Hello students! Here is poem to help relive the memories of your trip to the DR!

Here’s what went down…
13 Americans & 1 Canadian went out of town
A service trip to the DR is what they signed up for
Little did they know what was in store…
A traditional Dominican breakfast starts the day
Because when you’re in this country, there is no other way!
Meditation on the beach, where your soul meets the sea
Las Canas, the lodge, a beautiful home for you and me!
Surfing, sweet surfing! We had lots of fun days!
Lots of practice on these beach break waves
Late night talks and sunrise surf sessions, these are the GLA / 7e confessions
The service work in Polanco came and went
Building a basketball court from start to finish, now that is something special to witness!
The first few days of mixing cement was very hard work
We sweat, and sweat, and sweat through our shirts
Blistered hands and concrete in our hair…
But it was worth it, because we care!
The local kids shared a helping hand and a smile
The memories of their smiles will travel for miles!
The masons at the work site helped us a lot and guided us along
While we worked we listened to popular Dominican songs!
The chance to learn kite surfing suerte (lucky) super suerte,
One of the best places in the world to try this sport!
…But let’s get back to the basketball court!
Measurements and lines, taking our time, precision is the name of the game
A court made with skill will last, but a court made with heart and soul will last forever!
Now let’s talk about that zip-line!
Laguna DuDu was a grand ‘ol time…
Flying through the air and falling 35 feet, now that was a really special treat!
Back to the court, trips to the river…
Balancing on bamboo and hoping you don’t fall in…
Keep on movin, keep on groovin, keeping a positive mind state in this summer heat!
We won’t give up, we won’t be beat!
27 Waterfalls was a great time…
Hiking, jumping, and swimming in the sunshine!
Speaking of hiking, Brison was tough..
But now we understand what the locals have to do to get to school…
By the time we reached the top, we were standing in a pile of drool!
Seeing new things through a different perspective takes a lot of courage and understanding
We all know that these days can be demanding!
Red, blue, and white paint stuck on our hands
I bet the night before you left, you got used to sleeping without a fan! 😉
Our last day was super fun, in the hot summer sun!
A boat ride from Laguna GriGri to Playa Coson,
So many pineapples and coco’s… no time for a phone!
A special bonfire at night with lots of snacks
Ukelele, guitar, and piggy backs…

I hope you all realize how special this trip really was
Maybe this poem will help the memories resurface and uncloud your mind fuzz!

Thank you for participating and thank you for all you do!

Remember that this Sports Service Adventure and the meaningful things you did
Will always live on inside of you!!!

Written by: Sarah Michaels, Mentor

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.

Hello all!

The IDI team misses all of you and the adventures we had over your 21 day trip in the Dominican Republic. From our early breakfasts and sleepy bus rides, to our deep conversations under our little kitchen cabana. It’s crazy to think how fast that trip went by and how close we all became over those 3 short weeks.

Although our trip was only 3 weeks, we did so much and accomplished so many things… like exploring the North Coast and a bunch of the capital. I think my favorite part was watching all of you grow and challenge yourselves in so many ways. Whether it was using teamwork to power through some tough cement mixing or just making sure that all of us were on the bus each morning, we saw all of you take initiative and work together. From the countless meals of La Bandera to our random bursts of dancing, I saw our group transform from a group of goofy strangers to a team of bright and fearless leaders.

I get a little sad when I think about how awesome our group was and how much I would love to run another program with you all. There are some things that still sit so fresh in my mind. I have a memory for each and every one of you that reminds me of the uniqueness of our group. One of my favorite memories was our team circle in which we commemorated each other and talked about our favorite parts of the program.

Our summer winded down and many of our 7e staff have returned home. There are still some of us hanging out in the DR with Ernie, Bert and Oscar, of course. The lodge has settled down and we will soon begin gearing up for another awesome summer. We’ve continued to visit our community partners and check up on our past projects. I hope you know how cool it was that you all were the pilots for NGO and organization visits. You all have set a wonderful foundation for next year’s program. I hope you take what you have learned about development, ethics and international aid and apply those concepts and discussions to your own areas of passion and interest whether it be in those topics or in others.

I hope you all continue to pursue your passions and challenge yourselves beyond your comfort zone. Know that sometimes you’ll take a step and go back two, but that there is always room to step forward again. Always remember to take an extra 15 seconds to make an impact in somebody’s life and never overlook the little moments that sometimes mean the most. I hope to see all of you again in the future. Never hesitate to contact your friends at 7e; it means so much to hear from you.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes that I think speaks so truly to all of you and really reminds me of you all when I hear it.”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that frightens us.” -Marianne Williamson
You guys are the voices and change of tomorrow, so go out and make tomorrow rad.

Love Always,
Galex

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.

Hola hola mis amores!

We can’t believe it has already been so long since our Dominican Republic trip ended! We can still
hear all your vivacious laughter from over the palm trees and among the skwarks from the chickens
and bleats from the goats… Do you miss chicken and rice yet? We knew you would! We miss you
all here at the lodge. We still reminisce about our lollipop moment closing ceremony and those fond
moments we shared….you were such a memorable group. We want to say thank you for your effort,
participation and energy that you put into the project this summer. We could not of done it without
you.

We have fond memories of waking up peacefully and heading down to the beach to yoga, meditate
and watch the sunrise. Of heading to work sites at Caño Dulce and Polanco, and the adventure
days, anticipating the beautiful waters, white sandy beaches and delicious virgin piña coladas. We
know that you guys are probably starting back with school (or college YAY) but we wanted you to
know that we will forever remember the laughs and good times that we shared. I hope that you know
your time spent in the Dominican Republic did truly make a lasting impact on the communities here,
you have left your stamp in the cement and in our hearts.

You will forever be a part of the work done in el Bronx, providing water filters for 14 families in need.
Clean water management is fundamental to global health. Almost one tenth of the global disease
burden could be prevented by access to clean water, and you guys have played a part in this
important puzzle by helping to install a water tank and provide bathrooms to numerous families. We
are paving the way to better health for these communities by putting in concrete floors, which not
only aids the living and cleanly conditions of a family, but helps keep them safe from infectious
preventable diseases and respiratory infections. Our brigade days and vitamin distribution were very
successful, you guys treated 80 patients and handed out vitamins to 34 and 65 children and
pregnant women, which is integral to their physical and cognitive development.

We hope that you take the skills and knowledge from this trip into all aspects of your life, and that
you remain to be globally engaged, hardworking and motivated to make a different to the wellbeing
of people all over the world. We were so impressed with the effort put into participating in our
lectures, and capstones, thank you! The quality of your capstones were great and have given Us as
a team a lot of inspiration.

Not to mention the hard work you guys did, we also had so much fun! And we will NEVER forget the
talent show on the last night, with the alien music, belly dancing and hair tossing.You guys made the
group as great as it was as you all brought your individuality to the table. We were all blown away
from how well you all worked together and provided each other strong emotional, mental and
physical support. This is what true leaders are made of, we give each other a step up so we can
grow together.

GHI – you were amazing! The level of care and concern that you showed to each other, the staff and
the members of the community will never be forgotten.

Here are Some special moments from our trip:
-Jumping into the blue water from the zipline at Dudu Lagoon
-The dance class with Ideliza and Guillermo
-The beach sunrises.
-Richard the spider and his vacations.
-The lollipop leadership moment ceremony, and all the happy tears….
-Painting the houses at Caño Dulce, and learning about the families stories
-The Clinic Brigades, and the playful and cheeky children
-The candle lit Talent Show
-The star gazing night.

Please stay connected! We hope to see you again.

Abrazos,

Hilary, Averi, Guillermo, Michaela and Javier

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.

Hello everybody!

I can’t believe it’s been so long since you were all here together at the lodge! It seems like just yesterday you were all saying your tearful goodbyes. Michaela, Mic(k?), Javier, and I miss you all and I’m sure you all miss each other! I hope some of you will be making plans to see each other over the next year (or even having a GLA reunion trip like some of you were doing this summer). You are probably back to school or will be starting soon, but I wanted to let you know that here at the lodge we are still talking about you guys and the impact you had on us and the communities we work with this summer.

After you guys left, I got to see other groups finish up the bathroom we were working on in cano dulce, hear about how great the cement floor that we did on our first day, and see how nice the house turned out that we painted in cano dulce. It was amazing to see the progress that has been made by so many different groups working together! You guys got the luck to be one of the last groups of the summer, so you got to see a lot of different phases of our health projects. I also got to see the trenches and water tank at Polanco be completely finished and the water tank is now set up and working! Thank you so much for helping to finish off a year-long project. The 200+ people that now have water thank you! We also are finishing up the community center in NY Chiquito that you all helped to bottle. The community is busy planning activities for the center!

We had so much fun our little group at Laguna Dudu (where you survived the zip-line), Laguna Gri Gri and Playa Caleton, and our last day at Rio Yasica! I had a blast with you all!

I really hope you all are still thinking about the impact you had both during the brigade in the batey La Grua (with so many patients!), and with vitamin distribution in NY Chiquito (which was one of our best vitamin distribution days all summer-congrats on your hard work and organization!), as well as all of our public health projects such as the bathrooms in cano dulce and NY Chiquito, the water tank in Polanco, and cement floors in cano dulce.

Please keep in touch!

Saludos,

Katherine, Michaela, Mic, and Javier

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.

Hola hola mi gente!

We can’t believe it has already been so long since our Dominican Republic trip ended! We can still
hear all your vivacious laughter from over the palm trees and among the skwarks from the roosters…
Do you miss chicken and rice yet? We knew you would! We miss you all here at the lodge. We still
reminisce about our lollipop moment closing ceremony….you were such a memorable group. We
want to say thank you for your effort, participation and energy that you put into the project this
summer. We could not have done it without you.

We have fond memories of waking up peacefully and heading down to the beach to yoga, meditate
and watch the sunrise. Of heading to work sites at Caño Dulce and Polanco, and the adventure
days, anticipating the beautiful waters and the white sandy beaches. We know that you guys are
probably starting back with school (or college YAY) but we wanted you to know that we will forever
remember the laughs and good times that we shared. I hope that you know your time spent in the
Dominican Republic did truly make a lasting impact on the communities here, you have left your
stamp in the cement and in our hearts.

You will forever be a part of the work done at Polanco, providing water for a community of over 200
people. Clean water management is fundamental to global health. Almost one tenth of the global
disease burden could be prevented by access to clean water, and you guys have played a part in
this important puzzle by helping to install a water tank and provide bathrooms to numerous families.
We are paving the way to better health for these communities by putting in concrete floors, which not
only aids the living and cleanly conditions of a family, but helps keep them safe from infectious
preventable diseases and respiratory infections. Our brigade days and vitamin distribution were very
successful, you guys treated 89 patients and handed out vitamins to 58 children and 4 pregnant
women, which is integral to their physical and cognitive development.

We hope that you take the skills and knowledge from this trip into all aspects of your life, and that
you remain to be globally engaged, hardworking and motivated to make a different to the wellbeing
of people all over the world. We were so impressed with the effort put into participating in our
lectures, and capstones, thank you! The quality of your capstones were astonishing and have given
Us as a team a lot of inspiration. We remember you as garbage eco- friendly, mental health
awareness raising kitchen safety crew!

Not to mention the hard work you guys did, we also had so much fun! You guys made the group as
great as it was as you all brought your individuality to the table. We were all blown away from how
well you all worked together and provided each other strong emotional, mental and physical support.
This is what true leaders are made of, we give each other a step up so we can grow together.
GHI.A – you were amazing! The level of care and concern that you showed to each other, the staff
and the members of the community will never be forgotten.

Here are Some special moments from our trip:
-Jumping into the blue water from the zipline at Dudu Lagoon
-All the evenings dancing with Ideliza, Loubens and Guillermo
-Playing basketball after the vitamin distribution
-The impromptu beach surprise afternoon at Playa Alicia
-The lollipop leadership moment ceremony, and all the happy tears….
-Painting the houses at Caño Dulce, and learning about the families stories
-Getting caught in the thunderstorm ay Rio Yasica!
-Playing the panuelo game on the beach
-The Clinic Brigades, and the playful and cheeky children
-The Last sunset together on the final evening.
-The star gazing night.

Please stay connected! We hope to see you again.

Abrazos,
Hilary, Averi, Guillermo, Isabella and Ideliza

 

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our 2019 programs, or enroll now.