Christmas meal in Los Lanos

Every year the Knights of Columbus in Santo Domingo come to Los Lanos, a very poor community, to put on a Christmas meal for all the people there.

New School Bus

These photos are of our new, but previously owned in the US, school bus for Don Juan, with cartoons on the sides to make it more Caribbean. 

It's amazing how it has thrilled the students and the faculty; it makes them take a greater pride in the school and in themselves.

Dedication of the five new classrooms in Don Juan

August 22nd saw the blessing and dedication of the five new classrooms at the school in Don Juan. The classrooms were a gift from the government.

 Sr Ana Maria Pezola is the new principal of the school. She is very capable as well as efficient.

As you all can see, August has been a very busy month for me!

First Mass of the new school year in Don Juan

August 19th saw the opening of the school year in Don Juan at the school Santa Maria Josefa Rossello. The catholic students of the public school with their teachers were also invited to attend.

Project in Los Lanos

Alicia Manteiga and Jeff Anderson were here for most of August, working on getting land promised by the government to the people of the village, Los Lanos. The people of Los Lanos will use the land to grow their own food and maybe sell some. We are working to help organize the people to form a cooperative, which is a work is progress. Alicia and Jeff also bought three manual sewing machines and materials so the women and young girls could make products to sell. The machines must be manual as there is no electricity most of the time. I am waiting for Jeff to send me some photos of their work together, and will post those additional photos when I receive them.

Latrine Building

We are in the process right now of completing six new latrines. We received financial support for this project from Rotary, in memory of my first cousin, Steve Gascon. We hope to build 15 more in an area called Buenas Aires, where previously all 64 homes had no latrines or bathrooms. Due to our recent efforts 21 of the homes will now have latrines.

 We have learned from prior experiences and have cut costs on this project. Previously, if the families receiving latrines wanted larger facilities we forgave the difference in cost. During this wave of the project, each family is asked to come up with the money for additional construction costs.

 The rim of the holes are lined with rocks cemented in to form the foundation support.

Platforms are built so they can be moved to new holes when the other is full.

I have hired a man named Bolivar to complete this project. Bolivar is very poor but savvy. I had hoped to have volunteer help, but I guess this type of work is not glamorous enough.

 Bolivar

The huts are built to be moved also and laid on their side in the event of a hurricane.

School Sports

The Don Juan school sports teams completed in our versions of the state competitions on June 10. As we say here we "burned," (we did not win).

 Boys' Volleyball

 Girls' Soccer

Ladies' Volleyball

Boys' Baseball