Last January, six adults and 10 teens from St. Paul's, Leaskdale, Ont., went to the Dominican Republic. After months of preparation, gathering supplies and getting to know each other, we set off for Hainamosa. After a long flight, we gathered our luggage and boarded a small bus with a smashed windshield and not enough seats. For half an hour, we travelled dirt roads — traffic laws seemed nonexistent.
We soon turned into the even dirtier, bumpier and narrower streets of Hainamosa. Garbage piles littered the streets and sidewalks, and children ran barefoot playing with the few possessions they had.
During the week we lived in cramped quarters in Pastor Jose Lopez's house with his family. Our main goal for the week was to run a vacation bible school for the children who were associated with the Jewels of Christ school and church. There were about 300 kids involved. We also did some maintenance and repair work.
We looked at these people and thought: "How do these people survive?" Our point of view was partly because of all the stories we had been hearing about how sad and desperate and needy these people were. However, despite the poor conditions in the community, few possessions, and patched homes, they seemed to be much happier than we are in Canada.
In the short week that we were there, I came to realize how little you really need to be happy. They had food, water, shelter, a school and a church. But most importantly they had God.
They had a resounding faith that brought them much joy. The Christians we met were focused on their mission to bring the word of God to the rest of their town.
We went expecting to teach them and do stuff for them but ended up learning a lot from them.
