What Do We Do?
In the last twenty years, The Village Mountain Mission volunteers have constructed over one-hundred homes in the DR.
The mission is seeking an individual or couple who would be interested in living on the mission property in exchange for assistance with the day to day needs of the mission. Contact Steve Dietz, director of the mission, for more details. dietz41@gmail.com
The Village Mountain Mission Project takes place on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is an independent country that occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Caribbean. Formerly a colony of Spain The DR is approximately the size of West Virginia, and shares the rest of the island with its neighbor, Haiti.
The villages of the mission are in the province of Puerto Plata, on the north slope of the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range. Historically, the area was settled by Native American tribes until the arrival of Columbus in 1492. Over the next few centuries, the Spanish and French built colonies and imported slaves from Africa, creating a plantation economy on the island centered around sugarcane.
Today, the Dominican Republic is a representative democracy, and home to more than eight million people. Unfortunately, its economy is weak, with unemployment as high as 85% in the rural villages. For a large number of families, the day-to-day task is finding food and water. However, in spite of the little they may have, they are a warm, friendly, humble people. We work closely with the villagers to make the decisions about the homes that we build.
