A Good Heart in Danger. Help is Needed!

Altagracia Pujols is a lovely 27 year old Dominican woman who has a critical heart problem: severe mitral valve insufficiency. This is a disorder in which the mitral valve does not close properly when the heart pumps out blood. Altagracia needs surgery urgently, but the family's insurance only covers 80% of the medical expenses. They need $3,500 in order to have the operation.

The Pujols family lives in KM 8 of Azua, a community of only 50 families, which belongs to the parish of La Sagrada Familia. The father, Alfonso, a mild-mannered but very active leader of the community, earns his living from a small produce farm and grazing a few cows. He has spent all of his savings on Altagracia's diagnostic testing. Now, humbly, the family is seeking financial help from businesses, public sources and private individuals so that Altagracia can have her operation.

Several generous people have already given financial support and, at this moment, only US$1,750 is needed to cover the cost of the operation. We hope and pray, with trust in the Lord, that this goal will be reached. If you can help, this is an opportunity to truly make an immediate difference in the lives of one family in need. You can contribute by clicking this link: DONATE

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!

A LITTLE WORM FOR FATHER´S DAY

This year, to celebrate Father’s Day at San José Center (located in Ajusco, south of Mexico City), we conducted a special activity with the teachers, parents, and children. Its purpose was twofold: first to show the parents all the skills their children have acquired throughout the school year, by means of early stimulation, and, secondly, to involve the parents themselves into a teaching role in the development of their little ones. This demonstration involved making a little worm using a recyclable material, egg cartons, plus paint, glue, and a bit of imagination.  With this simple worm, the parents appreciated how the instructors were developing the psychomotor activity, especially the sense of touch, in their little ones. Fathers and mothers enjoyed creative moments interacting with their children and appreciated their most recent learning experiences.

INAUGURATION OF THE NEW CULTURAL INTEGRATION CENTER 

IN SABANA YEGUA  (Dominican Republic)

In April the blessing and opening of the new Cultural Integration Center of La Sagrada Familia parish in Sabana Yegua took place.  This Center is located next to the chapel of Los Cartones neighborhood.  For several years, the chapel itself has been the meeting spot for the Catholic community of the neighborhood, which has a large immigrant Haitian population.  Additionally, this small chapel was the primary site where the entire parish welcomed the growing Haitian community of Sabana Yegua.  In the chapel the parishioners have celebrated the Eucharist and have also shared God’s word during the week.  It has been used for catechism lessons to the children and adults and to provide literacy classes for both Haitians and Dominicans. We clearly needed a larger and more adequate space than a chapel for all these activities.

 Therefore, at the beginning of this year, and thanks to generous donations from several friends and benefactors, we were able to remodel and expand the chapel itself and build two classrooms and an office to its side, with a bathroom and a back patio for larger meetings.  This annex to the original chapel is what we now call the Cultural Integration Center of Los Cartones.

Our idea is that the Center may be a welcoming meeting point for the Haitian and Dominican communities.  This will become, hopefully, a place where worries and complaints that arise as a result of a coexistence that, as we all know, isn’t always easy, can be dealt with and where as a result reconciliation can be achieved.

In the Center Haitian Creole language classes will be offered for the Dominicans interested in learning it. Furthermore, we reached an agreement with INFOTEP (an educational institution of the Dominican Government) to use the center’s classrooms to offer technical formation classes to vulnerable groups (and again, both Dominican and Haitians will be learning there together).  We began with a basic cooking class that started on May 25.

Let’s hope that this new Center will be a welcoming place where formation for all those living in our region may increase and where, at the same time, integration between peoples from different origins and ancestry may flourish.