COPA
June 2016
Building Caring Christian Communities
2016 is an important milestone for COPA as
we reach 25 years since the charity first
formed. To celebrate, each of the
newsletters this year will feature stories from
people who have been involved in the COPA
journey over the last 25 years. Since 1991
when Sebert and Doreen Lane first visited
the Dominican Republic, COPA has been
central in the transformation of the two
villages of La Hoya and Bombita. Through
building good quality schools and clinics, and
supporting these through long-term and gap
year volunteers, COPA has made a huge
difference in these communities. This
newsletter features the first in a series of
articles written by Sebert looking back at the
story of COPA. Also featured are some of the
Project Trust volunteers who have taken a
year out after school to teach in COPA
schools. As a Project Trust volunteer myself,
teaching English in Bombita in 2013—2014, it
is lovely to be able to recognise the
achievements of these volunteers who have
given so much to COPA.
Also in this issue, catch up on what has been
happening in La Hoya and Bombita on pages
4 through to 7, and on page 10 find out from
Teressa about why some of your sponsor
student’s details might appear to have
changed.
Bryony Clear Hill—Editor
FEATURES
In this issue read
about:
COPA: How it all began —p2-3
Updates from La Hoya—p4-5
Updates from Bombita —p6-7
A year to remember—p8-9
Why has my student’s name
suddenly changed?—p10
Big Breakfast—p11
COPA
www.copa.org.uk
COPA: HOW IT
ALL BEGAN
In the first of a series of
articles, SEBERT LANE
reflects on the very
beginnings of COPA
It is just 25 years this month since Doreen
and I set off for the Dominican Republic
though like Victor Meldrew “I can’t
belieeeve it.” In April 1991 our visit there
was only for a few days to install a water
pump for a friend who was the Minister of a
Church in Barahona. It was a small job and
we were there for less than a week but it
was long enough for our friend, Ray, to show
us round the part of Barahona Province
where he was working.
Both of us were shocked by the abject
poverty in which many people were living at
that time and though years previously, as
long ago as the 1960s, I had visited many
large and small Caribbean islands in
connection with my work in the Bahamas, I
had never seen anything like this before.
Anyone would have been as appalled as we
were and we think most people would have
wanted to do something about it. We didn’t
visit La Hoya or Bombita on that occasion
but were touched by a community of about
200 families who, with the aid of Habitat for
Humanity, were going over the next few
years to move out of their Barahona shacks,
often inhabited by two or three generations.
Their aim was to build little houses on a very
steep hillside at Cassandra Damiron,
overlooking the city. They had their land
marked out but what concerned us was that
though 200 houses were proposed no
thought was being given to the
infrastructure. There was no school planned
Registered Charity No. 1027117
June 2016
for the children, there were no roads and so
far they had no water! To get water to
make their building blocks, one block at a
time, a tanker had to grind its way up a
stony track up the hillside. That would
remain as their only source of water which
of course they would have to pay for.
At that time Doreen and I were living in
England though spent the winters in Florida
where we had a lovely second waterfront
home in Sarasota. As we looked around the
plight of this Dominican community and
considered our lifestyle we wondered how
that could be right? To give up our
comfortable lifestyle and move to Barahona
was not a decision we had to agonize over.
It was made almost in an instant on the
hillside overlooking Barahona. We resolved
that we would undertake two tasks. First
we would drill a well for water and then we
would build a school for the children who
would be moving into their tiny houses. As
with Habitat for Humanity the people would
have to undertake most of the physical
building work voluntarily but we would
return and work voluntarily with them and
somehow raise the funds for the building
project. We felt sure our Church in Florida
would support such a project and that
proved to be the case. It was as we were on
our way back to England to pack up our
home for a few years that we discussed the
possibility of fund raising there too and
talked about seeking support for the project
from Lonsdale Road Methodist Church to
which we belonged. The long flight home,
lasting ten hours, gave us ample time to
develop our plans and as we packed up
home we furthered our plans by writing to
all our friends and relations and by making
presentations to many Churches, schools
and clubs in the Gloucester area. When we
returned to the DR in September 1991 we
had no less than 212 UK sponsors willing to
pay £1 a week to support a child in the
school and the support from Florida too.
We would use the money towards the well
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COPA
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and buildings and once the school opened
the money would be used to sponsor children to go to school. The formation of Community Partners Association as a charity in
Gloucester was left in the capable hands of a
UK committee to be completed after we had
left. At the same time our American friends
were doing the same in Florida.
