An update from Cabarete on Project Damalbi.
This coming week is Back to School week. So, tomorrow and Tuesday we will be buying school clothes for Jaqueline, settling her in with her family in Puerto Plata and then she starts school.
We've not done too much to prepare, although I have a box of toys and school stuff hidden in the back of my closet, to give to Jaqueline from us, when she has to leave her family. We still have some details such as transportation to and from school to sort out. With the help of her family in Puerto Plata, where she will be staying, I think we will manage to sort something out.
I still have promises of donations that I have not followed up and now that school is starting, we'll start following up on those as we have to pay the very reasonable monthly school fees and pay for school requirements and clothing. Donations can be given to me in Cabarete, to Grahame (BushBaby) in Puerto Plata and to HillBilly in Santiago. We are planning this next week to open a local bank account for the donations, where people can transfer funds directly. Again, thank-you to all who give so freely. We are trying to work out with Jaqueline's parents that they are responsible for board and lodging. The fund is responsible for clothing, school supplies, transportation and anything additional that may come up.
We've arranged with a husband and wife team who own dance studios and teach dance in Canada, to give of their time and offer to the school some movement and basic dance lessons. The date has not been set but we're looking forward to this. It will be quite an experience to see how deaf children take to movement and dance lessons.
For those of you who asked for the history of this small project, here is an older thread for reference. http://www.dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22935&highlight=project+Damalbi
In addition to what we're trying to do in our own communities to assist and help where it is needed, I've had an enquiry from another member of the board in terms of what can be done for his area, where there are a number of deaf people. I am in the process of setting up a visit to him, to talk about this, as our vision is a little broader than Damalbi and Jaqueline alone. The thought that I had was to work with the Puerto Plata school for the Deaf and figure if we could put a 'travelling' teacher on the road. This is the next step for me in this small project. Then further down the road, I would like to approach a few corporate sponsors, to see if we can strengthen the fund in this way. But the small next step is to settle Jaqueline in school.
Any further ideas, suggestions and input from the board members will be gratefully received as always.
This coming week is Back to School week. So, tomorrow and Tuesday we will be buying school clothes for Jaqueline, settling her in with her family in Puerto Plata and then she starts school.
We've not done too much to prepare, although I have a box of toys and school stuff hidden in the back of my closet, to give to Jaqueline from us, when she has to leave her family. We still have some details such as transportation to and from school to sort out. With the help of her family in Puerto Plata, where she will be staying, I think we will manage to sort something out.
I still have promises of donations that I have not followed up and now that school is starting, we'll start following up on those as we have to pay the very reasonable monthly school fees and pay for school requirements and clothing. Donations can be given to me in Cabarete, to Grahame (BushBaby) in Puerto Plata and to HillBilly in Santiago. We are planning this next week to open a local bank account for the donations, where people can transfer funds directly. Again, thank-you to all who give so freely. We are trying to work out with Jaqueline's parents that they are responsible for board and lodging. The fund is responsible for clothing, school supplies, transportation and anything additional that may come up.
We've arranged with a husband and wife team who own dance studios and teach dance in Canada, to give of their time and offer to the school some movement and basic dance lessons. The date has not been set but we're looking forward to this. It will be quite an experience to see how deaf children take to movement and dance lessons.
For those of you who asked for the history of this small project, here is an older thread for reference. http://www.dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22935&highlight=project+Damalbi
In addition to what we're trying to do in our own communities to assist and help where it is needed, I've had an enquiry from another member of the board in terms of what can be done for his area, where there are a number of deaf people. I am in the process of setting up a visit to him, to talk about this, as our vision is a little broader than Damalbi and Jaqueline alone. The thought that I had was to work with the Puerto Plata school for the Deaf and figure if we could put a 'travelling' teacher on the road. This is the next step for me in this small project. Then further down the road, I would like to approach a few corporate sponsors, to see if we can strengthen the fund in this way. But the small next step is to settle Jaqueline in school.
Any further ideas, suggestions and input from the board members will be gratefully received as always.