Don Bosco
Dominican Republic
Don Bosco, a hilltop community situated above Barahona, overlooks the beautiful Caribbean coastline below. This impoverished Dominican community, home to more than 3,000 children, takes its name from St. Giovanni Bosco, a Catholic priest whose life-call of working with the poorest street children, specifically providing Christian discipleship to homeless boys, yielded over 6,000 dedicated young men prepared for the priesthood by the time he died in 1888. The same compassion that led Don Bosco to welcome that first homeless street urchin in ragged clothing into his church service, led a loving young pastora, Africa Trico, to reach out to the children of Don Bosco and begin a small church meeting to teach them the Word of God. The handful of children soon grew into a congregation of 40, with more eager to participate.
In 2002, shortly after Pastora Africa met Chris and Debbie Clark, Children of the Nations (Niños de las Naciones, as we are known in the Dominican Republic) launched the Don Bosco Village Partnership Program. For the initial program—a classroom held in a small tin shack—Children of the Nations identified and enrolled 80 children in the community that needed assistance.
In 2003, a Children of the Nations Venture Team went to Don Bosco and began construction on three primary classrooms and one small office. “I can remember picking up rather large rocks with both hands and tossing them over the concrete block shell of a building to fill in the soil for a floor to be poured into the new school,” says 2003 team member Carmen Richards. “I thought this was a crazy way to lay a foundation. But now, seeing this lovely school and play yard and all the children dressed and clean in their blue uniforms, it’s hard to envision that this place was once just a dry heap of dirt and rocks, on a forgotten hillside on which naked children who had nothing played.”
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Don Bosco Village Partnership Program Details |
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Initial Assessed Needs: |
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Date Village Partnership Program launched: |
2002 |
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Number of children currently enrolled in program: |
261 |
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Programs/Services currently provided: |
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