Many Needs.....

I was talking with someone this week about the obvious and many needs here in the Dominican Republic.  As we spoke I told him it is hard.  There are so many needs.  Sometimes helping actually hurts.  Kind of the like the sign at the duck pond, "Don't feed the ducks, because then the ducks can't feed themselves".  Handouts of food can give false hope to a family who waits on the next hand out without looking for work to help themselves.  There are many here that are making due.  Living off the $15 US dollars a day which is typical for work. They survive, their bellies are full, their pants are tight.  Rice is cheap, red beans add a little protein.  Chicken, beef or fish is a treat and only comes infrequently if at all.  Veggies and bread are plentiful and are available off many trucks and motos that drive around the villages.

I am reminded that if I have the means, then I should help.  Not just by a hand out, but by loving, sharing God's love and equipping.  In September  I met Carina and her four precious children.  She is Haitian and lives here in the Dominican in Boca Chica.  She had a husband, she had a house, she had a better life.  But her husband died and then a very short time later, her house burned to the ground, literally.  Life as she knew it was not the same.  She has no family here and her mother in law helps as much as she can with what little she has.  So she found a place to live, a one room apartment with a double bed for the 5 of them to sleep in, a chair and a table to hold the few possessions she has.  She asked how we could help her.  I can't help everyone but I can help the ones that pop in my face.

Carina and her 3 girls and little boy

This is what is left of Carina's house

I asked, "What does it mean to help?"  She has asked if I could build her a new house...like the one we just built for another family.  I explained to her that it wasn't me that built that house, but God provided the funding through people who loved Jesus and gave generously of their own money.  I told her it might be possible in the future to build her a home.

For now, I can hire her to clean my house and give her a little extra money each week.  Her little room that she has provided for her family costs a mere $20 US dollars a month and the little extra I give her is about $5 US dollars a week.  I could very easily give her the money each week and month, but I wanted to give her a feeling of providing for her family, for working for it.  I also give her a wonderful food product that we have from SERV International that gives her family the needed nutrients to fill their bellies.  Not all her kids like it, but hope they will learn to like it over time.  I dug through the kids drawers and gave her our access clothes.

I found out her kids were not in school.  Due to paperwork (which I don't really understand) issues they couldn't go to school and she didn't feel right about them walking across the busy highway to go to school.  I am sure she fears losing something more having them so far away and not close to her.  Miguel one of our Dominican friends took an interest in helping her and took her to numerous appointments to get the paperwork for them to go to school.  Took her to the fire station to get documentation that her house did indeed burn to the ground.  After a month or so, the paperwork was all in place and her four children were ready to go to school.  The next week she came to my house with a list of all the things the kids would need to go to school.  Uniforms, backpacks, shoes, tennis shoes, notebooks, pencils, etc.  So Mike and Miguel took her to the store with all the kids.  I wasn't home so I didn't get to see it, but I would have loved to see it!  Her little boy who is 5 I think loved riding in Mike's truck.  Later he told Mike, "I don't have a daddy" and Mike responded back with "Neither do I, but I have a Father in Heaven who loves me very much, and He loves you too!"  Momma responded with "Amen" and he just had a look of surprise on his little face.

Today when I picked her up, always with a smile on her face, I asked if everything was OK with the kids and their new school.  She said they don't have the money that they need to pay for the school each month.  Ok, so how much is that I asked?  Public school is free but they are not at a private school.  It is by no means a private school, but a school that you do have to pay.  It is about $50.00 a month for all 4 kids.  We are personally helping a lot of other ministries here and doing what we can to help those in need.  We sponsor a little girl, Rosaly in an orphanage in Boca Chica, here in the Dominican.  We sponsor a man in the Amazon who is spreading the love of Jesus there.  We help our friends in the inner city of Atlanta serving with FCA.  We still have a Compassion child in Africa that we have had for years.

So here is where I ask for your help!  Are there 2 people who can help sponsor Carina's family at $25 each?  Or someone who can do the whole thing?  Is someone looking for a family to sponsor for the holidays?  Is there someone that wants to spearhead raising money to build her a new house?  She owns her property, so we would need labor to help and money for materials.  Could you help raise $10,000?  I can hook you up with SERV International who can facilitate it for you.  Save her picture, print it out, and put it on your fridge so you can remember to pray for her and her children or see where God is leading you to help.

Email me at jodilynne21 at gmail or leave a comment here.

There are MANY other needs here that I know of, so if you are lead to help, get in touch with me and I can tell you what the needs are.  Have a heart for women?  There are prostitutes who are off the streets and need sponsoring.  Or a heart for kids?  There are orphanages, a boy's home, or a day care that need people to sponsor their kids.


Hebrews 13:16
And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

In His Grip and Loving His People,

Jodi Shaheen