Dominican Republic sponsors Cancel Title is required

I just began sponsoring a young man in the Dominican Republic. I would really like to hear from and get to know others who are sponsoring a child from the D.R. It would be nice to share ideas, concerns, and experiences with each other. And to just get to know each other. I thought it may help to know a few people who also sponsor from the same country as me, as there may be questions that the answers would be somewhat specific to the country you sponsor in.

 i just began to sponsor Luis about two weeks ago. I am still awaiting his first letter so I don't know much about him. I have contacted CI to get more information about his education, activity participation and needs for a SNG. 

I would love to hear stories and advice about anything from others!

I also just started sponsoring a child from the Dominican Republic and I would like to have this as an option for advice and as an idea generator. 

So happy to meet you! Congrats on becoming a new sponsor. Your little guy is adorable, so cute. Well if you have any questions I will be more than happy to try to answer them or lead you in the right direction lol it will be nice to have someone else I can talk to who has a child in the D.R. Hopefully we can share advice and tips and stories with each other. And who knows maybe we will find a few more people to join us lol.

Hi Everyone - Nice to meet you all. I have been sponsoring a young man from the Dominican Republic for about four years. I'm looking forward to sharing this experience with you who are also sponsoring children from the DR. Thanks. - Ryan

It's really nice to meet you! Hopefully we can all share tips and experiences with each other. It would be nice to have a little group of friends who could help each other out with country specific questions :) 

That's exactly what I was hoping. We could share information about donated packages, education/ tutoring costs, effective income generating projects etc. 

Thank you for posting and introducing yourselves. Welcome to your new child!

I have a sponsored child in the Dominican Republic as well. I was so fortunate to travel there in Feb 2014 and meet her, see the National center office and meet two of my friends children also! It was a wonderful experience.

We have been sponsering Dionelys for over three years now. We are working on a care package for the summer. Does anyone have good suggestions of what to put in it? 

Also, we have been looking into going to meet our amazing child. How easy was your experiance? 

The reason I ask is that our daughter thinks of her as a sister and really wants to meet her and we really want to take her with us. How would you rate your experiance if you were to bring a young teen with you? 

This is wonderful. Hope to hear from more of you soon.

The Harris Family

It's great to meet you! Could you share some of your experience with meeting your child and visiting the NCO? 

Nice to meet you! I haven't sent a package yet so I am very curious about doing so. Once you send it could you tell us about it? I would love to hear what carrier you went with, shipping cost, time it took etc? 

As I said I haven't sent one myself, but it seems a lot of sponsors send school supplies, clothes, hair bands, cheap small jewelry, art supplies. I even read someone has suggested light weight flip flops. Guess it depends on how big your package will be. Seems that padded envelopes are a favorite with other sponsors. 

Hi everyone! 

I just wanted to tell everyone of an opportunity to help children in the D.R.( some of you might already know). There is an active fundraiser on aurashouse.com that is raising money for English tutoring. It's a really cool opportunity so I hope everyone will go take a look at it.

The CI staff in the D.R. was wonderful! They told me that many sponsors visit.  They came in a CI van to pick me up at my hotel, which was really nice, and then they drove me to the national office.  I saw where letters are translated.  They were very busy, but they all took the time to turn around from their desks, smile and greet me. I felt very welcome.  They emphasized to me over and over how much they appreciate the sponsors.  I went alone, and it was very nice still.  I would do it again for sure, and hope to in the future. I have some posts on the wall mentioning my trip, or you can email me if you have private questions also.  I would not hesitate to bring one of my children with me at all.  I think the experience would be wonderful for them and they would learn so much.

Hey everyone! I just started sponsoring a little girl from DR. I would like any advice on sending things to her or not. Thank you for any advice

hi ourfamily!

Congratulations on your new sponsorship!

Some sponsors send small packages direct to the country office.

I would say..if you do  send a small padded envelope and try to keep the items light weight if you can. Postage is quite high. I sent a small package to the D.R. not too long ago. I sent hair barrettes, a shirt, a little doll and a few other items. Its wonderful to see your child with the items you have chosen and I am sure your new little one would love the surprise too!

What shipping company did you use? Were you happy with it?

Thank you so much!!

Coloring--at Dover Publications website you can sign up for a weekly free sampler.  They send links to ~2 dozen books.  You may print several sample pages from each for free.  Some are coloring books.  You can print the ones right for her age.

