Yesterday I arrived back in the US after four days in the Dominican Republic with Hope International. It was a wonderful trip and I will be updating this space with a lot more information. Please feel free to click some of the thumbnails below to see a few of my favorite photos. There are 118 total photos so I am not planning on putting up ALL of the thumbnails. You can click the photo at the top left or this link to see the photos on Picasa and watch a slideshow of all of them!
*Note* You can use the right or left keys to browse through the photos, and the x button will close the images.
You can find the rest of the story after the bump!
Day 1: Leaving Greensboro
We woke up around 5AM to make our flight from Greensboro, NC to Miami on time. It was a rough time to rise, but a bowl of Lucky Charms will make any morning a little bit better. We caught a connecting flight from Miami to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (D.R.) and arrived somewhere around 2:30PM. I first spotted one of the employees of “Esperanza” named Maximo who was holding a Hope International sign. Maximo would also be our driver during the entire trip. I can’t tell you how incredibly skilled he was behind the wheel, in the D.R. lanes are OPTIONAL. No one follows any kind of order on the road. However, they do all look out after one another which explains why I didn’t see a single accident!
After being picked up we met with the other members of our team who would be led by Peter & Katie. Peter is the president of Hope International and was a great resource when it came to answering questions as to what was going on.
Hope International is a non-profit orgainization that believes in giving a “Hand Up and not a Hand Out”. Their way of supporting the poor is through Microfinance. This basically translates to giving the poor a small loan to help someone grow a business of their own that will allow them to start a business of their own which will help the poor to take care of their family.
One example Peter shared with the group at the end of our first night was about Goodwill’s program that sends over clothing that isn’t bought after a certain amount of time and then sent to Africa to be given to people. Peter made a point to make sure he didn’t say this is a bad thing per-say, but he asked us what we thought happened to the local textile industries? Those businesses all closed down because people were getting free clothes. What happens a lot with Non Profit Organizations is that they have a great plan and one of two things happen. The money gets routed back to them and they don’t do any real good, or the good they do actually creates a larger problem then it solves. If you give people enough handouts then they will begin to be dependent on them. The vision of Hope Intl. is to do the opposite of that. It comes down to that old quote “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you will not have to listen to his incessant whining about how hungry he is.” So long story short: hope exists to give the poor and helpless in other countries an opportunity to get out of poverty on their own.
Back to our story: After meeting up with the entire team we left to meet one woman at her Colmado. This would be comparable to a quik-mart here in the states. You could buy a cold Coke, chips, sugar or spices. The selection was small but if you look at the photos supplied by one of our other members Tim you can see that her type of store is pretty unique to the area (You can find Tim’s photos HERE). This woman had nearly nothing and she was able to take a loan through Esperanza (this is a Loan company associated with Hope that is in the D.R.) that a local bank would not have given her since she had nothing to back up the loan. It was through that first loan that she could start selling small items in her community and after about 3 loans she was able to open up the shop you will see in the thumbnails supplied below. The loans start off at about $50 (US) and the people involved are broken up into groups of 5 and they are accountable to each other. They meet once a week and slowly make payments back to Esperanza until their loan is paid off, there are a lot of details I could tell you but I really want to keep this entry…kind of short. Clearly I have already failed at that. To keep it short if one person doesn’t show up to pay then someone else in the group has to pay. All in all somewhere around 1% of the loans fail! I bought a coke and some chesse puffs (which were a lot better then ours here in the States!) and after meeting we headed to the Kellogg center where we would be staying. Don’t be confused, it has no connections with the food company. Here are some photos of the Colmado:
After seeing the shop we were driven to the Kellog Center (which has nothing to do with the cereal company) where we would settle down and eat some dinner. The food prepared for us each day was magnificent! I really should have spent more time praising our cooks!
After dinner Peter presented a Power Point explaining what Hope International is and what they are doing differently. He also talked about how he wanted us to ask questions and encouraged us to try and poke holes into what was going on. This is something I really appreciated because I have seen so many churches act a fool when dealing with money and it is so refreshing to see an organization going a lot further.
The investments from investors begin by setting up a bank in a country with a lot of poverty and then the staff is trained for microfinance. One neat thing about Hope Intl. is that investments over a certain mark will allow the giver to have online access to the bank records. That person or business can see how every penny is being spent and the names as well as records of each person who has taken a small loan. There is so much information I am sorry to anyone who is trying to read this. But I did have 4 days there…
After the Power Point we all went to sleep.
Day 2: A Day in the Dominican Republic
Breakfast was served promptly at 7 AM (this could be a lie…my memory isn’t too sharp these days, but I know I was up each day before 6:30 AM…) As stated before our meals were amazing. There was some kind of oatmeal prepared for us on the third day that was just amazing (I know I’m off topic but thinking about breakfast got me excited about the oatmeal!). After breakfast we journeyed out to see two of the Esperanza meettings led by the Loan Officers. I want to point out how many women were involved with these programs. All the loan officers were women and we saw more then 30 people at both meetings. There was only one man at any of the meetings. It was wild. These are women who have families and are taking the responsibility to care for them.
