Adopt a Student

Hi Family and Friends!

A few weeks ago, Krista, the director and founder of our school, told us that there were still 19 students at Doulos who needed sponsors. Our school is unique in that, even though it is a private school and students pay tuition, half of the students who would otherwise not have the opportunity to have a private education because of the cost, are able to because of private sponsors and donors. Ever since Krista made this announcement at one of our staff meetings, I have been wondering if any of those students were in my class. Finally yesterday I emailed her, and found out that there are 3 students in my class who do not have fully committed sponsors. 

Robbie and I have talked about this and want to present it to you, in case you are interested in sponsoring a student in my class. We are being sponsored by many supporters so that we can live, teach, and serve here, and we don't want anyone to feel obligated by this opportunity. We think that one of the coolest things about "adopting" a child in this way, is that we can make sure that if you write letters or send packages they get hand delivered. We would also love to host you at our home here, if you were to want to visit your sponsor child!

There are a few options for sponsorship: full and half, each is for a full year commitment. A full sponsorship is for $100 a month (for a full year), a half sponsorship is for $50 a month (for a full year). For more detailed information, go to the Doulos Website: www.ddsdr.org or www.doulosdiscovery.org and click on "Get Involved"-->"Student Sponsorship." You can email us, or contact the school, if you are interested.

Have a great night!

Love,

Meghan and Rob

Meet Killer

The ferocious beast.

I introduce to you Killer, the small child eating, ferocious beast-of-a-dog, that we walk past every day on our way to school. At first we didn't know that Killer lived at this house and guarded its gates...until the one fateful day we were walking by, and all of a sudden I looked at it. Mistakenly I looked at it in the eyes. My bad. The dog let out some powerful barks, and charged the "fence" flooding my mind with memories from my childhood of being terrified of large dogs. (I think I had a small heart attack). Well, thanks to Killer, those fears are now a reality...AGAIN! Apparently, Killer is not afraid of the barbed wire fence, as you can see. So now, during our walk to and from school we walk on the other side of the street. He's a sneaky little fellow, who blends right into the trees and plants, but I was able to take this picture the other day. Now, if you come to visit, you've been warned!

A Beautiful Saturday Morning

The sun is shinning, laundry is being hung, the roosters are crowing, someone in our apartment complex is learning to play the theme song for Mario Cart on the piano, and there is a cool breeze flowing through our place. Beautiful.

The view from our bedroom window.

Another view from our bedroom window. (zoomed)

There are many times when the slowness of life here can be nauseating, and we long for the efficiency or familiarity of life that we are used to. Instead of driving to the grocery store, we walk 10 minutes into town and shop, then carry home our groceries; instead of washing and drying our clothes in a washer/dryer, we wait for a sunny morning to hang-dry our clothes; instead of taking baby carrots out of the little plastic bag to eat for a snack, we first scrub the carrots in purified water w/ vinegar, then rinse in purified water, then use a sharp knife to peal, and cut. The pace of life here is slower, because we spend more time on the major things such as eating and cleaning.

Laundry Drying

There are other times, like today, when the sun is shinning, the roosters are crowing, and there is a sweet breeze blowing through our place, that I realize how grateful I am for the slower pace. I don't have to make sure I have my cell phone on, or fully charged all of the time. I don't have to worry about making sure I've checked my Target list twice for my weekly shopping spree. I don't worry about traffic...well, I kind of do, just because if I don't I will likely get blasted by a Diahtsu barreling down the road, but you get the point. This morning I am grateful for the pace of life, the slowness and the peace. There are plenty of things to do today, but the truth is, if they don't get done today, there is always tomorrow.

View from the front porch.

Movie Night

Campus at night. My classroom is the one with all of the lights on inside!

