Rio San Juan shopping/schools

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

ajewellmom

New member
Oct 31, 2007
40
0
0
Visiting Rio San Juan with my two daughters in December (7th to 14th). Anyone have:

1) Ideas of where to go to shop for gifts for locals
2) Contacts or suggestions re schools/churches to deliver gifts to

Although we are going to an AI (partially because I feel safer doing that with my children) I really want my children to understand how bloody much stuff they have compared to a good portion of the rest of the world.

Also, I have some soccer (football) jerseys that we can bring. Although Dominican is a predominantly baseball country, would children enjoy getting a soccer jersey?
 
R

Rocky

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Apr 4, 2002
13,993
208
0
111
www.rockysbar.com
ajewellmom said:
Visiting Rio San Juan with my two daughters in December (7th to 14th). Anyone have:

1) Ideas of where to go to shop for gifts for locals
2) Contacts or suggestions re schools/churches to deliver gifts to

Although we are going to an AI (partially because I feel safer doing that with my children) I really want my children to understand how bloody much stuff they have compared to a good portion of the rest of the world.

Also, I have some soccer (football) jerseys that we can bring. Although Dominican is a predominantly baseball country, would children enjoy getting a soccer jersey?
Click to expand...
Shopping in RSJ is not all that great.
You'd do a lot better in Gaspar Hernandez, 30 minutes to the West of RSJ.

Football jerseys will be more than welcome (BTW: Dominican is a person, not a country. It is called the Dominican Republic or the DR, for short).

I don't have any contact info, for donations to churches and/or schools, but you could ask whoever is driving you around for an "iglesia" (church) or an "escuela" (school).
 
S

sjh

aka - shadley
Jan 1, 2002
969
2
0
52
www.geocities.com
RSJ has many tourist oriented gift shops on the main drag as well as several places to eat around the lagoon.

For right now the best place to be donating to is to the flood victims in the south. I would expect the local catholic church would be involved in collections.
 
R

Rocky

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Apr 4, 2002
13,993
208
0
111
www.rockysbar.com
sjh said:
RSJ has many tourist oriented gift shops on the main drag as well as several places to eat around the lagoon.

For right now the best place to be donating to is to the flood victims in the south. I would expect the local catholic church would be involved in collections.
Click to expand...
I believe that the OP wants to buy gifts for the poor people and the tourist oriented gift shops would not have what they are looking for, not to mention how pricey the items might be.
I agree that the flood victims in the South are in greater need, but again, I believe that part of the OP's agenda, is to expose her children to true poverty, and show them the value of donating/helping/being generous, etc.
 
S

SKY

Gold
Apr 11, 2004
13,491
3,628
113
Buy the gifts at home and bring them. You will do a lot better on price and quality that way. Dominicans love gifts from out of the DR.
 
A

ajewellmom

New member
Oct 31, 2007
40
0
0
I was originally going to bring gifts from home, but I thought it would be better for the local economy to purchase there. If I were to give cash to a local church or school do you think it would be used appropriately. Although, I suppose if someone were to misappropriate the money it's because they needed it too.

Do I sound as callous as I think I do when I indicated that I wanted my children to better understand poverty? I don't think it translated well at all.

To better explain: I was there last year and went on an excursion. I couldn't even do all the activities on the excursion because I was in tears. I have kept the images of the DR people in my mind when making decisions here. I have also since adopted a daughter through Compassion Canada (a second child to me) who lives in Santo Domingo. I just want my children to better appreciate the things they do get and to be less "wanting" of newer and better things. We are not rich by Canadian standards, but I know full well that compared to the majority of the world we are.

BTW, duly noted that the full name is Dominican Republic.
 
R

Rocky

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Apr 4, 2002
13,993
208
0
111
www.rockysbar.com
ajewellmom said:
I was originally going to bring gifts from home, but I thought it would be better for the local economy to purchase there. If I were to give cash to a local church or school do you think it would be used appropriately. Although, I suppose if someone were to misappropriate the money it's because they needed it too.

Do I sound as callous as I think I do when I indicated that I wanted my children to better understand poverty? I don't think it translated well at all.

To better explain: I was there last year and went on an excursion. I couldn't even do all the activities on the excursion because I was in tears. I have kept the images of the DR people in my mind when making decisions here. I have also since adopted a daughter through Compassion Canada (a second child to me) who lives in Santo Domingo. I just want my children to better appreciate the things they do get and to be less "wanting" of newer and better things. We are not rich by Canadian standards, but I know full well that compared to the majority of the world we are.

BTW, duly noted that the full name is Dominican Republic.
Click to expand...
It's clear that your heart's in the right place.
Anything you do to help is good.
It doesn't have to be the best nor the biggest.
You don't sound callous at all.
You sound well balanced and realistic.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom