Moving Day

We are moving back in, to start school on Monday! I'm sorry to say that the school renovation is still not finished. But we cannot delay any longer. There have been several promised deadlines, each one arriving with an excuse for why the school is not finished. 

On the bright side, the school is very nearly finished. In fact, it could easily be finished with a week of concentrated effort. But that seems unlikely. Instead, it may drag out over several more weeks or months. 

What is lacking now are mostly the finishing touches. The walls are all up, but not painted. The electrical wiring is in, but the outlets and lights are not yet installed. The bathrooms are ready for the installation of the sinks and toilets. The septic tank has been built, but not closed. There are new floors all over, but the edges aren't yet finished, and they must be gone over with a machine that will sand them down. The courtyard hasn't been done at all. The new roofs, many of the new doors and most of the windows are in.

What we'll be doing is going back to limited classroom space, to allow them to finish off rooms, and then moving into finished rooms as they become available, so they can finish the rooms we are using.

The children are very excited, after the seemingly interminable wait. 

Once again we will be limited to mornings only, while the construction goes on, but will switch to a full day as soon as they finish.

Please pray with us, that we will stop hearing excuses and soon see the work finished up!

During this unwanted break, we spent many, many hours training our teachers. I'm confident that we have some of the best teachers of the deaf in the whole country! They are dedicated Christians, creative, enthusiastic, and excellent teachers. The school is blessed to have them.

They are all looking forward to getting back into the classroom on Monday.

Meet Sofia

When the earthquake in Haiti happened, our students were still on break. Most go "home" to the countryside where many  of their relatives still reside. Sofia also went home--to the capital of Haiti, to visit her father.  Sofia is a new student of ours. She had only been with us a month or so when Christmas vacations started.

We are happy to report that Sofia is now safe and sound. The fifteen year old was in her father's house in Port au Prince when the earthquake happened. A few younger children (relatives) were at home with her at the time. She quickly got everyone out of the house, before it collapsed.

Her mother, back in the DR was frantic. She went to Haiti and spent eight days searching for her child, even checking corpses in the street before she found her, alive and well, although a bit skinnier.

We would appreciate your prayers for Sofia, that the Lord will help her, and help her family as well, to deal with the trauma of what  they have just passed through. We are so relieved to know that she is okay.

Not quite ready

The construction is moving along. We are hoping for the beginning of February, and it is looking like it may be possible--at least if they continue to work the way they are doing now. The main structures are up on added classrooms and bathrooms, there are new roofs where they were needed, and floors and windows are being installed. There is still plenty to do. Will it be done on time?

Meanwhile, the teachers come to my house for more training. Today each teacher signed up for an email account and learned how to send and receive email. Apart from Sign Language and Cued Spanish, and getting familiar with teaching materials, we've been working on basic computer skills--simple things like turning the computer on and off, opening a program, and cutting and pasting in a word processor. Even though all of the teachers are currently in college, or have graduated from college, they are not computer literate. Imagine it! But they don't have a lot of access to computers. Once the school is renovated, we'll be able to use the computer occasionally, when we have electricity. Usually that is a few hours in the morning.

We know the kids are as anxious to get back as we are. We are all missing each other. Such a long break is often a setback for children new to language. They revert back to home sign, and must be retaught. They usually pick it up a little faster the second time around.  It's also a setback to the teachers who were not fluent in Sign at the beginning of the year.  They all need that daily practice to maintain and develop their skills.

Blessings!

Our neighbor

In response to several inquires, here is short summary of what happened yesterday: Our neighbor, Haiti, as you know, had a serious earthquake. It was felt here in Santo Domingo, as tremors, and we had a brief tsunami watch. The tsunami did not materialize, thankfully. To the best of my knowledge, the Dominican Republic had no earthquake damage, although the quake was felt more strongly on the border areas than in Santo Domingo.


Ten percent of the population here is Haitian, so you can imagine that there is a lot of concern for relatives. 

According to our local news sources, the Domincan Republic is sending aid (water purifiers, search dogs, workers), and receiving patients from Haiti for treatment here, notably injured UN workers.

Back to school...school recognized.

Kings Day is over and Dominican children have received their gifts and had a few days to play with them. The long Christmas season will be winding down over the next couple of weeks. It's Dominican winter, and although the mid-day sun is still scorching most days, the evenings are very pleasant.

