The community of the pastor that we are staying with is only ten minutes away from his house; in that ten minutes we pass from a middle class neighborhood, to a lower middle class neighborhood, and into a poor community. As we get closer to the ministry site there are more and more children running around. Although, if you weren’t paying much attention, you wouldn’t be able to tell which ones were children and which ones were adults. Why is that, you ask? Well because half the “children” running around are carrying a younger child. I have lost count of the times I have seen an 8 year old carrying around a 3 year old relative. By the time these children reach 8, or 10 if they are so lucky, they are considered adults. We’ve been told that on average a girl will have a child by the age of 14 or 15. Talk about a child raising a child.
And who is raising these 8-12 year old child-ults? I really wish I knew because it breaks my heart. I’m assuming that most of the “mom’s” are at home cooking and cleaning all day. Some the men work, some are alcoholics, some gamble their money away, some run around and spread their seed if you will, and the rest appear to just sit outside their houses and yell to the women when they need something.
When we arrive to activities (teaching sports or guitar lessons) these children swarm us. They long for acceptance, love, gentle touches and affirmation more than any child I have ever met in my life. Please know that I am not accusing or assuming that people don’t love their children- it is not my place to make such a judgment. But I do know, that these children don’t have quality time (or any time) with parental type figures; many of them are left to fend for themselves.
And every day it breaks my heart a little more. I see these beautiful children with their big smiles and as I look into their eyes I catch glimpses of the horrors that they have seen. I can feel their confusion about their self worth and their longing to just be held. To think that this is all these kids know. But I refuse to believe that there isn’t hope. The family we are staying with is doing amazing things for these children- they have a school for them, they teach them sports and music, they spend time with the kids, they have movie nights and they are doing everything in their power to help show these children that they are loved and precious. I am very blessed and honored to walk along side this family for the remainder of my time in The Dominican Republic and be a sliver of hope to these children.
