“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…” -A Tale of Two Cities By Charles Dickens 1922
It was our last journey to the Dominican Republic in May.
The Mercy League Board decided to travel to the Dominican Republic to take part in the development of one of our children’s home projects. Our mandate was to oversee some projects to help the children’s get up and running, and to provide some much needed on the ground support and encouragement to our Dominican counterparts.
The sojourn began with the usual hitches and changes-on-the-fly that are synonymous with work in the developing world, but there were a few twists and turns in this journey that proved to test our mettle.
We began the journey by spending some time with our Dominican brothers and sisters in their environment. We ate, drank (tropical fruit smoothies, rice and beans, seasoned beef etc.), and stayed with our hosts. We planted a garden, trenched a freshwater spring, built bunk beds for the children’s home, purchased mattresses and pillows, operated several free medical clinics, traveled to interview prospective children for the children’s home, and much more. It was a wonderful and rich experience.
About 4 days into our journey we heard word from a pastor in the mountains that there was a young girl named Leyla (3 years old), whose mother was missing for about 6 months and presumed to have died. She was in the care of a Haitian pastor who lived several hours walk in the mountains. Through the grapevine we arranged to meet this pastor. He agreed to meet us in the town square of a (now infamous) town called Altamira.
Our group consisted of three Haitian pastors from one of our Mercy League Churches, three representatives from our Dominican Board, and all of our Mercy League Board members traveling on the sojourn. We arrived in Altamira in the late afternoon, and greeted the pastor and small child in the town square across from the police station. It was joyous times for us all… to see with our own eyes… the father of our children’s home meet his new daughter. We congratulated him, took pictures, and had the Haitian pastor (Raphael) give contact information. In all this time to meet and greet was about 45 minutes… Then the unthinkable… The bottom fell out and we went from elation to disbelief, well I did anyway…
The police in this small town decided that the events that were happening in the middle of the town square in broad daylight in front of the police station were really a secret child trafficking operation. Several of the officers from the small police station slowly began to circle around us and then swooped in and arrested two of the Haitian pastors in our group… Certain that there was a simple and quick solution the organization spokespeople willingly went into the precinct to explain what we were doing, and who we were. To my surprise, the captain of the police station was convinced that we were in fact somehow a group of 7 pastors, three professionals in the medical field, and the directors of two humanitarian organizations were involved in trafficking a young Haitian girl right in front of a police station. We thought it was a laughable accusation. To our surprise, however, these men were dedicated to proving this regardless of how ridiculous it was.
To be sure, this police captain was not prepared for what he was biting off. He did not realize the depth of our connections within the Dominican Republic. To keep this story short, several influential people within the country called this captain to vouch for our organization and the character of our members. Once this man began to see that he was losing the battle, other members of our contingent overheard the man spouting all sorts of lies to justify his actions. Soon there were senators and generals calling to inquire about what the captain was trying to accomplish. In the end, the general of the entire Dominican Republic called this small town to talk to this captain, and shortly thereafter we were all invited to leave and to meet up the next day for a hearing in the city of Puerto Plata.
We were able to gain the release of all our members that night, save the Haitian pastor who actually brought the child to us. On the journey home, I talked with one of the leaders of our Dominican Mercy League contingency, and he talked to me about what it means to do this kind of work. God’s work.
He related to me that they were proud to be a part of what we were doing together in the Dominican Republic, because it seemed obvious to him that there seemed to be a great amount of evil activity trying to stop us. This was echoed by other members of the Dominican board. They added that it would be inconsistent to believe that we can do God’s work without enduring suffering and hardship. This was encouraging to our Mercy League board, especially to me, because I wondered how others might react to the events of that evening. To a person, our Mercy League Board expressed their solidarity that evening as we ate our dinner at half past midnight at the guest house.
The next morning we all went to a hearing with all parties represented, including the police from Altamira, and our Haitian pastor from the mountains, Raphael. After a full explanation of our organization, mandate, and retelling of events to the judge, the case was thrown out. The judge was amazed that such a charge could have been made without any evidence of any kind. She apologized for the misunderstanding and asked to join our cause and work with us in the future. The judge also offered to expedite another layer of legal documentation and licensure to our organization so that we can work directly with the government to avoid issues like these in the future. One call to her office would have ended this fiasco in the beginning.
Later that day we received a telephone call from one of the senators in the North of the country. He apologized and encouraged us to feel welcome and free to continue to work with the Dominican people. He stated that this is not a normal occurrence in his country.
I received an email a few days ago. It was from the Mercy League Dominican Republic Board. They stated that a further review of our credentials within the Dominican Republic has revealed that we do indeed already have the correct type of organization; we just need to fill out some forms to add some rights to our existing credentials. This means that I must return to the Dominican Republic as soon as possible, so that we can make sure that we are able to get Leyla into the fold.
I heard a term from a man that we met in a town called Sosua, close to Puerto Plata. He said that this work is not sanitary. This means that things happen, and sometimes you suffer when you step out and try to make a difference. I believe that is was Raphael (the Haitian pastor who was jailed for one night) who said it best… “It was a privilege to serve God and be counted worthy to spend a night in Jail for His work.” Onward and upward…
