Dominica CV 

                 Visits                                     Operation Cost 
                Fundraising 2004                 Fundraising 2003               Fundraising 2001/2002

Donate Now    Levee de Fonds ici

9/5/05: Dominica received nice checks from Andy and his friends.  She will be able to buy food for one month for 15 children removed from the program in January; and put 4 windows in the orphanage/dining room part and buy books etc... for a few orphans who have no sponsors. Also finish the last payment on the jeep and maybe get 2 tires (she needs 4) as one exploded last week. What a nice surprise.
Now she is looking for an inverter to put on the orphanage side as electricity is often cut in the middle of the class and children get frustrated, or they have to eat in the dark. Cost $2,500 plus batteries. A check has been announced for that amount. Let's keep our fingers crossed and Dominica would like to keep those 15 fed for another month, and maybe feed more food to the current 33 who often leave the table still hungry.
Thanks to the generosity of the New Yorkers. I also am shipping 6 computers via Amanda making a special trip of 3 days just to deliver the goods (210 lbs) and meet the children for 3 days. Alain is bringing another 70 lbs next week. I might also have 2 friends going on the 19th who will take hopefully 4 more computers. Things are moving. Good.

8/17: Dominica is happy because VIRUS out oil I sent last week is helping a LOT the children who were sneezing, with running nose etc.- and all the symptoms of meningitis. AND... There is a wonderful doctor who is now in La Urena with his wife and a mini clinic for emergency, the Foundation de Dios para la Salud,  (Click for the wish list) but they need lots of equipment and products from Oxygen tank and nebulizer to inverter and ambulance. They already start helping with essential oils to their patients, as they see the results. I will soon post a list of their  needs.
Also, she has 37 children taking 1 hour computer class every day and they absolutely love it. She would love to receive the 11 computers I have here. We need a free shipment to D.R.!!!
Also if someone can gift her an inverter, she needs one for her home so she has access to internet on a regular basis. Electricity is better, but still not normal. If you have a camera to spare, she will send us more pictures.
She needs 10 pairs of tennis shoes (size 7, 8 and 9) for our teenagers.
As far as clothes, she has 2 new 3 year old: Daniela and Sebastian, same size of clothes as David. Then 7 children  5 years old; and 16 from age 6 to 9. Yulissa and 9 graduates from the 7th grade will go to school nearby and Dominica will pay 400 pesos each for their nearby school. The rest will continue to be done at the orphanage.  Marie

8/1: Nathalie, 6, sold lemonade on her block for Dominica and the orphans. She collected $23 in one hour. She obviously has the gift and devotion of her grand father Alain! She plans to do it again at her pool.

Bravo nathalie.

7/31: There is now meningitis around la Urena. Alain is bringing lots of oils like virus or spinal Cleanse and immune up to help protect the children AND adults. There were already 2 deaths.  
8/5 "I Fed Ex'd a total of $1,000 in checks made payable to the Dominica Orphanage yesterday.  Hopefully, she will have those funds on Friday. We do have a friend who is having

"t-shirts made for all of the children at the orphanage.  The shirts should be ready next week and we will do our best to get them down before school begins in September. 
    These funds are to be used to repair the chairs and desks, paint the school, repair the roof, and purchase the pants for the children.  I hope that we have already donated enough shoes so that all the children can have new shoes when school begins.
 I am working on a possible donation of food products for the school children.  I am asking for the rice, beans, milk, etc., to be donated on a regular basis.  It will take some time but the request in is the process.  I know that your prayers will see that this is done - so it is.
One friend also desires to sponsor a child.  They will be traveling to the Dominican later this year and will visit the school.  I know that she is already gathering toothbrushes, etc., from her friends to carry to the school.  Every little bit helps and I give thanks to the Lord for these donations. Jean Dye"
 
7/13 "Dear Marie: What a blessing the children are to me!  I am honored to know them and the wonderful work that Dominica is doing with them.  I wish that I was a rich woman so that I could build the new addition for the children to sleep at the school.  I believe in my heart that within a year that can also be accomplished with some help from some friends.  We'll keep that in our prayers for the children. 
Thank you again for encouraging me to come to visit you at the school.  People ask me why I am working with a school which is so far from La Romana.  My response is that there are many rich people in Casa de Campo to help the children in La Romana.  There are fewer people to help the children at Dominica's.   
From the depths of my heart, thank you again for getting me out of the walls of Casa de Campo and into the hearts of these children. Much love and blessings, Jean Dye"
 