Our friends in Barahona had found an unfurnished house that we could rent so the first
days were spent buying cheap furniture and
finding a second hand pickup truck. Next we
found a drill rig which would undertake the
well. We hired this by the day. It would
hammer its way through the rock making a
hole eight inches in diameter until it reached
water. We had a tense two or three weeks
as the percussion bit hammered away without result. Finally, the operator announced
he could only work for another day as he
could go only a little deeper. I had a meeting
in Santo Domingo on that day though my
mind was often elsewhere. There were no
telephones to find out how things were going
and no mobile phones there 25 years ago!
That evening as Ray and I bumped our way
up the hillside in my old pickup truck the rig
was ominously silent. Eventually we saw a
little group of men standing around the well
who were much quieter than usual. We
climbed out of the truck and joined them. It
was then that the laughing broke out as a
bucket of well water was thrown over us. The
excitement was immeasurable! We passed
round a cup of cloudy water in which the
sand had not settled and even that tasted
The well rig in Cassandra Damiron
Registered Charity No. 1027117
June 2016
sweet!
That night disaster struck in the form of an
earthquake. We felt our bed shaking and
something fell off the wall. In Cassandra
Damiron the result was that the eight 20 ft.
long steel pipes which we had already bought
would not pass through the hole to reach the
water as the hole was no longer straight! In
the end we forced plastic pipes down to the
water and with a generator we had bought
for the purpose used our new submersible
pump for the first time. Fresh water at last.
Our story on the hill did not have a happy
ending.
Habitat for Humanity withdrew
from the project following a falling out with
the community of would be house builders.
This was an extremely sad time and for some
weeks I tried hard to reconcile the two
groups. Finally, facts had to be faced and we
had to come to terms that our efforts had
been in vain. We felt devastated. We
thought of all those people who had helped
us and wondered how to break the news.
Little did we know that within a few days we
would have a delegation from a village we
had never heard of called La Hoya, asking us
whether we could help them. They said they
had over two hundred children and only one
temporary classroom. They said only a few
of their children went to school. They themselves could barely read nor write. Little did
we know of the wonderful experiences we
would have over the next five years – or that
there were in fact well over 400 children in La
Hoya at that time.
One post script to this story is that some
eight years ago I went up the hill to Cassandra Damiron where there was a settlement
on the hill. It had little by way of infrastructure and the houses were packed in and
looked disorganised. However, they all had
good water and it came from the COPA well
dug on the hill in 1991.
Next time read about how work started in La
Hoya and the quite incredible things that
happened there.
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COPA
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WHAT HAS BEEN
HAPPENING IN
LA HOYA?
It has been a busy few
months in the COPA school
in La Hoya. ALISHA EKERS
gives us an update on what
the children have been
doing.
Día del Amor y Amistad
(Day of Love and Friendship)
Back in February we celebrated the ‘Day of
Love and Friendship’, the Dominican equivalent to Valentines Day. This is a very important day in the Dominican calendar and
the whole school got involved with celebrations. First grade were dancing some Bachata, a typical Dominican dance. The children
were allowed to wear their own clothes to
school and so they chose their prettiest
outfits. Grade 5 also celebrated with their
Registered Charity No. 1027117
June 2016
own fiesta featuring lots of spaghetti and
pasta!
We celebrated ‘The Day of Love and Friendship’ in art by learning how to weave in
order to create beautiful woven heart pictures. The children also learnt how to make
friendship bracelets as a homemade gift for
a loved one.
Día De La Independencia
(Independence Day)
The next important day in the Dominican
calendar is the 27th of February which is
Independence Day. On this day Dominicans
celebrate their independence from Haiti and
honour the founding fathers of their country. The colours of the Dominican flag could
be seen all around the school! The students
in 3rd and 4th grade made their own flags to
wave at the Independence Day assembly.
Using small pieces of red and blue paper
they created a mosaic style flag. This is Aider
from 3rd grade holding his flag.
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COPA
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June 2016
A local competition called ‘Pinto mi Patria’ (Paint my homeland) was held in
Barahona where two lucky students had
the chance to enter their artwork and compete against other local schools. It was extremely tough to choose only two entries as
they worked so hard. However the two
winners were Anyelo and Menny from 8A
and so their art was entered into the competition in Barahona. Anyelo (pictured below) ended up coming 3rd against a number
of other local students! Everyone was very
proud of his hard work.
Assembly was very exciting. The young ones
had their faces painted for the event while
the older ones dressed up to put on a spectacular drama and Dominican dance.
