"What can we do to help you?"

Whenever I go on one of these trips, I inevitably ask this question. I think Diane always cringes a little bit when I return, or when she sees an e-mail from me. I can imagine her thoughts must be how much do we need to raise? Charlie (Carlos) beat me to it this time. Before I even had the words out, he was asking Denise how we could help at the San Pedro project in the town of La Romana. I thought, wow, I have competition now!

Denise had explained earlier in the day to us that there are really two educational tickets out of poverty in the Dominican Republic, English and computer technology. This project, in the poor bario of La Romana is doing both. 5 days per week this project is packed full of over 70 children who are so eager to learn how to speak English and work on computers. While we were there we listened to the children proudly sing "Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to us. They drew pictures labeling the eyes, ears, nose and mouth and competed for our attention to show us their work. It is so insipring to watch these children, and many children, appreciate the education they are receiving. For many of these children, this few hours, twice per week stuffed into this cramped and hot classroom, is the only education any of them are receiving. In the DR, like so many other countries, if you cannot afford a school uniform, you do not go to school. There is no such thing as public school that everyone, regardless of economic status, can attend. A school uniform in the DR usually costs around $50.

So, Charlie asked, and the answer to our question was computers. This program was able to get 7 computers donated. 6 of those computers are older than me, Charlie and Nicole combined. OK, they are not that old, but they were basically the first 6 computers ever made. One was working. They only need to learn basic skills on these computers, such as Word, Powerpoint and if they are lucky, Excel. The simple knowledge of knowing how these programs work can increase their chances of a better job, or any job, dramatically.

I have always been moved by the selfless nature of so many of the Dominican people. Most of the projects I visited while in this country started because someone in the community in which they exist saw a problem and simply did something about it. They simply refused to sit idly by. Many of these projects exist, or began in someone's home. Someone simply opened up their home to the street children, or the abandon children, or the uneducated children, or the women who were wondering the community with few places to turn except to prostition. Imagine having to settle for selling your body in order to feed your children. Or, imagine being taken and forced into this line of work. This is exactly what happened with the program functioning to keep young girls out of prostition and to help those who have already been through this. A woman in the community of La Romana opened her home to these young girls and women. She brings them into her house and teaches them to sew on her sewing machines and how to cook on her stove. She uses her own money and resources to keep this program functioning so that the women of La Romana can end the cycle of poverty and seek a dignified means of employment.
This is the 3rd time I have been to the DR, and the 5th time I have been out of the country. Each time (except this last one when Charlie beat me to it :) ) I have asked, "What can we do to help you?" The second time I asked this back in 2006, Be the Change Foundation was born out of the questiSon and answer! So, before leaving for the DR this time, I kind of figured the same would happen so I did my best to plan for that in advance! In all, a total of roughly $800 was donated to the Be the Change Foundation specifically for the Dominican Republic. We purposely did not just take that money with us to spend down there just on items for the children. Rather, it was held here, so that when I went down and said "What can we do to help you?" there was already a way to pay for the answer :) So, before we left we purchased some needed office supplies for one of the projects. These are helping them to maintain an office on sight and it helps so much with child sponsorship, which is what keeps projects running, and in turn keeps children educated and fed. The remainder of the money we have will be split between the children's project and the women's project in La Romana. The children's projects will be getting some new computers. The project working with the women will be receiving a new stove. The old one is now broken and one of the skills these women are learning is how to cook and bake.
We are so thankful to each one of you who helps to make the work of Be the Change possible. Please know that YOU are making a difference.