Honor student in 2005 with Dominica and Gayle

Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2005 3:54 PM

Subject: Latest needs
From: Domínica Rubanessa Rosario

"We had the visit of Mr. Alain three days ago. It is always good to see him. We received a suitcase full of sowing material !! The girls from that class are so happy. The class was getting frustrated for the very little material that they had. They all are very excited cutting and sewing two hours each day. He also brought money for food.
The money collected for  P. B. 's birthday was close to $5,000 thousand dollars, and it was God sent, alleluia. We were able to pay some of our old food debts,  the liquidation of the year salary for the teachers, to buy extra FOOD for some of the kids that were not receiving their meals in our dinning project. We want to offer them a meal for a month with this special gift. We save also some to buy text books and  towards repairs of  both facilities. There are a LOT of things that have been covered with this unexpected donation. This is what we need, funds to help support and continue this labor of love. Please, Marie extend our gratitude formally to Ms. Jean Dye.
 Thanks for checking upon us.  Last hurricane was a lot of rain, but minor destruction, mainly the shanti of the very poor floated away.
 
Out of the 300 children who finished school year, only 14 have to repeat their grade (4 of them are abandoned children). The New school year starts September 5th. The children that are repeating grades, are having learning problems. The children from the orphanage are our main focus since they are the ones who carry more emotional problems. We just got a psychologist that is working straight with them and we can see  great improvements.
 
Updated list of OUR CURRENT NEEDS August 05:
 
1.  We still wish for a commitment from generous persons  interested in  feeding the children on a monthly basis in order to free my mind and concentrate more on the current problems of the orphanage/school. $1,000/month so we can keep feeding 50 kids instead of the current 33.
 
2. Shoes (tennis especially) for children 9 to 17 (size 6-10) and 6 more pairs for younger ones.  THANKS TO Mr. & Mrs. DYE  and their friends, we received shoes for THE KIDS FROM 3 TO 8 YEARS OLD. Also needed towels, bathing suits etc !!!
Right: David, Luandry, Francisco eating

 Dominica has 17  orphans  in Plan D = pay 0. 
  • 34 children whose relatives pay 100 pesos ($3.5) when they get a job. that is. Plan C.
    26 children pay 200 to 300 pesos in Plan B when parent work therefore have the money. Many times they are three months behind and it is very  hard for us to operate.
  • 200 students pay between 3 and 400 pesos ($11-$14)

With these tuitions and the private students (33 paying 700 pesos), we pay 10 teachers a psychologist and a bookkeeper, a cook, a lady who give baths to the children and wash their laundry. That is why, most of the time we go beyond our budget. And we cannot raise tuition as we would loose too many poor children. So if we were receiving full amount each month, our income would be close to $100,000 pesos. When the end of the month come and we do not have these tuitions to pay the salaries of our workers and teachers, who are a group of humbles and have their families to feed and care for, then, they have to wait until we collect that money to pay them. Some of them are very nice and understand that the place that they work is an orphanage and school, different from other schools, and they are very patient. But some do not understand  well and they are the first to be paid. So it is a struggle every month to make ends meet.

 
3.  $25,000 US to add a dormitory upstairs for boys as we have 4 right now sleeping on mattress in the dining room since they have no place to live, AND one for girls with separate entrance. This will include: roof,  floor, windows, doors, plaster, and an emergency toilet.
It would cost about $ 13,000 US if we start with  ONE dormitory only.

4. A 6 kilos diesel generator so the refrigerator can be used permanently and it could be used for both school and orphanage. Approximate cost $4,000 + fuel expenses.

We visualize with joy and passion all this happening for our children.

