The first days.

The programme for the first days is already quite full. We will arrive around 9 pm on Friday evening and go straight to where we are staying. On Saturday we will go to the city centre to make proclamations there, with a campaign in the evening.

On Sunday we will visit the prison in Santo Domingo.

These are not hotels like in the Netherlands but dirty, overcrowded buildings with few or no facilities. Prisons are often bursting at the seams, holding four times the number they were built for.

On visiting days the cell doors open. Prisoners, visiting relatives, all kinds of vendors from the neighbouring village, prostitutes: everyone mingles in the dark prison corridors. Deafening music blares from the cells. The hierarchy inside the prison is clearly palpable, with its violence, extortion and law of the strongest.

The difference between the hard life in the poor neighbourhoods of the Dominican Republic and the prison is small. Everyone has to fend for themselves, so there are little shops everywhere and the inmates run small trades, partly to get food.

We are going to evangelise, encourage, and hand out Bibles, food and drink.

Stichting Dienstbaar account no. NL61 INGB 0006233985 – BIC/Swift INGBNL 2A