On Fridays Darci and I have the opportunity to hang out with the “Advanced English” class at the English Language Center down the road. We’re teaching them about American culture and they’re going to teach us how to dance. It’s a fair trade. You don’t have to be in the Dominican Republic long to figure out that people just hang out on the streets or on their porches for fun. Dominicans love camaraderie and just being with other people in groups. As we learned in the class, this is called “making coro.” I thought it was a fitting title because I’ve been doing that a lot over the past few weeks.
Our English Class
So one of the biggest blessings and curses we’ve found in the Dominican Republic is a bakery four blocks from our house called “Gladys.” It’s a blessing because the food is incredible and fairly cheap and a curse because we’re all gaining weight from eating there too often. Ivan runs the bakery and we’ve built a pretty solid relationship with him. He was born in the DR but lived in New York until four years ago. Sometimes we go in there just to hang out with him and hear his stories. We’ve seen his wedding pictures, know how he disciplines his kids, and have challenged his views on women (although Dave and Zack tend to agree with him.) He makes cheesecake specially for me and is the king of free samples.
We are just making coro.
Spectacle at Gladys
There are many kids that live on the streets here in San Juan. When we see them they always shout “Americanos” and run to us, and the ones near our neighborhood often hang outside our house. Friday four little boys came up to us as we were sitting on our sidewalk. Holli asked the boys where they lived and they said they sleep outside the pharmacy. We had seen them before but didn’t they were street kids. After playing and wrestling with them for what seemed like hours, they came and sat on our laps. The tough and callous boys who fight all day for survival suddenly melted into precious kids who just wanted to be held. They put their arms in their shirts, thumbs in their mouths, and snuggled up to us to fall asleep in our arms. Oh the joy it is to hold someone who never gets held. Heartbreaking and fully satisfying at the same time. That night I rocked Marvin to sleep on the sidewalk.
We were just making coro.
Us with the kids outside our house
Our ministry for the mouth is in the slum of Guachipita. Our goal there is to simply hang out and love on the people there. To pour our lives into them and show them hope. It’s a rough and fairly dangerous place, which is reality for the people there. Alex is a three year-old boy whose mother punched him I the eye when he was a baby and now he has severe eye problems. He has been in and out of the hospital and was adopted by his grandparents. I get to hold him everyday. I get to tell him that he’s loved and pray for him.
It’s moments like these that remind me why I signed up for the Race. To look after the widows and orphans in their distress.
This is what I lived for. Little moments just making coro.
