Update from GO Make a Difference

Somehow, it's August Already?? Not quite sure how, but we are almost 3/4 of the way through this year! Thank you all so much for continuing to support the work of Go MAD UK here in the Dominican Republic. We are still under night curfew from the pandemic, and masks are still mandatory in public, but AMAZINGLY the communities that we work in seem to have pretty much escaped COVID! Several of the expat community have had it, but the communities we work in are so far doing well. Vaccines have been available for a while now, and the population is slowly getting vaccinated. The world is opening up again...hopefully in time for Christmas in England for me!

Our medical clinics continue to be busy. Public Health (Government department in charge of health care) have set a limit of 16 patients per clinic, and so we are seeing 16 (plus one or two extras) each clinic, as well as treating the patients who have chronic blood pressure /diabetes. Its really hard having to limit the number of patients, but we have to follow the rules. It has become a lot more expensive to source medications for the clinics, the cost literally doubled overnight, so if you are thinking of doing a fundraiser anytime soon, or even beginning to make plans for a Christmas donation.....keep us in mind!!

In Esperanza we have 2 patients in need of extra help - one is 33 year old, Antonio, who has fractured his jaw in a motorbike accident - we have helped him with a donation towards the cost of his surgery. We also have a 18 month old boy with bad burns from knocking boiling water over himself, fortunately our treatment is helping him recover. It is hard when our help isn't enough, but we do everything we can and we pray, and we trust God with the rest.

Nazareth House News Phase 1 of the renovation work is complete, which is really exciting! In phase 1 we turned the big double garage into a dorm room for the older boys. We built an extension onto the home to house a new bathroom for the boys and a separate bedroom with bathroom for Jose, one of the older boys who needs his own space. We built an extra building for storage for all the things that were in the garage, and did some substantial repairs to the roof. We also built an addition for the staff bathroom and laundry facility.

We are waiting now for a quote for phase 2, and then phase 3. We have had a few staff changes in the home over the last year or so, and Sister Mercedes is feeling quite tired at the moment, so prayers for her would be greatly appreciated. We need to find a new employee to cover the night shifts. The children are doing well and seem to be thriving having school in their home. We have 2 teachers who come every week day and always seem to be engaging everyone very well - it's great to see.

This home made poster doesn't look like much, but it is symbolic of SO MUCH. We are able to teach English in Severet Village again! Teacher Frisny is an incredible, motivated, fun, skilled teacher with such a big heart for God and people. He is teaching four afternoons each week, with two classes per day. Many of the jobs in our area are in the tourist industry, and so speaking English is a really good skill to have. I'm excited for the opportunity these classes will bring.

Our preschool in Esperanza is going very well too - we have 24 2-4 year old's in classes, which means I have spent lots of time buying educational toys and laminating things for the classroom! Yulissa, our preschool teacher, is fantastic. Passionate and compassionate, she is studying at university to become a qualified early years teacher - which is clearly where her calling lies! If you would like to help sponsor her university education, please get in touch with me! claire@gomadtoday.org

Life out here is busy and full. I'm enjoying myself - getting a good balance between working and resting. You may have seen I went scuba diving for the first time this week? There are photos on Facebook if you would like to see! it was a great experience and the first time I've done something new for a very long time. My good friends Megan and Travis brought me it for my birthday back in May - it only took me 3 months to pluck up the courage to go for it! Now I want to go again and get the first level of qualification! I've been enjoying lots of walks too, fresh air and exercise are good for the body, mind and soul!

Thank you for reading, and for supporting the work of Go MAD!!

With Love,

Claire