Finding Home - Part 1 of my D.R. experiences and what I learned

     One or two months ago, I remember thinking to myself, "I already know that the Dominican Republic is not where I'm called to go....nah, India, or some place else, but the D.R.? Nope, not on my trajectory. I'm sure my trip there will be great, but I'm not going to "leave my heart there"." 

I predetermined and rather arrogantly decided that the D.R. was not where God would want me to go.

     I've often read the verse in Isaiah 55:9, "As high as the heavens are from the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." And I truly believed that, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him", yet for some reason I refused to think that perhaps God had something in store for me that I couldn't see, that my life isn't something that I can always plan out step by step. 

     How ignorant one can be! I approached the D.R. with excitement, but not with the expectation that it would "change my life". But how was I to know that as the days in the Dominican passed, God would carefully and gently prod my heart towards a different direction? What a few months ago I had so confidently asserted would not happen, ended up being exactly what occurred. The D.R. is now very much so on my trajectory and my heart has most assuredly been left there. I am joyfully back home, but only because I sustain myself on the goodness of God's glory in every place and season--and because I know that I am going back. Somehow, because of the way it happened, I am all the more confident that it is right and it is God's will...because it wasn't this huge emotional decision, nor a missions-trip-buzz that persuaded me, but like a potterer shapes the clay into a vessel with a design only known to the creator, God has also shaped me, and His design has only just begun. 

     Instead of starting at the beginning and working my way to the end, I thought I'd start with the end and then go to the beginning. The end (?) is this: that I'm going back to the Dominican Republic, back to my people and my home, and the beginning of it all is in a sacred moonlit night, as I walked towards the church silhouetted against the night sky. 

     My wonderful, crazy companion, Angie walked along with me. We were going to the church to attend a purity talk that our red-headed friend, Kim, and another lady, Colleen, from our team were giving to the young women's youth meeting. I had not slept in about 30 hours and was extremely exhausted, yet hearing the rousing voices of these young ladies sing in Creole was worth it all. 

     We seated ourselves in the back as Kim and Colleen alternately gave their talks that were then translated into Creole by Esther, the pastor's wife. At first glance, it could have been "just another purity talk", but as the talk went on, and I began to think about the context of where we were and the culture that is so polluted with sex and prostitution, I realized the vital importance of what was occurring. Here in the U.S., I have a relative amount of protection and though bad things happen here so, so often, the percentage of my getting raped here is not nearly as high as the percentage that these girls, or friends of theirs, face of getting raped or being sold out for prostitution. There is a large amount of it that they cannot control, but what they can control, their own integrity and their own empowerment and respect for one another, we tried to encourage.

     About half way through the discussion, Kim had Angie and I hand out lollipops to the girls. As I handed them out, I came to a girl that looked up at my as if surprised, gestured to herself and pretty much said, "for me??" I smiled and nodded my head, a connection had been made, and the impact that that one moment had was the first chip away at my predetermined notion that the D.R. was not the place for me. Because even in my sleep deprived and weary state, love began to fill my heart, and it never stopped, and continues to grow within me: a love for a people I did not even know, a love for young and old, boy and girl, gentle and mean.

     Though there is a certain amount of equality for women in the D.R., they definitely don't have much autonomy and freedom. They face much pressure from their families and the men they are in relationship with. Victimization is a common occurrence. Wikipedia gives some startling facts:

     Human trafficking in the Dominican Republic is the third largest international crime enterprise in the Caribbean, generating 9.5 billion U.S, dollars annually. The Dominican Republic has the highest rate of human trafficking in the Caribbean. Dominican women and children are reportedly subjected to forced prostitution in their own country and throughout the Caribbean, Europe, South America, and the United States. Women from other countries are brought to the Dominican Republic for prostitution, and an unknown number may have subsequently become trafficking victims, even if they came voluntarily at first.

     In some ways, the purity talk was like any other purity talk, and the girls were asking questions and struggling with things that girls from my own youth group struggle with. It really opened up my mind to just how similar we all were and how no matter where you're located or what language you speak, we're not all that different. Yet these girls were taking it very seriously, challenging my own attitude towards the topic and bringing to heart just how real the need is for respect and protection.

The young ladies of the church that attended the purity talk. They were so encouraged and very earnestly asked for prayer as they face the challenges of a sex-penetrated society. 

     This is about more than a purity ring and a promise, because there is an institutionalized belief that women are of less value here, and this realization grew throughout the week as I witnessed young girls putting up with much abuse from their young boy companions, a perfectly normal woman needing medical attention being called crazy because she wanted help, and young ladies simply having to take the brunt of the abuse and being neglected.

      What we did that night was like trying to fix a broken leg with a small bandaid. Yet if more women are empowered with the belief that they are precious in the Father's sight and if more protection is extended to them and more opportunities given for them to have a voice in society, I could very well see the Dominican women changing the country. Families would benefit from the care that educated mothers could give to their kids, more women entrepreneurs would be liberated to spread their ideas and innovations, and the corrupt practice of prostitution would diminish, creating more dedicated fathers that would give more stability and structure to marriages and families which in turn would benefit the economy and provide education for young children. Yes, it's a colossal problem to face, but if we were to initiate action towards bettering society for women, the domino effect that it would have on poverty could start a ball rolling that might very well be unstoppable.