Dominican Republic has one of the highest rates of suicides in Latin America

Between 2007 and 2014, almost 20,000 people committed suicide. About 51% of these events took place in three of the 31 provinces (Santiago, Distrito National) in this island. Dominican Republic has one of the highest rates of Latin America. Young people between 15 and 24 years old is a group with one the highest rates. There are several factors such as the unemployment, poverty, low quality of life, addictions. Among teenagers two of the most important factors are the high rates of parents getting divorced and problems with self-stem. As Christians, we could conclude that there is anything we can do. We might think that it is up to the Christians in the Dominican Republic to try to do something about it. Should we, as believers leaving in our comfort zone, ignore that in this country, many people are considering the suicide as a solution to their problems? As a ministry, our conviction is that we must support the believers in Latin America in the task of proclaiming the message of hope in Christ to many people as possible. Radio still the most effective way to reach thousands of people that are living in despair. How many people today might be feeling that there is no hope in the future? The broadcasting of one of our radio programs can make the difference in somebody’s life! That is why our missionaries Smaily and Rosanna are month by month, visiting new radio station to introduce our programs. For almost two years, Smaily tried to contact the director of an important “Grupo Lopez”, an important group of secular radio stations in Santo Domingo. However, every time he visited the office of this man, he was too busy to receive our missionary. Smaily’s perseverance prevailed and few months ago, the director of this group of stations agreed to have a conversation with him. The director asked the programmer her opinion about the programs, and they both agreed that the quality and the message of hope were good enough to include them in their programmed schedule. Currently 20 radio stations are broadcasting our programs in the National District. Radio 106.1 F.M., that is part of the stations of Grupo Lopez, is the radio station with the highest rating of audience in the whole the country. Through 104 radio stations, 786 times per week, God’s Word is reaching through the radio waves, thousands of people in this country with the message of salvation in Christ. Our hope is that many people that are leaving in despair would come to the knowledge of Christ.
 
 

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