Sponsor a Child Today

Jose lives with his father and his mother. At home, duties include making beds, running errands and cleaning. His father is sometimes employed as a laborer and his mother maintains the home.

For fun, Jose enjoys playing ball games, baseball and running. He attends church activities and Bible class regularly and is in kindergarten where his performance is average.

Because of your sponsorship, Jose will have new opportunities to learn and grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. Thank you for your concern and prayers.

Jose lives on the plains of Los Americanos, home to approximately 300,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of cement. The most commonly spoken language is Spanish.

The regional diet consists of rice. Common health problems in this area include malnutrition and infections of the mouth. Half the adults in Los Americanos are unemployed but some work as day laborers and earn the equivalent of $118 per month. This community needs law enforcement, literacy training and employment opportunities.

Your sponsorship allows the staff of Fuente de Vida Student Center to provide Jose with Bible teaching, health education, sports competitions, field trips, vocational training and school uniforms. The center staff will also provide educational classes for the parents or guardians of Jose.

The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with Haiti. It has a tropical climate, but moist, year-round trade winds keep temperatures between 72 and 83 degrees.

Nearly three out of four Dominicans have both black and Caucasian ancestry. Spanish is the official language, and 95 percent of Dominicans are Catholic. Nearly 90 percent of Dominicans live in rural areas where unemployment is high and malnutrition is widespread. A family's diet consists mainly of rice, beans and chicken. Though agriculture was long the economic mainstay, in recent years growth in tourism and free-trade zones has made the service sector the country's largest employer. Compassion works with children in nearly every region of the country.

The Taíno people were the country's original inhabitants. In 1492, they welcomed Christopher Columbus in his first voyage to the island, but subsequent colonizers were brutal, reducing the Taíno population from about 1 million to about 500 in 50 years. Hispaniola became the center of Spanish rule in the West Indies. The indigenous people were wiped out and slaves were brought from Africa to populate the island. The descendants of those slaves form most of the population today. For three centuries, Spain governed Hispaniola, followed by France. In 1804, the western part of the island won independence as the Republic of Haiti. In 1844, the eastern two-thirds of the island revolted and formed the Dominican Republic. In 2004, Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna was elected to his second term as president.