Cornerstone C2C Update: Sierra Prieta Quarterly Update

The team is finalizing last minute preparation. Excitement for the trip is at an all time high. In just over 24 hours we'll be headed to Billings for an early morning departure that will deposit us in Santo Domingo by 10 pm local time. Just this week we received an update on the progress Food for the Hungry(FFH)'s staff is making in helping in the community.

As you pray for the team from Cornerstone and our partners, the people of Sierra Prieta and FFH, I thought you would like to hear more of what God is already doing and see a few pictures from the community. What follows is FFH's actual report from the front lines.

C2C QUARTERLY REPORT

COMMUNITY: SIERRA PRIETA, MTE. PTA., DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Main activities:

Solving legal identity cases of some community members

When FH began a relationship in the community of Sierra Prieta, we noticed that about 50% of the people in the community of all ages and genders did not have birth certificates. This meant they were not registered in the Registry Office. Their status kept them from certain civil rights as Dominicans. In essence, the lack of a birth certificate meant that the did not exist as people in the eyes of the government. Many of the children and youth of the community can’t register in school because they don’t have birth certificates. Youth and adults don’t have opportunities to get better jobs because they don’t have education, and in some cases if they do have education, cannot get an ID that would allow them to have a better standard of living.

FH promoter Martin Martinez met with community leaders to create a plan in which they could solve this problem. Martin Martinez contacted Mr. Salud Hernandez, president of Los Botados development committee (this community is 5 kilometers from Sierra Prieta), who was very supportive.

Salud Hernandez trains people from the community about the importance of having their birth certificates.

With the collaboration of Mr. Salud Hernandez, we began the process of getting the birth certificates for community members in any age group who didn’t have their documents. Martin Martinez also developed an arrangement with the school principal that allowed undocumented youth to begin their studies while still in the process of requesting birth certificates from the government.

Children, adults and youth from the community attend the training with Mr. Salud Hernandez.

Donation of sports equipment

In the community of Sierra Prieta, the youth could not practice sports due to lack of resources to purchase equipment. The youth of the community approached FH promoter Martin Martinez and requested sports equipment. FH responded to the request by donating baseball and softball equipment, which were handed over to the youth leader’s group.

This action had immediate results. Now, the youth are developing their sports abilities and keeping their minds busy, rather than developing bad habits such as drugs, alcohol and prostitution. Some children are working towards the goal of having careers in baseball when they are older. Moreover, relationships between youth are improving as they practice together.