By Tim Miguel, Cal Athletic Communications
Jonathan McDonald, a redshirt freshman safety on the Cal football team, was in a hurry to leave spring football practice a little early to get to the airport. It was the last practice session before the players and coaches were about to go their separate ways for spring break.
McDonald wasn’t in a rush to get out of town to see friends or family or to take some sort of vacation for fun. McDonald was excused early by the football staff so he could spend his spring break by taking a trip to the Dominican Republic to help others in need.
He went with Athletes in Action – a Christian youth group for student-athletes – where he and his group of approximately 20 volunteers spent time with the children in an orphanage called The Ark in the city of Jarabacoa.
While at the orphanage, McDonald and his group spent time with the group of about 80 children in the orphanage, playing with them on the playground and just being around them to make them feel special. In addition, the orphanage recently had a lice outbreak, so the group helped remove the lice. They also helped with the security of the building as there had been some recent break-ins. But for the most part, they were there to give the children something they were in desperate need of – some love and care.
“A lot of these kids, coming from the backgrounds they came from, some of their stories really move you,” McDonald said. “It makes you sad hearing a lot of things that have happened to them. A big thing that’s missing from their lives is just love. When you go down there, all they want us to do is just love them and accept them for who they are. That’s how you make the connection. They really cherish that. That’s what they’ve been missing from their lives, somebody who just wants to spend time with them.”
Taking trips like this isn’t anything new for McDonald. In fact this was the sixth time he’s taken a trip of this nature. He normally goes to Tijuana, Mexico, with the Moraga Valley Christian Church to help build homes in the area. He couldn’t make that trip this year, so instead, he jumped on the chance to go to the Dominican Republic and help there.
For most of the Cal football players, spring break is a rare opportunity to take a break from the grind of football. It’s a chance for them to get some much-needed rest from the demands in the classroom and on the football field. But McDonald didn’t need the rest. He wanted to use the free time to help others in need.
“I was there for nine days,” McDonald said. “We were there all week until Sunday night. I got back Sunday night and had school the next morning. I actually got a little sick. I think I drank some of the water there by accident at the very end. I didn’t get the chance to take a break, but that doesn’t matter. Coming back, I knew I was doing that. I didn’t want to take a break. I wanted to switch gears and get back into school and football.”
Although these kids don’t speak English and McDonald doesn’t really speak Spanish, it didn’t prevent a connection from being made. McDonald recalled one child in the orphanage that he started getting along with right from the start, despite the language barrier.
“I was pushing him on the swings, and he kind of looked at me and said, ‘You’re my friend. I made a new friend today.’ I just thought that was really cool,” McDonald said. “Even after we leave, these kids still think about us. They even say prayers for us. The impact that you can have with a kid there, even in such a short amount of time, is really cool.”
For McDonald, it’s not just the act of kindness to those in need, but he gets a sense of fulfillment to bring a little happiness to them.
Abandonment by the parents or the death of the parents are the two most common reasons why children end up at The Ark. Many single parents there simply decide they don’t want to raise their children on their own anymore. As a result, the system at The Ark is set up like a family for the children. There are nearly 10 houses with approximately eight children in them, and every house has house parents. In every house, they build a family atmosphere where the house parents really become their parents. They try to help the children in there become brothers and sisters to really build a family environment.
In addition to the way children are abandoned in the Dominican Republic, McDonald was also very surprised at the distribution of wealth in Jarabacoa.
“You’d see some people have really cool, beautiful mansions right next to some living conditions that I can’t even describe because it was so bad,” McDonald said. “It’s a beautiful country, really cool and very tropical. Driving around there is a little crazy. I thought it was going to be really hot and humid, but it wasn’t.”
When asked if he’s going to try to bring some other members of the football team with him on his next trip, McDonald didn’t hesitate to say that he would love to bring some of his teammates with him next time. He said he really believes that they would feel a sense of fulfillment in bringing a little joy to kids like the ones in Jarabacoa.
McDonald wanted to add a quote from Kids Alive International to emphasize why he donates his time to trips like these.
“Give at least one little girl or boy the opportunity to be all God intended. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. It costs so little but lasts a lifetime.”
