Dolores Puértolas shares this good news from Sabana Yegua.
This summer that has just ended has been even more vibrant than the previous ones in Sabana Yegua. It is a time of visits and very fruitful encounters for both the local community and for the people who visit us from different countries. These are the different groups that have visited us from abroad in recent months.
Seminarians from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In what has already been configured as a mission experience and a linguistic immersion, six young men in preparation for the priesthood spent two months with us. The first month they took a Spanish course in Santiago de los Caballeros, in the north of the country, through the Catholic College Pontificia Universidad Madre y Maestra. The other month they collaborated in the different activities of the La Sagrada Familia Parish. The cultural and religious experience, the experience of diversity and the universality of the Church is what the seminarians value most in their time in these lands.
Sonríe y Crece Association. This is a group of volunteers from Spain who for 15 years have been visiting the Dominican Republic in the summer. Once here, they carry out a school reinforcement programme in the mornings and games for children in the afternoons, through which they transmit values and educate the little ones. They have also given talks on how to build houses safely to cope with the Caribbean hurricane season and activities to promote health and physiotherapy. Every year, young Spaniards from different professions dedicate themselves for two months to sharing their knowledge and friendship with the children and young people of Sabana Yegua. What they highlight most is the wonderful experience of having dinner with the children's different families, the excursions to climb the hill near the town with the little ones, as well as being able to get to know the warm culture of the country.
ESADE SUD interns. We have been collaborating with this Spanish Business School for four years: for three months, two interns who are about to finish their studies work at the Eco-hotel and retreat house Altos de la Caobita of the Community of Saint Paul in Barrera, located within the parish territory of La Sagrada Familia. This year they helped to improve the internal organization, create new products and promote the project. This year, we also started collaborating with the plastic recycling program “Reciclaplus” and created ecological packages to learn about the recycling initiative.
Professors from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. For the first time, two professors from the UPC School of Agronomy visited us to collaborate with the eco-hotel and develop a plan for varied crops that can be replicated in the communities, optimizing the use of water, a resource that is so scarce here in the South of the Dominican Republic. These were two intense weeks of a lot of learning and now it is time to get down to work with the plan we have drawn up.
We are grateful for these many contributions, which leave us with a deep feeling of friendship and are proof of the solidarity that so many people are eager to offer and share.
The Association “Sonríe y Crece” (Smile and Grow), which was founded in Barcelona (Spain), has been carrying out summer projects in Sabana Yegua for the last 13 years. In this article they tell us about the exciting summer experience they just had.
Our experience began in Madrid, where, due to circumstances beyond our control, the group of volunteers from “Smile and Grow 2023” had to postpone our arrival to the Dominican Republic for a week. Finally, on July 15 we arrived in Sabana Yegua, which would be our home for the next month and a half.
The arrival was exciting, full of life, and right away we felt the affection of an entire community. Our first contact with the town was to be received by the Parish of La Sagrada Familia. Shortly after, we discovered and rediscovered the places where a large part of our memories would later be forged: the San Francisco neighborhood school, the baseball field, the plastic collection center, the canal, the different neighborhoods of the town... Everyone took time to talk to us, whether getting to know Barrio Blanco, San Francisco or Barrio Nuevo. That first week we already noticed the closeness of the children, but also of the older ones. For the most veteran of us, the first days were full of memories, each reunion with the families of Sabana Yegua was pure happiness. Those of us who were in the country for the first time began to savor the Dominican culture, the joy in the small moments and the simplicity of sharing your daily life with others. From that first week we were able to understand that “Smile and Grow” has its home, its people and its heart in Sabana Yegua.
The first week we already started with the training of what we call “monitores” (instructors): the young men and women from the town who would help us organize the activities with the children. Aimed at boys and girls over 14 years of age and with a creative spirit, we tried to instill in them the values of a good “monitor”, always thinking about making the children happy. These instructors are a fundamental part of the “summer”. It involves organizing games and recreational and educational activities for children, which take place in the afternoons in the open spaces that the parish very kindly gives us. “El veranito” (litearlli, the “small Summer”) takes place both in Sabana Yegua and in the town called “El Km 15”. That is why in this first week we brought together instructors from both places and they themselves saw the opportunity to create bonds of friendship.
