Today my heart was broken, today my life was changed. It started out as a normal day. Jesse, our American friend, and Kids Alive co-worker, and Alberto, the area director and good friend, came to pick me up around 8:30. We were to pick up materials, and go out to the school to talk about work for the upcoming team the next week. We were about to cross the river to head to Caraballo, when suddenly Alberto turned off the main road and down onto a low-level street and small neighborhood.
“Alberto wants to check on Rueben, his house flooded last night,” Jesse said. It had rained for about 7 days strait and there was a lot of flooding going on even in our neighborhood so it didn’t surprise me. Rueben is the head teacher at our school. Alberto is the director, but often leaves Rueben in charge when he is not around. He is educated, responsible, and has a huge heart for the children we are rescuing. Caitlin and I haven’t been here long, but already Rueben is one of our favorites. He is so kind, loving, put-together and well rounded. He speaks pretty good broken English as well.
As we pulled onto the street, you could see houses on both sides with what looked like every single belonging they had, beds, furniture, clothing, all hanging up, or leaning up against the house. “Wow”, I thought, “It looks like they had more than some minor water problems.” As we continued around the corner, the houses seemed getting smaller and the area poorer.
We pulled over to the right side of the street to park in front of what I assumed was Reuben’s house. Instead Alberto started walking across the street to what I thought was some abandoned shack, or tool shed. “Rueben, ?Como esta? Bien, Bien.” I don’t think I’ve ever looked more like a tourist. I had ‘astonished’ written all over my face. Jesse and Alberto proceeded to greet Reuben and his wife, who were both smiling from ear to ear to see us. As they went inside I stood in the same spot. I was in disbelief. I gathered myself and opened the homemade gate that lead right to the door and stepped inside.
What I saw even now is bringing tears to my eyes. I listened as Reuben explained how the water got to over 3 foot in their house. I watched as his pregnant wife mopped the mud caked kitchen floor. They opened the stove to show us how the mud had even filled it. Not 20 feet and outside you could see most of their belongings, bed couch chair, table clothes, books, and much more, all waiting to be dried by the hot sun. The lump in my throat grew too big to control and I had to step outside. I didn’t want them to see my tears. He kept saying with a smile, that God was in control, and that He has a purpose for this, and that they would be ok. I looked upon their belongings, knowing there was no chance of them drying. Caitlin and I had been trying to get clothes to dry for a week and half. It’s so humid here the matches won’t light. And I knew that the rain would come again later that afternoon. I walked around back to see their bathroom, which was a makeshift lean-to against their house made from whatever scrap they could find. It was under about 4 feet of water.
“They said the water in the street was up to their necks.” Jesse said, as she joined me again outside. At this point the shock was wearing off into a deep sense of something needing to be done. I felt heavy, convicted, and the need to fix this problem. It wasn’t that I was just so shocked to see poverty, or people in need. That’s everywhere. You expect it; this is a third world country. Every single child in our school program comes from poverty, and much more. It is a sad thing to see, but yet this case although not as bad as some of the kids, hit me much harder. One thought kept racing in my mind. “This shouldn’t be this way.” First of all, even for a Dominican, this was rough. But that’s not why I was burdened.
Jesse told me when we got back in the car, that Alberto had to do a lot of convincing to get Reuben to come work at the school. His family wasn’t too happy about it, mainly because it doesn’t pay very much. He is educated and could easily find a job that pays twice as much. He is giving up much, and happily, for a much greater good. This is the reason my life has changed. This is the most important teacher in our school, our school that rescues kids from living conditions like the one Rueben his and pregnant wife are living in. Which actually an update, three days after we visited the house we learned that they have been trying for a really long time to have children, and were so excited to finally get pregnant. Today we heard they lost the baby. Not much more needs to be said about that, if you ever have, or know of someone who has gone through that, you know the pain. Now just imagine going through it just 3 days before
having your humble house and possessions being ruined by a flood.
We said goodbye and got back into the truck and headed across the river. I was speechless. I was trying to comprehend the magnitude of what I had just experienced. My mind was racing trying to figure out a way to fix the problem. The first thing that came to my mind was “We have extra rooms in our house we could buy a bed and they could stay their.” Not satisfied with that I kept searching. “That won’t do.” They were already staying with friends until the water went down. And even then it was just going to flood again maybe the next day, or during the rainy, season for sure. I grabbed my Spanish dictionary and frantically searched for a word. The Holy Spirit’s presence inside me was thick. It took control of me in that moment and before I knew it I said in my broken Spanish, “Alberto, yo queiro construier la casa para Reuben.” Which badly translates, I want to build a house for Rueben. Alberto knew the need was great, and knew that it would change Reuben’s life.
He asked if I knew about how much it would cost to build him a house. I started thinking about how much money we had and that I just wanted to give it all away even though it wasn’t enough. I thought, we don’t have to use all of our support for ourselves, and wondered how much we could live off of and how much we could give away. I thought about the question, “how much do you think it will cost?” I thought about how it took somewhere around $240,000 to build our house in Cape. I took an educated correct guess at around $10,000 to build a quality house for them. I wished so bad I had that kind of money. Or that I was back in the states and I could just work harder, or longer hours, or get another job on the side. Why does everything including doing things for the kingdom, cost so much money?
So here is my plan. I am going to build Reuben and his family a house if it takes me 3 years to save money or do it on my own. Obviously the best situation would be to get them dry as soon as possible. Because of the placement of the land he owns it would be much better to purchase land elsewhere, so that there is no chance of flooding again. Land adds about $4000 to the project. I have seen God work in more impossible ways in the last few months than I ever have before. Like I said I wish so bad I could just fund this on my own, but I also know that if I have to I will, that’s how much I believe in this man, and his ministry. Reuben is essential to what we are doing here, and I think it is so important to take care of our workers Dominican and North American.
Poverty has and will forever continue to change my life. It will forever change how I shop for food, clothes, how I complain about having to change my clothes twice in day because of the rain, knowing that I am blessed enough that if I had to I could change them 20. Please pray for Rueben and his wife LLuvi. Pray that God would provide in their lives both for a house and for a family. Thank you all so much for your prayers
Layne Beller
Work Team Coordinator
Caraballo, Dominican Republic
