From the board
We regularly visit the schools in the Dominican Republic. It is important to see with our own eyes how the projects run, how the money is spent and to speak with our people on the spot. During a trip, we identify bottlenecks and discover new opportunities. Unfortunately, a visit to the Dominican Republic by Corona has not been possible for the past two years. The Dominican Republic has also been seriously affected by this virus, although it seems to be slowly improving. We hope to visit again at the end of this year.
By the end of May at the latest, we will switch to a new Facebook account. All current followers will receive an invitation to this new page.

How are things in the Dominican Republic?
Slowly, in the Dominican Republic too, life is returning to what it was before Corona. Schools are open again and children are all being taught in school again. As with us, infection rates are still high.
Since the beginning of this year, we have been sponsoring 20 children at a new elementary school: la escuela Julian Jimenez. The school is near our first school, Padre Zegri in Nigua. Under the inspiring leadership of the new principal, the school has grown in a short time from almost 50 to over 100 children. Because of this increase, the school with 2 classrooms became much too small. Fortunately, with a donation from the Colombian company Argos, construction of a third classroom has begun. The teachers are very involved and sometimes use their own salary to buy school supplies for the children, such as pens and notebooks. The 20 children we sponsor at this school come from very poor families. By supporting them, these children have a future again. The school has received an amount of € 1500 from our foundation for the purchase of a computer and a printer for the secretariat.
Denice, an older sponsor child of our foundation, has enrolled in University. We wish her well with her studies in bioanalysis. And she is not the only one. More and more sponsor children are moving on to University after high school!

New board members sought
Will you join our board? Due to the departure of some board members, we are looking for new people who want to dedicate a few hours a week here in the Netherlands for the children in the Dominican Republic. We need team members for various tasks such as sponsor contact in the Netherlands, maintaining the website, finances and marketing/PR. We meet 10 times a year, lately also often online. Once every two years we visit the projects in the Dominican Republic. Something for you, we’d love to hear from you! Mail to contact@kinderhulpdominicaanserepubliek.nl or call Marieke van Suijlen,
06 53453935. Ook met vragen kan je terecht bij Marieke.

Campaign for new bus to transport deaf children goes well
Our bus action has been running since mid-2021. Two buses are in use to transport deaf children to school. Especially the biggest bus is in very bad condition and badly in need of replacement. Thanks to many contributions we are now able to finance a good second-hand bus. We are very happy about that, thank you very much. Our people on the ground are looking for a safe, reliable and affordable bus. Meanwhile, donations remain welcome of course, also the second smaller bus, is on the list to be replaced.
Warmest regards, the Board:
Koot Jedeloo, Chris van den Brink, Ilse Jansen, Marieke van Suijlen.