DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MISSION

As part of the outreach efforts of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, our pastor, Father Michael Corcione, leads our parish in providing relief to the poor people living on the bateys of the Dominican Republic. This is a story of people helping people.

 

We at St. Peter's Parish hope that you will leave this page with a greater understanding of how important this mission is in helping to restore peoples' lives to a level of human dignity. We hope and pray that our efforts will inspire you to help in any way that you can.

 

On this page you will find information on:

 

 

Bateyes
Bateys were once solely populated by Haitian refugees who came to work on the sugar cane fields. As most of the Haitians have settle there, those currently living on the batey are mostly born in the Dominican Republic, however, do not have legal citizen status. A batey is a town consisting of barracks located close to sugar cane fields so that groups of workers can live nearby to the site of their labor. Bateyes vary in size considerably (an estimated 200,000) and those living on the bateys face overcrowded shacks with limited access to nutrition, electricity, health care and basic hygiene.

 

Working in the sugar cane fields is very difficult work and the laborers, Haitian immigrants, came to the Dominican Republic to work on the sugar cane fields searching for a better life. The workers and their families are lodged in barracks at the batey sometimes with no facilities and are expected to work cropping sugar cane for long days with hard hours. Since the Haitians living on the bateys and working the fields are not legal immigrants, they themselves do not have legal citizen status in the Dominican Republic and therefore, their children have also been denied citizenship papers. Without citizenship papers from the Dominican Republic, these children of Haitian immigrants cannot access health care or go to school nor can they receive the benefits of other public services. Men working in the sugar cane fields are very minimally paid ($1/day) and do not make enough money to feed their families or provide the basic necessities of life. They very often do not have access to potable drinking water, clothes, shoes, nor medical care.

 

The children are particularly affected by the poverty. Infant mortality is high and the infants and children who survive often suffer from parasitic diseases and malnutrition. The latest statistics from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) study in the Dominican Republic reveal that 38.4%* of the children of less than five years old suffer of chronic malnutrition. As a consequence, a third of these children are moderately to severely growth delayed.

 

The Dominican Republic’s bateyes also have a high rate of HIV/AIDS at 5-13%* as compared to the national average of only 1%.

 

The people living on the bateys are caught in a system where, working alone they can not escape. However, we can do something to help them.

 

Las Pajas Batey: A Figure Out Of The Woods

Featured in this video is a woman, "...a figure out of the woods," whose life captures just some of the deprivations people must endure. We encourage everyone to view the video and see first hand what living conditions are really like for some of the poorest citizens, those who dwell in the forest.

 

 

 

The Law Of The Earth "Jus Soli"

The following video depicts the overall effort of our mission, beginning with Fr. Mike Corcione's encouraging words of Blessed Mother Teresa's efforts to, "...go out and search for the poorest of the poor..."

 

A universal agreement called, "The Law of The Earth" has been accepted by many countries in the world and out of those countries, Canada and the Dominican Republic, have stated that they would abide by it. The words "Jus Soli" is latin for "Right Of The Soil," which in essence means the land that you were born on is the country of your citizenship. Roughly 92% of the refugees living in the bateyes of the Dominican Republic were born in the bateyes on Dominican soil.

 

Unfortunately, the government refuses to acknowledge their citizenship, resulting in no issuance of a birth certificate, which means they can not leave the batey, nor can they go to another country. As a result, they are stuck in a virtual "no mans" land, with no running water, no electricity, no food and a lack of proper hygienic conditions. The people of the batey are not allowed an education past grade four and no health care at all. Their homes are built from garbage that they are able to find.

 

Bateyes are barracks originally established for sugar cane workers back in the 1920's, but today they have become refugee camps. The video below exposes this injustice to humanity as well as providing you, the viewer, with a real sense of the overall planning, coordination and effort that was needed to make this mission a success, made possible by the generosity of so many individuals, groups, companies and schools.

 

If you ever wondered just exactly what does the mission do, the video below beautiful captures the charitable work of so many loving and caring Canadians. We encourage everyone to watch this video.

