Dominican Republic

Located in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic (DR) shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. The white sand beaches, impressive mountain ranges veined with spectacular rivers and waterfalls, and saltwater lakes teeming with exotic wildlife attract many wealthy tourists who stay at the many beachfront resorts. However, by extreme contrast, the vast majority of the national population lives in distressed conditions.

Much of the population of the DR is made up of the Haitian refugees who live in work camps in the Dominican Republic. These camps started out as places for the Haitians to live while they worked in the sugar cane fields. But since the Dominicans have acquired machinery to take over their jobs, there is no work available for the Haitian immigrants. They are not allowed back into Haiti because they left illegally. Also, the living conditions in Haiti are still much poorer than in the Dominican Republic, so they probably wouldn’t go back even if they could. Many of the DR’s Haitians immigrants cannot find work because the DR barely has enough work for themselves. This leaves the Haitians living in poverty conditions with very little food, clothing, or medical supplies.

COTN is active in the poorest villages of the Barahona District of the Dominican Republic. Our staff, along with hundreds of short-term volunteers, have stepped in, building schools and feeding centers that provide children with the needed education and nutrition that many families are desperately struggling to provide.

Medical attention, educational tutoring, youth sports events, leadership development, and biblical training for children are all among the services that COTN has incorporated into their committed efforts to meet the needs of impoverished children.

Our hope is to come alongside these beautiful children long-term. With the addition of children’s centers in villages that have extreme needs, as well as skills centers, children’s clinics, feeding centers, and camps, our hope is to develop future leaders.

Our intention is also to develop long-term systems and business opportunities to help the Dominican people care for their children. Opportunities will be added as we have the resources and staff.