Registered Charity No. 1027117
Semana Santa (Easter)
Before Semana Santa I introduced a bit of
English culture into my art lessons and explained the tradition of having chocolate
eggs at Easter. I decided to host an egg
drop competition, inspired by one of my
own childhood art competitions. The children had various materials that they had to
use in order to protect an egg from breaking. We then went outside and put their
designs to the test. The last surviving egg
won the competition!
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COPA
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WHAT HAS BEEN
HAPPENING IN
BOMBITA?
KIRSTY MacRAE gives us
an update of what has been
going on over the last few
months in Bombita, with
photos taken by REBECCA
KENNEDY
June 2016
chicken and salad and all things Dominican was then served, followed by the
boxes. These are shoeboxes filled with
gifts sent from a church in the US. Long
awaited, they were finally given out,
and it was honestly so much fun seeing
all the kids’ faces as they opened their
presents and looked at their funky new
toys in awe.
Día de Amor y Amistad (Day of Love and
Friendship aka Valentine’s day)
Being a school of around 500 pupils
there’s always something going on, but
here’s just a brief look at a couple of
things we’ve been up to…
Día de los Niños (Children’s Day)
This was the last day of school before
Christmas, and involved everyone coming to school in their nicest clothes, a
huge assembly where each class performed an act - dancing, singing, mock
fighting (I don’t understand that one
either), and more. A lovely lunch of
Registered Charity No. 1027117
Dominicans being the friendly and loving people they are, this was the perfect day for them. A week filled with
friendship bracelets and
love-heart crafts in art led
up to a Valentine’s celebration in school. Everyone
arrived wearing red and
many hugs and kisses were
exchanged. The day finished
with a very musical assembly and a Secret Santaesque gift exchange between the teachers.
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COPA
www.copa.org.uk
Día de la Independencia
(Independence Day)
The day began slightly crazily with every child in the school coming to me
and Rebecca to have their face (and
occasionally their entire head) painted
like the Dominican flag. Masks and
flags were distributed until everyone
was decked out from head to toe in
red, white and blue. The whole school
then preceded to march around the
village, singing and
chanting, everyone in
very high spirits.
June 2016
kicked off with a teachers versus students game of baseball (the teachers
won!), and various competitions between different classes. The whole
school then took a trip to the local
secondary for a game of volleyball between the teachers of the two schools.
This was well supported by the older
girls cheerleading and some of the
boys subbing in to help the rapidly
losing Bombita teachers.
Sporting Events
Baseball,
basketball,
and volleyball are the
three sports loved by
everyone in the DR, and
we’ve seen various
matches and competitions in the last few
months in the school. It
Registered Charity No. 1027117
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COPA
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A YEAR TO
REMEMBER
Since 1998 students taking a
year out after school with
the charity Project Trust
have been volunteering with
COPA. Here 3 volunteers
reflect on their experiences
FIONA SALISBURY taught art in Bombita in
2013—2014
One of the aspects of COPA that made me
feel so privileged to be a part of it was the
incredibly
close
connection
and
interweaving bond made between the
projects and the communities. The village
became our home and family; knowing the
families of the children you teach and being
genuinely involved in village life is an
experience unlike anything else. The care
that goes both ways working in Bombita
taught me to give more time to care for
people and be open to being cared for.
Fiona with friends in Bombita
Registered Charity No. 1027117
June 2016
ALICE CREASY taught art in La Hoya in
2013—2014
When I left for the Dominican Republic in
August of 2013 little did I know that the
year ahead of me would be one of the most
important and influential years of my life so
far. It is only now while I start to prepare
for my next big adventure (a year studying
at the University of British Colombia in
Vancouver) that I can appreciate how much
my year teaching at COPA has made me a
stronger, more confident, self-aware
individual who is just that little bit more
prepared to take on and make sense of the
world.
Months of preparation were followed by
the heartbreak of leaving my mum at the
airport and arriving tired and apprehensive
in the sweltering heat, unsure if I was ready
to face the huge challenges ahead of me. I
remember struggling through the first few
months, slowly breaking language barriers,
trying new food, learning the names of
students, planning and delivering lessons
and coping with bouts of home sickness. By
Christmas, although I was happy, I still
didn’t feel comfortable and I was starting
to worry that I never would until just after
we returned from a holiday at New Year
when it all seemed to click into place. I
could have conversations and even joke in
Spanish without really thinking, I had the
confidence to make real friends with the
people the I wanted to be friends with
(many of who I am still in contact with
today), names of students aligned with
faces and I felt accepted, comfortable in a
place that had seemed so overwhelming
and different. From not wanting to leave
Scotland, after twelve months I didn’t want
to come home again!
