Everyone's favorite thing to do, Travel! Today was our day of travel and getting to know each other as a team. We started the day meeting at the Pearson airport in Toronto where we were able to shake hands and have a quick de-brief about the journey we were about to embark on.
God's mercies were with us as travel with flights went quicker than expected. We left Toronto just before 10am and arrived in Punta Cana shortly after 2pm. After an hour and a half going through immigration and baggage check, we were able to get out of the airport and meet our interpreter for the trip, Franklin. Franklin graciously got us the water that all us Canadian boys needed, and we embarked on the two-and-a-half-hour ride to the camp we are staying at which is just outside of Santo Domingo. During the ride, we got a small taste of the poverty that exists the further away you get from Punta Cana.
Once we arrived at camp, we got ourselves settled in, and had a little bit to eat. We received a brief history lesson from our host at the camp, learning how the school we are going to serve came to existence while also explaining the poverty situation here. Many Haitians came to the Dominican years ago to work the sugar cane fields, but that business has now dried up. This has forced those people into extreme poverty and unfortunately, only Dominicans who have citizenship get a free education. This left many children without hope of education and thus has kept their families in a poverty situation. The school hopes to offer these children an education so that through that education, they can attain citizenship. Very cool to get a bit of a background on where we are heading.
We ended the day having a time of worship together, as well as some prayer for the upcoming days, that our eyes and hearts would be in line with what God wants us to see, experience, and how he wants us to serve. Also praying for our families back home.
Tomorrow we go to the school and start working on our construction project and interact with the children and staff.
God bless,
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