Hola hola hola!

Update time!

Firstly, we want to apologize for the lack of updates in the past couple of months. Time sure flies when you are having fun! You can be rest assured that all of the kids are happy and healthy. They are all doing so well in our programs and in fact, we have even added a few more kids! A new list with children needing sponsors will be posted soon. I want to send a huge thank you to our current sponsors...we could not do this without you!

The kids had a fantastic Christmas and New Year, and everyone received early groceries for Christmas dinner and family gifts. We busted into the New Year with happy healthy families and a lot planned for 2011.

Our most current program changes are the Jewellery and English program. We have a new Jewellery teacher who is teaching the girls how to make different types of necklaces with natural resources right from the island. She is wonderful and the girls are really enjoying her class.

Our new English teacher has started with a small group of kids who have shown a keen interest in learning English, and along with Rosetta Stone, one on one tutoring and class work, the kids have really come along in just a few weeks. Gymps, our club director has been working with the boys, teaching them sports...lately they have been focusing mainly on basketball. At the beginning of each class, the kids learn and review basic English as well.


We are busy preparing and planning for this upcoming summer; our plan is to have the club open five days per week again. We are already booking in volunteers; long and short term. If you have ever thought about, or wanted to volunteer abroad – this is the year to do it! We would love to have you down, and trust us – you will have the most amazing time of your life.

So stay posted for more updates – and photos!
See you soon, hasta luego, goodbye and adios!

A Message from a Member of our DOVE Family

Our Trip To Dove Missions

My son, who is 9, and I spent a week in Peurto Plata over Christmas. This was our second visit to the area as we enjoyed ourselves so much last year. This time has been quite different as we have now become a part of Dove Missions and sponsor a great boy named Yeuri.

We were so excited to finally meet him and spend some time getting to know him and his family. He lives with his grandmother and many other siblings. Liz took us to their home for a visit and we immediately felt welcomed. Yeuri and all his family were happy to meet us. We had a great time and the two boys really started to bond. Later that day, my son and I went to the Youth Center for the Christmas party. This was a well organized event with food, music, and over 100 very happy children. Everyone left with a nice gift from Santa and big smiles. I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful organization. We hope to visit Yeuri and his family again soon and until then we want him to know how much we care about him and all our new friends at Dove Missions.

Garry &Sam

Christmas Time!

You would never guess that it's not December here in Puerto Plata. The city has begun decorating all of the government buildings and public Christmas trees are going up everywhere. Our club, too, is becoming very thoroughly decorated. The kids and teachers have put up and decorated out Christmas tree, put stocking all around the club ad written letters to Santa. All of the kids love to sing Feliz Navidad and it is so cute! Dove really gets into the Christmas spirit and it's a wonderful time to come visit! Families will recieve their food bonus early for a Christmas dinner for their whole family. If you would like to contribute a gift for a child you can donate $30 through the instructions on our website at dovemissions.org. Your support really does help make Christmas here memorable and special!

Cholera

Hurricane Tomas, Cholera, these aren't very great headlines for our blog. Still, you should take heart these are posts to tell you that everyone is safe and all is well here. There has been just one reported case of Cholera in the DR and that was in Punta Cana, hours away from here. Haiti, on the other hand, is experiencing a very hard time. Our orphanage is fine and Father Andre has assured us that all of the kids are safe and in good health there. Keep Haiti in your hearts and prayers.

Hurricane Tomas

Hey everybody just wanted to check in and let you know that everyone is ok. Hurricane Tomas hit Puerto Plata in the form of tropical storms i.e. a ton of rain. This means while it isn't as bad as it could be there are still problems. Water is high in Agua Negra and Playa Oeste chest high in many areas.Our families are working hard to keep their homes in tact and their children dry. Everything will be ok, the rain just has a way of making life that much harder here. Keep everyone in your thoughts and hearts and we will let you know how things go as the days move on!

Love,

Dove

Girls Night In!

One of the many great memories I have of my childhood is slumber parties – and mostly for the event of someone’s birthday. Everyone who was invited got a little paper invitation (this has changed to “Facebook Events” now however), and was asked to respond by a certain date. The invitation said to bring your own pillow and sleeping bag and told you what time to have your parents pick you up. At the actual sleepover, everyone would eat pizza, cake and ice cream, and then cram together on the living room floor with to watch movies, talk about the new boy at school, and eat an obscene amount of junk food. Eventually, close to midnight, someone would have already called their Mom to come and get them because their tummy hurt, and at least three people would be arguing about something extremely significant. Oh, the good ol’ days.
Despite the girl drama and sore tummy’s, these slumber parties were something that I remember…a fond memory that almost every girl has etched in their memories somewhere.
Last night, we decided to have a sleepover at our kids centre with 12 of the oldest girls (ages 10-13). We prepared with nail polish, movies, a ton of junk food, music, and of course a pillow to attempt to sleep with. We started out with a dance party, nails, and chocolate fruit. The girls were SOOOO pumped for this party, they were almost, quite literally, bouncing off the walls. They had all set up their beds on the floor, but this is where we ended up having our dance party, so they didn’t last long. I asked the girls if they had ever had a slumber party, and every girl responded with no.

Next we attempted to watch a movie, and eat popcorn, chips, cookies and pop. The girls all kept running back and forth to the other room because they had very important things to talk about of course. This lasted for about two movies, until finally around 2AM the girls crashed.
The night was one to remember. The girls had a blast, and I am sure they all went back home to sleep this morning – as I did!

-Melissa Bazely
DOVE Missions Field Director

HALLOWEEN!!!!

Well everybody Halloween was a great success here! Halloween is not widely celebrated, but the kids love it. We did a Halloween party with everyone and it was a blast. They got their faces painted, ate tons of snacks and candy and got to go through a haunted house. In the haunted house they had to touch fake eyeballs and worms in a bowl of water, one of the teachers popped out of the bathroom and at the end they got a treat bag. It was very fun for most of them, some were very scared and didn't do the whole thing! Later that night we had a sleep over with the girls. They had never done anything like that before. It is hard to describe the excitement. We started the night with a dance party while the girls traded who got their nails done. After that it was movie time! Mostly, the girls talked and played, but some of the movie got watched. It was just great to be there together and to get to know them better and for them to all get to spend time with each other and just be girls and have fun. The kids here have so many worries that kids should never have. It was great to provide a day of stress free fun!