PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog updates per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received late in the evening or overnight will be posted the following day.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JULY 3
Bienvenidos, Welcome to the Dominican Republic!
An exciting summer for our young leaders have begun!
Today Elaine and Ezra came earlier and then we met with the rest of the students around noon when 11 of our GLA students arrived at the Puerto Plata International Airport.
Anika, Evan and Dheekshi arrived around 4pm and are now at Home Base, meeting the group.
The weather was very fresh as we drove back to our Home Base, seeing a lot of the local scene and bright turquoise ocean along the way.
During the afternoon the students settled in and for dinner we got a delicious traditional Dominican meal: Rice and beans!
We still waiting for Bella, Keren, Mika, Maria, Ignacio and Keanu. Very soon the whole Global Health Initiative team will be complete!
Parents, families and friends, please follow us on this blog as we feature the daily adventures of this amazing group of leaders!
All the best,
Paulina, International Director
BLOG POST FOR JULY 4
Today was our first day in the DR!
We woke up at 6:00am and we wake everyone else at 6:30pm singing along.
To say the least… they woke up and Wilson too.
Later, we gathered around for breakfast and munched on some good toasted bread, eggs, and oatmeal.
Moving forward, we have attended our 4 hour orientation meeting to know the basics of the GLA family!
Then lunch rolled around with rice with beans, cooked eggplant and some potato salad, more salad and fruits!
Now for the community, we helped make walls with plastic bottles and chicken wire as the foundation for upcoming clinic.
After many hours of traveling and flight delays, Maria finally arrived and the group is complete.
Dinner came and go, with chicken, salad and two version of pasta that tasted exquisite!
We had our swim test as our trial into finally relaxing in the pool and playing mermaids.
Then our most important event in our schedule, the medical brigade training which will be vital knowledge for our tomorrow for our clinical day.
We were missing a national holiday loved by Americans, The 4th of July, which we celebrated by having some ice cream and a bonfire to end the night and hit the hay sack.
BLOG POST FOR JULY 5
This morning, we started the day with a wonderful breakfast and had a great group conversation about our plan for the day. After packing up lunch on the bus, we departed on time and headed out feeling organized and prepared. Nacho and I helped get the group in order, and together we made sure everyone had the supplies they needed for both the clinic and the town.
Throughout the day, we had the chance to work with some incredible people in the area—one family even welcomed us into their home to eat lunch, which was such a kind and generous gesture. I also had the opportunity to connect with locals using my limited Spanish and learned how certain medications are used to treat specific illnesses. It was a real learning experience, and I’m grateful to have worked alongside Dr. Caho and Dr Joseph at the medical analysis and diagnostics table.
After the clinic, we spent some time relaxing and bonding in the pool as a group, followed by a mentor group reflection. We talked about how we can better educate the community about the causes and prevention of health issues, rather than just offering temporary solutions through medication and clinic care.
One reflection we talked about was on how GLA Brigades can include more preventative medicine in our clinic setup so both volunteers and community members can better understand how certain issues can be managed—or even prevented—through simple lifestyle changes.
– Leaders of the day, Evan and Ignacio
BLOG POST FOR JULY 6
After a restful night of sleep, we woke up to the Daddy Yankee classic “Gasolina“ and a beautiful, clear sky.
For breakfast we enjoyed thick pancakes topped with a thick, natural honey, as well as oatmeal and fresh local fruit.
We collaborated to quickly load our trailer with medicine, chairs, and tables to begin our second medical brigade. As a group we drove to a homely church in Gaspar Las Caobas and began treating the community.
After a morning of hard work registering patients, taking vital signs, assisting doctors, and filling prescriptions, we enjoyed our packed lunch. We gratefully enjoyed a spiced rice with a traditional pork dish and salad.
After completing our brigade we had treated more than 50 patients! We spent our remaining time discussing challenges and practices with Dr. Caho.
Soon we returned to home base to get some rest during an hour of siesta.
After our break Dave engaged us in a passionate lecture discussing his PhD dissertation covering the 7 elements of global health. He explained health, food, economic, political, environmental, community, and individual security, as well as the state of the Dominican Republic.
For dinner we ate a delicious chicken stew with potato and plantain over rice. For desert we enjoyed sweet and rich tropical fruits. It is safe to say everyone was full.
To end the day we gathered in reflection and recollection before swimming and playing basketball.
After a great day of growing as leaders and doctors, we slept once more.
– Leaders of the day, Keanu and Ezra
BLOG POST FOR JULY 7
Our first excursion day started off with a wake up call to a song from the soundtrack teen beach movies to get us into a beachy vibe!!
We made our way to breakfast for eggs, bacon, and passionfruit juice. It was delicious! Then we packed our bags and got ready to go promptly at 8am to Laguna Dudu! Even though the drive was long, we knew it was worth it as soon as we arrived!!
We jumped off of rocks into the beautiful blue and clear water. We even saw a school of fish!
As we headed into our next lagoon, we passed by Wilson (the local director) lounging on a hammock! After a few hours, we jumped back in the van and made our way to lunch at Playa Grande.
It was the classic rice, beans, salad, and fruit which included mango (maybe the best we’ve ever tasted)!! We could see the beach from lunch and couldn’t wait to go in.
The beach water was bright blue and so clear, and we had a lot of fun catching waves!! After a long day we finally made our way back to home base to shower and have dinner. It was burrito night!! Aftwerwards we had delicious ice cream from local stand and had a blast at karoke/game night followed by watching the sunset at the beach and some pool time!!
Your leaders of the day signing off
⁃ Samayra and Keren 🌊☀️🏝️🪩🐢
BLOG POST FOR JULY 8
Today we woke up bright and early at 6:45. Breakfast was delicious as usual. After breakfast, everyone understood the assignment and we left at 8am sharp. The car ride was long, but it was worth it to see the wonderful people of Caraballo town that didn’t seem to care if we were Dominican or Haitian. We also saw the abandoned sugar cane factory that housed factory workers a couple of decades ago.
The area for the medical brigade was a little cramped, everyone did so well and together we created a system to help patients more effectively, since we didn’t have enough chairs for 2 seating areas for the patients. We had about 70 patients today. One challenge we faced was eating lunch. We were swamped and just couldn’t stop working. Everyone understood that sacrifice was inevitable. So half of our crew ate lunch while the other half still worked. At the end of the brigade we still had some patients waiting for service. We couldn’t help them, and that gave us a glimpse of the real world.
After our long day at the medical brigade, Ryan passed his camera around and we commemorated the intense shift we had. After eating rice and beans for a week we were dying to have processed food. So we hit up the supermarket. Everyone spent thousands of pesos as we bought delicious American food and cake. Yum!
Once we got back to home base, we had nap time and then had a debate on how economy relates to human rights! Our guest speaker introduced herself and gave us a lecture about the discrimination she faced being Haitian in The Dominican Republic. We ended the day by passing around a volleyball. Our high score was 15. Wow we suck! A dip in the pool and then it was lights out.
Good night Dominican Republic – Elaine and Virginia
BLOG POST FOR JULY 9
Today we started off our day at around 6:45am! We made our rounds waking everyone up for the breakfast of eggs, toast, oatmeal, bacon, and fruit! Its safe to say they were not thrilled to wake up but excited for the day ahead.
After breakfast, we slowly meandered over to the bus to get a start on our journey to Santiago de los Caballeros. This bumpy bus ride took us at least 2 hours with one potty break for our beloved friends. When we arrived at the Restoration Monument it was beautiful but, hot and windy. We were led on a extravagant scavenger hunt to learn more about the monuments meaning. Then we made our way back to the bus for a short ride to a Dominican Chick-fil a, called Pollo Victorina. There we enjoyed buckets of fried chicken, fries, churros, and pizza. We then hoped back on the bus to our last destination, Centro Cultural Leon Jiménez, where we learned about the history of the native islanders and how they lived. Then we headed back to the lovely bus for another hectic long drive. Many of us fell asleep, just to be woken up again half way through to the bus driver BLASTING his music!
We ended the day off with pasta, fish, potato salad, and fruit. Everyone was very sleepy and very much enjoyed the free time, post bus. The pool was very much enjoyed by everyone at night, as well as some soccer with some Bruno Mars music. Our classic “Nacho-Polo” time on the pool was lighted by an amazing full moon.
Claire and Bellatrix ✌️
BLOG POST FOR JULY 10
Today we woke everyone up at 6:40. Next, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of eggs, toast, and fruit. Then, at 8:00 we left for a bus ride to the Puerto Plata zip line. There we enjoyed eight wonderful zip lines that soared through a mountain. After zip lining we enjoyed a lunch which included fried chicken, pasta salad, fried yucca, rice, beans, and potatoes. After that everyone hung out at the pool and enjoyed a zip line that plunged into the pool. At 2:00 we started are journey back to home base where we then had free time and siesta until dinner. Once everyone finished dinner we had our leader of the day transition where we discussed what our goals were for the day and how it went. Once that was finished we had the second part of our debate where we had a big group discussion about human rights and international development. After that we had free time for the rest of the day and got ready for our hospital visit tomorrow.
See you tomorrow from your leaders of the day,
Anika and Sevanne
BLOG POST FOR JULY 11
Today we woke up at 6:45 and woke everyone up for breakfast then we split into groups and researched the different components of the Dominican Health Care and made posters about them.
After we finished that we departed to two different hospitals, since there was 2 hospitals we split into our mentor groups. Christiana’s group went to the private hospital and Hannah’s went to the public one. After both groups got their tours we came together and went to our last hospital. This hospital was located in Rio San Juan and was public. During our tour we visited the NICU, emergency room and X-ray room and a few of us even got to get X-rays to see how the machine worked! To conclude the tour we got a chance to ask the doctors any questions we wanted which was super cool. Overall we learned a lot of new things and had an amazing tour!
After we finished the tour we headed back to home base for lunch! Then we had a siesta followed by free time. After that we met back up to present our posters that we created that morning. After that we had dinner which was pasta, chicken, potatoes, salad, and more!
We ended the day with swimming and playing volleyball on the beach!
-Leaders of the day Addi and Mika!
BLOG POST FOR JULY 12
Dear family and friends,
Today is day 11 at the DR and we visited a local public hospital in Gaspar Hernandez. We had a doctor guide us through the hospital, explaining to the students the different purposes of each room and area of the hospital. Soon after, with special request of the birthday girl, we made a quick stop at the super market. After that, we visited the construction site of a clinic, which we are helping to build, in an area lacking medical teams. GLA groups and other students have had the privilege of constructing walls made out of chicken wire and recycled bottles to help continue the construction of the new hospital.
Later on, after lunch, we had time to rest and recharge after a long week of busy work. While some went to play basketball with the community, others played in the pool. After that we got to celebrate the birthday of our fellow GLA buddy Dheekshi.
Also, I am super grateful to have gotten some ice cream and wake up to a banner outside of my dorm. Thank you to my roommates, Maria and Teagan for setting it up- i’m super grateful to have you as my roommates. Thanks to everyone else for writing me a greeting card and making this one of the most memorable 17th birthday- Dheekshi
Best regards,
Maria and Dheekshi
BLOG POST FOR JULY 13
Wake up today was at 7:15 and no later!! we had a delicious breakfast of toast and eggs and then at 8:30 we resumed cutting and crafting our plastic bottle walls. For this project we had to take recycled bottle and cut them open so we can stack them together and place them in wooden walls enclosed in chicken wire. Some people cut bottles and others hammered and some stacked the bottles.
At noon, we took a break for lunch which included chicken and of course the traditional rice and beans!
After lunch we headed back to work at the construction site, but thankfully we got our work done quick and finished all 5 walls!! Afterwards we had and early siesta time!
Later it was free time and it was overall a pretty chill few hours because everyone seemed to be tired after the long day. Some of us went down to walk on the beach and later swam. Once we came back we all got ready and dressed up for Dominican night at Diosi’s house about a 10 minute walk from home base.
We arrived for Dominican night and we all had a really great time dancing around with all of us and some of the local kids too! It was an unanimous decision voting Ryan and Nacho for having the best moves of the night!! But of course some of the local kids came to steal the show and showcase some of their moves.
Hours after the sun set we made our way back to home base and settled in for the night. Overall Dominican night was a very fun way to learn more about the culture through dancing!
-Sydney and Madison
BLOG POST FOR JULY 14
Dear friends and family, today for breakfast we had delicious eggs, toast, fruit, and juice. We wrapped up our final medical brigade! The group did their final rotations of each station and got to experience something new and unique! We were stationed close to home base and got to help out the local community. After returning to home base we had a well needed meal of pork, rice, pasta, and fruit. The group had a calm siesta and a social free time following lunch. We spent time in our last mentor group session reflecting on our previous goals and aspirations. For dinner we had healthy salad, potatoes, chicken, cabbage, avocado, fruit and passion fruit juice. After enjoying some ice cream and free time in our second to last night in the DR, we went to bed early to prepare for tomorrows snorkeling adventure!
– Teagan and Kaitlyn
BLOG POST FOR JULY 15
Bienvenidos a nuestro último vlog!
Today we woke up bright and early at 6:45 for breakfast. Our last day meal was french toast, pancakes, oatmeal, eggs and fruit. We got ready and began our journey to Sosúa beach for snorkeling. Everyone had a blast swimming in the clear ocean with tons of beautiful fish! We stopped ashore for lunch, some souvenirs were bought by others and also relaxing in the ocean.
After a wonderful day in the clear ocean water, we made our way back to home base for some free time, and a little nap for some, then had our appreciation circle. We wrote down things we appreciate about each other following our 5 pillars. Before dinner, our mentors wrote awards for everyone. (they were so accurate!). For dinner we had a classic american meal, french fries, spaghetti, chicken tenders, salad, ground beef and fruit!
After we ate, we wrote down some future goals for ourself that could help impact our community. We went to the beach for the last sunset of the trip and wrapped up our night together with some s’mores!
Sincerely, by your favorite LODs,
Maria and Ryan… making another appearance to wrap our incredible trip!
Adios! 🪸🐚🌊
BLOG POST FOR JULY 16
As the sun rose over our final morning in the Dominican Republic together, Addi, Evan, Ezra, Ignacio, Kaitlyn, Keanu, Madison, Ryan, and Sydney woke up early to see the sunrise on the beach behind home base. Ezra and Elaine left early to Santiago Cibao International Airport and their flight back to Boston departed on time. The rest of the group departed a few hours later to the Puerto Plata Airport. Students, after a long (and early) travel day, we hope that as you read this you’ve arrived safely back home with a new perspective on global health, lasting friendships, leadership skills, and a heart full of memories over these last two weeks. The dogs already miss you — and so do we.
– With so many high fives and our continued support of your journey, your Mentors Christiana and Hannah
