“It was the highlight of my year.”
“It showed me how much we have to be thankful for.”
“It changed my life!”
These might be typical comments from teenagers returning from a short-term mission trip. But our group is not typical. Our group isn’t from a specific church or youth group. And the students aren’t even from Canada or the United States.
They themselves live in the Dominican Republic, in a place where mission groups often go. They are Grade 8 students from Kids Alive school ANIJA, where they have been recipients of short-term mission groups for years but have never had the opportunity to be part of a life-changing service team themselves.
Kids Alive International has been working with children-at-risk for almost 100 years. Through children’s homes, schools, and care centres, they reach out to children in 14 countries around the world.
In Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic, ANIJA has been helping children for over 25 years. Students come from Kids Alive children’s homes and poor families in the community. They are sponsored to receive holistic care including an education, meals, medical and dental care, and biblical discipleship. They have seen groups come from the United States and Canada to do construction, train teachers, give immunizations and more. They have been the recipients of donations such as books, clothing, and sports equipment.
Our students have been given a lot. So before graduating from Grade 8, we want them to see and serve others whose needs are greater than their own. In Caraballo, an impoverished community on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, Kids Alive’s Park Care Center reaches out to needy Haitian and Dominican children. It is there where our students, who have been part of Kids Alive programs themselves, see needs greater than their own and learn to share Christ’s love in new ways.
Our Grade 8 students apply to be on the team, take part in fundraisers, and spend time praying and preparing for the trip. Then they load up vans, drive three hours through mountains and sugar cane fields, and arrive tired and hungry but ready to serve. They do construction, plant gardens, lead AWANA games, and share songs and testimonies. They visit homes more lacking than their own, and sometimes see the influence of the Voodoo practiced in that area.
Our Grade 8 students share the gospel and have the gospel shared with them. For many students, the lessons they’ve been taught over the years come together and they make decisions to serve Christ with their lives.
Seeing kids follow Christ is the reason my husband and I are missionaries with Kids Alive. Sure, we want to help kids receive a good education, break the cycle of poverty, and become responsible citizens. But, above all, we want to see lives changed by the transforming power of Jesus Christ. We want to see families that have hope and can share that hope with others. We want to make a difference.
That’s why this particular mission trip is so encouraging. Because our students, who have been given so much, are able to serve and give hope to others.
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe.
(1 Timothy 4:10 ESV)
The Caribbean island of Hispaniola is home to both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The two countries have had a strained relationship, with the past 200 years marked by armed conflicts, economic disparities, and discrimination. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, many Haitians fled across the border where they received food and medical supplies from Dominicans but there are deep-seated racial tensions between the two.
For more information on Kids Alive International and to find out how you can get involved, visit kidsalive.ca.
Photo courtesy of Kids Alive International.
