There was one girl who, I think, had a type of albinism, that is, had dirty blonde hair on her naturally dark skin. She looked just like Shakira. Her eyes were golden brown to match her hair, and all of the girls in our group were in awe of her eyelashes. She was four, and it was clear that she will turn into a gorgeous woman (by our societies standards).
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When you're playing with children in an orphanage or Grace home you forget about why they're there, and only think about having fun. You forget about their history, their disease, their pain. When you look back on it and think about the adorable, lovable children that you were playing UNO with, it kills you when you remember that just two years ago they were in the hospital from HIV, neglected because of a lack of money, a lack of paternal care, or both. It kills you to hear about children who are rescued from brothels when they are four, only to be taken back by their parents 10 years later kicking and screaming because they know that their parents are just gonna sell them back into a prostitution ring. Yes that did happen at the Grace Home we went to, just weeks before we arrived. (Just remember: "Hate the sin; love the sinner".) We left in a good mood, having made some new connections and making lasting memories.
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Later that night we went to a Saturday night Church service. Wow. It was crazy. Very high energy with extremely loud music that was so loud that nobody could hear anybody, but it was ok because God could hear you and the service really emphasized audience interaction as was exemplified when the pastor asked me to come up stage during the loud music to scream, "GOD BLESS YOU!" over and over again to the beat of the music which really pumped me up because I just had to keep screaming, and screaming, and screaming but it was so loud I couldn't hear myself and I just kept screaming and dancing and jumping until the music stopped so that we could listen to a speech and learn more about Jesus.
It was a good message, talking about modesty with a Dominican culture point of view. I agreed with the message, it was just presented in a way that I had never heard before, and I learned that this topic is emphasized more in the DR more than in the US. If you truly care about the topic talk to me about it later, it was about the role that men and women play in God's eyes and in the church.
Overall it was fun, eye-opening, and allowed us to say goodbye to the translators that had been helping us the entire trip.
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When we got home, we debriefed, and then said our goodbyes to the half of the group that was leaving at 4am the next morning. Some of them I'll see again, some of them I may not see until heaven... But only the good Lord knows for sure.
It was a good message, talking about modesty with a Dominican culture point of view. I agreed with the message, it was just presented in a way that I had never heard before, and I learned that this topic is emphasized more in the DR more than in the US. If you truly care about the topic talk to me about it later, it was about the role that men and women play in God's eyes and in the church.
Overall it was fun, eye-opening, and allowed us to say goodbye to the translators that had been helping us the entire trip.
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When we got home, we debriefed, and then said our goodbyes to the half of the group that was leaving at 4am the next morning. Some of them I'll see again, some of them I may not see until heaven... But only the good Lord knows for sure.
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