And what of Luis?

The world has become smaller. The wonder of communication via the messengers just amazes me. I can, in one day, 'speak' to someone in Canada, in California, in Australia, in any State of the Union, and in any country of the world.

I am language challenged, however, and though I can sometimes follow written Spanish in written form, I am limited to English speakers.

Tonight, I was talking with my friend Grace who told me of the unexpected death of Noelle, who had a very well known bed and breakfast in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. I had met Noelle, and many will miss her smile.

She also showed me a blog about one of the Seminarians there.

The Dominican Republic is a poor Third World county. Those who frequent the 'all inclusives' and never leave the hotel complex have no idea of the country, the barrios, the campos. So poor that at times, people have to depend on the orphanages to help to raise their children...

Many cannot own vehicles, and have to depend on public taxis, 'gua guas', and motoconchos for transportation. Education, beyond high school especially, is very expensive to them, but to us, it is amazingly not! Many more kids could go on to school if there were ways to pay for that education. Not everyone is blessed to be able to, however. Some very smart kids simply go on to live as their parents and grandparents did for lack of funds.

I have no idea of the actual costs right now, but a couple of years ago, one young girl was waiting for the nuns of the orphanage I do dental work at to find a donor to help her go to college to study to be a nurse... and my friend told me then, that it was at that time, $65 US dollars per month.... way beyond the means of a Dominican girl being raised in an orphanage.

Many of those girls are not what WE think of as orphans. Some are. Some are simply left in the care of the nuns because their family has not the means to take care of them. One family was destroyed when a mother took off with the two youngest children, leaving the father to raise a daughter and sons. Dad knew he could not do justice for his daughter. The dangers of a young girl on the street was more than he wanted for her. He kept the boys, as they could 'beg' and help to support the remaining family (no education probably), but he took his daughter to the safety of an orphanage to be raised by the nuns there, seeing him and her brothers occasionally. He wanted more for her than he could give her.

Then there are others who have no one...and that story is best told by the author, Carina, here...

Addendum added on July 25, 2005:

The Bishop was happy to hear of the response, and said that there are many other young men in need of support for the tuition in the Diocese and if others are interested in helping, they can use more assistance. God bless!!