The Dominican Republic has a population of about 9.6 million people. Of that, 73 percent are of mixed race, 16 percent are Caucasian, and 11 percent are of African descent. Around 95 percent are Catholic. There is freedom of faith in the country, which allows around 2 percent of the population to practice Voodoo.

A typical Dominican family has four people. Statistically, while 42 percent of the homes are run by both parents together, about 31 percent are run by single mothers, and the rest are run by relatives.

The Dominican Republic is divided into 31 provinces. Eight are in the southeastern region of the country: Distrito Nacional, El Seibo, Hato Mayor, La Altagracia, La Romana, Monte Plata, San Pedro de Macoris and Santo Domingo.

Each province depends on the central government. Each, however, also has its own local authorities: governor, senators, deputies, mayor, etc.

Families living in extreme poverty in the southeastern region of the Dominican Republic work hard to get two meals a day. The situation gets more difficult when drought limits cultivation of small crops like sweet potatoes, corn and plantains, which are the main ingredients in common meals.

In these communities, there are no steady jobs and the residents need to either travel out of the community to find a steady job or stay around their neighborhood looking for small jobs, for which they might get paid around $8 for a full day of work.

The saddest part in this scenario occurs when the children reach adolescence and find they need to help with family income. In the urban areas, children work at traffic lights selling a large variety of items, cleaning windshields, or begging by each car window.

Many times children also get involved in very risky money-generating activities like scavenging in the dump, drug trafficking, and child prostitution. Many times children will abandon school at this point.

Regarding child labor, there’s been some improvement in light of the sugarcane industry’s announcement that it won’t hire anyone under the age of 18. Nevertheless, children can be seen helping their parents plant and collect sugarcane in the southeast. A cutter is paid between $4.50 and $5.50 for every ton of sugarcane cut and loaded on the wagons.

In Batey Las Pajas in San Pedro de Macoris, families usually try to raise goats or cows. Animals are a source of income in times of great need, like when a family member gets too sick and needs medicine. But cattle rustlers sometimes steal the animals, leaving only bloody fur in the fields. These thefts drastically affect the economy of families in extreme poverty.

Primary and high school education is generally available in the southeast. Schools in some communities teach primary school only, and students often have to travel to a neighboring town to attend high school. University is a dream that just a few see come true, which is why our church partners provide technical vocational training courses to the children at their development centers. The churches want to equip the children with the skills to generate income for themselves and their families.

The weather is a sensitive issue in the region because of the passage of hurricanes. Every year, tropical storms and hurricanes affect the southeastern region causing landslides and flooding. Thousands of families are left homeless almost every year, and some people die.

Earthquakes have not been a concern in recent years; however, after the earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, all the residents near the southeastern coast were warned to leave their homes and go to more distant higher grond because of a tsunami warning for the Caribbean zone. Even though there was not a tsunami, the fear that one could occur at any time remains in people’s minds.

Examples of child development centers located in areas like this include:

DR-120, 126, 130, 160, 161, 163, 203, 243-245, 249, 256, 290, 292, 302, 304, 308, 309, 315, 320, 340, 347, 349, 366, 368, 369, 371, 375, 384, 385, 389, 401, 401, 407, 408, 411, 412, 420, 431-437, 450-454, 456-458, 461-465, 468, 480, , 482-484, 491, 521-523, 525, 527, 528, 530-533, 535, 536, 540, 550, 630-635, 701, 705-707, 710, 720, 810, 900, 901 and 915.

Batey Aleman, which is part of DR-002, is in the San Pedro de Macoris province and is part of the Dominican southeast.

View of a neighborhood near DR-245

Donplines Recipe

A typical dish in the southeast is donplines, or dumplings, boiled balls of dough.

Ingredients: wheat flour, water and salt. (Because wheat flour makes very soft dough, some people use corn flour instead, for stiffer dough.)

Put water in a deep pan and place over the stove flame until water starts to boil. Simultaneously, put some water in a small bowl and add a little salt to taste and mix.

Put wheat flour in a bowl, pour some of the salt-seasoned water in it and start to mix and knead until you get soft dough.

Take little pieces of dough and shape them all into half-inch-thick and 3-inch-long chunks and submerge them into the boiling water in the pan.

Boil the dough chunks for around 20 minutes or until they are well cooked.

When the donplines are cooked, turn off the stove and serve them hot, either with codfish in red sauce, fried sausage, fried eggs, herring or any other food.

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The Dominican Republic has a population of around 9.6 million people; 73 percent of the population is of mixed race, 16 percent are Caucasian, and 11 percent are of African descent. Around 95 percent of the population is Catholic. There is freedom of faith in the country, which allows around 2 percent of the population to practice Voodoo.

