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It is difficult to walk into a Dominican public or private school without seeing Juan Pablo Duarte’s* portrait prominently displayed. Many schools begin their day with a morning ceremony where students lead in raising the flag, singing the national anthem and praying for the day of classes. I have witnessed school directors take the opportunity to give their children context, saying things like, “This year is the Bicentennial of Juan Pablo Duarte, what does this mean for us and how we should live?” Students generally understand that Duarte is to be a model of bravery, compassion and love of country. After all, every morning they sing a song directed to the flag: “as long as there exists a school to sing of your greatness, you will wave with the soul of Duarte, you will live on with the soul of God”. On the… Read more » |
Category: Dominican Republic
Education, A National Context
Prayer Requests from the Dominican Republic
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Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 AMO Breakfast in Santiago- Friday the 24th we are hosting a breakfast in Santiago for dozens of schools in the area to come and learn more about AMO. The schools are invited to participate in the AMO training in Santiago this summer. We pray Raquel from Esperanza and for Cristina from AMO as they present and share with the schools. We pray that God would use this breakfast to open doors and that we would be able to continue sharing AMO with many more schools in Santiago. Esperanza business training- Friday the 31st Esperanza will be kickstarting a series of business trainings for schools in La Romana and San Pedro. The series includes five trainings: Finical health and break… Read more » |
Body and Soul
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Students at recess eating their snack at Colegio Evangélico Efraín (Ephraim Christian School) in Santiago, a school dedicated to nourishing both body and soul. Edify has been working with Efraín since July 2012 when the director, Josefina, and 5 teachers attended the AMO training hosted by Esperanza. We have been providing follow-up visits to Efraín in an effort to support the implementation of AMO in their classrooms, which they have done with excellence. Through AMO they have greatly improved the Christ-centered education they offer, now with a firm commitment to nurturing the heart of each student. Efraín is now also walking alongside us as we plan the next training in Santiago. The director has offered her school for us to use to host upwards of 30 other Christian schools in the area for a breakfast later this month. There we will present the AMO program and extend… Read more » |
Measuring Matters
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Matters of measurement within the development field and more specifically within Christian ministry have often been the focus of many unsolved arguments. Opinions vary greatly as to whether or not we should try to measure the impact or outcomes of our well intentioned efforts to serve the orphan, the widow, the hungry, the oppressed or the "other". Two excellent arguments against measuring the true outcomes of ministry efforts; 1) This is simply the work of the Lord that is creating internal change within an individual. You cannot measure the way God changes someone's heart. 2) By taking measurements of our desired outcomes, we are asserting our own agendas and attempts to control rather than allowing God to guide the process and the outcomes. While the arguments above certainly have some merit, the good that comes with impact measurement far outweighs the bad. Jonathan Mitchel works with Concentric Development and offers, "We cannot measure… Read more » |
Education in the Neighborhood
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While I knew a few of my neighbors well growing up, I never had the neighborhood experience of club houses, multiple mother figures or pick-up soccer games. In many parts of the Dominican Republic, in contrast, the neighborhood is often still as or more important to a child's formation as his or her immediate family. Neighbors are not like family, they are family; they share food; they watch each others' kids; they keep an eye out. When I think about the education of children in the Dominican context, I think of how important it is to have a challenging school, involved parents who reinforce behavior and skills at home and finally, a community of people who want the best for the children's future. For me, the ideal neighborhood is one where there is space for good conversations, accountability, resource sharing and belonging. That's what I love about schools that Edify works with; they often have this same vision for their neighborhood. They… Read more » |
Grateful
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One of Edify’s core values is to “Be joyful, be thankful and have fun!” Dietrich Bonhoeffer says it well when he speaks of the richness we experience when we give thanks, “In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.” (Letters and Papers from Prison) The most amazing thing of all is that our God has stepped down from his heavenly throne to offer himself as a sacrifice once and for all in order that we may experience right standing with him. For this we can truly rejoice! Another thing we are grateful for is that in the Dominican Republic Edify has been blessed with excellent implementing partners. Not only do we get to work alongside them in our efforts to improve education, but also worship alongside them, as… Read more » |
Avoiding The Dualistic Mindset
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Most Americans are familiar with the term "separation of church and state". This term was used by Thomas Jefferson and others in the First Amendment of the Constitution to protect religious institutions from government imposition on their practices as well as preventing certain faith requirements in order to be a part of government. Unfortunately, that phrase has also contributed to the dualistic mindset that many Christians have today. "Let's separate church and state and let's separate our personal faith from our daily lives." One's faith or religious life is something that is merely personal between them and God, it usually happens on Sundays or during their morning devotional or Bible study. Work or one's job on the other hand is what is done to make a living, earn increased social status, secure a financial future and is typically not thought of in conjunction with one's spiritual life. Such a separation of the material and the physical is a dangerous trap… Read more » |
Snapshot of Teacher Training
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Meet Lourdes de Jesús. Lourdes recently returned to the DR from Spain where she completed two Master’s degrees in education and history. She is now working as a history professor at a local Christian university and has started a small training program that educates her community about relevant social issues such as teen pregnancy prevention, drug use, parenting skills, etc. Lourdes is one of the well-qualified teacher trainers on the APRENDI training team. She teaches Discipline in the Classroom and Making Learning Fun within the network of schools Edify serves in the DR. Lourdes sees a dire need in the area of education in her country and feels compelled to do something about. She says, “Teachers are not equipped when they leave the university and enter the classroom to teach. We can see it in the mistreatment of students here which is a serious problem. It’s not reflective of bad teachers as much as… Read more » |
Education in the Family
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In this first of a series of posts on education (broadly defined), I will mediate on education within the family. This girl wags her finger "no". We love seeing an opinion being expressed. It is our hope that the students in these schools would think critically about their lives, their environment and their world. My dad used to joke with me; “just send me the bill.” The sense was to bill him for the counseling I’d seek for my traumatic childhood. He said this, for example, when I flushed red at him singing to my carpool friends. But the joke is poignant: none of us have a neutral childhood. It is within a… Read more » |
Snapshot of AMO Follow-Up
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We’ve seen that follow-up meetings after AMO trainings play a crucial role in ensuring successful implantation of the program. This month I was able to attend a follow-up meeting with an Esperanza employee named Raquel, who dedicates almost all her time to providing follow-up for the schools Esperanza works with. We went to visit Colegio Pedro Mir in San Pedro de Macorís. Raquel typically meets with the teachers who attended training and the director of the school. In the case of Pedro Mir, only one teacher has been trained so Raquel met with her and the director. The meeting began with a discussion about how things were going with the AMO program and they mentioned that they were struggling with the prayer and blessing cards, which are used as a tool for students to reach out and connect to their parents by involving them in their AMO class. Parents receive a prayer or… Read more » |