From the second week of our stay onwards, we began the routine of our volunteering. Every day, at 9 in the morning, classes began at the San Francisco School and in the afternoons, with the help of the instructors, the children enjoyed the “small Summer.” At the end of the games, we would close the afternoon having a snack together, children and instructors, while commenting on how the day had gone. Immersed in a frenetic rhythm, it filled us with happiness to accompany the children, to see in their smiles and gestures towards us... the reward for so much effort. The days went by quickly, everything was very intense and even in our free time our bodies asked us to go out into the streets, to be part of Sabana Yegua.
In parallel, “Sonríe y Crece” develops other projects, beyond the educational one, always with the objective of helping and collaborating with the people of Sabana Yegua. On the one hand, “Smile and Live” is our health project, fundamentally with formational talks and direct action. Presentations are given on good practices in the field of health and first aid, as well as street-level actions, in which volunteers with health training go around the town helping whoever may need it. Lastly, first aid kits are delivered to the towns where we operate, also trying to benefit the most marginalized communities. “Smile and Live” is a fundamental project and our objective is to expand these actions for the future, such as, for example, increasing our visits to the physiotherapy and rehabilitation center that the Parish runs in town.
On the other hand, in “Smile and Build” the main objective is to develop the projects that have been carried out for years: collaborate with Recicla+, the plastic collection center and raise awareness about recycling and its benefits, creating recycling week in the school. At the same time, this year we have worked on designing the reform of the health center's pharmacy, giving more advanced talks to monitors about recycling and carrying out street-level actions in the areas that most required it. In these actions we try to advise on good construction practices and solutions to preserve homes against inclement weather, always supported by a construction manual prepared by one of our volunteers, which we intend to be able to disseminate in the future.
After a month and a half of having lived one of the most enriching and transformative experiences that a young person (like us) can enjoy, we only have words of GRATITUDE for the people of Sabana Yegua. Thank you for introducing us into your day to day. Thank you for opening the doors of your homes for us when we were just strangers at first. Thank you for supporting us every morning and feeling pushed to make Sabana Yegua one of the most prosperous communities in the entire province of Azua. Thank you for educating your children in a kindness worthy of the greatest actuators of change. Thanks to the children for their incredible desire to ask us to maintain optimism above all else!
We carry indelible memories with us, and we leave with the desire to return as soon as possible. See you very, very soon!
This past October, the celebrations of the 40th Anniversary of “La Sagrada Familia” parish in Sabana Yegua (Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic) concluded. As the readers of this Blog already know, “La Sagrada Familia” (founded in 1981) is the sister parish of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Since 2003 (that is, practically half of the history of the parish) “La Sagrada Familia” has been taken care by members (priests and laity) of the Community of Saint Paul.
To culminate the 40th Anniversary celebrations, on October 16, a Mass was celebrated in Sabana Yegua with the presence of Msgr. Jerome Listecki, Archbishop of Milwaukee, Msgr. Tomás Alejo, current Bishop of San Juan de la Maguana, Msgr. José Grullón, retired bishop of San Juan, several priests and many people who came from all the rural communities surrounding Sabana Yegua, who are part of the parish. A group of 20 pilgrims from Milwaukee were also in attendance, led by Antoinette Mensah, director of the World Mission Office in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. It was a great feast: after the Eucharist there were dances, traditional music, and a meal for more than 600 people.
It was, in short, a beautiful occasion to celebrate four decades of solidarity between two sister churches. In the Community of Saint Paul we are happy and grateful for having been part of this history for almost twenty years now, and we look forward to the future of “La Sagrada Familia”, which has done so much good (and wants to continue doing so!) in this area of the southwest of the Dominican Republic.
One of the great problems we face here in the southwest of the Dominican Republic is seeing the number of families that do not have decent housing. Many families live in houses made of tin, sticks or "emptying", a very rudimentary type of cement filling.
These families suffer not only the discomfort that entails living in this type of housing, but —especially during the hurricane season— they live in fear that their weak and fragile houses will be lost, and with them their few belongings.
In La Sagrada Familia Parish we carry out a program of home improvement and construction of new houses for the most vulnerable families. Over the past year and a half, thanks to the generosity of St. Lucy and St. Sebastian parishioners in Racine, WI, as well as the Cathedral of Milwaukee, we have had the joy of building eight brand new homes.
The selection of who benefits from this program is never easy, and that is why we carefully evaluate the situation and the history of each family. We always give priority to families who are dealing with someone with a disability, or single-parent families with several sons and daughters, or other similar situations of extreme vulnerability. Personally, I can say that, although the selection process is difficult, it is also a blessing to know the history and the reality of the people. Having a good home only solves one of their many needs, but certainly living with dignity is a fundamental human right.
