Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

The GLA staff and the team at 7 Elements are all so incredibly proud of the community-led projects you brought to fruition this past summer in the Dominican Republic. Your three weeks of hard work, willingness to explore new places and new cultures, and your energy made this summer one to remember.

To celebrate your accomplishments, let’s look back at some of the highlights from your summer:

• Having a traditional lunch of morro de guandules
• Our trip to Santo Domingo and spending a night in the hostel
• Watching a showing of Tarzan in the city!
• Visiting an environmental scholarship university in Jarabacoa
• Hiking up Mount Brison
• Doña Maxima’s ridiculously good grilled and fried chicken after we finished the hike
• Bottle building!
• Being the last three-week group of the summer

We hope you all are having a great start to the school year, and that you take a little bit of this life-changing experience in the Dominican Republic wherever you go.

Best wishes,

The GLA & 7E Team

Summer Blog Posts

July 30, 2016

Hola! to everyone who’s back at home, our group is currently settling into our new DR-home and enjoying ourselves. Unfortunately one of our friends has missed their flight but will be flying in tomorrow. Everyone seems to be getting along great and seems like we are all anxious to begin our long adventure of exciting new experiences and learning from each other.
Check back in tomorrow to hear about how everything unfolds.

ADIOS AMIGOS!

July 31, 2106

All students are now safely arrived!

Hey everyone at home, we are here enjoying our time. Started to work on a home of a local family in-need in conjunction with GLA’s program partner, 7 Elements. We worked great together as a team and got a lot done. As you see we were brought into a new environment of mixing and smoothing different cement, and we were able to bond more as a whole.  After having a delicious cultural lunch of morro de guandules, we were able to spend some time at the beach. Finally, we were able to meet our new friend, who missed their original flight and is now getting bonded with the group as well.

Hasta Luego Familia! 🙂

August 5

We have been having lots of fun here in the Dominican Republic.

Our little family has just gotten back to our home base after our 3-day “vac”. After our hard work cementing a locals home, we took a trip to Santa Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. While there, we enjoyed a walking tour of the city with some highlights of Christopher Columbus times and followed buy some shopping. We were rewarded with a showing of the movie Tarzan at a movie theater and were able to spend the night in a hostel, located in the city. For the next day, we adventured to a waterfall where we all had a blast taking pictures and swimming in the amazing scenery. We then settled into our next homestay for more bonding in a chill lodge where we then enjoyed a cook out and s’mores!! Finally to end our trip, we visited another waterfall, where some of us climbed high up rocks, while others took the time to relax and reflect on the trip.

Until next time,

luv y’all and hope you don’t miss us too much!:)

August 9, 2016

Hey family,

haven’t updated y’all in a while. We are here having so much fun. To begin, we visited an environmental scholarship university in Jarabacoa. After which, we visited a patai, where we learned about Haitian culture and customs. We painted a water tank that would pipe into the homes of Dominican and Haitian households. Yesterday, we spent the day zip lining into a cave system, where we were also able to encounter an ostrich, peacock, and swim in a lagoon, after which we went to a beautiful beach named Rio San Juan. Today, we got back to work and painted at the school in our original town. Check in with you guys tomorrow.
xoxo

August 11, 2016

Que lo que familia we are now coming up to our eight day mark tomorrow and ready to continue our journey. Today we hiked up to Brisón. At the top of our 3 mile adventure, we were able to have a taste of some of the best chicken around. It was grilled and fried, made by Doña Maxima, a friend of our organization. After which, we enjoyed some ice-cream and got a cultural taste with delicious coconut bread. To end our long day we enjoyed some time at the beach and watched a documentary. Talk to you soon love ya, Hasta Luego¡

New Photos:

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

The GLA staff and the team at 7 Elements are all so incredibly proud of the community-led projects you brought to fruition this past summer in the Dominican Republic. Your three weeks of hard work, willingness to explore new places and new cultures, and your energy made this summer one to remember.

To celebrate your accomplishments, let’s look back at some of the highlights from your summer:

• Being the first three-week group this summer
• Building the bottle house for the family with three children, that had no roof
• Working hard to raise the floor of the school is Islabon, so they don’t have to close it during heavy flooding
• Singing to Katy Perry and the Beatles at service
• Hiking up Brison!
• The beautiful view after the cable car ride
• That time we were waiting for popsicles and a Dominican woman began blasting Spanish music from her radio, so we had an impromptu dancing lesson (the popsicles did eventually arrive!)
• When we went to the La Union batey and put two brand new cement floors into the houses of two families

We hope you all are having a great start to the school year, and that you take a little bit of this life-changing experience in the Dominican Republic wherever you go.

