End of Summer Camp & Scholarships for the New School Year

On August 2nd, we finished our third annual English immersion summer camp here in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. It lasted 6 weeks and this summer 55 campers participated! We added a new group for youth ages 15 to early 20s. We had cut off campers at 14 in the past, but there was an overwhelming interest of this group, so we added the group and called them Watermelons, in addition to our other 5 fruit groups.

We continued with the four stations - Story, Arts & Crafts, Songs, and Active Games. 10 volunteers, all from the US, ran the camp, in collaboration with our Haitian teachers. 5 counselors were here throughout the entire summer, which created lots of consistency, and 3 counselors were returners from last year, which strengthened our program as well.

Also, as a surprise to all of us, we moved into a new and improved building on our last week, complete with a playground!

After camp, it was time to prepare for the start of the school year. We continued our three scholarships from last year. Freddy Jean Piet enters into his second year studying Modern Languages at the University of OyM. Eriverto Osvaldo has moved onto 6th grade at Sueno de Los Ninos private school. And Miguelina Joseph graduated from 7th grade at Sueno de Los Ninos, so she moved onto a new school for 8th grade and then high school. This school, Santa Rosa de la Lima, is one of the best private schools in the city, and we are proud that she is able to attend. She is loving it so far!

Oh, I almost forgot, there was a special scholarship set up this year for Eriverto's younger sister Aniverca who has cerebral palsy and has never gone to school before this year, just one summer of summer camp. She was registered in 1st grade at Sueno de Los Ninos, but unfortunately, the teacher was unable to continue with her integrated into the class, although they do have one student with cerebral palsy, but he appears to be more accustomed to going to school and working in a classroom. So the plan is to attempt to place her in a special education school, at least for a few years, if the special scholarship continues, and then attempt to integrate her again.

Thank you for your continued support! Together, we are truly changing lives and working for a better future.

Family of 4 Kids in Need of Sponsorship

This is a picture of a family of four children who we hope to get sponsored for our 2012 English Immersion Camp. You may notice that there are more than four children in this photo, along with their grandmother. The two two-year-olds are their cousins and the little boy in red being hugged up front is a neighbor. The other four are siblings.


In the back right in blue is the oldest, Miguel Angel. He is 11 years old. Then the boy in a red soccer jersey in the front right is Eduardo who is 9 years old. Shantal is to the left of Eduardo and is 7 years old. Then Shanel is to the left of Shantal, wearing a white headband and holding her cousin Wendely. Shanel is the youngest sibling and is 6 years old.


The kids live with their grandmother. Their mother does not live far and pops in occasionally but quite frankly is not very responsible or interested in raising them. Their father(s) is/are absent. Their grandmother works very hard and raises them in a strict manner. They are all four extremely fun-loving, healthy, athletic kids. They could use support in their education and would highly benefit from extra-curricular activities.


These kids are determined as perfect candidates to be sponsored to go to camp out of a pool of potential others in the same neighborhood because first, they have the determined need to be sponsored, second, they show the great need for educational support and extra-curricular activities, third, their grandmother desires this for them, and fourth, they have responded very well to small neighborhood activities and slight behavioral corrections given.


This year camp registration is 100 pesos and then there is a weekly fee of 250 pesos. The weekly transportation fee for kids from this neighborhood is 300 pesos per child. Therefore, to sponsor each of these kids in USD, the costs are as follows:

1 week - $16.80

2 weeks - $30.84

3 weeks - $45.00

4 weeks - $59.13

5 weeks - $73.26

6 weeks - $87.40

**Our apologies for a previous mistake that said $50 could send a child to camp. We made a mistake in calculation, only including one week of transportation costs. This is the correct cost. 

You can sponsor by sending a check to:

Project Esperanza

1291 Valley Mill Rd. 

Winchester, VA 22602

or by donating on PayPal. If you donate on PayPal, please add an additional 2.5% to your donation because that is what the PayPal fee is. Please help us send these kids to camp! We think it will be a huge encouragement for them in their difficult lives. Thank you! 

Camp: Week 5

This week at camp was very emotional! The counselors tried their best to keep up the camp structure, but it was a little tricky when a different counselor was leaving every day.

Like last week, the counselors used as much English as possible to direct activities. Directions were explained in English first, and then translated into Spanish for better clarification. There was also more pressure on the students to use English, like reinforcing the use of “please” and “thank you” and helping them communicate their desires (such as “I want water”) in English.

In song time, the students reviewed some of the older songs like The Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald, and enjoyed a CD one of the counselors brought that they could sing along to. The last few days a jump rope was brought in and the students were taught Cinderella:

Cinderella

Dressed in yellow

Went upstairs

To kiss a fellow

Made a mistake

And kissed a snake!

How many doctors

Did it take?

1,2,3,4….

The students had a lot of fun with the song, and were especially amused at it when translated into Spanish. After repeating the song many times, students challenged each other to see who could get the most doctors to help Cinderella. They loved this so much they also continued it during break time!

Another fun game we played was Mentira, which is just the name the counselors gave to the common card game in America, BS. This gave the students a good opportunity to review their numbers and colors, as well as learn the new shapes, words for King and Queen, and phrases such as “your turn”.

The final day of camp was a cause for celebration! Not only was it the last day, but it was also Ilayas’ birthday! (Ilayas is the son of Project Esperanza’s director, Caitlin.) The counselors (only two now!) decided to have a World Awareness Day, where first we showed the students a map of the world, and asked them to name different countries in each continent. We also asked them what kinds of animals lived where (ex: Australia- kangaroos, Africa- lions, Antarctica- penguins) and facts about the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

To celebrate America (where both counselors were from), the students made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drank hot cocoa! Some students were reluctant at first to combine, what was to them, such a strange combination but it turned out to be a hit, and many students had multiple sandwiches.

Finally, one of the counselors led the students in a series of yoga poses. The students really enjoyed these exercises, and there were many bouts of laughter as the kids tried their best to do the movements where many times they ended up toppling over on the floor.

Afterwards, we did a small presentation of certificates, awarding campers for the completion of the program. We presented two star campers with scholarships that will allow them to attend private school this year! The day was completed with the students giving Ilayas his birthday presents and many tearful but loving goodbyes. It was a great way to end such a wonderful summer!