 

 

 

Our Initiatives
St. Peter’s Parish is involved with several initiatives to provide relief and hope to the people living on the bateys that includes: immunization, nutrition, education and our relief trip.

 

Immunization and Nutrition:
Working with a medical clinic in Consuelo Dominican Republic, we provide funding for twelve bateys to immunize the children and provide nutrition to the child and the family. Since nutrition is a critical factor in your body’s ability to fight diseases, the combination of adequate nutrition with the immunizations maximizes the benefit of providing these immunizations.

 

Education:
Sometimes, a batey will be fortunate to have received funding to be able to have a school and a teacher (often a volunteer) on site. Frequently this school is only for very elementary students. Once beyond the early elementary years, if students have their citizenship papers they can enroll in a Dominican Republic school, but are required to find their own means of transportation to arrive at school every day. One batey in particular, Las Pajas, is remote and difficult to get to. It is too far to walk to the school in the nearby city. This initiative focuses on arranging consistent and reliable transportation to take over 25 older students to and from school on a daily basis. This is an ever important initiative because education will improve their literacy and teach them skills, giving them hope at finding employment and breaking the cycle of working in the sugar cane fields.

 

We have also worked closely with Las Pajas to help them build their school. We have provided funds to build an addition to their small school which had become over-crowded and also provide a new roof. Their school house is now sturdy enough to also function as their hurricane shelter if needed.

 

We also are providing a scholarship for a young man to attend medical school at a University in the Dominican Republic.

 

Relief Trip:
Each year, the parish organizes a trip to and visit the bateys. Having started these relieve mission trips in 2003, this will be our sixth relief trip in 2009. The purpose of the trip is to check on our initiatives and deliver donated goods to the people of the batey. We have been working with three particular bateys: Las Pajas, La Cachena and Alejandro Bass. There were fifty travelers in 2008, ranging in age from 12 – 63, the majority aged 22 years or younger. Each year the number of travelers increases and what we are able to accomplish when we are in the DR also proportionally grows.

 

In our 2008 mission trip we collected and boxed 989 boxes of donated goods including: clothes for babies, children, teens and adults, shoes, linen, toiletries, toys, school supplies, and 5 wheelchairs. With the generous donation of $100,000 USD we were able to ship all the donated goods to San Pedro de Macoris, the town closest to the bateys in the Dominican Republic. Over the 7 day trip we visited the three bateys and delivered the donated goods. There was nothing more enjoyable than finding something you donated packed in a box and giving it to someone who needed it. Each person walked away with a bag full of donated goods.

 

We also had the opportunity to take the children of each batey to the beach for one day. Although they live so close to the water, many of them have no means to get to the beach. We feed the children and their parents lunch at the beach; a well balanced meal of rice, meat, fruit and juice. We also collect beach toys from our parish that are distributed on that day for the children to frolic and enjoy at the beach. Their enjoyment and smiles are priceless.

 

While in the Dominican Republic we stay in San Pedro de Macoris at the convent that also seconds as a Teacher’s College ‘Institu Superior de formacion Docente, Salome Urena Recinto - Juan Vicente Moscoso’. Under the directorship of Sor Mercedes Carasco Miranda, the convent is also involved with visiting the bateyes and providing support to those who need it.

 

Initiative Expenses

Below is a table of the expenses of our initiatives. In providing this information, we hope to help you put our mission needs into a better perspective.

 

Dominican Republic Mission 2008 Initiative Expenses
Expense Items
$USD/Month
Immunization and Nutrition
$2,400.00
Transportation for young adults from Las Pajas to school
$2,000.00
Las Pajas School Building
$200.00
Medical School Scholarship
$200.00

 

 

Dominican Republic Mission 2008 Photo Gallery

Our dedicated page to our 2008 mission effort includes 20 photos with photo captions and notations that we hope you will help you further understanding of the importance of this mission. To view our gallery, please visit: Dominican Republic 2008 Mission Gallery.

 

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*Statistics provided by The Batey Relief Alliance. This organization was established in 1997 in the United States as a tax-exempt humanitarian aid organization. It works closely with key international donors and partners committed to positive social change in the developing world.

 

 

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