From the Rev. Heather Melton
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- The playground at San Marcos
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- Some of the kids from San Marcos
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The playground at San Marcos
This June I traveled with sixteen youth and five adults from Saint John’s, Boulder, to continue our mission work with our partners at San Marcos, Haina in the Dominican Republic. We arrived at San Marcos on a warm afternoon and were greeted with fresh fruit, cool water and hugs from friends. It wasn’t long before the children began to ask after our youth, and the adults after Padre Pedro.
Father Guelmi took me on a tour of the property so I could see what they had accomplished since our last visit. It was lovely to see that someone had finished painting the ironwork around the preschool which some of our youth and college students had begun shortly before we left last year. The playground, where we spent so much of our time, had received an extra layer of sand making it much safer, but the ground was still level and the drainage system members of our group put in was working very well. The library, which we painted, look just as nice as when we left. The room which had been used for storage and was in poor shape last year, which we scraped, painted and cleaned, is now being used as an office.
In the past year, we were able to help San Marcos get a grant from Virginia Theological Seminary for $3,000 to re-do the electrical work at the church and school so that the computer lab (a major draw of the school – children who attend public schools take the required computer class without access to computers) as well all of the offices and classrooms could use electricity more efficiently and more safely. Fr. Guelmi showed me the work they had already begun. Unfortunately, the church and school run on two generators and one has a broken part which costs $1,500. This means that one half of the property has power at a time because they do not have enough money to fix the generator at this time.
Next we saw the projects which our team would work on for the week. Currently, the cafeteria is two iron sheds where no food can be prepared, we helped begin the progress of constructing a cafeteria, where food could be safely prepared and stored. Members of the group also painted the iron work around the church to protect it from rust as well as began painting the church. One small group helped turn an area under a stairwell into a closet for extra storage for the church.
San Marcos is doing well. They started a new mid-week service while we were there for prayer, singing and healing. Church on Sunday morning was packed, as their was a memorial service as a part of worship. We got to spend time with Cathy Donahoe, the missionary from Colorado serving in the Dominican Republic. It was a very lovely trip.
This continues to be a difficult time for the Dominican Republic. After the earthquake, many Haitians immigrated into the urban centers. San Marcos has several new Haitian members, some of whom lost everything and their entire family in the earthquake. The Diocese is working on relief efforts for Haiti, but is also continuing to work on its own growth, development and ministry to the people of the Dominican Republic, where more than half of the population still lives on less than $1 per day. This was my third trip, and the number of children begging has increased quite a bit since our previous trip.
We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with San Marcos and the Dominican Republic. Please pray for Fr. Guelmi’s wife and children to receive their visas this summer so they can come and visit us in October. His family has never gone on a vacation, let alone seen snow, so we are looking forward to showing them a very restful and good time. Also, plans are underway for our trips in June, currently we have two trips of 21. We will also begin Spanish classes and fundraisers once fall begins. If you haven’t bought your St. Ambrose tee-shirt yet, please do so to support our ongoing mission work.
Thank you for your continued prayers, support and participation in our mission partnership with San Marcos!