Twas The Night Before Leaving

Twas the night before leaving, when all through the house,
my suitcase was growing, with sunscreen and blouse (s).

:)

I recently quit my job at a large department store in the South, turned down a job with a top 4 accounting/Government contracting company, and now I am leaving for a 3 month journey to the Dominican Republic. Tomorrow, January 7, 2010 at 7:50am is when I depart and I could not be more excited! I will be living in Villa Mella (via may-a) with Ina, the founder of The Cercadillo Project. The village of Cercadillo has many crafters that create beautiful purses, jewelry, and home accents. These people are very talented, but they do not exist to their government. They immigrated here and have no birth certificates or social security numbers so they are denied schooling and employment. Ina has set up a school, church, and is in the beginning stages of teaching them how to make these various works of art. They are at a point to begin earning an income from their craftiness but do not know how...that is where I come in! My Fashion Merchandising degree has come in handy by sending me to Guatemala for a Line Development class in 2007, and I hope to use some of those skills for this project.

There is no set itinerary for my stay, and I actually prefer it that way. I'll just kind of figure things out once I get down there. I have no idea what to expect, so follow me on this journey and lets go find the treasure!

Verse for the day: "See I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return." ~Jeremiah 31:8