors, install window treatment and doors, and lightingpour the ceilings for the remaining first floor classrooms and officesfinish those floors, install window treatment and doors, and lighting.roof over the outdoor assembly hall with a tent structurebegin construction of the church foundationcontinue with the first floor of the churchinstall solar collectors on the school roof for electricitybuild 2 stairs to the second floor of the schoolconstruct 2nd floor classroomscomplete the church buildingRespectfully submitted, Jeri Spurling
