Jones Mission to Cotui, D.R.
Donation protected
I will make you a deal. If you spend the next few minutes reading this Mission Trip description, I will present you with an honest and true portrayal of what life for these kids (see picture) is like in the Dominican, what they need and why we go there. Before you agree, please know that you are being asked for a donation that will help fund the travel, materials and necessaties required to support the children that reside in the village of Cotui (Ko-twee).
Imagine yourself at age 12. Try to remember what it was like when you were hungry, or thirsty. What did your home look like? Was your bed comfortable? When you opened your drawers what was in there? Did you have a closet? Was it full of clothing. Maybe your parent(s) took you to the Clinic when you were sick or the Dentist for regular check ups, or to fill a cavity. What about school? Did you go?
Now imagine yourself at age 12 without any of the afforementioned. Hungry? Go find some fruit if you can somewhere. Thirsty? Help yourself to the parasite ridden water hole...unless an animal is bathing there. Want to go home? In most cases you share a dirt floor shack with people. Some of those people might be your family. Your bed...your bed is everyone's bed. The "wealthiest" in cotui might have a mattress that only 2 people share, but the average villager sleeps with a number of people on whatever they can cobble together. Most of the kids have the clothes on their back. They wear the same thing everyday. Some don't have underwear (Jill tells me that they go crazy for the underwear when we bring it). You don't get to go to the Doctor when you are sick from drinking the parasitic water. You wait for missionaires to come and bring medicine. You don't get to go to the Dentist. The Dentist doesn't exist. The Dentist comes to town when people like you donate so that we can afford to send a Dentist with proper equipment. Over the 5 days that we will be there over 60 permanent teeth will be pulled...from the mouths of children. They won't get them back.
The girls get pregnant around 15 and the "men" leave. This is a village of people without anything but what we bring them or build them.
Now let me tell what 10 years of this mission has accomplished, and what your donations do:
A pasture was purchased with the sale of a home. A safety wall was put up around the pasture (now the village) to keep the wrong people out. A new gate will be built this year. A few cinder block homes have been built. A school, funded by sponsorship of children, was built complete with Kitchen. Those kids that have sponsorship get 2 meals a day, a multi vitaman and an education. A couple of kids actually made it to college! A modest water filtration system was built which give some access to clean water and offers the village water to sell....for 25cents a container. There is so much more to do for these people to create a safe, self sustaining environment. If there is a model for how these missions should work, it is Cotui. We need your funding for medical and dental care. We need your donations for simple things like underwear, shoes and pencils. We rely on your generosity so that 15 year old girls can be given a chance to be something more than pregnant and abandoned. Please help fund us. We need you. If you can't donate, pray like never before.
Imagine yourself at age 12. Try to remember what it was like when you were hungry, or thirsty. What did your home look like? Was your bed comfortable? When you opened your drawers what was in there? Did you have a closet? Was it full of clothing. Maybe your parent(s) took you to the Clinic when you were sick or the Dentist for regular check ups, or to fill a cavity. What about school? Did you go?
Now imagine yourself at age 12 without any of the afforementioned. Hungry? Go find some fruit if you can somewhere. Thirsty? Help yourself to the parasite ridden water hole...unless an animal is bathing there. Want to go home? In most cases you share a dirt floor shack with people. Some of those people might be your family. Your bed...your bed is everyone's bed. The "wealthiest" in cotui might have a mattress that only 2 people share, but the average villager sleeps with a number of people on whatever they can cobble together. Most of the kids have the clothes on their back. They wear the same thing everyday. Some don't have underwear (Jill tells me that they go crazy for the underwear when we bring it). You don't get to go to the Doctor when you are sick from drinking the parasitic water. You wait for missionaires to come and bring medicine. You don't get to go to the Dentist. The Dentist doesn't exist. The Dentist comes to town when people like you donate so that we can afford to send a Dentist with proper equipment. Over the 5 days that we will be there over 60 permanent teeth will be pulled...from the mouths of children. They won't get them back.
The girls get pregnant around 15 and the "men" leave. This is a village of people without anything but what we bring them or build them.
Now let me tell what 10 years of this mission has accomplished, and what your donations do:
A pasture was purchased with the sale of a home. A safety wall was put up around the pasture (now the village) to keep the wrong people out. A new gate will be built this year. A few cinder block homes have been built. A school, funded by sponsorship of children, was built complete with Kitchen. Those kids that have sponsorship get 2 meals a day, a multi vitaman and an education. A couple of kids actually made it to college! A modest water filtration system was built which give some access to clean water and offers the village water to sell....for 25cents a container. There is so much more to do for these people to create a safe, self sustaining environment. If there is a model for how these missions should work, it is Cotui. We need your funding for medical and dental care. We need your donations for simple things like underwear, shoes and pencils. We rely on your generosity so that 15 year old girls can be given a chance to be something more than pregnant and abandoned. Please help fund us. We need you. If you can't donate, pray like never before.
Organizer
Tim Jones
Organizer
Franklin, TN
