Friday, August 13
Friday was the culmination and focal point of the majority of our preparations for the trip: the shoeshine boy camp. Room 7, aka our Dominican Wal-Mart, was emptied out of 180 water bottles, suitcases full of boys underwear, and wash clothes.All week we had been handing out fliers to the shoeshine boys, inviting them to our limpiabotas (shoeshine boys) camp. We had no idea how many boys we would get.
For those of you who don't know, the shoeshine boys are the street "riffraff"of the Dominican Republic. Some are homeless but all are needy boys ranging from the age of 5-20. If they have a family, it's a lower income family, and any money they make is used to buy their own necessities. Last year, Frank told us that the boys have a higher chance of being involved with drugs, sexual immorality, and drunkenness. The boys aren't held accountable by anyone and are therefore their own little business managers at very young ages. We set up a camp for these boys so that we might share the love of Christ with them, give them a day of fun, and a chance to just be a kid.
The limpiabotas camp was held at a local Solid Rock Christian school called CCED. The boys either walked or were picked up in the town center and bused to the school. When we arrived, there were already about 50 boys lined up waiting for us. After we quickly set up out stations and the bus arrived, we began registration. And so it began. We divided the 157 boys into four groups (by physical height and size, not age), pinned colored name tags on their shirts with numbers, and collected their shoe shine boxes. Daniel became Tammy's new favorite team member when he volunteered to take the oldest group of boys. Once we had everyone accounted for, we took the boys to the cafeteria for a snack (since they probably hadn't had breakfast) and an opening session. They were told the schedule for the day and the rules, and were separated into their groups. Following the opening session we rotated each group between 5 stations: backpacks (which were sewn out of old pillow cases -Thank you Margret Everson and family and friends for making and praying over 163 backpacks- that were decorated by the boys), crafts, games, face painting, and a combined station of giant bubbles, hair cuts, and a wellness check by Mike and Cora. It was fascinating to us to watch the boys decorate their backpacks with sharpie markers and see their lack of developmental skills. We take it for granted the skills that we teach out children through simple tasks such as coloring, cutting with scissors, and fine motor skills just because we have the means for supplies. After the activities we ate a homemade lunch of salad, rice, beans, and chicken. During the activity and lunch time, there were some minor scuffles. Matt made good use of his single Spanish word "muchacho" as he would snag a fleeing child and take him back to his group. Many times, a group of us would have to corral a boy just to get him back with his group. Peter: "It was like we were wrangling children. The only thing we lacked was a large stick and a lasso."
Shortly after lunch we went back to the main meeting room and gathered for the closing session where we clearly laid out the message of the Gospel. We sang and performed the Zacchaeus skit and two dramas: the Chair and the Broken Heart. Once the closing was complete we gave out their backpacks and crafts that they had made, new water bottles, bags of donated hygiene kits, shoe polish, and new underwear to the boys. The hygiene kits included, among other things, two washcloths and two toothbrushes so that they could use one of each for polishing shoes and another for their own hygiene. It was incredible to see the genuine excitement in these tough street boys as they opened up their backpacks and found these wonderful gifts. The boys would would sit together and try to guess what each other got before opening their bags. We were shocked and relieved that there were no fights, only trading and negotiations. Later, we talked with our group about how we are humbled to see these boys' excitement over their simple gifts.
Before we were even done with the camp, a little boy was asking "Are they coming back?" They were trying to look forward to when they were going to have it again.
In hindsight, we can see why the camp and the entire week went as smoothly and successfully as it did. It was because of God's divine orchestration, through unity and the manifestation of the universal church. Through the integration of Western resources and manpower and Dominican communication and cultural knowledge, God was able to use our strengths to compliment one another as we served. It was a very clear demonstration of the church at work in the Dominican Republic. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own churches and denominations that we neglect our brothers and sisters around the world. We could clearly see how God was orchestrating everything for His Divine purpose. He took our feeble efforts and used them to do a mighty work to further His Kingdom. This is a ministry that was started by a local Dominican national named Frank. Every Christmas he would hold a celebration for the shoeshine boys and share the love of Christ with them. Last year, an American team was able to come along side Frank and partner with him in his ministry. This year, Frank is in PA with his family and wasn't physically able to be a part of the ministry. Now we assume part of the responsibility of finding Dominican nationals with whom we can come along side to help them perpetuate this ministry.
We thank God for our Dominican Christian brothers and sister whom we helped at the Limpiabotas camp:
-Frank, calling at 9 am from PA, gave last minute instructions about "voladores", kids flying over the wall to try to be a part of the camp and also to tell us to make sure that the kids didn't have their boxes with them because they might be carrying knives. He forgot to tell us to pick up every single rock in sight so that they could not be used as blunt forces weapons.
-Joaquin and Juan, both Dominican gym teachers at local Christian schools, came on the bus. It was like seeing the cavalry equipped with their whistles.
-Quiqui, an energetic young lady from Frank's church, was an immense help with managing the energetic boys by singing and doing cheers. She helped in Peter's group and was invaluable.
-Juan Ernesto, a local evangelist, who helped kick off the morning and started the activities
-Lisette, principle of the CCED school, who shifted all of her own plans for the teachers workshop to accommodate us
-bilingual Bienvenida, who managed to stick it out in the sauna craft room, and helped bring the day's lessons to a close
-Tony, the janitor at the Clinic, came in on his day off to help wrangle/lead boys
-Larys, the principal for a local Christian school, was the point woman on the Dominican side, gathering cooks and food and transportation, all this while trying to get ready for classes which began Aug. 17
-Nieves, our young Dominican helper from last year, joined us again for special times. She is a delight and always welcomed in the group.
-and our ever delightfully, "hard working" translators: Olvis, Amaury, Richard, and Rudy, who were invaluable when it came to communicating with the Dominicans.
Because at this point, the majority of our team is gone, we are going to attribute quotes for them, which they may or may not have said.
Justina: "How did all these bubble sticks get tied into a knot?!" when she found the giant bubble's straws and strings in one big knot.
Travis: "Though my elbows and knees are scraped horrendously from my numerous injuries, I thoroughly enjoyed being "El Jeffe" of the youngest boys group." (The two f's are for Claire.)
Claire: "I bet I'll need carpal tunnel surgery after cutting hair for 2 1/2 hours with only scissors and a comb."
Mary: "Tammy, tell these older boys to stop telling me how to cut their hair."
Stephanie: "Being down here in the heat has been great for my blood sugar levels. I've been sweating so much! I took a shower this morning. I wasn't expecting to take a shower this afternoon, but I will definitely be taking another one this evening." Stephanie worked tirelessly in the sauna of a craft room during the limpiabotas camp.
Peter: "I'm trying to think of an adjective to describe my horrendously horrible terrible redundant grammar."
Cindy: "Can you tell the kids to stop scraping and washing off their paints so they can come get more pictures painted on their arms?"
Mike: "They need to stop scraping off scabs just so they can get a cool band aid."
Heather: "When can these kids go to the next station?" This said after 15 of the 30 minutes and the boys were trying to escape through the doors.
Hallie: "Writing a blog is like writing a 5 paragraph paper every day... on vacation!"
John: "O'Malley could have single-handedly run this camp with his eyes closed while living in the future." O'Malley was John's and Joe's pretend class mate who was continuously quoted doing feats that no one else could accomplish.
Peter: "Cora is like the energizer bunny. She has so much to do in a very small amount of time."
Dan: "Why did I volunteer to take the older boys??"
Becca: "I'm tired of painting the chair. Can someone else paint it?"
Matt: "Hey, Sam, will we break another chair during the skit this time? We've broken only 2 so far."
Greta: "Tammy, we have only 109 hygiene kit bags." Tammy's response: "Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Chad: "One of the boys just ran out of the room, Heather. You may want to go catch him."
John: "I'm liking bopping this inflatable ball in the faces of the trouble makers.
Sam: "Tia Tammy, I'm not sure my helper (Tony) likes me."
Lotte: "Oh, no. We're missing backpack number 21. We must find backpack 21."
Erin: "Now what do we do?"
Tammy: "Where's Frank? Where's Juan Ernesto? Rounding up these boys is like herding cats."
In the afternoon, Cora and Peter ran errands and took some supplies to a local missionary couple, Miguel and Kristen. That night we all went out for the last time together as a team for a traditional Dominican meal (chicharrones, tostones, arroz y habichuelas) and ice cream. Cora and Lotte flew back to Canada the next morning.
On a personal note, Cora challenged us to remember that, when working with the limpiabotas, some of these children may not have eaten in the last 24 hours. They may have slept in a wet bed or may not have slept at all. We don't know what family relationships are home are like, or if they even have a family. We are to look at them compassionately and show love to them, even when they are demanding and dirty, and we are exhausted beyond measure. Jesus came down and showed love to us, and we are called to be like Jesus by following His example.
Tammy, Peter, and Hallie (for the team)
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