The Liceo Project

"The Liceo Project"

Elder Darrel L. Hammon

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is incredible! Its willingness to help with humanitarian projects continues to amaze me.

One of the stakes here in the Dominican Republic--the Las Americas Stake--is doing a 75th Anniversary Project. They have submitted a project to transform a neighborhood apartment building into a school for secondary students. The Stake President is Presidente de la Cruz, a wonderful man who is willing to help everyone in his stake, including members and non-members alike. Like me, he believes education is the key to success.

A couple of weeks ago, we went out to the project to see what it all entailed so we could write it up and then submit it to the Caribbean Area Presidency for review and possible approval to complete. We met Presidente de La Cruz at Los Frailles 2 chapel building. He drove because we didn't know where it was located. 

The apartment building to be converted

 We stopped to pick up his first counselor who really knew what was going on with the project. We clamored over and down roads that had huge rocks jutting out. I don’t think our little Honda Civic would have made it. We stopped in front of a building that looked almost completed. We were introduced to the director of the school and a handful of other people, some teachers and community members. We then went on a little tour of the place. It has nueve aulas (nine classrooms), which can ostensibly hold 35 students each. They will have 200 students in the entire school from the 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. session and another 200 students from the 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. session. When we went up there to one of aulas, I couldn’t believe the space could hold have that many student, but they assured me they had a capacity of 35 students.

The courtyard that will also serve as the P.E. spot

Inside one of the classrooms

What the Stake wants to do is convert this apartment building into a school for their children and for the community. It will cost about $12,000 to transform it from an apartment building to a school. Our K-12 educators would literally scream if they had to teach in this environment. Now, couple the environment with no computers, no air conditioning, no real playground, no real area for teacher offices or workrooms, no lunch room, no principal’s office, etc., etc., etc. Yet, the community is willing to make the sacrifices for this to become a liceo for their secondary students because there is no local school for them, and they now have to walk almost two miles to get to school. While school is mandatory here until they are 16-years-old, many do not go because of the challenge of getting to school. I complimented the directora por su coraje (courage) y vista (vision).

First Counselor in the Stake Presidency and the Liceo Director

The community, school supporters, Stake President, Elder and Sister Hammon

And to think Cheyenne built a new South High School for just under $70 million with all of the goodies one would ever need. And the people in this poor suburb of Santo Domingo are trying to convert an apartment building with $12,000 of humanitarian money to do it, and they are grateful and feel blessed that the Church wants to help. When I went to visit the second time, they had already begun with 140 students with no chairs, no chalkboards, no computers, no books.Many of the students brought their own chairs. After seeing what I saw, I have nothing but respect for what they are trying to accomplish.

I wrote up the project when I returned. The Area Presidency approved it on Wednesday with a couple of caveats. I returned on Friday with a couple of Church engineers to make sure the structure is stable enough, especially after taking out the entire wall between the living room and the bedroom, thus making a single room for students. It appears the Las Americas Stake has some service to provide, but they are more than willing to help the community of Las Brisas to get it done.

After thanking all of them for their work, we drove over to the first counselor’s home to meet his family. He has a wonderful little family—a beautiful, vivacious wife, four cute kids, the oldest one being 13. They live in a small home, behind another home. They were very happy to have us there. We stayed for only a moment. Then, we walked down the street, and Presidente de la Cruz greeted several people who were members of the church, some less-active but mostly active families.

We walked over to another house where a young woman was outside doing wash. Her mother came out with another daughter. Both daughters were teenagers. Soon, another little girl came walking up, probably five or six, and jumped into Presidente de la Cruz’s arms and gave him a big hug. He said, “We shouldn’t have favorite families, but this is my favorite family.” They were definitely humble people. After saying good bye, we  walked toward the car. Just as we arrived, he saw another family at the Colmado (little store on the corner). We stopped and greeted them. It was one of the hermanas (sisters) with her esposo (husband). She said she was a member but hadn’t been coming because she had been ill.  He had a nice visit with them. He told me that he had been the bishop here and had very fond memories of the place, and these people were in his ward. Now, they were in his stake. I could see that he was a man of God, loved by all of his people. His heart was full of love, and he wants to help all of them. He is a good man.

We said our good byes, climbed into his car, and he took us back to the capilla (the chapel) where he opened the door for us and for the missionaries who had come to teach English to a group of people. One of the sisters from California was going to teach the English class.

Front of the building with the big gate

I'll keep you posted about the Liceo. It is an exceptional project, one that will help hundreds of young people obtain an education that they might not have otherwise.