The Dominican Republic is part of a small island south of Cuba. This island, which is called Hispanola (or Quisqueya by the natives) is one of the first territories discovered by Columbus. French-speaking Haiti occupies the western part of the island and the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic occupies the east.

When Christopher Colombus came to the island in 1492, there were several different native tribes living there, such as the Arawak, Carib, and Taino. Columbus and those after him put the natives to work looking for gold and working in their sugar cane fields. After several generation s, all of the natives had either died or moved to other countries such as Mexico, so that there are no natives living on Hispanola now. As the natives were becoming fewer, the conquistadores knew that they needed to find another source of labor. So, they brought over slaves from Africa. Today’s Dominicans are a mixture of Spanish, African, and native blood.

 Since this time, the DR has obviously gone through many changes. The freed nation of Haiti helped free them from the Spanish in 1822. Then on February 27, 1844, the Dominicans freed themselves from the Haitians. From then, the country went through some good, some bad, and some worse rulers, the famous dictator Trujillo being one of them. The country moved to free elections in 1996 and has been governed by a representative government ever since.  Throughout the dictatorships, there has been a willingness to allow missionaries to work with the people.  The whole island remained very poor and mostly undeveloped.  Over the years several mission agencies sent missionaries to establish churches and train leaders.  They did an excellent job.  The churches are doing well.  But the Dominican Church had limited resources to help with the social changes that were needed to help reach others for Christ.

That is where Solid Rock Missions came in, working with the Dominicans of San Juan de la Maguana, helping with health care and education to let God’s love shine through to the Dominicans. 

Solid Rock Missions
P.O. Box 334
Wauseon, OH  43567
Phone: 419-335-8046
Fax:  419-337-7827
E-mail: srm@solidrockmissions.org