We had hoped to be back to school mid-January, but the construction is not going to be finished by then. It's looking more like February. We are asking the builders to finish off at least a couple of classrooms for our use by next week, but not sure if that will happen yet.

Since most schools only have classes three to four hours daily, and our class hours are extended, we can make up the time needed to satisfy the requirements of the Secretary of Education. But we would like to get going ASAP, and would appreciate your prayers for us on this point. Meanwhile, we will be concentrating on teacher training.

Most Dominican students will be returning to school this coming Monday.

The school has finally received the code that proves it is recognized by the State. It took us about four years to get through the process! Thank you to those who prayed with us for this. We know that it is truly the Lord who saves us, and despite opposition and obstacles, he is able, and got us through this.  Now we are asking the government to pay teacher salaries. This could take years, although they are able to do it any time they want. It's a very political process. Pray that the Lord will give us favor with the officials, and will remove those who are our enemies without cause, who seek to block this work at every turn.

In local news, the price of gas has gone up, and public transportation cars and buses are trying to raise their prices by 25%. This kind of situation usually means a series of transportation strikes that shut down the country, and can be violent.  A strike was called for today.

We are looking forward to what the Lord will do in 2010. Please stand with us in prayer for the deaf children, for their understanding of the gospel, their commitment to Jesus, and that they will grow in wisdom and knowledge of the Lord this year.

Adios 2009

Yesterday we finished up the 2009 part of our school year.  You may notice that it is rather early yet. The construction workers that are renovating the site asked us to give them some extra time, extending the break somewhat, so that they can finish by mid-January.  It's been difficult for them having to watch out for kids on their construction site, and difficult for us as well.  The director agreed to an extra week.

School days required by the education department will not be a problem, since we will be returning to all day classes, rather than just the state required morning or afternoon session.

We ended the week with the traditional party. There were crackers, salami, cheese, and candies for all, and the children played party games. Everyone enjoyed the free time together with friends.

Assuming that the construction is finished on time--and we have no guarantees-- the students will be going back mid-January. We would appreciate your prayers that there will be no delays in getting started again.

¡Feliz Navidad!

More construction and reminiscing; thankfulness

Having school in the middle of a construction site isn't easy.  We are so looking forward to January. We've been assured by mid-january we will be in our renovated classrooms. We sure hope so!

School is almost finished for 2009, and we have much to be thankful to God for. We are very thankful for children who have come to know Jesus. We also are thankful that we are able to play a part in the lives of children who come to us with little or no language. It is a blessing to be able to participate in the wonder of their first language.

I'm reminded of Meriluz. A few weeks ago I ran across a video from a couple of years ago, when she was just beginning school. Each child at the table would look at the video and spell their name. When it came to Meriluz, she just "spelled" about ten random letters. She knew it was something to do with letters that everyone was doing, but didnt quite understand just what it was.

I showed her the video.  "I didn't know!" she signed, laughing uproariously. She has come so far in such a short time.

Then there is Bryan. He is not only deaf, he is autistic, and cannot walk unaided. When he first came to us a few years back, his response to just about everything was violence. Whatever you handed him he would throw. He completely avoided looking directly at anyone. He wanted nothing but to roll around on the floor. Now he puts puzzles together, participates in many class activities, and is even using a little sign language. His communication has improved tremendously.  He spends a lot more time upright, walking while hanging on to whatever is at hand. Today he will look you in the eyes, for increasingly longer times, give you a big smile or a hug or stroke your arm affectionately. What a difference!

We are thankful for Vision Trust who has stood with us, contributing to the support base needed to run a school, and standing with us in prayer, and many other ways.

We are thankful for teachers. God has sent us quite an amazing group. Just the fact that they have stuck with us through the tremendous inconveniences of construction--like over 80 people sharing a single bathroom (with no running water), and their classroom space being condensed more and more almost weekly--shows they have a real heart for these students.

And we are thankful for you too, for your prayers, your encouragement, and your participation.

We will be finishing up school one week early for the Christmas break, at the request of the construction crew. Making up the time will not be difficult as post-construction we will return to a full school day, while most schools have only a half a day. From now till then, we will be in increasingly worse conditions due to the construction, so keep us in your prayers.