About Our Partners
haf n haf partners with different organizations and individuals who help to accomplish the mission of being the hands and feet and heart and face of Jesus to those we are working for. Please read below for more information on each of our partners.
Samaritan Foundation
Dave and Jean Melnick
What began with a wrong turn and the discovery of a heart-wrenching reality has resulted in over 30 years of helping the Dominican Republic’s poorest people find home and hope.
Samaritan Foundation: This organization is based in Canada and started the Dominican operations when a tourist asked to visit a local pastor’s home. When he saw the poor condition of the pastor’s home he set about building a new home for him. In the years that have passed the Samaritan Foundation has built over 1500 homes and is in the process of building their 15th community.
You’ll notice that I said “community”. I use this term because they buy tracts of land and then lay out the housing area…but they don’t stop there. If someone comes to them with a valid plan/idea to start, staff and run a church, school, or medical clinic they will build the structure for them. The Foundation does the property planning and building but when the community is built they turn the management/governing of the community over to the people who are living there.
This allows the Foundation to move on to plan and build the next community.
Learn more about Sandra here
Sandra Tineo:
This wonderful God fearing lady is often referred to as the “Mother Teresa of Aqua Negra”. Working with her mother and brothers with the help of Mercy Ships and other international organizations she has built a church, two schools, a restaurant, a boys and girls club, an internet shop, a sewing school, and a playground in this very low income area. She is trying to change not just the landscape of the area, but even the name from Black Water to New Beginnings.
Aqua Negra has that name because when the heavy rains come the homes in this area are often flooded..up to three or more feet of water in the homes. As we build homes in this area we tear down the old structure, take out the footings, and build up the foundation three feet high and then erect the home on top of that so that the flood waters cannot enter the home.
When working in this area we eat lunch at Maria’s (Sandra’s Mom) restaurant.
Learn more about Pedro here
Pastor Pedro Luis Adames Valdez:
This Godly man is a translator, author, pastor, evangelist, teacher, husband, and father. He is a native Dominican who grew up in the area we serve. When I first met him he was translating for our group. He shared his testimony while we were riding in our bus and I realized this was not just a translator. When we are working in the Aqua Negra area of Puerto Plata, Pedro will coordinate our local transportation and translators. If time allows we attend one or more of his church services. Pedro also coordinates mission activities in Haiti. When he visited Omaha a few years ago he preached in many local churches and prayed for many hours with individuals who asked him to intercede for them with the Lord.