Rediscovering Hispaniola

Today is an occasion for some in the United States to celebrate and learn more about the discovery of the Americas by Europeans, the Age of Exploration or Italian-American heritage. For others, Columbus Day symbolizes a legacy of imperial oppression and the many injustices it has fomented over the last half-millennium. Many more simply pass the day like any other, unless they happen to be employed by a retail financial institution, apathetic to its controversy and unlikely to ascribe anything more than an historical footnote to this date on the calendar.

For a brief moment, I'd like to borrow this day to "rediscover" an island, a country, a community, a people and to announce a project - a calling, of sorts - which I will describe here over the next three months. Christopher Columbus is credited with having landed on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola 516 years ago on his first voyage to the "New World," subsequently settling what is now its oldest city, Santo Domingo, on the south coast of today's Dominican Republic.

In 2005, Jose Rodriguez, a native of Santo Domingo, decided to bring hope to people who live amidst extreme poverty in one of the poorest districts of this old city. He was commissioned, not to discover a land, conquer a people, or export gold, but to live amongst these impoverished families and serve them. He and his wife Carmen have come alongside these people and have organized the building of a water purification system and well to help combat the sickness that runs rampant in the community. They have cleared land and collected relief funds from international partners to build and operate a school to teach kids so that the next generations can live better lives. In addition to helping meet the physical and economic needs of these people, they have served the spiritual needs of this community by planting a church to help people grow in this vital dimension, too. But the work is not finished. They also have plans to one day build and staff a medical clinic that will advocate for better health and to treat the various maladies of the community.

Our family has decided to accompany a group from our church - which has adopted the Rodriguezes and this community of Villa Hermosa - to assist in another service project that will expand the school to accommodate more children and create an additional classroom. We look forward to this one-week trip this winter to go as servants, not tourists; to support a committed, loving, indigenous servant-leader as he and his family bring hope to their fellow Dominicans.

I invite you to watch this space over the next three months to "Rediscover Hispaniola" and to catch a glimpse of the hope Jose and his family have brought to this community.