bultos

Our sewing class continues to happen, although it's not as organized as I would like and we only have two faithful attenders (Sara and Vianelli, pictured above). We got some wild, blue cheetah-print cordoroy fabric in the mail last week. I expected to just stick it in the drawer, but when the girls saw it, they wanted to make book bags.

What has been neat about this project is seeing how motivated the girls have been. I think that their drive comes from the fact that the bags are for them and they really do need them. We've done other sewing projects, but those were with the intent of selling things. It seems, though, that the girls aren't as interesting in making money as they are in just making things for themselves.

I have really come to appreciate Sara and Vianelli as I've seen their presistence in coming to the classes. They really push to keep the class going. I'm praying that Jesus might use this simple class to open doors to bigger opportunities for these girls and that the girls would be ministered to in deep ways as we interact with one another around fabric, needles, and threads.

brazo roto

Chipo ("Cheap-O) broke his arm on Monday. He fell out of a cereza tree and broke it right above the elbow. I know that most people who have visited Los Higos will remember Chipo, and probably share my opinion that I'm surprised this didn't happen earlier.

Rain

A lot of people have asked if we've received any damage from all the recent hurricanes- Fay, Gustavo, Hanna, Ike...

Basically we've had about a month of off-and-on rain. Most days it is sunny and hot in the morning, but we usually get a thunder storm in the afternoon and then some more rain in the evening. Usually this time of year is dry, but it's feeling a lot like how typical rainy season would feel, except that it's hotter.

The picture above shows some girls playing in a ditch in Los Higos. They were trying to form little dams out of clay, but I saw that they were washed out by the next day.

And my garden is out of control with weeds, but it's too muddy to do much about it.

Casa de Elvis

Elvis' family's house is basically finished and has been for a while. It just took me a few weeks to finally walk up to take the picture. The floor is red concrete. They still don't have the interior divided into seperate rooms, so the house feels really big inside. And, I guess, they still need some other type of window covering.

maiz

Since coming to the DR, I've tried to grow corn three times. The first time I was so disappointed. Having grown up with hybrids and chemical fertilizer, I'm used to stunning corn. The open polllinated stuff here just doesn't measure up. But this third harvest looked somewhat like what I'm used to (thanks to some granular fertilizer and timely rains). So, we shelled the corn out today, and I harvested a total of 35 pounds, grown on about 1/20 of an acre (I'm guessing). that adds up to 12.5 bushels/ acre. So, although I felt more proud of this corn (and everyone told me it was beautiful), my yield was still quite embarassing. I guess I could account for the fact that I know some of the corn was stolen out of the field before it dented (people here eat field corn), and I didn't shell the 10 biggest ears, because I am going to save that back as seed. However, even with that in account my yield wasn't too impressive.

I sold the 35 pounds for 200 pesos (about $US 5.80). So that comes out to $US 9.28/ bushel. I know that any farmer back home would be thrilled to get that price. (Actually, imported American corn is actually selling for more than that here). However, even with that price, I don't know if a farmer could make much money, because yields are so low. I'm learning how tough it would be for a Dominican farmer to make enough money to live.

lorena

Dulce, the lady I lived with for most of the summer, has wanted a Lorena stove, but wasn't sure if she could afford the cement and block which we ask the women to provide before we'll build it. So, she built her own! She made the base with wood and got her own clay from where they opened a new road near Los Higos. Jose Quezada helped her to dig out the holes. The chimney is not real tight, so smoke still gets into the kitchen, but it still works a lot better than an open fire. She hopes to rig up something different for the chimney soon. This is the kind of thing I really love to see-- people taking initiative based on an idea that we introduced.

Boda

Andre and Yohana got married on Saturday, August 16. The wedding was held near La Romana (where Yohana is from) at a beautiful Christian retreat center. The ceremony started at 9 p.m. and was very short. It was followed by a dinner and picture taking near the pool.

Andre and Yohana will be living in La Medina, a neighborhood close to the downtown of Jarabacoa. Andre is expecting to be back to work in September.