Last night was movie night at Doulos! A few weeks ago the seniors had worked hard to plan, coordinate, and host a movie night at Doulos, as a fundraiser to help them cover the cost of their ACT tests, TOEFL tests, and other tests, and activities that require fees. Their first movie night was such a hit that they organized a second one! Last night was a double feature showing: Up and Blindside. The seniors sold hot dogs, pizza, candy, popcorn and pop. Robbie works with all of these seniors as the guidance counselor, so it has been really fun for him to watch them work together, create a vision, organize and execute such successful events! Last night at least 100 families and teenagers were on campus watching the movies that were projected onto the wall of our amphitheater...it was amazing to see everyone come together on Doulos' campus. Even our neighbors, who don't have a child that goes do Doulos, attended the event. It truly was a community building night!

Doulos Discovery School Update Breakfast!

Family, Friends, Supporters! Sorry for the late notice, but in the event that you are looking for a fun way to spend your Saturday morning, come to the DDS Update Breakfast!

When: this SATURDAY, OCT. 9
Time: 9:00-11:00
Location: Redeemer Lutheran Church
               3770 Belaire Ave.
               WBL, MN 55110

This event is for people who are interested in hearing more about Doulos (the school we teach at)! :)

Much love from the DR!

Outdoor Education Week!

This past week, was Outdoor Education Week at Doulos! Robbie went with the 4th and 5th graders to Monabao which is in the mountains of Jarabacoa. And I took my class on a field trip to the river, which runs through Jarabacoa. Both of us had such wild adventures, great laughs with our kids, and fun times with other staff members.
On the Monabao trip, 4th and 5th graders had their first experience with camping. This is a huge deal for these kids, as it is not common in Dominican culture for kids to leave town for a few days of camping and outdoor learning at this age, unless it is with family! In the states, its a bit more common for kids to go to summer camp, or to have similar outdoor learning experiences--I remember going to Laurentian when I was in 4th grade! The group of about 45 (students, teachers, and leaders) drove up the mountain, and then hiked about an hour and a half into the camp site. They slept in sleeping bags in open air cabañas, and ate Dominican style meals cooked in an open-air kitchen. A typical meal for them was: chicken, beans and rice. While the kids were there, they joined a team of their choice. Either they worked on staining wood for the cabañas, building steps for the shower area, and clearing trails, or learning about natural food growth and cooking, or learning about orienteering, which is the class that Rob taught. A couple activities they also took part in were playing night games, cooking over the bonfire, catching wild crabs in the river, and an afternoon hike to a waterfall.

Up we go! Day 1.

Taking a break, about halfway through the hike.

Nothing better than happy 4th and 5th graders cooking s'mores over the fire.

Chef Rob cooked 7 packages of bacon for the kiddos.

Bonding time.

Students hiked an hour and a half to the waterfall, and then went for a swim!

Outdoor Education Week for Kindergartners is a bit different! It isn't a full day, but a half-day learning experience. On Wednesday and Thursday afternoon we took a field trip to the river. I was so blessed to have the help of some parents of kids in my classroom, the art teacher at Doulos, and my teaching assistant! On Wednesday we went to a little park reserve located along the river. Students observed and drew pictures of plants and animals living in their natural habitat. There even happened to be a horse eating grass along the river that the kids enjoyed watching. On Thursday we read a book about plants and animals while sitting near the bank of the river. The book was a flip book about looking carefully for animals that might be hidden in their environment--and some kids spotted storks, and butterflies from where they were sitting...some real life application! We also used the big grassy field for students to pretend they were different plants and animals, and peaceful and violent ways of treating these plants and animals. They got into it and it was a fun to watch them pretend they were trees getting chopped down, or animals getting fed! Friday we were hoping to visit the pond on Doulos' campus to observe the fish and turtles, and to look at some of the flowers and plants on campus as well, but with an all school assembly also planned in the afternoon, we will have save our activities for next week!

Walking to the river!

Students at work observing plants!

Plant observations!

Conferencing!

Group shot with half the class!

Group shot with the other half of the class!

We had wonderful experiences this week getting to know students better. We are exhausted and hoping for a relaxing weekend! Thanks for your support and reading our blog! We love you!