Dominican Republic Mission Newsletter

WHAT’S NEW IN

OUR DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MISSION The DRVC Propagation of the Faith and Mission Office 2009 Newsletter 2

Hondo Valle Cure of a Leper

By Sister Jane Reillly “ A leper now came up and bowed low in front of him. " Sir," he said," if you want to, you can cure me." Jesus stretched out his hand and said," Of course I want to. Be cured."

Olividio is 63 years old. Over thirty years ago he was afflicted with leprosy or as it is known today, Hanson's disease. His body shows the physical signs of the disease. Shortly after the disease was identified, Olividio entered into a treatment program and within three years the disease was arrested.

Since then he has been confined to a wheelchair completely dependent on the care of family and community. He has no means of support.

Olividio NEVER complains. He lives in a one room shack and welcomes visitors with a smile and is always interested in what's happening in the family. In his way Olivido ministers to all who come to "help him". One always leaves him animated.

Recently, the circulation problem that is associated with Hanson's manifested itself in a large ulcerous sore on his foot. Olivido kept the pain and suffering to himself. Neighbors brought him household remedies of teas and ointments. By the time he was brought to a specialist it was determined that to save his life, his foot would have to be amputated. How could he be cured in this way? Where would the money come from?

The community of faith to which Olivido belongs organized collections. His family sold two small parcels of lands. The other thirty-five base Christian communities of the parish also collaborated. The hospital greatly reduced their costs. What was lacking to pay for the surgery came from the donations received from the mission appeals made throughout the diocese and from donations that have come to the mission office.

The risen Jesus, living in us, once again stretched out his hand to Olivido and said "Of course I want to. Be cured".

We had reason to celebrate Thanksgiving early.. ...The medical mission of pediatricians and a gynecologist for adolescent girls finished on Saturday. Twelve days of intensive labor but worth every minute. They saw 1,685 children and young girls. Over a hundred have been referred for ongoing treatment and in some cases surgery.

Since the mission was financed by the donations made individually and through the parishes, it had wide spread collaboration and support. There were six physicians, two nurses, a nurse practitioner and two translators.

Women waiting in line to see doctors

Sister Jane, on left with hat, and staff from the project

Waiting!!

El Cercado What’s Happening in El Cercado‌..Father John writes: In El Cercado, we have a micro women's project making jams, jellies, peanut butter and nutra-fort.

Nutra-Fort is a special form of peanut butter for malnourished children. If it is given to a child for 30 days they will achieve a level of that will help them live a healthy life. We have 22 poor women making this product which contains peanut butter, honey, milk, coco oil and some other nutrients. Mother Teresa's Sisters, the Missionaries of Charity who serve both in the Dominican Republic and Haiti have ordered 2,500 bags of Nutra-Fort, our first big order. It is hard to believe that our poor women are the first to produce this product in the DR and will be helping thousands of malnourished children in Haiti. The Holy Spirit is blessing this mission in so many ways.

Our Jesuit Grammar School, San Francisco Javier Fe y Alegria, is continuing to grow. Four more classrooms are under construction and will be completed by Christmas. That will bring us to 8 classrooms and a principal’s office. We also host classes in the afternoon. We have 205 students enrolled and attending grades 1 to 5 this year including a pre school class. This is a dream come true for us.

St Vincent de Paul Ministry here always needs donations to help the poor. We distribute over 105 food baskets a month but many emergencies arise such as buying beds, mosquito nets, and furniture when houses are burned down. So many people still live in such poor primitive condition.

St.Vincent de Paul is the only group committed to serving the radically poor, bringing hope to people that are falling off the cliff of human life. Any help would be deeply appreciated.

We desperately need help to complete the retreat center, Villa Andres, by this January 2010. Furniture, a living room, parking lot and a Way of the Cross are all that remain.

The University of San Diego ( Diocesan University ) is planning on hosting a faculty seminar on Eco Theology at our retreat center. They would like the parish to give tours of the 18 fruit tree nurseries, greenhouses for vegetables and tilapia fish ponds that our sustainable agriculture project has undertaken. Once again, it is the Holy Spirit that has brought such a beautiful potential event to our remote mission 5 hours outside of Santo Domingo on the Haitian border. Any support you can give us would be deeply appreciated. This retreat center will give us the ability to host religious formation retreats as well as diocesan seminars & retreats in a very contemplative setting in the mountains.

Peace and Joy in Christ,

Fr. John I. Cervini

The Inn of the Good Samaritan Tidbits from The Inn of the Good Samaritan When we opened twenty years ago our neighborhood was a quiet, peaceful residential area. Our block had single story cement houses surrounded by lawns, fruit trees, palms and flowers. There were no local Mom and Pop grocery stores which play LOUD music while folks play domininoes on the sidewalks and drink beer or rum as is associated with many Dominican neighborhoods. Kids occasionally played stick ball in the street and jump rope in driveways.

About seven years ago that began to change. My neighbor asked if I was interested in buying her house before she sold to a construction company. She knew that at times I could have used more space for the sick from the mountains. I declined as I didn't think I could find three million dollars. She then sold to a company and a five story apartment building was erected with four feet of space between us. It took two and half years to construct and we managed to keep grit and dust under control. Noise was something else. When the work was finished and the building opened we had nice neighbors who left for work every morning and returned at night. Those with young children brought them to day care centers or to a family member.

Last year the house directly across the street was sold and construction was begun three months ago on an eight story building with underground parking. That means lots of digging through rock. Next door on the other side of our house, two houses were sold to make way for two buildings of eight stories of apartments with underground parking. Work goes on six and a half days a week. Our street is over-run with machinery, cement trucks and workers. Noise is deafening. We eat on our covered patio outside all year. Patients don't complain, but it is obvious that they can not get as much rest when recuperating.

However, patients still come and we are happy that little Maria is getting her club feet straightened with casts and surgery; three patients have had amputations in recent months; several people are on chemotherapy for cancers and two are on radiation therapy. One young man needs eye surgery after he had an accident with acid which burned his eyes. Another young man has a tumor behind his nose which must be removed before he will feel better.

We have had recent personnel changes too. Just seems as if we are settled with a good working team when something happens necessitating change for a worker and I am again looking for someone to help us. And so it goes. Lots of challenges. As they say: "Life is what happens when you are making other plans"!

Wishing you and your family a Blessed Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year.