The Life of Jon: May 2006

My week

My good friend Aaron was here this past week. We managed to see alot of the island and do a bit of work all at the same time. We also spent a few days at the beach. The beach we went to is way less turisty than many along the coasts here. It was the closest to tropical paradise that I've ever been to in my life. There are a few pictures below. I also had sushi for the first time in my life. My ratings of the meal: Raw fish-sounds gross, tastes good---Eating with chopsticks-looks easy, but in fact is incredibly difficult. They made me want to curse. I was opting for the stab-method by the end of the meal.

Paradise

I love tree.

Medical care in the DR

I cut my pinky last week, I was washing dishes and the glass that I was scrubbing broke. I know, that's a real manly way to get an injury. Stop laughing at me. Maybe the glass broke because of the overpowering brute strength contained within my fingers. Anyway, I needed stitches, so I had a friend take me to a clinic where I received 3 stitches for 12 dollars. That's about $488 less than it would have been to go to the ER in the US. I love this country.

My last email update

We’re gearing up for summer here in the DR. With summer comes weekly work teams, lots of other random visitors, 20 or so summer interns that are here for 6 weeks to help with the summer program, this includes my sister Sarah, the summer program itself, warmer weather, more mosquitoes, overall, just a lot more stuff on our plates. Not that I’m complaining, I like staying busy and the summer is always a happy time.

But, enough about that stuff, it’s time for a story. In the last month or so I’ve had several reminders for why it is that I am working here. I know it seems like seeing all the kids running around should be a daily reminder for me, but sometimes my tank is running a bit dry and I need some added encouragement. A great reminder came during the 6^th annual Ark Marathon. The “Marathon” is not the true 26 miles, it simply signifies a long distance race. We put this race on mainly for the kids at the orphanage, but we invite anyone who likes to run to come out and compete as well. The race distances varied from a short sprint for the little kids, up to 7 kilometers for adults. But this isn’t a story about the race so much as it is one of the competitors. Yosairy is an 11-year-old that came into the Ark with her 4 brothers and sisters last summer. When the family came into the Ark, they had been purposely starved by their emotionally unstable mother. All children were ghastly thin and several were close to death. So in that state, Yosairy came into the Ark 8 months ago. Fast forward to race day and I am waiting at the finish line, to record the names of those crossing the line. Several of the boys cross the line, the usual suspects. I had been running with them for the past month, to help get them in shape, so I knew who had the best chance of placing high. Eventually, however, I see the first girl come up on the horizon, it was Yosairy. This little girl, that had not so many months ago come into the Ark as the defunct mother to her 4 younger brothers and sisters, half-starved, and unschooled was now strong enough to run a 2.5 mile race, and not just run it, but blow away the competition within her division. It’s incredible to know that this girl would probably be dead right now, but instead she’s strong and healthy, happy, learning to read in school (she began the year as an 11-year-old first grader, having never been to school, but she has since moved up to second), and more importantly being shown love by everyone that surrounds her as well as being taught about the love of our savior.

I have another story, although, not quite so happy and positive, that was a reminder of why I’m here. I was a witness to some domestic violence in the street one night, it was pretty unbelievable. I wrote about it on April 30^th in my blog, you can take a look at it if you’d like. The blog also contains a few pictures of Yosairy.

Here’s the aforementioned link: http://dominicanjon.blogspot.com/ If you are interested in more frequent updates and pictures, it’s a good place to look.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I love you all.

Jonathan Coleman

Yosairy...From above story (First by herself, then with each of her sisters)

Government

Elections recently finished here in the Dominican Republic. Praise the Lord!!! No more pick-up trucks stacked 10 feet high with speakers blaring political advertisements, no more political rallys in the middle of major thoroughfares, no more parades of cars, motorcycles, busses, and countless examples of the aforementioned speaker-filled trucks, no more new enormous billboards that contain only a 40 foot faceshot of the candidate with no other information, except the party he's running under (I say no more new billboards, because I'm pretty certain that the ones that are here now won't be taken down until the next elections come around). On that note, the government here funds the campaigns of those running for office. People are starving, sleeping on dirt floors in houses made of scrap tin and wood and whatever else can be found at the dump, yet millions of dollars are given to different candidates so that they can plaster their face on every possible billboard, lamppost, tree, wall, sidewalk, etc.

Wow, this has been an altogether negative post. I apologize for the negative nature of what I've written, to make it up, I've added a fun little list, describing different governmental models. If they'd made it this simple and clear in school, I would have done much better in government class

Governments explained

FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.
PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all of the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.
BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and put them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you need.
FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk.
PURE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.
RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.
CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and shoots you.
DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.
PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
PURE ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.
LIBERTARIAN/ANARCHO-CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.