Dominican Republic: ANIJA Campus
(A Spanish acronym for "Helping the Children of Jarabacoa")

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HOME

LOCATION
The Dominican Republic (population 9 million) shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti in the Caribbean Sea. Jarabacoa, located in the Central Mountain Range of the Dominican Republic, has an elevation of 1,500 feet. It enjoys a mild year-round climate and is known as "The Land of Eternal Springtime." Many rich Dominicans maintain a vacation home here because it is cooler than at sea level.

HISTORY
ANIJA (pronounced Ah-NEE-huh) was started in 1982 by two young men who wanted to help the poor children of Jarabacoa. It started as a home with eight children. A year later they decided it would be more cost effective to run a day program. This enabled them to double the number of children at the same facility. The children received breakfast and lunch. They attended the public school in the morning and spent the afternoon at the ANIJA center doing homework and other activities. Bill and Juliana Hansen became directors of the ministry in 1983. ANIJA affiliated with Kids Alive® International in December 1989. Kids Alive opened an elementary school known as the CEV (Centro Educativo Vida) School, or Life Education Center, in 1992.

FACILITIES
Facilities include a multi-purpose building, staff housing, an office building, and a Christian school called the CEA (Centro Educativo ANIJA) School, or ANIJA Education Center. Most of these buildings have been constructed, a room at a time, by Volunteer Service Teams.

PROGRAM
The purpose of ANIJA is to spread the Gospel and combat poverty. We believe that children are a worthy mission field because Jesus loved the children and they are more receptive to the Gospel than adults are. We also believe that poverty can be fought with the Gospel and with education.

The program consists of school in the morning, currently from Pre Kindergarten to 8th grade. The school has 270 children in attendance. A basic curriculum mandated by the government is taught as well as English, computers and art.

The poorest children in the school (100 all together) stay for lunch and then spend the afternoon at the ANIJA center doing homework and other activities such as crafts, sports, and Bible lessons. In late afternoon the children walk home so they can spend the night with their families.

Missionary Kerry Dougan teaches English to the students at the school. This is important for their education and can open many job opportunities for the children who can master the language. In addition, English classes are being taught in the evenings as adult education for people in the community at the Dougan ESL School. This provides both income for the school but more importantly it provides a chance to have a Christian witness to the group of adults who are studying in the evenings.

FUTURE
In order to help more children it will be necessary to expand the facilities. Plans are being made to add additional space allowing a growth in our ministry to teenagers.  Increased vocational training will also be possible with additional space.