Big big change

Many of you know of the big big change the island has in-store for Caitlin and I. Our last year was spent on the North coast of the Dominican Republic. An area made up a many Haitians and Dominicans, as well as a fair amount of ex-patriots. The north Coast has been a popular vacation spot for the last 15 years or so. During our time living in Monte llano, and working in the sugar cane batey, (village) of Caraballo, we have seen and been apart of many great advances and changes in the lives of kids, visitors, and the school. With the work teams coming to an end for 2008 in Caraballo, our directors purposed a few openings at a different Kids Alive site in Jarabacoa, about 2 hours away. Since our main job had been hosting work teams it made since for us to consider and take the offer to move. In Jarabacoa we will be surrounded by the majority of the Kids Alive DR staff. Caitlin will assume the English teaching role at the school, Anija, as well as cover some much needed sponsorship responsibilities there. I will working with teams that come to Jarabacoa, as well as provide some much needed help with teams in Constanza, another Kids Alive site. When there are no teams my role will be one of maintaining the buildings and doing small construction and maintenance. This is a very bittersweet move for us, as we will be leaving behind over a year’s worth of friendships, success, trials, progress and change. Even though we will only be 2 hours away it feels as if we were saying goodbye forever. We will greatly miss our Kids Alive staff of Jessi, Candace, and Alberto. We will also be leaving behind other friends that we hope to always stay in touch. Nationals, and fellow North Americans alike, it’s never easy saying goodbye to people you love.