A typical Dominican family has four people. Statistically, while 42 percent of the homes are run by both parents together, about 31 percent are run by single mothers, and the rest are run by relatives.

The Dominican Republic is divided into 31 provinces; 14 are in the northwestern region of the country: Dajabón, Duarte, Espaillat, Hermanas Mirabal, La Vega, María Trinidad Sánchez, Monseñor Nouel, Montecristi, Puerto Plata, Samaná, Sánchez Ramírez, Santiago, Santiago Rodríguez and Valverde.

Each province depends on the central government. Each, however, also has its own local authorities: governor, senators, deputies, mayor, etc.

Nationwide unemployment is around 15 percent. To help fight the situation, the government has created and granted a debit “Solidarity” card to more than 800,000 families across the country so they can get food for themselves and their children by using money allocated by the government every month.

Free-zone industries have closed in some towns causing unemployment to rise even higher. Unemployed parents don’t have many options; most try to find small jobs each day. The most common regular occupation in the urban areas of these provinces is that of motorcycle-taxi driver, which allows a man to make between $6 and $15 daily.

When family income is not enough, it is quite common to see children in the streets begging, cleaning windshields at crossroads, shining shoes, or selling pirated DVDs and CDs to generate income to help their families.

Children are also involved in scavenging in the dump, drug trafficking and child prostitution. Some of the worst cases of child labor and exploitation can be found at the Rafey garbage dump near the community of Cienfuegos in the province of Santiago. Entire families search the garbage to collect cardboard, glass, plastic and metal waste materials and anything they can sell or barter.

Given that many homes in Cienfuegos serve as warehouses for the variety of sorted waste materials brought from the dump, good hygiene is a challenge. But health consequences are dramatic and include skin diseases and other related illnesses. Even the street dogs get fungus that cause them to lose their hair.

A similar form of child labor and exploitation can be found in Dajabón, a border town where unemployment is high and the children often stop attending the Compassion-assisted child development centers because the parents take them to the local Haitian-Dominican market to help carry goods. The Haitians sell items like shoes, clothes and personal care products to the Dominicans. The Dominicans sell the Haitians foods such as corn, wheat, rice, beans, chicken, eggs, spaghetti, oil, herring, vegetables and others.

Families living in extreme poverty in the northwest usually have one meal a day. To help keep the children from going to bed with an empty stomach, the meal is eaten at around 5 in the afternoon. Many families use firewood to cook their meals, and the smoke will sneak through the gaps in the wooden walls and the tin-sheet roofs of homes.

Primary and high school education is generally available in the northwest, but not all students can afford it.

Thousands of families in the Northwest become homeless each year due to the tropical storms and hurricanes that hit the island of Hispaniola between May 1 and Nov. 30. Their poverty worsens when their homes are destroyed, and the small amount of money they have must be used for relocation.

Examples of child development centers located in areas like this include:

DR-125, 127, 208, 242, 251, 254, 255, 293, 294, 300, 303, 306, 307, 313, 324, 326, 337, 346, 361, 380-383, 386, 388, 404, 406, 430, 466, 459, 500-505 and 600

To help you when writing to your sponsored child, here are some commonly used phrases in the local language of the northwestern region of the country:

• Mi niño (My child – when writing to a boy). Mi niña (My child – when writing to a girl). This phrase is received very dearly because it is generally used by people who love children a lot.
• ¡Hola, campeón! (Hello, champion!). This phrase is used to speak to boys. It highlights the competitive qualities of a boy.
• ¡Hola, princesa! (Hello, princess!). This phrase is used to speak to girls. It is an encouraging phrase that links a girl to fairy tales, success and the qualities of somebody who is dearly loved.
• ¡Hola, estrella! (Hello, star!). This phrase is used to speak both to boys and girls. It pertains to the children’s talents, good school performance, etc.

Mangú Recipe

A typical dish in the northwest is mangú. This Dominican dish can be eaten at any meal, especially when having a complete breakfast. This is how it is made.

Ingredients: fresh green plantains, water, salt, onion and oil.

Remove the outer peel from the plantains with a knife and slice the plantains into chunks for faster and more thorough cooking. Place the plantain pieces in water in a deep pan that allows the water to cover the chunks. Add salt to the water to taste.

Place the pan on the stove and let the plantains boil until they soften (around 20 minutes). If you can easily pierce the plantains with a fork or knife point, they are well cooked.

Remove the plantains from the water and put them in a bowl. Mash well by using a potato masher or even the flat bottom of a bottle or cup. As you mash the plantains, you can simultaneously pour in a little cool water and you will notice how soft they become.

On the side, pour some vinegar in a bowl; slice an onion and dip into the vinegar for a short while. Also, pour a little oil in a pan and place the pan on the stove flame.

