Las Matas de Farfan

Ashley and Valerie make their home in Las Matas de Farfan. Las Matas is a quiet town of 5,000 residents and is located in the West Central region of the country only an hour from the Haitian border. Las Matas was founded in 1780 and was named for an eighteenth century Azua merchant who would stop there for the night on his way to the border, to sleep beneath an enormous
Tamarind tree by the side of the local river. The gnarled tree still stands.

Ashley and Valerie work at the "Centro de Nutricion San Jose". The center is run by four Indian nuns of Mother Theresa's religious order, the Sisters of Mercy.

The center takes in malnourished children and nurses them back to health, giving them 24-hour care. Sadly many of the children, after being returned to their parents, need to return to the clinic later in their lives for further care.
More snapshots: boys at clinic | Ashley & her sister | Valerie & her sister

Ashley and Valerie live with the same family and enjoy their 12 and 15 year old sisters very much. During our service visit, they took us to visit a farm run by conservative Mennonites. We also saw a sign for a conservative Mennonite church nearby. Las Matas is only 30 minutes from San Juan where another larger Mennonite community, established in the 1950's lives.