Wayne County Catholics visit Dominican Republic

For St. John Fisher freshman Jennifer LaFlam, having blonde hair and blue eyes isn't that big of a deal. After all, several of her friends have the same features, including Aymie Vanderlyke, a Newark graduate and senior at SUNY Oswego.

But when LaFlam, of Marion, and Vanderlyke traveled to the Dominican Republic in January, they found children kids grabbing at their hair and staring at their eyes, amazed at the Americans' features.

'At first I didn't understand what they were looking at,' LaFlam said. 'When I realized they hadn't seen blonde hair before, it all made a little more sense.'

LaFlam, Vanderlyke, and Chris Guyette of Macedon, traveled to the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic neighborhood of Cristo Rey with nine other Rochester-area Catholics. They were hosted in the Dominican by the Catholic parish of Cristo Rey and the parish's priest, Padre Rojelio. The project was spearheaded by the group, which was looking to find a niche for the Rochester Diocese in the underprivileged region.

During their time in Cristo Rey, LaFlam, Vanderlyke and Guyette immersed themselves into the Dominican life, hoping to learn about the region's culture, which is about 95 percent Catholic. The group lived with Dominican families, ate Dominican food and spent nearly every moment attempting to brush up on their Spanish.

To Guyette, not being able to speak the local language was frustrating and didn't allow her to be in control during the trip. 'Being a person who likes to be in control, it was hard for me to not know what I was saying, where I was and where I was going,' Guyette said. 'It was letting go of having to be in control that made it much easier to enjoy myself. It forced me to grow in my faith.'

While Guyette found herself aggravated at not being able to communicate in her first days in Cristo Rey, LaFlam found it much easier to use the little Spanish she already knew.

'I went to the Dominican not knowing any Spanish, so communication was definitely one of my concerns,' LaFlam said. 'But when we got down there and interacted with the Dominican kids, we really learned that the only language you need to know is love, if you want to successfully communicate.'

The group was in Cristo Rey on January 6, for the celebration of the Epiphany, which in the Dominican culture is more celebrated than Christmas. On Three Kings Day, as it's called on the island, half of the American group gave toys to more than 3,500 children in less than three hours. The rest of the group took about 200 children to a local television station, where they were also given toys.

The Americans were taken to sugar cane fields, where Haitians have been sent to live and work in the fields. At these sites they gave out more toys and played with the Haitian children.

Though LaFlam, Guyette and Vanderlyke traveled to Cristo Rey expecting to help the Dominicans and 'give them what they needed,' the Americans learned that they received more than they gave.

'When we first went down there, I thought we were going on a mission but when we got there it was really a cultural immersion,' Guyette said. 'I expected we'd be there to help them or to understand their situation better, but I came away with a sense that we weren't supposed to help them, but they were supposed to help us open our eyes to the world around us.'

LaFlam went to Cristo Rey expecting to find underprivileged and depressed kids, but what she found was the opposite. 'The families down there are very poor, but they're happy, too,' she said. 'They're very secure in their faith and they don't let their economic situations bring them down.'

A few of the Americans will return to Cristo Rey again in May, when they will be meeting with Rojelio and other Cristo Rey parishioners to help create a summer program that will enable Rochester Diocese youth to visit the region and form friendships with the Dominicans.

'We want to be able to show our youth that there are worse situations to be in than what we have here,' said LaFlam. 'Sure there are some very underprivileged families in our area, but we want them to see that possessions and money aren't the only things to make a person happy. The Dominican families we spent time with are just as happy with a deep faith in God, than they would be if they had all the possessions we have.'

Guyette agreed.

'I didn't come away with pity for these families,' she said. 'I cam away jealous of them and their faith. They understand their struggle but they just don't let it overcome them.'

top of page

Copyright © 2001
Courier-Gazette, 613 S. Main St. Newark, N.Y. 14513 - 315-331-1000
All Rights Reserved