When the oil is hot, remove the onion slices from the vinegar, place them in the hot oil, and stir for several seconds, avoiding burning.

Turn off the stove and pour the onion-vinegar-oil mixture over the mashed plantains, and mash again to allow all ingredients to mix well.

Serve hot either with cheese, fried eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, fried sausage, or any other food desired.

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Nicaragua has a population of nearly 6 million. More than half the population is under 18 years of age, and child labor affects approximately 10 percent of these children and adolescents.

“Child labor is every work activity that children and adolescents do before turning 18 years old that affects their physical, social, intellectual, psychological and moral development.” — International Labour Organization

Poverty is a key contributor in child labor. Usually children work because they have to support their families or because they have been abandoned. Many children work because they come from a home headed by a single mom.

The type of work children do varies depending on the area where they live. Many children in urban areas work in the informal sector of the economy, selling on the street, guarding cars at parking lots, collecting garbage, or working at small businesses without benefits. In the rural area, children have more physically demanding jobs.

In the neighborhood where Ciudadanos del Reino Student Center is located, not many children work. Those who do work sell tortillas, find firewood for home use or for sale, work with parents, or do other small tasks.

At the center are two children who help their grandmother sell tortillas. The center staff has spoken with the grandmother about this, but she says she has a need and the children are helping her. Cristel and her twin brother, Ismael, are those two children.

Their grandmother, Anselma, says, “If Cristel’s dad had a job and helped us, I wouldn’t have to do this. I would be watching them more and they would not go out.”

Anselma used to work, but her workplace closed, and so three months ago she began to make tortillas for the family sustenance. The tortillas are ordered by neighbors or by small businesses around Cristel and Ismaiel’s house.

“Cristel goes because she likes it and because there is no one else to do it. Her help is important for me and she begins to value work,” says Anselma.

Cristel says, “I do it because it is important to eat.”

Cristel was abandoned by her mother. Her father is drunk most of the time, and her grandma is responsible for Cristel and her brother. Eleven people live at the house that consists of two small bedrooms and a living room. Three are adults and the rest are children. Only one has a job at a factory, and the others make the tortillas.

“Not having her mother around affects Cristel’s behavior very much. At her home, she doesn’t know whom to obey and becomes rebellious. We have taken her twice to the psychologist, but not very much progress has been seen,” says Katherin, Curriculum Coordinator at the center.

“Cristel presents better behavior while at the center but keeps much resentment in her and if someone hurts her, she doesn’t say anything but cries. When that happens we talk to her and pray with her.” 

“Cristel tries to handles the abandonment situation but it affects her,” says Jennifer, one of Cristel’s teacher. “Sometimes she becomes very hyper and she doesn’t care if we let her grandma know about it. However, she participates a lot in class and gets along very well with the class.”

Cristel’s situation worries the center’s leadership team members, who have included the child labor topic and all that it implies in the orientation they gives to parents. The center leadership is especially concerned because child labor exploits and abusees children, and in many cases these children cannot attend school or do not have good health.

According to Ivonne Tuckler, the Compassion Partnership Facilitator, centers do not currently have any statistics on child labor; however,

“We know that it exists and are beginning to introduce the topic to each center so that we can start a study and find ways to stop this situation that begins with dysfunctional families. Some parents believe it is necessary for their children to work because that’s a way to generate income for the home.

“We want to find alternatives to work with parents, to classify the causes, and give the necessary follow-up. There is a saying that many parents use: ’We didn’t learn anything and we haven’t died, and our children won’t either.’ The parents have made this a generational issue. We do not want that for children, and that’s why we have to make some decisions and find solutions.”

It’s time, actually past the time, to give Cristel and children like her the freedom to just be a kid.

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“When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It’s because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances.” – Malcolm Gladwell

Vallarasu is an outlier.

Vallarasu hails from Srivalliputhur. He is now 30 years old. Though his physique suggests that he is very soft guy, his words are weighty and powerful. There is a passionate boldness in his face.

Vallarasu’s dad was a shopkeeper and sold household goods. When Vallarasu was 6 years old, his father was murdered by a gang. Thereafter, the family suffered greatly. They had no money to afford even one square meal a day.

One year after the murder, Vallarasu’s mother committed suicide, and Vallarasu and his two sisters were left orphans. His two sisters were brought up by an uncle, but Vallarasu was left behind in the streets.

Compassion found him in the streets, and he was taken into St. Andrews Child Development Center. The center supported him so he could study in the school. The school had a hostel facility, so the center provided him with not only education, but also gave him shelter, food and comfort.

The problems that Vallarasu experienced as a little child instilled a deep burden within his heart. He developed a burning desire to help orphans and desolate children. He took the initiative in solving every little conflict that arose among the children at St. Andrews, and even teachers marveled at his efficiency.