Thank you for helping any way you and your friends can. God bless you". Dominica

 

Some now sleep on the floor (Jorge &  Emmanuel, 11,  Carlos, 12 & Mailon, 9, as they have nowhere to go

Alain took some kids to the Aquarium, I recognize David, Francisco, Peña, Luandry

 7/4/05: Yesterday,  I met with Ms. Jean Dye and two of her friends who were so nice to us. Antonio, Athenas, Armando and Peña went with me. We had a very good lunch at her villa and we were allowed to get into the pool!! These children came back so happy, telling all the children back here. We were really impressed with all the beautiful things we saw in Casa de Campo. They treat us like kings and queens !! They had a 50th birthday for Jean Dye's husband and he asked his friends not to bring gifts for him and bring them for the children instead. It was so nice and it is a real blessing for him to have done that. His friends brought many new shoes, some school material, vitamins for the kids and some cash. Isn't that nice?? Please, tell her that we were so blessed by the wonderful treat that she gave to the 4 children and myself. I am no used to have those kind of good treatment and it was for me like a teacher gift for the end of school. She is committed to us and this is the most important part Marie. Mucho amor en Jesus" Dominica

7/3/05 Latest Update - $2,000 is a lot of money to raise every month for food and July is only partly covered by Alain with $1500 (He is busy and has little time to devote to fundraising), and Dominica still needs help to feed the most hungry children (38 who have nowhere to go during vacation). And there is still this old food debt ($4,000) at 10% interest a month ($400). So whatever you can give is most welcome to get Dominica back on track. Thank YOU!
Latest email from Dominica:

Dear Marie,
You call to the orphanage yesterday and I just left 7 minutes when you called. Please, I have a new number of my cell phone that I carry with me all the time now. It is 809-891-9030 you can call me at any time. Please, try to do the wire today. I just have beans, the rice is all gone and I need to buy some vegetable for the kids. It will be a blessing, like always.
 Let me tell you that your friend Jean Dye is bringing a Magician to do a show for our children this week. She is here in Casa de Campo and wants to make the children happy after a hard year of school. 
We are getting ready for the graduation this Saturday. 32 children/teens are ready to come out of the darkness and they are coming into the light since they are able to write and read and resolve Math problems !!!! We are so happy to have this many capable to do this necessary skill for their lives.
We will have English class and computer too. We have 23 computers running but are missing 4 monitors. 
keep writing to me and a lot a hugs and kisses from the children and I, Domínica

PHONE NUMBER FOR THE SCHOOL: 1-809-335-6154  (am best) & 335-6719 ( the orphanage building, afternoon best time) Dominica cell: 809-891-9030.

Checks made out to City of Joy Aid are tax deductible (Id # 54-1566941). Send them to 7419 Lisle Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22043, mentioning Dominica.  Thank you.

For those looking for Dominica school and orphanage, here is the address:

Estrella del Oriente - La Urena - Autopista Las Americas Km 19 - Santo Domingo

which means that it is 19 km from downtown Santo Domingo, and 8 or 9 from the SD airport. It is about 1 mile inland from the autopista. Call first and Dominica can give you directions or help out.

Punta Cana is NE, about 3.5 hours away (good roads though) and La Romana is less than 2 hours away, East.

 

5/05/05: We have a true angel for Dominica and the children in the name of Alain. In January he decided to help Dominica and get some food for the children. He organized the fund raising below and has been extremely successful at it. So far Dominica was able to feed 24, then 30 and now 32 children, the most in need. And there is 3 months worth in the bank. This allows Dominica to sleep a little better.

Thanks also to Jean Dye and her friends, we were able to erase the $1,000 due to Arphenio Olevarria and help take care of urgent needs (sick and hungry kids, car etc). Alain is bringing another $500 to start paying back Elena and Meese Peralta Duran who are asking 10% A MONTH interest on 100,000 pesos loan, about $4,000. Dominica has been paying about $400 a month that should have been spent on feeding her kids.

So if you feel moved, please send to City of Joy Aid (tax deductible) or Dominica directly. Every little bit help. Alain is going to see Dominica to morrow with 2 more computers and an old laptop and 100 lbs of clothes. All work and she is excited. So talk to your friends and do a fund raising around you to help Dominica get back on her feet. THANK YOU. Marie, the school angel!

 4/13/05  Dominica needs urgently donations to eliminate some "nasty" loans taken between May and November/December 04 before she could find families to feed the kids she could no longer help:
 
    a) Arphenio Olevarria was originally a 30,000 pesos loan WITH a 5% interest A WEEK.  This is PURE ROBBERY = 20%/month = 240% interest a year. UNREAL
Thanks to Jean you could pay back 18,000 pesos last week
and I am wiring you another $500 to pay this LOAN IN FULL
 
    b) a couple to whom you borrowed 100,000 pesos with 10% INTEREST PER MONTH. Another robber. That is roughly $4,000 that need to be paid back as soon as possible. You pay 2,500 pesos a month in interest alone.
 
    c) your car is next $500/month, due on the 28th and it is also high on the list since you have only 8 months to pay, and the car company would be too happy to repossess it again. That jeep is a must for you to function.
 
d) Last loan to repay to a foundation linked to a supermarket: 45,000 pesos, roughly $1800, who thank God, is not asking for interest!
 
2)  your personal rent of $200 since Patrizia is no longer there to share that expense. You are 2 months behind.
 
Now as you said, these keep your hair white and are the cause for your stress and  lack of sleep. No wonder!  So I am going to ask again for more help so we get you back on track. And NO MORE LOANs, as you promised!
 
TODAY I got 13 more computers for you, 1 fax and 3 printers. You seem to say that the room can take another 6/7 but we need to replace 5 Pentium II  and have extras for exchange with monitors. We need time to fix them AND find a transport to the D.R.
AM SO GLAD THAT 18 are currently running for 7 hours/day. Bravo.
 
Of course you want another inverter for the orphanage side, but it is not on my current list as those loans are, I think, a priority and with Alain helping with the current food needs, extra donations can go towards erasing these debts. Am glad you currently have enough food to feed the 30 kids till May 10 or so, thanks to Jean and Alain. Below is the lovely flyer Alain created. Pass it around to your friend. Thank You. Marie

3/26/05 A SPRING TIME CALL FOR FOOD

40 children have had to leave the program because of the shortage of funds. Alain comes in as a kid angel. His fundraising efforts already brought in $3,000. Our goal is to reach $30,000. Can you please get the word out? Here is his lovely flyer.

2/18/05: Here is the latest news from Dominica, she had to cut the food program from 69 children to 24!! And 2 meals a day only. A bag of rice costs about 1200 pesos for 200lbs, but she was using 25lb, now only 9lb per day. The beans cost 2000 pesos for 20lbs and she needs 5 lb/day. Plus the $ is now only 24 pesos (it was 29 at Christmas) so less money for Dominica. She kept the kids that would not eat if she were not there. And she let go the ones she found an aunt or grand parent to help.

 
 

Dearest Marie.... How are you? Hope you can are in the best of health. Everything is going well except that I had to cut off most of the children from the food program. We had around 64 and we reduced to 28. It  happened three weeks ago. We told these little children that we will be praying and that their tia Marie is going to help them and let the people know about this. Please, We would like to give some credit to theJihad family that came from Canada on the 24th of December and allow our circle of women in crisis and the orphans to have a decent dinner for that special occasion. They present new blouses and some perfumes and shirts for the big boys. It was such a wonderful time that they gave to our people. The name of the gentleman is Jihad and his lovely wife is Alma and their three wonderful teenagers who spent time with the children and made them the happiest children. Mr. Jihad has also being involved with fixing  leaks in the roof and other emergencies. We thank him and hope he will continue his support and God bless him and his family for all their generosity.
Bad news. Patrizia had to go back to Spain. We pray that she may return soon as I miss her help and presence. Much love." Dominica

I hear the computer class is rolling. An average of 1.5 hours per day. We just sent $ to buy 4 more batteries, about 3000 pesos each. The inverter is working but it is still not enough to have 6 hours class per day, but we are getting there! For more pictures of my January trip click here: http://www.4dshift.com/BEST04/05Photos.htm

PHONE NUMBER FOR THE SCHOOL: 1-809-335-6154  (am best) & 335-6719 ( the orphanage building, afternoon best time)

Checks made out to City of Joy Aid are tax deductible (Id # 54-1566941). Send them to 7419 Lisle Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22043, mentioning Dominica.  Thank you.

 
Finally pictures of the computer room. Dominica & Patrizia and some eager students!

      

12/04/04: Mission accomplished. the 18 computers are in Dominica's hands. I had to exchange 10 of them for 15 monitors but the lovely room is totally equipped. The inverter functions but Dominica needs $250 to secure it in its local so it does not get stolen and $360 for 6 more batteries (the inverter can take up to 16). Students are in heaven and classes should start officially soon. So we have 20 totally operative and Dominica asked for 12 more as there are room for 32 students but she needs another row of support AND SOME 32 seats or benches (about $400) That is it. Oh no, we also need to have access to Internet as Dominica's subscription is at her home. I would suspect another $4 to $500/year, then we are going to be able to receive letters and thanks from the students!

       

 

  Now, I also brought 150 lbs of clothes donated and Christine kindly brought a suitcase filled with 31 pairs of shoes and a fax machine. On the 30th I bring 140 more and Alain Franques another 70lb! We also need to hook the 3 printers Lexmark. Here are the many hands hoping to get some clothes. I was missing age 5 to 10, especially underwear.

Dominica is an AMAZING woman, after picking me up at Jet Blue flight (who donated the space for our 11 boxes, thank you!) at 4:00 am, she had to get up at 6:00 to lead a women in crisis meeting! And the week before she organized a march against violence in La Urena with 3,200 participants and TV coverage too, as one mother asking the husband $ for diapers for the baby got killed by him. So Dominica would appreciate a donation of a PA system so she (or church people etc) can speak to large groups.  I checked some of them cost around $1500!!

She also has a bible class, right now on the ground, because of the lack of space!  

But there is more to Dominica, she feeds, clothes, educate 5 retarded kids and a Junior Payan with hair lip (already 2 operations) here he is.  And my real joy was to meet David, 4, a midget who is no taller than 2, but a strong scorpio boy who is singing all the time and leads the meditation group. He and is sister were abandoned by their mom 4 months ago.  He is so wonderful and super smart. He is in kindergarden. I took him to the beach with Pena and Gorge, what a delight for them, AND me!     

   

here is the list of what we need urgently for this orphanage/school  for our daily work updated on 2/18/05.

 1- Tennis shoes are a big problem for us. All sizes, from  3 years old to size # 11 (adults). 
 2- Shampoo, hairbrush and combs, Deodorants,
3- embroidering material and strings for the girls to sow. 
4- Bras for The 11 to 15 year old girls.
5- 1 inverter for our 21 computers and monitors and more batteries too ($80 each) We have 12 and need 8 more!
6. plastic chairs for all the congregation service (children & adults), around 300 at about $5 ea.
7- Vitamins for children and adults.
8- 7 Erasers for blackboard. $ for String Note Books. Still kids without notebooks in the classrooms.
9- a Public Address system so we can be heard when we have service, bible class or a peace march.. A good one costs new $700!.
10-.some sponsors to feed our kids and pay their tuition ($35 to $100 ea)
11- Two boom boxes for the classrooms with CD players. $100 each in D. R.
13. And of course $$$ to feed our now 28 children since the Dallas church stopped its monthly support after building the new facility across our school (with kitchen, dining room, showers etc).
14. A generator so we can operate the computer room, sowing machine etc  when electricity is not coming (VERY OFTEN nowadays) minimum $2,000
15. $ towards the buying of the jeep $400/month for another 15 months
17. and of course we want to dream about building more classrooms upstairs (about $7 to $10,000 ea)

And a few needing a sponsor Francisco, Jusdin     

 Loandry, Daniel, 14   

          Marcos & Jaset, 6

 

CONGRATULATION, WE RAISED $4,200 (cash and in-kind) for the kids Christmas 03 and construction - Bravo.

PHONE NUMBER FOR THE SCHOOL: 1-809-335-6154  (am best)

Checks made out to City of Joy Aid are tax deductible (Id # 54-1566941). Send them to 7419 Lisle Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22043, mentioning Dominica.  Thank you.

 
Fundraising 2005  Fundraising 2004 - Fundraising 2003 Fundraising 2001/2002