Click this image for a CDC traveler's health alert about the Zika virus in the Dominican Republic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a travel alert (Level 2-Practice Enhanced Precautions) for people traveling to regions and certain countries where Zika virus transmission is ongoing. As of January 15, this CDC alert included Haiti and Puerto Rico, and on January 26 the CDC confirmed the presence of Zika in the Dominican Republic. On February 1, the World Health Organization (WHO) found that the spread of Zika constitutes a "
Public Health Emergency of International Concern." These alerts follow reports in Brazil of microcephaly and other poor pregnancy outcomes in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant. However, additional studies are needed to further characterize this relationship. Until more is known, and out of an abundance of caution, the CDC and the WHO recommend special precautions for pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant. The WHO states that "the
most important protective measures are the control of mosquito populations and the prevention of mosquito bites in at-risk individuals, especially pregnant women."
To access this information online, please use the links below:
The DDG Board of Directors at their most recent meeting in the Diocese of Western Louisiana on October 26, 2015. Click this image for a summary of reports and other information from this meeting.
The Board of Directors of the Dominican Development Group will hold their next meeting in Santo Domingo on Monday, February 15, 2016. This meeting will follow the 58th annual convention of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, which will conclude on February 13th with the ordination and consecration of the Rev. Moisés Quezada Mota as Bishop Coadjutor. After the board meeting, the directors and other guests will have opportunities to visit several development sites in and around Santo Domingo.
Updated information is online in both English and Spanish for these events at the links below:
For additional information, please contact Karen Carroll at the Mission Team Support Office of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic: <drequipos@gmail.com>; office (809) 686-7493 ext. 28; mobile (809) 812-9052. In particular, please send information about completed hotel reservations and flight schedules to Karen as soon as possible so she can plan for airport pickup and return.
The ordination and consecration of the Bishop Coadjutor will take place in this Olympic Volleyball Stadium, which was the site of the diocesan celebration of a reunion of mission team leaders in April 2013.
Missioners Needed for
Pilot Latrine Construction Team
One of the Healthy Latrines designed by Water Mission. For more information on this design, click this image.
The Rev. Tar Drazdowski, Vicar for Mission in the Diocese of Nebraska, DDG board member and a veteran team leader since 2001, is getting together a multi-diocesan team of missioners to travel to the Dominican Republic and build one or more "Healthy Latrines" using a design pioneered by another non-profit organization,
Water Mission in Charleston, SC. The dates of the trip are April 13-20, 2016. The team will work at the community of Jalonga (
click for map location) and stay in the Kellogg Center in San Pedro de Macorís (
click for map location). It is hoped that missioners on this team will establish a standard set of building techniques that can be followed by other teams to build latrine structures at a central location so that they can be installed in other locations in the Dominican Republic. To inquire about to joining this team or for more information, contact Mother Drazdowski at <
tdraz@bellsouth.net> or DDG Executive Director Bill Kunkle at <
bkunkle@dominicandevelopmentgroup.org>.
Links to online copies of recent issues of the
DDG Companion News:
