We started working with this village back in July of 2005. We had a team of thirteen on this trip mix with adults and High School youth. One of our regular projects, (a Haitian sugar cane Village), had very few people in it because it was summer and the cane plants slow way down and let employes go. So we took the extra food we had purchased to this Dominican village.
This was a village that I had wanted to start working with for quite some time, but we just never made it there due to time restrictions. Back then they had several young boys in the village, and they had taken a field and cleared away the weeds and made a baseball diamond. When we pulled into the village some of out team went rite to the baseball field and started to play ball. The Dominican boys were quite surprised to see our young girls and the adult women get out there and hit the ball and run the diamond just like them. As long as I have been going to the DR. I haven’t seen any females play ball any were.
We continue to work with this village to this day. We bring them food, clothing, medicine, we also bring a generator in at night and show them Christen movies on the side of one of their homes.
But this past October When we in the DR we were very surprised to find that the Police had come into the village and tore all their houses down. This is not the first time I have seen this. A few years back this happened another dominican village we worked in.
What we have found out is that there is someone that has newly purchased this land from the Government. The new land owner wants these people to leave so he can develop this land. The people in the village have very little including money. So the new land owner went to the courts and requested they be removed, and without any notification the police show up and rip houses down.
These people have lived on this land for sixty five years, and claim they have papers for the land, now they are trying to fight it in court. I am sorry to say put I think they will be thrown off the land I will let you know what happens.
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