Doing a New Thing

To all of our visitors far and wide who have either come and participated in SI's art ministry or have heard about it and are supporting it through prayer and keeping up with this blog:

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your participation and love for what God is doing in Jarabacoa through the arts. And, thank you for blessing me, Amy Babb, over the last two years as I worked alongside Francisco. I realized recently that I hadn't updated the blog since God called me back to live in America and left you all hanging here!

We had an incredibly successful summer painting murals in El Callejon (59 murals in all) and ended the summer with a dedication service. The community came out and we sang worship songs together and heard several testimonies of just how these powerful pieces of art are affecting their lives. It was a huge blessing for all involved.

At the end of summer, I had to say many sad goodbyes as I left behind the kids I had grown so attached to in El Callejon and especially Francisco and his family. It was very hard leaving the ministry knowing that we did not have someone at the ready to take my place (hence the reason the blog has not been updated!) Yet, we know that God is faithful in all things and is doing a new thing!

Until another comes along who can update this blog in English, feel free to visit www.stint.com and send an email requesting information on what's happening currently with Francisco and the art ministry.

Again, thank you for your prayers, patience and support.

God Bless!

Paint your face the color of hope!

We are halfway through summer already!  Due to the fact that I was down for 6 weeks after having some minor surgery, this is coming a little late.  I am pleased to announce, however, that we have started up the mural project in El Callejon again and are having great results!  Our first art team of the summer was lead by Nate Slabach, our staff pastor here at SI in the DR.  Because I needed to stay at home and let my foot heal, he jumped right in and supported our artists who came from the east coast.  One of the crew, Benjamin, decided to take on the challenge of addressing the prevalent issue of 'missing fathers'-- a reality many of the children of El Callejon deal with.  Below you will see his depiction of a family with the space where a father should be whited out.  To the right in the background is an image of Jesus, pointing towards the family, directing the father back to where he needs to be.  Below that you see the father bringing food to the kids.

11 yr. old Mikael, who has been silently watching us paint for the last year, finally approached Benjamin while he was painting and asked him what the painting meant.  Mikael's father left when he was very little and has not maintained contact with him.  Nate shares the story of how Mikael responded to this mural and to us on his blog.   You can go here  to read the story. Anyway, ever since then, Mikael hangs out with us every day and gets as many hugs as he can.

Check out the rest of these beauties!!

Springity-Ding-Ding!

Just a quick update to let you know what's been goin' on with us here at the art site.  We had 4 successful outreaches this Spring, each coming from different parts of the country: Jupiter Christian School in Florida, James Madison University in Virginia, Wintonbury Church in Connecticut, Front Porch Ministry from SLO California and a high school youth group from Chowchilla, California. Whew!  In all, we painted murals at the new Los Higos preschool and did an art activity with the students there, we painted signs for the same preschool and for our new social work site in Los Higos, spent 3 days at our special ed school, Genesis, doing activities centered around the rainbow of God's promise, painted tables and  benches for the Mata Gorda preschool, kick-started the next phase of mural paintings in El Callejon, did art in the park, art by the river, and art at the art school.  Needless to say I was covered in paint for over a month!! I had a fantastic time getting to know each individual and know that each site we contributed art to is very thankful!

Back in the Swing

Thanks for checking back in! I realize it's been months since I've updated this site-- most of that due to the fact that I, personally, had a very long winter break spent back in the States and have been ill off and on every since I got back!

I am glad to report that things are still going really well with us at the Escuela d'Arte. We have a few new students this year, which is always fun, as well as many returning students. One student in particular I want to share about.
Gary started coming to our school about a year and a half ago. He is an 18 yr. old from Haiti who came over to the DR to study Masters in Construction. I have asked him several times what this exactly means, but I am still unclear. He is learning construction and all the elements involved, but not actually DOING construction. I don't know. Anyhow, he is living with an ex-patriot English woman who is sponsoring him. She has sent many students to our school over the years and is one of our most avid local supporters.
When Gary first started coming, he could barely draw a straight line. For months Francisco and I literally thought he had vision problems because he just couldn't draw for the life of him. Yet, he persisted. Just yesterday he finished his first every Acrylic painting and I almost cried. I have learned much from this young man, who, through every kind of adversity thrown at him (growing up in the poorest nation in the world, being the only Christian in his entire VooDoo family, immigrating to a nation that is extremely racist against Haitians...) persists and endures. He speaks four languages. He openly worships Christ through constant singing. And he is becoming a great artist.
Often times when I think about giving up, I think of Gary. He is always the first student to show up in the afternoons and the last one to leave-- and always reluctantly. He comes every single day, often asking for suggestions on how he could do better and always thanking us with a sincere heart for teaching him. This is the kind of heart I wish to have before God and others: humble, thankful, perseverant and joyful.
I wish I had photos of some of Gary's first drawings (hmmm, I should ask him to bring some!) to post today, but here are a couple of him (one of him learning from Francisco and the other of him standing with the beginnings of his first painting):

November Outreach

Is it really November? I can't believe how quickly this fall has flown by! After a couple of months of reintegrating myself back in the art school and getting to know our new students, suddenly I had another group of Americans visiting to work with me! Flying in from Connecticut were Big Dave, Dave Jr. (not related) and Rebekah. We had a blast.
During the last couple of months, I have been going into El Callejon once a week to teach art classes both at the Social Work site and at the preschool. Because I had two guys with me and the Social Work site is for 'girls only', I decided to take these 3 along with me to the preschool. We also decided to try the same activity the following day at our Special Ed site, Genesis. The lesson was: God is our Rock. The activity involved each child taking a rock (which we Americans had gathered from down by the river) and painting two solid colors on it and then painting a cross over that. It just turned into painting chaos, but they all had fun and many of the kids thought the idea of God being a rock pretty darn hilarious.