The first meeting was in an unfinished building made of cinder blocks. Karmen was leading the meeting and I have to say I loved how spunky she was. She had leopard print heels on and a matching purse. A scooter provided her transportation and she made the helmet look good! At the beginning of the meeting they allowed us to ask questions which were translated by a member of Esperanza. Gary (the other gentleman with a beard) asked the group if they would want anything done differently. They all unanimously said they didn’t want anything to be done differently. One woman began telling us how Esperanza will give loans when the banks wouldn’t give them anything because they didn’t have any collateral. We asked many more questions about interest they pay on the loans (3%) and other such things that I cannot remember at the moment. After they took our questions we watched all the people begin their meeting. As you will see in the photo we were standing against the back wall. One important question was that Gary asked how many of the people at the meeting were the primary breadwinner in their family. At first only about three women raised their hands but one woman who was probably the oldest of them stood up proudly with her hand in the air. After she stood up there was a roar from the local group and they all raised their hands. Bear in mind that the group was made up of about 25 women. They are the ones who have taken the responsibility to make a job for them so they can bring food home to their families. It was a very powerful moment.
As their meeting began we saw each of the groups forming into smaller ones where the local members would exchange their checkbooks and make payments back to the loan officers. From this meeting we got back into our van driven by the talented Maximo who led us to the second meeting, which was in a small house. There were approximately 15 people at this meeting, which was completely packed. It was more of the same thing except this time I found myself outside the house looking through a window outside the back. My favorite part of this particular meeting was seeing a young child running around with a Nintendo DS (the modern Game Boy if you will)! He had the same one I had with me. It was very funny to me to see him running around. You can see a photo of him in the gallery below.
After the second meeting our group walked to see another client’s shop. This particular woman was selling beauty products. She sells shampoo, conditioner, and anti-frizz serum. Katie told us that she even uses tons of the anti-frizz stuff because the heat and humidity will wreck a woman’s hair. This business blew my mind. I am a graphic designer, my background is with print work and I know a few things about creating packaging for products. What makes my head explode is that this woman had bought packaging for her products, she then mixed up various ingredients and fruits to get the mixture she wanted using a blender, then poured these into a large bucket which had a valve and a PVC pipe that led the flow to what was a broken fridge. This fridge had been hollowed out and was equipped what I would describe as a flat iron that was connected to a foot switch. This woman would fill a long strip of packages up with her concoction and would then slide those through her heated device that would seal each bag. She would spend hours doing this each night to make large bags holding 40 of her small bags to sell to local Colmados. The small bags held 2 ounces of her products. She would sell these individually for 2 pesos each (1 Dollar is equal to roughly 30 pesos). In one week she would make approximately 6 – 8 bags in a week. Doing this she has made enough money to make a house for her family, clothe and feed them, and to send her children to school! This all began with a loan from Esperanza that she could have only gotten from loan sharks in her own area that would charge a terribly amount of interest.
From the beauty shop we headed to another Colmado where I tasted Malta. Peter claimed that it was like their version of root beer. Peter was wrong.
This next chapter is going to be long. If you read anything, read this chapter. I met a woman named Milan Tapia, she went from being in serious poverty to running a huge school named “Tu Hogar Cristano” which translates to “Your Christian Home”. This woman had almost nothing when she was younger. She was working as a seamstress at a local factory sewing the inside stitching of jeans. This factory was paying her less then she deserved and had to work very long shifts each day. She knew she could do better if she had her own sewing machine. After getting involved with Esperanza she bought a sewing machine and set off sewing clothing. During the day she would hear the local children getting into all kinds of mischief. On one particular day Milan saw them running around with knives and behaving poorly. Outside of her house she walked and told them to all come inside. She offered to feed them if they came in. Of course they took this offer! She began teaching them anything she knew and would cook for the children every day. This woman discovered that her calling was to teach the children who couldn’t afford to go to school. She kept doing this and took out loans to build onto her house so she could accommodate more people. Today her school is two stories tall, beautiful and educates 421 children every single day from Kindergarten through 5th Grade. These children get snacks, their uniforms are taken care of as well as many other required items that children would have to provide for themselves at other schools. It was amazing to hear this woman talk about how she went from having nothing to having the nicest school we saw where the kids could be educated and eat every day! This was a truly successful woman.
The story above should clearly prove that microfinance works! Through a series of tiny loans a local woman was able to establish a school that feeds and educates 421 children in the city of Hato Mayor. This exceeds any “hand out” opportunities because it enabled a local to establish her own school on her own property. These are just a few stories in one country where Hope International is currently working. They have programs in Haiti, China, The Democratic Republic of Congo, India and many other countries I can’t remember! This is the type of philanthropic work that is actually working.