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COPA
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From
my
fabulous,
exhilarating,
unforgettable year in this wonderful
country I have gained so much. I had the
privilege of getting to know members of an
amazing community, I taught some of the
cheekiest, funniest, most resilient children I
have ever met, I overcame my own
stereotypes of other cultures and saw
people as people rather than the distant
‘other’ as they are so often portrayed. I am
well aware that as an individual I learned
more from the people I met than I gave to
them but at the same time I was able to see
the amazing work that comes about when
people come together and are able to
make a real difference. I saw that it isn’t a
case of give and take but a balance, mix
and sharing of different skills and resources
from different people and parts of the
world that helps to foster change. COPA
work so hard in these communities to
provide the best educational experience
they can and it is a organisation I am proud
to have had even a small part in.
SOPHIE CASHELL taught art in La Hoya in
2014—2015
Almost a year has gone by and although so
much has happened since with regards to
university and life in general, if I close my
eyes it still feels like a second ago I was
making tostones, speaking Spanish and
laughing with my Dominican friends.
Everyone tells you how much the
experience will change you and shape you
as a person. To be perfectly honest, I
disregarded those sayings as they seemed
incredibly cliché and overused. They were,
however, completely true. I arrived in
Dominican Republic preparing myself to be
an art teacher in La Hoya for a year, yet no
Registered Charity No. 1027117
June 2016
Sophie and La Hoya English teacher Lucy in
traditional Dominican dresses
amount of preparation could have truly
prepared me for the rollercoaster of a year
that lay ahead. Every smell, sight and event
was a whole new experience. We were
promptly hissed at by everyone, called
“Americana” and chased by little children
desperate for hug. Whilst it took some
getting used to, these experiences began to
become normality. Unfortunately back at
home a year later I forget that pointing to
things with your mouth is not a common
occurrence and you will be looked at
strangely. It is quite difficult to describe in
words how much that year in La Hoya
meant to me; I met some unique and
interesting people with a vibrant and
unusual culture, I swam in rivers, painted
the school, watched intense volleyball
games, travelled to hidden places and built
some unforgettable memories. The
friendships and memories I made out there
always keep me smiling and I'm extremely
excited to go back to visit in September.
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COPA
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WHY HAS MY
STUDENT’S NAME
SUDDENLY
CHANGED?!
Education Advisor
TERESSA CORNISH
explains why you might find
some changes in your
sponsor student’s details.
You started off sponsoring Junior Feliz and
now suddenly he's Juan Perez. What?!
I know! It's crazy. So here we go, from the
beginning:
A baby is born. Their parents may or may
not receive a copy of their birth certificate. This may be because they are born in
rural Haiti where processes for tracking
births and deaths are still poorly administrated. It may be that they are born in the
DR and struggle to receive a birth certificate
due to being/looking Haitian. Or they may
receive a birth certificate and put in a 'safe'
place and forget about it because this still
isn't a society in which documents are important for many people. In poor communities the chances are fairly small that the
parent will need to write the name of their
child down on an official document in which
spelling is important.
That's the beginning. They then arrive at a
COPA school at whatever age. The student
or the parent do not automatically come
with any official documentation - and indeed, might not have it. We ask for their
name - and we get whatever we get! If the
mum is now in a relationship with another
man, they might well register them under
his surname even though it is not the name
on the birth certificate. A child might register under a nickname - everyone calls them
June 2016
Junior even though their real name is
Juan. They might not even know their 'real'
name!
On top of that, it is hard for English speakers
to understand that spelling is not as fixed
here as it is for other languages. Again,
because literacy is still emerging. So, who
really cares if Michael is spelt Michael or
Micel or Micael or Mickeal or.....?! From
their perspective a name is for saying not
for writing.
On top of that (!) people with poor written
literacy often muddle up certain sounds the r/l sound in Spanish are easily confused. So is the b/v sound and ll/y
sound. Many people here do not add 's' to
the end of words - so Nicauris becomes
Nicauri (or Nicaury or Nicaurri or...!) As well
as this people tend to shorten names as a
matter of course - I am consistently "Tere"
to my Dominican colleagues because Teresa
is just too long!
