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DONATIONS SENT TO GOOD SAM AS OF

June  2010

$100,150

THANK YOU!!

2010 Planned Tours

LINKS:

LA Romana Dreamin

Wallingford DR Team

Circle of 12

HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY

The most important thing in the world to all of us is our kids.  And next is the way they get to grow up and especially their education.  You know that the learning start they get will play the most important role in their lives and you are willing to sacrifice what is needed to ensure their training.

As you travel the cultures between the first world and the third world everything changes.  That is everything except the love parents have for their children and the dreams they have for their future.  Another thing that’s pretty universal is everyone will take advantage of you if they can.  The best weapon against being taken advantage of is knowledge.  Knowledge gained through education.

When Jean Luc arrived in La Romana over thirty years ago one of the first things he found was the sugar cane cutters were being cheated.  People earning less than $2.00 a day were being taken advantage of because they didn’t know any better.  That was the day education began in the bateys.

The opportunity for education today has greatly improved over those early days but it still is available to less than three out of every five children.  There are a combination of church run and state run schools and each have advantages and disadvantages.  The church run schools are expensive to operate but are open to all.  The state run schools are open to those that can afford the price of a pair of shoes and the school uniform.

There are not enough classrooms for all those of school
age, but for those that can attend, their education has allowed them to leave the primitive life of the batey and enter the work force in the cities.  This may sound like a simple act but, it is a life changing event that breaks the circle of poverty and abject slavery.