After ~3-5 weeks, you can send your 25 collected pages, stapled together, in a 9 x 12 envelope.  I put a clear tape backing on the side/bottom of the front page.  I tape on a bit of paper w/child's name, ID#, country, "coloring pages from" your name & sponsor ID#.  This stays on for CI, but easily peels off for her.

Being paper (not hardcover) and less than 1/2" wide, you can send via CI's Kansas City office (4 U.S. stamps). 

@Brightspot - Thank you so much for posting the Dover Publications website idea!  They have quite a few samples on there every week and I'll be sending coloring books in no time!!!

I always use the USPS. I have heard other mention it is the lowest price, but I only use this so I am not certain.

Thanks for the info. I'm thinking of sending a DP to my boys. Did you use a box or an envelope ? I seen a lot of sponsors saying envelopes are the way to go but most haven't sent to the D.R. I would love to hear from D.R. sponsors that have sent DP 's their opinions. 

He is adorable, so handsome! You say you have been sponsoring his education, if you don't mind me asking what kinds of support do you give him? I am hoping to support my two boys with their educations if they need it. I love to get first hand information and tips. I did ask CI if they could let me know how they are doing in school and if any tutoring is needed. Still waiting for a reply lol I've been stalking the mailman :)

I was just wondering if any of you feel like your letters and other mail from your kids are taking a long time to reach you? I know most sponsors feel that way because of how excited we are to get mail from Our kids. But I have noticed that all of my mail seems to take 8 weeks plus to get it. I read how some sponsors that have kids in other countries say they got letters or replies quickly. My welcome letter for my first kid took a little over the 8 week mark. I sent a request asking for information and was told I would receive a letter in the mail in 6 weeks it's been almost 7 and I haven't gotten that yet. Just wondering if anyone else feels like their stuff coming from the DR takes awhile.

@Cepps31: When we send memos to an SOA to address sponsor inquiries (such as the info you requested for Claudio) we anticipate that we will have a reply from the SOA within 6 weeks.  However, it really just depends on the family's schedule (when they are able to meet with the staff to address the questions) and how much research goes into finding the answers.  It can sometimes take more than 6 weeks. In this case, the staff is trying to gather school info costs for a specific item and confirm the info on the Family Record - any of which can could cause a delay in the reply.  

The school year ends in June and starts again in Sept., so the cost for school is probably what is holding up the reply.  Thanks!

Thank you! That is good to know. I thought maybe the mail is just slower coming out of the D.R. 

I sponsor a child in the DR and I visited her last month.  Having been to Guatemala, the poverty didn't surprise me, but what did was the very obvious "street girls" all over in Santo Domingo.  It's extremely sad. :-(  Also, don't accept anything from the children or they will follow you for blocks asking for money.  If you give a dollar to one (my friend did despite me telling her not to), suddenly a whole crowd of kids will materialize from nowhere and follow you.  And you'll want to give them dollars because they have no or broken shoes, sores on their feet, extremely thin.  I think visiting is great and a teen would be fine to take (I walked alone from my hotel to a restaurant and felt safe), but be prepared for the poverty.  The only other surprise was having the staff take me back to my hotel with the family still in the car because it was close to the aquarium.  The hotel was inexpensive by American standards, but looked really nice and I felt a little awkward about that.

Having said that, Crismairy is a joy to sponsor and was very happy to meet me.  Her mom was also very sweet and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.  Most of my kids are from Guatemala and I was a bit on the fence about having taken on a kid in the DR, but my visit turned me into an enthusiastic DR sponsor! :-)

wow! sounds like a great experience. i cant wait to visit my sponsored children. i visited the D.R when i was 19 and i loved it. i cant imagine how great it will be when i have sponsored kids to visit and hang out with. 

I just recently received my first two letters from my sponsored child Luis. He is 15 years old. The first letter I wrote to him I used the CI template online. This time around I am going to write a handwritten letter to him. I would like to include something to give him. I'm not sure if, at his age, he would enjoy things like stickers. I would love to hear your opinions and advice of what paper products I could send him with my letter. Thanks!

For teen boys, I've sent actual small notebooks of paper they could use for school or for personal use and even small chapter books with topics that may be of interest (ex. Choose Your Own Adventure books in Spanish).  I admit, it is harder for me sometimes to know what to send to the older teens!