Olouine. By Kristen Menchaca

Eyes are tired. Muscles hurt. Skin is ouchy-tingly. Ankle starting to swell. And my heart is... full. Overflowing with love for these people and their country! Oh, the things we have been taught and are now still trying to grasp and process. It is challenging; poverty is a heavy-on-your-heart topic that can be really discouraging, and while our group has caught glimpses of the sadness it brings, we have also experienced hope! Lives are being changed by HOPE International here. This week we were able to witness this first-hand. What a privilege!

In one of the rural communities we visited, my team met one woman named Olouine in her home. She has taken out several loans now with HOPE, which has helped her expand her humble business of selling items like shoes, underwear, and food to people in the community. She is married and has 2 little girls.

Oh my goodness, people, this woman was just the happiest girl I had ever seen! Her dark skin was glowing, her white teeth flashing when she smiled big and, she threw her head back as she laughed. She was just radiating JOY! She offered us seats as we walked into her tiny living room- about the size of a typical American bathroom. We asked her questions about her life: her business, family, experience with HOPE, spiritual life, etc. Halfway through our interview, I asked her what the source of her joy was--as it was just so evident on her face and in her sweet Spanish voice. Olouine responded, "God is in my life! I am joyful because He he has provided for me and my family." She then proceeded to tell us, with a huge smile the whole time, how the Lord had worked a miracle just a couple weeks ago. Her baby came down with cholera--a sickness that commonly takes the lives of children in this community in about 3 days. But Olouine and her husband prayed and prayed for a week as their baby struggled, and now the little girl was running around like normal! We saw her ourselves! This woman praised God again and again. She gave Him all the glory. After this time with Olouine I could not stop smiling myself... :)

I am overjoyed to report that Christ is alive and working in the Dominican Republic! Even in the poorest of communities, He is there. I have seen it. I have felt it.