Some teachers commented, “In the future, you will become a big leader in the society.” While others said, “I am sure you will stand as an advocate speaking for thousands in days to come.”

In the moving wheel of life, the time came for Vallarasu to depart from the child development center to pursue his higher studies. He went to a place called Madurai in Tamilnadu and began working as a lab assistant in Lady Doak College as well as studying for his bachelor of arts degree.

During his college days, he continued to speak for the oppressed. And finally, his long-awaited dream came to be fulfilled. He got an opportunity to study for a bachelor of law degree.

Since then, Vallarasu has worked in various social welfare organizations. He worked for a social welfare organization called People’s Watch, wherein he spoke on behalf of the people for safeguarding human rights and thus prevented the violation of human rights.

Now, Vallarasu is practicing law under a senior lawyer at the Law Association, Madurai. He has also written an examination for Legal Advisor in the court in the Department of Intelligence Bureau and he is awaiting the results. If he gets that job, he will be placed in High Court.

Currently, Vallarasu is involved in issues like delivering children from the bondage of child labor or bonded labor.

A few years back, a child was thrown away in the garbage. A family picked up the child and took care of him. When the child grew to be 5 years old, they made him work and beg in the marketplace.

When this news reached Vallarasu’s ears, he, with his influence, reported the matter to the police and the child was redeemed from that family and handed over to an organization called Children’s Care. Now the child is studying there happily.

In his village at Madurai, there was a children’s home for orphans. A political leader was always hindering the running of this home. As a young man, Vallarasu went and approached the politician. He spoke to him and convinced him to stop hindering the home. Eventually, the political leader himself became a sponsor for the home.

There is a village called Ponthambuli, where Vallarasu’s mother was born. There was a constant struggle between two groups of people in that village (high caste and low caste). The high caste people were not allowing the low caste people to go across their village that had a good road and transport facility. So, people had to walk for an hour on the agricultural land. This problem existed for almost 20 years.

When Vallarasu came to know about this matter, he spoke to the village leaders. He also took some people along with him and spoke to the government officials and collector. There was an immediate response from the government, and the road was laid within a week and transportation facilities were made available.

Vallarasu proudly says, “It is Compassion that gave me the strength and heart to speak for the speechless people across this nation.”

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Compassion is committed to protecting children from all forms of abuse and exploitation. Our board policy communicates this clearly by stating that:

“Concern for children is the cornerstone upon which Compassion International has been built. We are opposed to all forms of abuse and exploitation and will do everything within our power to ensure that no harm comes to any child registered in our program due to his or her involvement in the ministry of Compassion International.”

By protecting children, we are responding to Christ’s mandate to care for and protect His little ones.

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That’s when it hit me. We are so blessed!

There my kids are eating chocolate chip cookies and cold milk with nothing on their mind but “I hope Dad forgets that we’re supposed to do nap time today.” While somewhere in a land far, far away from their minds (and mine most of the time) is a little girl Brooklyn’s same age working long hours of forced labor who has never had a day of cookies and milk in her whole life. Somewhere there is a child my daughter’s age (4) that will work harder today than I will and will go to sleep hungry tonight.

On our refrigerator at home there is a picture of our sponsored child. Her name is Heidi, and she lives in Bolivia. (Brooklyn thinks the little girl’s name is Bolivia.) We pray for Heidi often. We pray for her to have plenty to eat. Sponsoring Heidi is a great way for my wife and I to teach our children about others’ needs and how we can help by sharing.

Last Wednesday at Compassion’s chapel service I had the chance to hear a young man that truly grasps the power of sharing. Zach Hunter is a 16-year-old abolitionist who is giving his life to the cause of releasing slaves and giving them their God-given right to freedom. He has been speaking out against slavery since he was 11 years old.

I wonder how many students (or adults for that matter) have even thought about slavery today. Thanks to Zach Hunter at least 600 people thought about slavery that day in chapel and 500,000 more will think about it this year as he speaks to them.

As I studied Zach’s message I realized it is storming all around us, and for whatever reason God has given most of us in this country an umbrella. He didn’t give us an umbrella so that we would deny that it is storming. He gave us the umbrella to acknowledge the storm and share our umbrella with those who don’t have one.

Zach asked the question, “How do people in severe poverty know that God is good?” The only way they could know that is if God’s people share His goodness with those who have not experienced it.

It’s raining hard, Church. Share your umbrella.

(ed. – Bobby travels around the country preaching and using rap music as a ministry. Inspired by Zach’s Loose Change to Loosen Chains campaign, Bobby wrote It’s Not Over. He performed the song at our April 30 chapel. Bobby works in our Facilities department. He keeps the building from crashing down upon our heads.)

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