Last year, the First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield from New Jersey brought 50 people with them and split into 3 groups to build homes for 3 families in need. Our group in particular built a home for Ramon and his wife Maria and their children. Ramon and Maria are both in their 60's, so their children are all grown. However, of their 11 children, 4 of their boys live with them in the home we built. Before we left to start this week, Justin Kirklin, Dominican Republic Field Director, told us that this was the poorest family he had ever seen in his ten years building with Casas por Cristo; what an incredible thing that God was watching over them and moving in this group to build this family a home!
Maria and Ramon are part of an amazing community who surrounded us each day and showered us with love for coming to build for this family. I have to admit, I'm not sure we would have finished hand mixing/pouring our concrete slab without them! There are simply no words to describe how incredible it was to have so many people coming to help us on day one with the concrete. Beyond the first day, Ramon and Maria's sons, Antonio, Antonio, and Roberto (yes, they have two sons named Antonio!) were there every day helping wherever we needed an extra hand. On the last day of the build, after we did the dedication, Nathan and I had the opportunity to stay about 45 minutes longer with the family while the rest of the group attended another dedication right down the road with other members from their group. We had to stay back to watch our tools. I have never felt more welcomed into a family before in my life! Some Dominican women showed up to braid my hair; the family went and bought grape pop for Nathan (because they knew how much he loved it!), and they served us a feast of fried plantains and fried salami at their brand new table in their brand new home! It was truly an amazing experience to sit and enjoy the company of this family for a little while longer. When we finally had to leave, they kept asking us to come back and visit, which we actually got to do on one of our days off a couple weeks later.
--Story by Cassie Cummings, 2016 Summer Intern
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