Los Niños de la Cienega (The Children of...)

Let me tell those of you who may not be familiar with Compassion International a little about them. They are an international Christian outreach specifically for children. Their goal is to reach children for Christ because they are the future generation of Christian leaders. They seek out the local church of a specific area known to be in poverty. When they go in, they ask who are the 200 neediest children and begin their work with the church to reach them. The church is responsible for laboring and doing the actual work with the children and community. Compassion assists the church in building a Christian school if one does not exist and oversees the progress of these children to ensure they are being cared for by specific standards. There is much more to tell about the work done, but their website link is provided on the blog if you want to read more about them.



The children were very shy at first. They just stared at me for about an hour.


Gerson Hernandez is 7 years old and lives with his grandmother. He is the child that I sponsor. When he was a baby, he contracted meningitis. At 3, he fell out of a two story window. Since then, he has lived with his grandmother, who loves him dearly. He walks with a limp and has trouble with dexterity in his left arm, but he is persistent, and smart. Many children suffer from accidents and poor nutrition prior to recieving help from the ministry.


The little guy in blue, on the right, won my heart especially. I'll explain why later in the entry.


Here the pastor (on the left) and his wife are showing me the school for my first time.


This is one of the teachers with the children. At first the children were very shy. But by the end of the visit, they were my best friends.


Every time a child goes to school they are provided with at least one meal. In the mornings they get breakfast. The afternoon classes receive lunch or a snack. This lady is the cook for all these children´s meals. She made a delicious cinnamon and wheat-oatmeal like breakfast that was being served when we arrived. Later, she made me and my little entourage a wonderful Northern Dominican meal of rice, beans, carne and ensalada.


La Cienega sits at the foot of the mountains. It is a small agricultural town where the biggest crop is tobacco. Many of the population live in tiny one or two room patched together huts that are more like camp bathrooms. They often have chickens or goats for milk or eggs. Many are uneducated. The Christian school has been open for only 5 months and is already impacting the area. So far, they are working with 150 children.


A mom sitting with her son awaiting the beginning of afternoon classes.


Education is an important peice to raising children and their families from poverty.


Gerson is a beautiful boy and was so sweet. He gave me a bouquet of flowers when I arrived. And kept calling me his Tia (Aunt).


Look into these little guys eyes. They are both about 3 or 4 years old.


This is the pastor´s middle daughter. She practiced her English with me.


A group of children our procession passed as we headed down the road to Gersons house. It was about 3/4ths of a mile from the school.


A group of the children outside the school, who gathered around me to get their pictures taken.


Heading down to Gerson's house. He insisted on lugging my heavy suitcase the entire way. He even fell one time, but he refused to let anyone else take it.


We had quite the parade of children with us as we meandered through the streets to get to Gerson's house. The little guy in the blue shirt held my hand the entire way there. They were all so sweet. At one point as we walked, they were singing songs for me, "...tenemos un Amigo que nos amo...su nombre es Jesus!" ...or "we have a Friend who loves us...His name is Jesus!"


The boy on the right was a great kid. He is not able to go to school at this time because he is 13 and the school is starting with ages 3 to 8 and working up as they get older, but his sister on the left goes. The boy was very helpful when I was there and played with and protected the littler guys.


A group of girls outside Gerson's home.


Gerson insisted I take this picture of him holding his mom's picture.


Gerson's grandma. She raises all types of birds. She wanted to give me a couple, but I told her that I didn't think they'd allow me to take one back thru customs.


Two brothers


The kids wanted to show me this little farm instrument. You pour seeds into the top and then turn the handle and it grinds up the seeds to feed the chickens.


She, like all the kids, was thrilled to have her picture taken.