Dominican Outreach

Vol. 1  No. 12 Good Samaritan Orphanage, Esperanza, DR

August 11, 2004

How to Survive a Hurricane

Well it is hurricane season. Water poured into the orphanage area. Hummmmm. Raining a bit hard we thought. O well, just another tropical downpour. It lasted a couple of hours and left the dormitory areas under a foot of water. We took the opportunity to play a game of kickball out on the baseball field. The rain was coming down so hard we could hardly see the ball. It turned out to be more like mud football and mud wrestling. Everyone had fun. Most of the children who are used to this kind of thing just waited out the storm under the roof of one of the play areas. University students and the rest of us Americanos didn`t have enough sense to get in out of the rain. At that point we did not realize it was a hurricane. We did not learn until a couple of days later that we had been in a hurricane. O the bliss of ignorance.

Kings for a Day

We took the orphans to Burger King in Puerta Plata which is a small city about an hour away. It is an old city built during the time of Columbus and has become a tourist destination. Therefore it has a few luxuries that most Dominicans cannot afford, like fast food restaurants. It was the first time some of the kids had ever been in a place like this. They were thrilled. We took a few pictures of the kids who were given paper crowns by the restaurant staff. Does it look like they are having fun?