Page 3 - The Wayne Dispatch

Helping a village to raise their children

provides joy for local residents

About 7 years ago, Wayne resi-
dent Buddy Shuh learned of an or-
ganization called Vision Trust
International through Mark Corneli-
son, a friend Buddy made when he
was a contestant on the NBC reality
show “The Biggest Loser.” When a
church trip was planned back then
to the Dominican Republic to see the
work that Vision Trust did, Buddy
went along to learn more. Vision
Trust establishes relationships with
various communities around the
world and helps those communities
and the children growing up there.
Merge Community Church, of
which Buddy is one of four pastors,
started forming relationships with
the village of Cotui. The church
started those relationships by spon- The missions team did women’s ministry with the women of Cotui in the Dominican Republic. Photo by Samantha Jordan
soring three children living in Cotui. for baking, knitting and guitar, are ized and pulled weeds in the beds, dirt road runs through the rice fields
A $40 monthly sponsorship fee is available along with other extracur- sifted the soil, and then transplanted with patches of small houses; “Much
paid for each child; that fee provides ricular activities. Older children go tomatoes and lettuce into it. The like those tiny houses,” said Kelly.
food, clothing, shelter and education. to a public school outside the village. idea of the garden, said Kelly, was to Kelly said the rice fields look like
These days, there are a number of A garden was established in the have crops the villagers could also weeds sprouting up, and they are all
parishioners at Merge who sponsor village not long ago. On the recent sell. wet; men would wear boots while
their own Cotui children, sending trip, Shelby, Isaac and Kelly helped Cotui is a rice village. Many vil- gathering the rice. People walk every-
gifts and letters and getting letters in where unless they happen to have a
return. moped. “It’s crazy the way they
While Buddy was bundled up in drive,” said Shelby. Everything is
his snow gear and shoveling snow easy to get to in the village.
during a snowstorm here in Wayne The homes are about 200-300
in January, Shelby Shuh, wife of square feet made of cinderblock and
Buddy, their 14-year old son, Isaac, stucco to diffuse the heat. There is
Wayne Councilwoman Kelly Skiff no air conditioning. The people are
and a mother and her two twenty- poor, but they have pride in their
something-year old daughters, all homes. Electricity is a luxury, al-
Merge church members, were endur- though the community center does
ing 85° weather while serving on the have it. Most of the homes have dirty
most recent church mission trip to water in their plumbing that they
help in Cotui. Shelby has been on don’t drink, but they do use for
mission trips in the past, serving in showers. Kelly says the homes have
Mexico and Peru. This was Isaac’s those big bottles of water to use for
first mission trip, as well as Kelly’s. drinking. There are no TVs or com-
On the first day of the trip, the puters in the homes, although resi-
mission team met the Vision Trust dents are starting to get cell phones.
local staff and got introduced to the Shelby says villagers consider them-
people of the village they would be selves “married” to their partners, al-
helping. The next four days of the though they aren’t legally married; a
trip were spent working in the village legal marriage is too costly.
from about 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. The Shelby Shuh communicates to the kids through their translator Gaba during Vacation On the last day in Cotui, the team
final day was a fun day. Bible School. Afterwards they broke off into groups and half of them did games and was invited to the homes of the chil-
Other churches also help in the dren the church sponsors. When she
village. They’ve been able to bring the other half did crafts. Photo by Samantha Jordan first met the children at the begin-
clean clothes and clean water to the in maintaining the garden so the vil- lagers work in the rice fields. Rice ning of the trip, Kelly was surprised
villagers. They have built a commu- lagers could be sustainable with and beans are the staple meal. at how healthy and well-dressed they
nity center where children from pre- their food. Shelby said they were Shelby mentioned they also have were. After visiting the homes, she
school to second grade go to school. growing lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, fruits like pineapple, papaya, plan-
Computer classes, as well as classes pumpkins and cilantro. They fertil- tains and mango available locally. A See TRIP, page 5
The Wayne Dispatch · March 2019 · 3