The rest of the week found us in barrio La Colonia, one of the oldest neighborhoods here in Jarabacoa. My friend Elizabeth (who worked at the art site before me) and I have been prayer walking this area for a couple of months as she co-leads a cell group there. The owner of the house where the group meets, still a fairly new believer, found out what I did and asked if I'd be willing to bring a team to paint a mural on the outside front wall that borders his house. I said, "Of course! What would you like us to paint?" After prayer, he decided he wanted us to paint a landscape scene with some animals and a huge message that said "La Colonia, Cristo Te Ama" (Christ Loves You). We spent one whole morning hand scrubbing that wall (which was quite a feat since the town power went off right as we began, causing a water shortage, but Ray, the owner of the house, sent buckets down into his cistern to pull up water for us to use). The rest of the day and the next morning were spent painting away. Dave, Dave and Bekah all learned some artsy techniques, got to interact with a bunch of local kids who came out to watch us and also helped me clean up and scrub the back of my jeep where a gallon of white paint had spilled over. Yikes!


We spent several of our mornings with Francisco who, like always, blew our minds with the deep theological discussion and who, like always, ignited passion. What an incredible blessing our time was!
Thanks to my awesome team for coming and bringing refreshment and joy!

First Festival

On October 18th, hundreds of people came out to see Jarabacoa's first festival of "Art and the Environment", put on by the Touristic Cluster. Even the U.S. ambassador to the DR came and bought three paintings. This year's theme was 'Native Birds of the Dominican Republic' and more than 30 local artists had works entered, including Francisco, our art student Luis Miguel Perez and me, Amy Babb. Below are some photos from that night.

Priscila and Rembrandt Natanael, dressed to the nines checking out the art


Me in front of my common barn owl


Me with our prodigy art student, Oliver


One of Fran's paintings

Part of our challenge at the art site, working with the ultimate goal of community development, is finding venues for our accomplished students to sell their work so that they can see the viability of their God-given talent. There are not many opportunities in Jarabacoa and so having something like this art show that our students can enter and show their work is an answer to prayer. Pray with us for more opportunities like it!

These Days

Wow, about two months have gone by. Time to update!
Fall is a slower season for us here at the art site. It gives Francisco and I a time to paint, read the Word and spend more time with the students who are coming to our school. Especially for me, I enjoy having this time to reconnect with our students after the busy summer months I spent working out in El Callejon. Lately, Francisco, I and one of our art students, Luis Miguel, have been working on paintings that will be in a local exhibition here next week. The theme is 'Native Birds of the Dominican Republic'. Fran and I have both been in shows before, but for 16 year old Luis Miguel, this is quite the opportunity. He is the youngest artist to be featured and his work will show alongside several famous Dominican artists. To have this kind of exposure this young is something beyond what Francisco and I could have ever imagined for this young man, who just two years ago was living with his single mom and 4 siblings in a one-room, dirt floor, partially rooved house.
Luis Miguel started coming to our site after his mom was introduced to Francisco one day. She told Fran about this son of hers who seemed to like to draw, so Fran invited him to come and start taking classes. Luis Miguel would come every morning and work all day. It wasn't long before Fran noticed this young man would go without eating lunch and when he finally asked him if he ate breakfast, he shyly admitted that, no, they didn't have food. Fran immediately got involved with the family, helping them to find a better place to live and ministering the gospel to them. Luis Miguel and his mom both accepted Christ just over a year ago and the transformation has been incredible to witness. In the Spring, Students International offered him the opportunity to paint a bunch of small-sized landscapes that would be offered for sale at the new base. He painted around 40 paintings in a month and with what he earned was able to help out his mom with rent and food for the family. Luis Miguel is an incredibly talented young man who we are honored to have as a fellow 'colleague'. He is not longer our student, but comes every morning to sit and paint away the hours. Needless to say, he has been busy painting birds, birds and more birds!
Francisco's family is doing really well. Ysmayar, the oldest daughter, just turned 9 on Friday. She is in 3rd grade at Doulos Discovery Christian School. It is a bilingual school and she is one of the top of her class in English! I enjoyed listening to her speak English with many of our visiting teams this summer.
Priscila, now 7, just started at Doulos as well and is also doing very well. I have missed spending all the time with her that I used to have, but now when I do see her, she enjoys 'teaching' me things. It is evident that her time in school is paying off.
Natan, 4, has also started school! He is going to the Students International preschool in El Callejon. He seems to like it. He's been drawing up a storm, the theme always being a bridge with water and lots of people. Very interesting. He is a pretty normal 4 year old, still asking me for candy and trying to tickle me when I'm not paying attention.
Fran's wife, Yeimi, let go of the store she had in town for so long and is now spending her time taking care of the kids and their home. She is going to begin taking classes in the University to get her teaching degree.
And, Francisco, like I said, has been painting as well as doing deep Bible Study and extensive writing as he is preparing to write a small book. It has been fun having theological discussions with him as he searches the Scripture and wants to discuss what he's discovering. I have learned a lot from it myself and am continually blessed by his passion for God, the Word and for life.
I, too, have some other projects going on, but I will leave that until next time...
Blessings!