Story number 3 for 27 May 2003

(Dominican Republic)–Poverty issues in the Dominican Republic create a sub-culture of beggars and the needy. From that, a vicious cycle emerges that keeps the poor from hope. Christian Blind Mission International’s projects and mission leads Larae Harvey to explain the message. “We also tell them that the reason we were there was because we wanted them to know that Jesus loves us, we love Jesus, we want to share his love with other people, and it was out of His love that we wanted to reach out to people who had needs like they did.” Harvey says teaching coping skills will help the blind integrate into their communities in the long run. “We just work in community based rehabilitation. It’s what we’re there to do. In the Dominican, it’s the poverty and it’s the lack of medical and training facilities that are available to everyone, so we have set up in those particular areas just because of the need there.”