05 January, 2006
We are in receipt of your letter of inquiry requesting assistance from the Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) to your organization to carry out a medical/eye care mission trip to the Dominican Republic.
We are happy to host the mission for you. Below please read carefully BRA’s key prerequisites before it formally partners with your group on a mission trip.
§ Someone from your group must submit a formal letter to Batey Relief Alliance requesting a partnership to host a mission to the Dominican Republic with exact dates, purpose and contact person.
§ The mission must be of humanitarian character, and serve the poor by delivering to the population free emergency medical/eye/dental assistance and medicines.
§ Your mission group must assign a leader/liaison to carefully coordinate the mission with BRA’s mission organizer. The liaison must forward all mission-related information received from BRA to all volunteers to avoid confusion or misunderstanding – and to increase knowledge about the BRA and the mission.
§ Each person traveling with BRA must read BRA’s policies and visit BRA’s website at www.bateyrelief.org for a thorough understanding about BRA’s work and the batey situation.
§ Mission preparation takes about four months.
§ The duration for a mission with BRA inside the Dominican Republic is usually five working days.
§ Your group must provide BRA with exact dates for the mission trip.
§ Unless your group specifies otherwise, BRA will suggest reasonably accessible and safe areas inside the Dominican Republic to hold the mission where the poor will benefit the most from your intervention.
§ Your group must be a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 25 adult volunteers.
§ Your group (liaison) must arrange all air travel reservations for the volunteers two months prior to the first day of the mission – and submit to BRA all official travel itineraries.
§ Your group volunteers must pay their own air travels, ground transportation in the DR, meals and lodging. Arrangements for ground transportation, meals and lodging, however, may be done by BRA at your express request. Your group liaison must inform BRA on the type of living standard, i.e., resort/hotel all-inclusive.
§ Your group must bring all medicines and supplies needed to provide emergency care to at least 1000 people during a mission. All medicines must be non-expired and non-hazardous. A complete itemized list of the supplies must be faxed to BRA at least two months prior to the first day of the mission.
§ Once BRA receives from the liaison a complete list of volunteers with names, addresses phones, and emails, and final dates for the mission, BRA will submit a total budget for the entire group to your liaison for approval. The budget will include costs for ground transportation, meals and lodging for the entire group. The liaison must share the budget information with individual volunteers for their input and acceptance. Once the budget is accepted by the liaison on behalf of the group, BRA will then proceed by making all mission preparation, and submitting to the group mission and policy materials.
§ Before BRA proceeds by making all mission preparation, and to help cover our administrative/logistical costs, BRA must receive from each volunteer a mission registration fee of US $100. This non-refundable fund should be made payable to Batey Relief Alliance, and mailed to P.O. Box 300565, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230.
§ After BRA receives from the group liaison one check totaling all registration fees for all volunteers, we will then proceed by making all mission preparation.
§ Once BRA secures and submits to the group liaison the total costs or quotes for hotel/resort with meals and ground transportation, the group must send the total payment to BRA to pay at least one month before the volunteers arrive in the country.
§ BRA will handle the following for the group 1) perform all mission logistics and handle all local bureaucracies, 2) if available, provide for translators, 3) make all ground transportation, lodging and meals arrangements, 4) secure customs clearances, 5) secure medical practice clearances, 6) transport all volunteers from and to airport, 7) transport volunteers to and from work destination, 8) secure collaboration from the Dominican’s Ministry of Health and/or State Sugar Council, 9) arrange for local press coverage of mission, etc.
§ Other requirements may apply.
Should you have any questions or need further information, please contact me at (917) 627-5026 or bra@bkreative.net. For more information about BRA, visit our website at www.bateyrelief.org.
Sincerely,
Ulrick Gaillard
Executive Director