We pray that in 2022 we may connect with more generous people who will contribute to make a reality the dream of many families here in the Dominican Republic: the aspiration to have a decent, proper home.
From left to right: Javier Guativa, Mike Wolfe, Msgr. José Grullón and Thomas Naidu
On September 5, the new Pastor of La Sagrada Familia parish, Fr. Javier Guativa, and the new Associate Pastor, Father Thomas Naidu, were installed by Bishop José Grullón, of San Juan de la Maguana. At the same time, Fr. Michael Wolfe, who has been in charge of the parish since June 2019, said goodbye to the community.
Javier and Mike belong to the Community of Saint Paul, and soon Mike will travel to Colombia, where he will team up with Martí Colom at La Resurrección Parish, located in the south of Bogotá. Javier, for his part, has worked nine years as a priest in different parish assignments in Milwaukee before going to La Sagrada Familia. Father Thomas Naidu, originally from India and ordained 16 years ago, has carried out his pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for the last four years. Javier and Thomas will work as a team with the group of lay members of the Community of Saint Paul that has been present for many years in Sabana Yegua and its surrounding communities.
This past weekend the parish community gave a warm welcome to the two new priests and thanked Fr. Mike for his service there, wishing him many blessings in his new endeavors.
Reflection by Fr. Mike Ignaszak on his visit to Sabana Yegua (Dominican Republic)
Father Mike Ignaszak, pastor of Saint John Paul II in Milwaukee, visited the La Sagrada Familia Parish in Sabana Yegua, Dominican Republic a few months ago, and here we share a reflection based on his homily in the small chapel at Kilometer 8 on his last day in the parish. It is based on the Gospel reading of the day.
The story of Lazarus and the rich man always makes me take stock of my life. It makes me admit something that makes me uncomfortable: in many ways, I am rich. When I was a child I didn´t think that my family was poor, but we definitely were not rich. My dad worked hard to provide for us and sometimes my mother worked too. I knew there were people that had much more than we did. Now I know that I have always been one of the richest people in the world. Even though there are many people who have far more things and much more money than I, I have never known hunger and never been without. Even after my father died when I was eleven years old, my mother went to work and provided for us. Compared with much of the world who has far less than me, I was still rich. It is difficult to be in that position, to be rich, and read this Gospel.
When I pray with the readings it challenges me to redefine what makes one truly rich. Having the chance to preach on this reading while visiting your beautiful parish, you have taught me to see riches in a new way. Your community has been greatly blessed, and you are a blessing to me and to all who visit. During this week and a half, I witnessed true riches in the what I used to think of as the poorest of situations. People who live day to day off the land have shared generously with me. People who have none of the conveniences that I as an American take for granted each day, have shown me a joy. Too often when we have more, we want more. Too often when we are lucky, we want more luck. Too often when we take things for granted, we feel entitled. You have taught me that true riches come from being blessed. Your community is blessed and is a blessing for others. I give thanks to God and to you for the time I have spent with you for it has changed me.
I am now proud to be rich, but not in things. I am proud to be rich in the blessings God has showered upon me – in all of you. You have taught me that the heart of true riches is when you recognize that you have been blessed. Material wealth has nothing to do with it. It is simply that joy of life, knowing God is with you, that makes us all truly rich. For this insight I thank you. I thank you also for your hospitality, warmth and generosity. I thank you for your patience with my Spanish in conversations and for the warm greetings as I have passed you in the streets.
Contrary to the great divide that separates Lazarus and the rich man, I get to cross the great divide between Sabana Yegua and Milwaukee. I am allowed to return and tell my brothers and sisters at St. John Paul II parish that I have discovered how beautiful and blessed our brothers and sisters in La Sagrada Familia are.
This pilgrimage has served me to visit friends and make new ones, to meet you and to learn about your wonderful country and the strength of your faith. These riches can never be counted in a bank account, but they worth far more than any gold. In this sense, you have helped this poor man to be richly blessed by you.
This year La Sagrada Familia hosted the largest group yet for the annual Eye Mission. 31 volunteers from the US and a group of Dominican volunteers carried out a successful eye clinic in Sabana Yegua, with 911 patients that received eye exams, diagnoses and prescriptions when appropriated. The ophthalmologists and their surgery teams carried out 89 surgeries.
We share with you the reflection from one of the volunteers:
“I just got back from my first service mission in Sabana Yegua, Dominican Republic, where my service consisted of being a translator. I spent a week with some wonderful people from different walks of life. Together, we represented 11 different countries. We spent a week fitting the neediest in the community (Dominicans and Haitians) with glasses, as the doctors performed eye exams and cataract surgeries.