Best wishes,

The GLA & 7E Team

Summer Blog Posts

June 12, 2016

Hello! I am happy to report that all 31 of our “Building a Sustainable World” students arrived safely in Las Canas, Dominican Republic this afternoon. We went through orientation and provided them with information on the program and the projects we will be working on. They are a very energetic and ambitious group of students and they bring a great energy to the Indalo lodge! We can’t wait to start working with them and please stay tuned for more updates to come!

– Justin Rice

June 13, 2016

Our experience as LOD (Leaders of the Day) has been a good challenge. We have bonded with our peers and many locals. The opportunity to meet people that our less fortunate has been an eye opening experience. So far it has been a good day. The people from the community of Islabon have been really good to us.

– Jeffrey Bateman
– Jevontae Paul

Working on raising the floor in the school of Islabon, building a single family home, and getting a professional hairdo during water break:

June 14, 2016

Today we went to Islabon again to work on the two projects, the family’s house and the school. At the bottle house, we got a lot done in filling the floors with relleno (rocks and dirt as filling) as well as stuffing the chicken-wire walls with bottles. The family we are building this for has three children and no roof to provide for them presently. At the school, we also made huge headway with the relleno. We have been shoveling and moving relleno with wheelbarrows to fill the three rooms of the local school. Our objective is to raise the floor of the school because they close many months of the year due to flooding and we hope to increase hours of education for the locals.

After working hard in the morning and after lunch, we came back to Home Base and had fun at the beach or by the Home Base pool. In the evening we established our “Full Value Contract”- a set of guidelines to ensure comfort, happiness, safety, and common goals. After dinner, Dave talked with us about the Seven Element method we use to look at Human security-individual, political, economic, environmental, food, and health. Every night following we will go in depth into each of these element learn more about security and sustainability.

– Kate

June 15, 2016

Today was our third and last day in Islabon. We started off with splitting the group in half, with one going to the house and one going to the school. In the morning, the house focused on finishing up the foundation and continuing the bottle wall. We measured and cut chicken wire for the walls, and played with the kids and dogs. We sang songs like the Beatles and Katy Perry to keep our energy up. In the afternoon, we walked in with our speaker blaring music with energy to finish the wall. Half of us worked up doing finishing touches on the foundation, while the other half did the bottle wall and chicken wire. We taught the woman of the house how to build the bottle wall, while jamming out to our favorite tunes. Thirty minutes before lunch, we started on the cement for the bottle wall. The whole group there joined in on getting a cement bath. At the school we started on raising the sidewalks, clearing out a little storage room, and shoveling/wheelbarrowing the relleno (dirt).The heat started to pick up by the time the next group came, but luckily the teachers of the school brought us ice cold juice and bread pudding. In the afternoon, everyone was working on bringing the relleno to the storage room, except two people who played with the local kids to keep them occupied.

We had a hardy lunch with everyone ready to go home, but the team leaders decided to play a joke of working two more hours. Instead we went to the President of the village’s colmado and waited for popsicles. While we waited, a local woman turned up the Spanish radio and taught us how to dance. We danced and sweat for an hour or more with each other and local teenagers. The popsicles finally arrived and we headed out. We got back to the base and immediately dashed to our rooms to change for the beach. After free time, we had a Spanish lesson taught by our very own mentor of basic knowledge. We then had dinner and a leadership activity where we were given challenging real life scenarios to solve. After we got into our mentor groups to discuss human security in the community and our group dynamic. We broke into our separate rooms to discuss further and head to bed, looking forward to the sleep-in. Overall, we met our goals at the school and house, and bonded more as a group.

Miss you,

– Chloe and Isabel

June 16, 2016

Hello!

Today we started off by eating a balanced breakfast amongst our peers which helped us prepare for our adventurous day in Puerto Plata. After breakfast, we got with our buddies and boarded the bus. The bus ride was around an hour and a half, during which we listened to a mixture of popular american and latin american music (and did our best to sing along).

Once we got to Puerto Plata, we got off the bus and entered the lobby of the Teleferico cable car that. As we waited, we listened to a band play traditional merengue and watched a few locals dance along. After a short while we went to the platform of the cable car entrance, there was a magician performing some spectacular tricks. When we finally got to the top of the mountain, we looked out to see the beautiful view that was before us. We could see the ocean, the city, and the forest below us. After admiring the view, we decided to take a gander at the beautiful flowers, lagoon and most importantly, the cave. After viewing the cave we went back down on the cable car and headed to lunch. Our lunch was beautifully prepared by a local Dominican restaurant.

Following lunch, was the Amber Museum, which thankfully had air conditioning. Our wonderful tour guide talked about the origin of the amber and its significance. One interesting thing we learned at the museum was that a piece of the amber from the museum was used during the filming of the original Jurassic Park. After the exhibit and gift shops, we got back on the bus and went to an old Dominican war fort. We took a tour of the fort and took pictures at the very top which overlooked the coast.

After coming home and eating a well prepared dinner, we listened to a moving speech by a mentor at home base, Ric. He talked about justice and in particular, social justice. He had us do an exercise which compared the treatment of white american men to others around the world. After the exercise he told us moving first hand stories about injustice and poor treatment of immigrants in the United States. After he closed, many of us had streams of tears running down our faces and sadness in our hearts. Overall, the speech was eye opening and motivating. In conclusion, shoutout to Ric and all the other mentors for making today fun, informational and powerful.

– Maya and Grace

6/18/2016

Hello!

Today we worked in Polanco on leveling a basketball court, finishing a bathroom, and flooring a house. It was very exhilarating and frustrating at the same time. Being the leaders of the day was more stressful than we thought it would be. Telling people to work harder was challenging because we didn’t want to look rude but we needed to get the work done. As a result, we were able to finish the ground work of the basketball court and the bottled walls. We even started to cement the walls to support them. Although our group became a bit chaotic and tired at the end we still stayed positive and strong and finished our work well.

After we came back from Polanco, we went to the beach next to our lodge and played kickball and soccer with the locals. Then we came back and heard positive reflections about our leaderships from our peers and the mentors. Following dinner, we heard a life changing speech by Dave and learned about environmental issues around the world and more specifically the issues existing in the DR. Although we tried our best, we still didn’t get to finish what we expected today. If we are leaders of the day at some point during this trip we will try to finish our work more efficiently. Overall, however, it was exciting to be the leaders of the day and to lead such an amazing and talented group of people.

– Noah and Brent

6/19/2016

Today marked our last day in Polanco. Dave joked about punishments if we didn’t finish enough of the basketball court. One group worked on completing the wall surrounding the court while another mixed cement. Sometimes it appeared that more cement ended up on our faces and clothes than the actual wall.The strongest lugged buckets of sand, cement and water over and around the wall. Others scavenged the town for plastic bottles to put in the wall. The locals generously donated any plastic bottles they had lying in their yards. While waiting for cement to be prepared, some students took it upon themselves to clean trash from the river. Meanwhile, Doña Celia prepared some delicious chicken tacos and of course some pineapple for dessert. Those who were still hungry bought 20 cent bags of Carne Asada flavored Lays, cookies and Red Rocks sodas from the colmado/corner store.

After returning to home base, some people jumped in the pool while a few girls went to the beach to tan and the boys raced. We ended the day with an informative lecture on business leadership techniques and quiet games around the pool.

– Taytumn and Maya

6/20/2016

Today we had a day off from our previous service projects and got to spend our time exploring Dudu and Playa Preciosa. At Dudu we went zip-lining and cliff jumping into a refreshing lagoon, played lots of beach volleyball and soccer, and of course, had many photo shoots with the beautiful scenery around. We then headed to Playa Preciosa where we swam, jumped waves, and relaxed after our long day of adventures. Before heading back to home base we were surprised with a trip to the local super market. Everyone loaded up with their favorite snacks including some Dominican treats. We ended the day after dinner with a documentary regarding the conflict between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was very interesting and helped us gain a greater understanding about the community that we are living in. Overall, despite the couple of belly-flops and the mosquito bites, we’d say this was one of the best days of adventuring yet!

– Olivia and Meredith

6/21/2016

Today we went to Caraballo to visit a clinic/community center where we painted the outside walls and the inside rooms. We used yellow, blue, and white on the inside to paint the walls. Overall, I think our experience as leaders of the day went well. There are some things that we can improve on for when we’re leaders of the day again. Caraballo, a Haitian and Dominican community and it was really sad just to see how they live. They live in extreme poverty and they are not able to access a lot of things that we are able to receive on a daily basis. For example, we have access to clean drinking water and they don’t have a clean wager supply to drink from. As leaders, we wanted to show everyone that you don’t have to be aggressive and forceful when being leaders of the day, but it didn’t really work out as planned as we wanted it to. This is because that if you’re not aggressive at times then people will not want to do work or they won’t volunteer themselves to do a job or be relaxed about doing that certain job so you want to be a little aggressive towards some people so that they can get a job done. Everyone was very concentrated and we all were able to get a large chunk of work done quickly in the first 30 minutes of painting the clinic. We eventually took a tour around the community and they showed us how they live everyday and it wasn’t pleasant. They share one small room with up to 10-15 people and that’s really rough. But we really hope that change comes for those people because right now they’re relying on waiting for god to come and save them.

– Zion and Ben

June 24, 2016

Hello!

Today we hiked Mt. Brison. It was 2 hours up and 2 hours down. In between stops we learned about food security and planted onion and melon seeds. We got the chance to buy coconut bread and buy bracelets from some of the locals. The hike gave us a better appreciation for the kids that have to take that walk every day to school or to buy supplies. We also learned more about food security and saw firsthand the effects that a deficiency in this security can have on a population.

-Jake

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

The GLA staff and the team at 7 Elements are all so incredibly proud of the community-led projects you brought to fruition this past summer in the Dominican Republic. Your three weeks of hard work, willingness to explore new places and new cultures, and your energy made this summer one to remember.

To celebrate your accomplishments, let’s look back at some of the highlights from your summer:

• The cable car ride to the top of the mountain
• Our night in Santo Domingo and tour of the city
• The visit to Jarabacoa, where we came across a gorgeous waterfall and had a BBQ
• When we raised the floors at the Islabon school so that children can attend even when there’s flooding
• Giorgio’s talks!
• Our excursion to Dajabon on the Haitian border
• As Tommy wrote: As we said the whole trip, “The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.”

We hope you all are having a great start to the school year, and that you take a little bit of this life-changing experience in the Dominican Republic wherever you go.

Best wishes,

The GLA & 7E Team

Summer Blog Posts

July 6, 2016

Hello,

All students have arrived from Puerto Plata airport. We are still waiting for Bridget and May’s arrival from Santiago Airport. We will provide a more in-depth look into the start of the program tomorrow. We’re so excited to get our hands mixing cement!!

Saludos,

Max Smith, Group Mentor

July 7, 2016

After breakfast, we took the bus to Isla Bon. We worked on building a house and we also helped elevate a school ground and roof. We built the house for a local family using plastic bottles, wire, and cement. The school has to be elevated because after heavy rainfall, it floods and consequently students can’t go to school. We had lunch in Isla Bon. We brought the food over, and some local people cooked it for us. We also played baseball with some kids and adults in the community and went to the beach. After dinner, we had a lesson on the 7 elements and met in our mentor groups.

Sadiba

July 10, 2016

Hello Parents, this is Christina writing about what we did today in the Dominican. Today was one of our adventure days, so we spent the day in the city of Puerto Plata visiting some popular attractions. First we went to a museum and learned about two common stones found here, amber and larimar. After learning about where and how these stones are made, we were able to go to a gift shop and buy jewelry made of the beautiful blue and brown stones.  We then went to ride cable cars to the top of a local mountain. From the cable cars we were able to see the whole city of Puerto Plata and the surrounding countryside. Once we were at the top we walked around and saw incredible views and exotic plants found in the Dominican. After a long day in the city we went back to our base for a home cooked meal and some free time to get to know and have fun with the other students here. Our adventure day gave us a break from all our hard work and a chance to explore the city.

July 19, 2016

We’ve just concluded our 3-day excursion to Santo Domingo, the Capitol of the DR. It was pleasant to see the city since it displayed another side of the island to us. However, I personally prefer the simplicity and serenity of the natural areas and small towns that we’ve been working in. I did find the city’s rich colonial history to be quite intriguing, though. After a night in Santo Domingo, we headed to Jarabacoa, where we visited a breathtakingly beautiful waterfall and enjoyed a fun-filled relaxing barbecue. Additionally, the lodge there was very comfortable. Before leaving back to home base, we visited yet another waterfall, swam in some river rapids, and toured a water filtration plant, where we learned how clay water filters are made and what an essential role they play in ensuring the health security of many communities. Now back at our familiar home base and having heard Liv, a college student driven to be a change in the world and a 7 elements volunteer, we’re inspired to work hard again, make a positive difference, and try to live our last remaining week here together to live to the fullest.

