Dominican Republic: Palo Blanco Care Center

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HOME

LOCATION

Palo Blanco is in the central highlands of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. A small impoverished agricultural community where jobs are not plentiful.

HISTORY
With several other ministries functioning in the Dominican Republic, it seemed time to branch out into a new ministry. So in 2001 it was decided to open a Care Center in one of the rural villages. A town outside of Jarabacoa was chosen because of its reputation for violence, alcoholism, and illiteracy. On the positive side, Kids Alive has a relationship with a pastor there who started a Sunday School outreach church the children and their families can be involved in.

FACILITIES

The ministry has recently moved to newly constructed facilities allowing a 75% growth in the number of children in the program.  These facilities will continue to expand in the coming years from 3 to 6 classrooms as the ministry grows.

PROGRAM

A pre-school head-start program is held in the morning, which helps to prepare the children for entering public school.

The Director makes home visits to evaluate which children would best benefit from the program. The structure of the pre-school brings a degree of stability into the lives of the children, teaching them basic skills. The following year, the children go to kindergarten in the public school.

The children come to the center from public school at noon for a healthy lunch. They stay until three-thirty in the afternoon for educational enrichment emphasizing phonics, reading, language, Bible class, crafts and other activities. The children will continue in this way throughout the school year. As they go to the next grade, they will spend a little less time in the Center, adding an English class along with tutoring and helping those struggling in school with their homework. We will continue to provide the required public school uniform as many of them cannot afford to purchase them.

We also help with some medical expenses and open up our doors to the community when medical teams visit. 

Relationships with the families help them see the importance of a good education. The goal is to teach some parenting skills, build healthier homes, and share Christ with them.

FUTURE

Plans include a weekly Bible club, food and clothing distribution, family/community fun nights, evangelistic outreach films, and medical and service teams to replace inadequate housing for families of the Care Center.