The next biggest thing about microfinance is medical care. After the school we were taken to one of the clinics that Esperanza clients can bring their checkbook and get preventive medical care for free. I want to repeat that all they have to do is bring their checkbooks and they get free medical care. Women can get free pap smears as well. I’m not 100% understanding why that is such a big deal but Katie explained that is connected with the number one cause of death in women in the D.R. Now here is the kicker for me, for $1.50 a month, Esperanza clients and their family can get health care. I want to explain a little bit more about money in the D.R. so this completely makes sense. There is definitely an exchange rate between pesos and dollars however, a dollar pretty much is the same there as it is here. You will pay a dollar for a cold Coke. If you as an American citizen were living in the D.R. and you had an Esperanza loan, your healthcare a month would be $1.50. It would be the same cost as a Coke there! They have numerous doctors and psychologists on staff and a separate department for helping people with HIV and AIDS.
After visiting the clinic we walked down the road to the local beach where we saw a number of kids playing baseball and also saw local kids diving off a large rock structure. Three of our team even joined in with them! It was amazing seeing these kids do back flips so high off the ground. After a while the police showed up. I was very interested to see that their uniforms did not match. One officer was in a normal type uniform while wearing a Kevlar vest and the other was wearing military fatigues.
From the beach we walked back to the Kellog building. We ate dinner here and Katie explained how we could help. The main thing was to pray for them, tell more people about Hope International and what we saw and to support them with money. The most refreshing thing to me is that the money one pays to support Hope is invested in a different place then they already have work being done. When a bank is started and there are local loan officers, the original investment continues to work through all of the loans and the interest made pays the staff and allows the loan officers to give larger loans to people. By giving Hope money one is not just throwing money at a problem. Enough money is invested to start a bank in an area and to have a few loan officers take care of the business end. Each investment made after that funds a different program in a different area. But Hope is NOT only doing this work. This type of work is called Microfinance. Hope just happens to be the largest group doing this.
After dinner we went to a local baseball game. We saw the Estrellas, which are the local team to San Pedro play against a team I do not remember. But their jerseys were red. Justin, Katie’s husband, explained that more players from the Estrellas team enter the US MLB than anywhere else in the world! Once we hit half time we left to hit the sack.
On Day Three we went my father and I went to a resort not far from where we stayed. It was $50 a night so we thought it would be worth a shot. Let me tell you this was the worst idea. I wish we had just come home. The food was lousy. Now this could sound ignorant to someone but let me tell you, the LOCAL food was infinitely better then this “Americanized” buffet. Their cheeseburger looked like no meat I have ever seen and tasted like no meat I have EVER tasted. This is coming from a guy who is no stranger to McDonald’s and Wendy’s! We all know these two restaurants have burgers that are nothing like a “real” burger. Another down side to the resort was that there were NO towels to be found. That definitely inhibited our enjoyment of the artificial beach and the showers. On top of that they were doing construction work all over the resort. So we heard jackhammers and power saws from 8AM til 6PM. Don’t people go on vacation to escape this type of noise? I felt truly bad for the newlywed couple my Dad and I met on the beach. I also want to point out that during our journey we ONLY ran into one other white person in the D.R. This is NO exaggeration; evidently they had all been hiding out at the resort the entire time. Long story short, the resort was terrible, I am planning on making accounts on as many travel sites as possible to voice my opinion.
After our day at the resort to “relax” and think about everything we had seen we packed our things and began the journey back to the US. Our flight left around 3PM and we arrived in Miami sometime around 5PM and hung out there until 8PM to catch our flight to Greensboro NC. We didn’t arrive until 10PM. I can’t tell you how exhausted I was. There are a million stories about more difficult travel stories but I was done. I can’t tell you how badly I just wanted to lay down in a soft bed. The best part of being in my home state was being greeted by the most wonderful women in my life. I am so glad my Mom and lovely girlfriend were there to make me laugh and smile!
On a random note my appearance got some questionable attention overseas. During our journey children would come up to all of us either asking for food or just trying ot talk to us about what we were doing. I kept thinking I was hearing the word “Azul” when they were talking to. Imagine that being said with a thick accent. I was confused because I wasn’t wearing anything blue when they were talking to me. On the second day I finally heard a kid speaking a little slower. I was being addressed as “Jesus”, this information made me laugh pretty hard. Maximo also told us while we were at the ballgame that one small child went to him and asked, “Is he Jesus?” I was deeply amused to say the least.
Visiting the Dominican Republic was a very rewarding journey. I got to see a missions work that was not causing more problems then they were helping. I got to see Christians actually putting their money where their mouth was, while also making more of their money then some “NEW” building for their church. If you are interested in donating to them please visit this link. You can also find all kind of information about the organization at their official site. If you are truly interested in them make sure you sign up to go on one of their trips! You will be well cared for.
Remember: there are more photos in my Picasa photo album. You can find them by clicking HERE. If you took the time to actually read this then let me personally thank you! I also want to thank Tim for posting his photos on Picasa as well. You can find his photos HERE.