Mother's Day Preparation

Today was a long and wonderful day. Saturday’s are always days everyone looks forward to because at some point during the day all of the kids come to the center. They rotate in throughout the day, group by group, all just as happy to be there. Next weekend is Dominican Mother’s Day, so today was centered around that. The kids started making beautiful gifts for their Mother’s. They are so imaginative and creative! The kids were also practicing for the Mother’s Day play they are going to put on next Saturday. During the lunch period, two of the teachers stayed at the center to sort out some donations and put together Mother’s Day packages.

Each Mother is getting some sheets or towels and toiletries. Sheets and towels are a huge necessity; often times each household has only one towel to use for everything. By the time lunchtime was over, the teachers had everything sorted out; all that was left to do was wrap and decorate the gifts. So along with some of the girls and teachers, our volunteers spent the afternoon doing so.

As well, at the end of the day Ernestina gave away some clothing donations. She gave them to the older boys, and they really loved them; a lot of the clothing was jersey material, and that is VERY popular down here.


Overall, today was a busy and amazing day at the center.

What's New with DOVE?

It had been a while since we have last posted anything, but DOVE Missions has been extremely busy with changes and activities at the center.
As the kids have been wrapping up the music program, due to end in June, we have decided that since it has had such an amazing impact on them that we should extend it. We have hired a new music teacher to take over the classes and he is amazing! The puppet program has come to an end, and the kids are so proud of their work. The puppets are in the club, and they look amazing.
DOVE has hired a new director for the club, and her name is Ernestina. She is an amazing Dominican woman with a lot of drive and passion for the work DOVE Missions is doing. She has taken over smoothly, and working on new programming. We are hoping to have the center open every day during the summer for a fun place for the kids to stay out of trouble.
We are running a new program for the older boys, and have even added a few new members to the older boys group. The new program is a nutrition/fitness/weight class right now and will eventually progress into a careers type class. The boys will begin to learn how to apply for jobs, how to get jobs, connections to help with an apprenticeship program, and teach the boys discipline. It will teach them to discipline themselves; their minds, their bodies, their lifestyle. They will learn how important it is to have a job and keep it. It will be an esteem building program and it will give the boys the opportunity for more in their lives. This is a program that will allow the younger kids to graduate into, and we are currently working on developing a program for our older girls. The program is currently run by James, a man from Haiti whom the boys really respect. It is important for them to have a consistent male figure in their life, and James is the perfect fit for this program.
This summer is going to be amazing, with many volunteers coming to visit. The kids love when volunteers come; they love the attention and fun activities that our volunteers are so amazing at planning. We have volunteers coming from all over the States, as well as from Canada.
A goal for DOVE this summer is to figure out exactly what our calling is in Haiti. There are so many opportunities in Haiti and DOVE plans to be there in some way. Right now we are working with and supporting two orphanages while continuing our efforts to find where we are supposed to be in Haiti.
Stay tuned for some more frequent updates!