Since I’ve worn glasses since third grade, it is beyond words to see people’s faces light up when they tried on a pair of glasses. So, imagine those who had cataract surgeries. All in all, a rewarding experience!”
I listen to this song, “Friendship with the Poor Makes Us Friends of God … Friendship with the broken, the lonely … with God”. The recent years of my intense mission life in the Dominican Republic have been filled with many projects, interesting activities, achievements and much learning. Today, though, I am remembering a person. A man named Tomás.
He died a few months ago. He was between 60 and 70 years old, not even he knew his exact age. He was single, and life brought him to Sabana Yegua. His siblings and relatives settled in other towns and visited him only occasionally, when their jobs permitted. Tomás was an active member of our parish, attended Sunday Mass and all sorts of meetings. It’s amazing how we “know” people, but unless we have a more personal relationship with them, we don’t connect with their spark, and that is what happened to me with Tomás. He was “one more”, an older man who got along in life in spite of a significant intellectual limitation that didn’t allow him to work.
Our friendship, or at least our mutual affection, began when a tremendous psoriasis presented itself all over his body. He would lift his shirt without any shame, and showed me his torso, as he used to show others, and explained that it caused him much pain, even though he had used many ointments, to no avail. Many people would stare at him and ask him if what he had was contagious. I refused to give him financial aid so that he could go to a supposedly miraculous “curandera”, a traditional healer, who lived in the capital. And so, right there, I took one the challenge to help him in other ways. We found a specialized dermatologist and went together to Santo Domingo to visit him. What a trip! This big, 6 ft. 2-inch man, had to lean on me to go up the escalator of the Subaway, that he had never seen before. We laughed quite a bit!
After a few months, there were no longer any traces of psoriasis, and he would proudly show me that, lifting his shirt, every single time he saw me! But neither Tomás nor I are the main characters in this story. For, who helped him remember to apply his creams in the morning, at noon and at night? Who kept his little home clean? Who did his laundry? The neighbors. Women neighbors, especially. Who fed him and gave him clothing? They, the neighbors.
In recent months, Tomás became sick again. He was diabetic and was also suffering from other infirmities. We had to rush him to the hospital several times, upset and totally “out of it” because of the diabetes. In the end, he died. And, who dignified his corpse by preparing and dressing it? Who swept his house and served refreshments to all who came to mourn him? The neighbors. Who accompanied him to his grave in the cemetery? The neighbors. The brave and kind neighbors always did it, from the time they met him, with a stunning ease and naturality: caring for a neighbor who could not look after himself was simply something normal for them. Maybe they just know, in the depths of their hearts, that, as the song goes, “friendship with the poor makes us friends of God”.
Phil Stepanski, Mission Director for Service of Holy Apostles Parish in New Berlin, WI, writes about his Parish trip to La Sagrada Familia Parish in Sabana Yegua.
“During the first week of April, a team from Holy Apostles in New Berlin WI returned to La Sagrada Familia Parish for its 4th annual medical mission trip that specifically serves the parish´s Haitian population. This was my second trip. As the Mission Director for Service at Holy Apostles, making and maintaining outreach relationships both at home and abroad is an important part of my job. But by partnering with the Community of Saint Paul, serving our brothers and sisters at La Sagrada Familia has become so much more.
Seeing so many familiar faces. Being met with friendly smiles and hugs. Seeing true appreciation and kindness not only from those we worked with, but those we served, we were able to provide basic check-ups, vitamins, medications and self-care items to well over 150 Haitian immigrants during our three clinic days. These are basic needs that so many take for granted. But, thanks to the generosity of Holy Apostles parishioners, this group of people facing incredibly difficult circumstances have their lives made a little bit brighter. The gifts, “regalos”, that we provided were hand decorated bags and handmade cards written in Spanish and Creole. The bags included photos of those Holy Apostles families that decorated them. It was a way to personalize the gifts and show support through prayer.
We pray for the people of La Sagrada Familia often and hope that because of the connections we´ve made, that they pray for us as well. We also for the first time arranged a video chat between Holy Apostles school students and some students at La Sagrada Familia. It was a powerful way to connect young people in different parts of the world with a fun discussion about weather! We are looking forward to many more years of shared prayer and community from New Berlin, Wisconsin to Sabana Yegua. We thank you Lord for bringing us together. God Bless!”