COPA is actually really special in that it
doesn't discriminate against students who
come without papers. But we also try to
take names seriously so that we can vouch
for the official identity of students if we ever
need to. So once inscriptions close in October we start working on who has brought in
a copy of a birth certificate and who hasn't.
We chase up. Then we go through the database and make changes to registered names
and birth dates (another story!!!) . As it
stands I still have a few children in Bombita
who are registered by their first name only. I
sometimes end up with children who've
been registered multiple times under different names! Or I have children who arrive
with one name, leave for a couple of years,
and come back giving another name and
date of birth!
It is so confusing. But it is also a fact of life
here! So please don't worry if the name of
your child morphs and changes. If it's the
same child in the photo it just means that
we are updating our records and trying to
get it right.
Registered Charity No. 1027117
COPA
www.copa.org.uk
BIG BREAKFAST
May 6th saw the return of
the hugely popular COPA
Big Breakfast fundraising
event in Cricklade.
SANDRA SAMWAYS tells us
more.
Friday 6th May dawned warm and fine,
promising a nice sunny day. Many people
made their way to Cricklade United Church
hall for the fourth annual COPA Big Breakfast. The ‘full English’ was expertly cooked
by former professional chef, Helen Samways. Customers were also offered a
choice of cereals and toast. Helen was
aided by a merry band of helpers who waited at table or tackled a mountain of washing up. Many thanks to you all.
Punters very generously contributed to the
raffle, which offered a wide range of delightful prizes. The raffle made a profit of
over £100. Thank you to those who donated the prizes and those who bought the
tickets!
As usual, the morning exuded a convivial
atmosphere with people meeting up with
friends and family. We hope to see everyone again next year!
June 2016
VIANNELIS
This is Viannelis. She is in grade
2 and will be 8
years old in November. She is
quiet girl from
a loving family. Her teacher
spotted that she
seemed to be
suffering with an above average number of
severe headaches and she has been referred
to doctors in the capital city. What we think
we know so far is that she has a malformed
artery in her brain which not regulating her
blood flow properly. This puts even more
pressure on her already weak heart as she has
a heart murmur. Left untreated this will likely
lead to fatal organ damage. COPA has tried to
support Viannelus through our medical fund
but this is a particularly costly case amounting
to around 380,000 pesos, approximately
£5700. This family earns the equivalent of
5,000 pesos a month. Their Dad is a pastor of
one of the churches here and they are involved in a feeding project in Bombita.
The Project Trust volunteers have set up a
donation page for Viannelis, recognising the
particularly high costs of treatment, at https://
crowdfunding.justgiving.com/supportviannelis
.
Please consider spreading the word in your
churches and social groups and among your
friends. And please remember this family and
this little girl in your thoughts and prayers.
Registered Charity No. 1027117
COPA
www.copa.org.uk
June 2016
25TH ANNIVERSARY
COPA UK CONTACT NAMES
AND ADDRESSES
SERVICE AND AGM
Treasurer:
The 25th Anniversary Service for
COPA will be held at Lonsdale
Methodist Church, Lonsdale Road,
Gloucester, GL2 0TA on Sunday 9th
October at 10.30am.
Afterwards,
everyone is invited to a “Bring and
Share”
lunch followed
by
an
informative AGM.
Mr David Rush
Flat 98, Block B
The Paragon
Boston Park Road
BRENTFORD
Middlesex, TW8 9RP
Sponsorship Secretary for
both La Hoya and Bombita:
SPONSORSHIP LETTERS AND CARDS
The address for your letters and cards is:
Child’s name and sponsorship number
Escuela de COPA (Bombita or La Hoya)
Apartado 42
BARAHONA
Dominican Republic
Please write your name and address on
the reverse of the envelope. This will help
the volunteers when they are delivering
the letters and cards.
Alternatively send an email to
[email protected]
with your student's name and number in
the subject line. It will be printed off and
given to your student.
Newsletter Editor: Bryony Clear Hill
The Byre, Raylees, Elsdon,
Northumberland, NE19 1BL
[email protected]
Mrs Sandra Samways
57 Pauls Croft
CRICKLADE
Wiltshire
SN6 6AJ
Treasurer: COPA Guernsey
Mr Peter Keeling
Les Poplairs
Rue du Felconte
ST SAVIOURS
Guernsey
GY7 9QD
Guernsey Sponsorship
Secretary:
Mrs Margaret Keeling
Les Poplairs
Rue du Felconte
ST SAVIOURS
Guernsey
GY7 9QD
Registered Charity No. 1027117