Home location in the Dominican Republic

On January 6, 2003 our NPH family in the Dominican Republic was born. We started with seven children in a rented home in San Pedro de Macoris. Our family grew quickly and we rented six houses in the outskirts of San Pedro de Macoris.

San Pedro de Macoris is a big city with approximately 400,000 inhabitants, located 65km east of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Baseball is famous in San Pedro; it is the home of Sammy Sosa and other well known players. Dominicans call it “the city that has given the greatest players of the world”.

In the past, sugarcane was the basis of the economy in San Pedro; today many of the factories are closed, leaving the people who worked cutting the cane unemployed. Most of them live in bateyes, small villages on the outskirts of the city between the sugar plantations. They live in poor conditions without electricity or water.

Tio Francisco with Luis, Ramires, Sandra and Mirella

The bishop of San Pedro donated a piece of land to NPH; later we bought an adjacent parcel, and obtained the rights to use a third piece close by.

In September 2005 we were finally allowed to move with all of our children to our own home on our own property.

Today we live there with 159 children in 15 homes. Thanks to the help and support of dedicated construction volunteers from Canada and Chicago and to both national and international donations, construction continues. We have a large central kitchen, a school, and four homes for staff. The construction of a second school, clinic, office, and a water purification plant are in progress. The property also includes agricultural areas, playgrounds, sports areas, and recently we started to clear land for our own baseball and soccer field.