Eben-Ezer School, Los Palmares
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Tucked away in Los Palmares, Sabana Perdida, on the northern outskirts of Santo Domingo, is a special center called Eben-Ezer School (photo to right). The school is operated by the local Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal M.I. church and is a product of a partnership between the church and the Foundation for Peace. Summer mission teams worked hand in hand with church and community members to construct the school on the second story above the church building and a recreational area on the roof. The center provides preschool and kindergarten classes to about 30 children and hopes to expand in the future.
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Pastor Feliciano Torres has worked diligently and lovingly over the last few years, beginning the school and striving to build up the educational program to meet the needs of the community. In 2008 they hired Director Ana Silvia who also teaches. It is a ministry of love for the teachers who receive a very minimal pay for the work that they do. As in other materially impoverished areas, parents in this community have a difficult time coming up with the funds to pay for this education-leaving teachers wondering if their next paycheck will be coming. The Foundation for Peace has found a small number of willing sponsors to help out this school through the Dominikids Student Sponsorship Program, so the families with few resources can still send their young children to school to prepare them for first grade. The goal is to make the school more self-sufficient by increasing the number of students whose family can afford to pay a basic level of tuition, while still serving those in need.
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Thanks to donations from the ladies at First Presbyterian Church in Grand Island, Nebraska, at the beginning of the school year in 2008, all the students at Eben Ezer received a small back pack with school materials. Like most schools in the poor areas of the Dominican Republic, basic school supplies are minimally available or absent. Through our container shipping program, we are able to provide donated school supplies to the schools in our Alliance, so that we can establish a basic level of quality education.
Their current needs include: