Last March, seventeen senior students from Sacred Heart Catholic High School journeyed to
the Dominican Republic with teachers Joy and Peter King to live out their faith in compassionate service to others.
During this mission, students and staff lived and worked at the
Nuestros Pequanos Hermanos (NPH) Orphanage north of San Petro de
Macoris.
Started by Fr. Wassan in 1954, NPH has orphanages in the Caribbean and
Central and South America. The group from Sacred Heart Catholic High
School travelled as part of the fourth team sent this year by Friends
of Orphans Canada.
This 40 acre orphanage site in the Dominican Republic is on the way to
becoming self sufficient. Opened five years ago, it houses today 180
orphans from infancy to high school age. The orphans live in family
casas (houses) with two Tias (aunts or live-in housemothers). The site
features 20 houses, a medical clinic, an elementary and secondary
school, new mechanical/wood shops and a site kitchen serving breakfast
and lunch to all.
A church and volunteer casa are currently under construction. A large
greenhouse will be erected and in operation before the fall.
Students helped with site construction, installing clotheslines,
shelves and fixtures. They were also involved in painting casas and
the medical clinic.
In the orphanage school, students helped with English, French and music
classes. Other students were involved with weeding the gardens and
helping with facilities work.
Every night of the week Sacred Heart CHS mission volunteers sang at a
different casa. During some days students took orphans to the beach and
hosted barbecues for them. Students and staff also attended masses and
baptisms. The most notable development during this missionary trip was
the connection that students made with individual orphans at school,
worship and leisure time. A number of students became godparents by
agreeing to sponsor some of the orphaned children.
In addition to participation in two weeks of work and play, the
students of Sacred Heart CHS also raised $20,000 for construction
materials and supplies. The group took 60 hockey bags of donated shoes
and clothes to distribute to those in need.
All participants agreed that they came home with so much more than they took.
Peter and Joy King