Hello everyone!
If you're reading this right now I, Madeline (the 2013-2014 intern) thank you for showing your support and/or curiosity in Alianza in this way. I'm a bit of a new voice on this blog even though I've been here in Jarabacoa as an intern for around four months now. It was brought to my attention by Glenn that people have been showing more interest in our blog recently and that it would help if someone who lived and worked here could update it, so semi-regularly, I'll try to post important events and ways that God is working through this ministry (as well as prayer requests) for anyone and everyone who is interested.
First of all, one very positive happening within the ministry right now is that a team of Dominican pastors (three men and one woman) from the Pentecostal Church that Jeannette (Casa Hogar's, the ministry center's, house mother) attends have shown great interest in our ministry and really want to contribute to what our ministry is already doing and add new, helpful contributions when they can. Right now, they regularly attend our team meetings which we have every other Friday and have expressed interest in designing a more affective web page for Alianza, working on team transportation both for the team and for the women and daycare kids that we work with and organizing an office space for us within Casa Hogar. Not only have they so far had valuable input and practical ideas for how to aid the ministry, but it's great encouragement to have new fresh, members within the team who are full of energy and ideas. When one dedicates a lengthy amount of time and energy into one cause it can be easy to become wearied by the daily grind and vast amount of need and to be forgetful of the bigger picture- doing the next right thing, within this ministry's power, for Christ. New members can help revitalize and strengthen the old, and with this in mind, you can pray for us that the new members maintain their sense of optimism in order to be a new, fresh help for other members that have spent more time in the ministry and feel over-burdened and tired.
Second of all, in order to make some of these new ideas a reality (and in order to continue and improve upon what we are already doing), we need more funds which, of course, are lacking, so in order to raise more money, Jeannette and her pastors worked together to have a used-clothing sale in which we sold (and are still selling) used clothing from our ministry and from clothing donated to Jeannette's church. On top of this, we've also been selling, banana bread, carrot bread and chinola bread -made by Glenn- which have been pretty popular! You can keep our financial situation in your prayers, money always being tight, as we seek to raise support both domestically and through donations to the face of our ministry in the U.S.- Priceless International.
Last but not least, I'd like to share with everyone that last Friday the team, Glenn, Jeannette, Marisol and I, all went to La Vega to visit another inspiring, young ministry that works for a similar cause called Nueva Esperanza or New Hope Girls. For those of you who don't know, La Vega is the capital city of the province of La Vega which is also home to Jarabacoa. La Vega is about a forty-five minute car trip, and sadly, since it's so close, many of the women that we know who are now working in the brothels in Jarabacoa either originated from or currently have families in La Vega. Thus, our two cities are very connected, and Nueva Esperanza actively prevents young girls in bad situations from growing into women who feel as if an occupation such as prostitution is all the more that they can hope for in life by facilitating the education and up-bringing (all the way into adulthood) of under-privileged young girls and women in La Vega. They also provide Awana and other services for girls that don't live within their ministry center as well as helping to employ some of the older girls and women by teaching them how to sew and create computer, bags, purses and beaded flip-flops (which you can buy online). You can certainly keep this ministry in your prayers. They were a blessing to meet, and if you'd like to learn more about them, here is their website: http://newhopegirls.wordpress.com/
Like always, please keep the women that we reach out to (at three different brothels here in Jarabacoa and various other homes) and their children and families in your prayers. As we've been visiting the women this week, it's seemed especially evident that even though almost all of the women are certain of the fact that the lifestyle they are within is self-destructive and damaging to their loved ones, they are still enslaved to the lifestyle and can't envision better possibilities for their lives. We ask God for the strength and humility that we need in order to allow Him to work through us and speak to the hearts of these women. Please pray that the women who are currently in prostitution will learn to seek God and that in doing so will understand how truly magnificent and valuable their lives can be with Him.
God bless,
Madeline
The ACCSRD is a Spanish acronym for "Alliance Against Sex Trafficking in the Dominican Republic". We are a Christian ministry who aims to empower survivors of sexual victimization to find a sense of safety, a sense of belonging, a sense of achievement, a sense of power, and a sense of purpose.