-Kenny Mai

July 21, 2016
Yesterday was our last day of service, we finished up our portion of the school. We raised the floors because in the past, the local school in Islabon had flooded so the kids weren’t able to attend. This has been my favorite service project that we have worked on because although it required a lot of hard work, we enabled the local children to receive an education. While this was occurring, another group finished cementing the walls of a house in the community. After service, we went to the pool. Following dinner, there was a leadership activity with our mentor groups. Finally, after an exciting and long day, we went to bed.

Dani Deal

July 22, 2016

Today we went to Dajabon which is the Haiti and Dominican Republic border. Apparently, every Monday and Friday, the DR opens the bridge to the DR so that Haitians can come over and sell their donated goods from other nations to Dominicans in need of goods. When we arrived at the market, so many things were going on and it was like an oversized swap meet that was squeezed onto one tiny building. The walkways were only two feet wide and personal space was non existent. On top of that motorcycles and wheel barrows would pass through the crowd and nearly run over everyone. As a whole, the day was a good learning experience as we all learned about the racial tension between the Haitians and the Dominicans and experienced what the Haitians have to go through in order to make a living.

-Harmony

Today we were lucky enough to have visited caberette, a beautiful ecosystem about 15 minutes away from base. The first thing we did, when we got there was worked on a reforestation project, which consisted of planting trees along the main river of the community, once we finished we had sandwiches by the water. Next, we toured around the cave systems and visited a voodoo cave. Finally, we wrapped up the day jumping 3 meters into a lagoon in a cave.

-Kyle and Audrey

July 25, 2016
Today was the last day we will be working in the Dominican Republic. My feelings are mixed. Because on one hand I am relieved to be no longer working with cement. However, I will miss the experience of working with the locals.

Following the work day we met the community leader who told us what it was like to live in the DR.

Then we had our usual beach time which was good as always. We played soccer and swam in the water. We ended our day with projects, which was good because we put in a lot of work.

Sandy

A Day in the Life of a GLA 21 Day Dominican Republic Traveler

By: Tommy Gergely

I recently returned home from the 21 Day: Building a Sustainable World Dominican Republic GLA trip. Our days were busy and sometimes hectic, but largely followed the same schedule depending on the day. We had two types of days, work days, where we would go out to various communities and work on projects, and excursion days, where we would have a bit of fun while getting to hang out with the friends we met on the trip. I am going to explain in-depth the schedule of a typical work day.

6-7:30 AM: Wake Up- Some kids woke up early and went outside and meditated and stretched, some read a book, some took some early morning refreshing cold showers, and some slept in until two minutes before breakfast time. Everyone had their own routine and was able to relax how they wanted and prepare for the day.

7:30-8 AM: Breakfast- The time of breakfast would vary by day, some days it would be as early as 6:30, other days it was at 8, it really depended on what we were doing and where we were going during the day. Breakfast was generally pretty quiet and relaxed as we were all still sleepy and waking up.

8:30 AM: Leave for work- We would pack the tools, water, and food into the bus and drive to our work site. Some work sites, like La Grua, were far and took an hour and a half to drive to, others were close, like Islabon, and only took fifteen minutes to drive to.

9 AM- 12 PM: Work- The work we did varied by project, we helped build part of a house, school, and water tank and built a whole basketball court and garden. The majority of the jobs required hand-mixing cement which was the most physically demanding work we did. It required teamwork, technique, and knowledge to achieve the perfect mixture of concrete.

12- 1 PM: Lunch- Lunch during work days was cooked by the local community with food GLA provided and was delicious! There was nothing more satisfying than being able to sit down, sip on Coca-Cola you bought at the Colmado, and eat some hot chicken, rice, and beans.

1- 3:30 PM: Back to work/Cleanup- We would finish the projects we started in the morning, but maybe with slightly less enthusiasm because we were all tired. After that we would clean the tools and pack the bus to head back to home base.

3:45- 5/5:30 PM: Free Time/ Beach Time- We got back from our hard day of work and had the option to either go to the beach or hang out at the base. Personally I always went to the beach because I loved getting the dirt off of me in the water and I loved the waves and calmness of the ocean. Sometimes, I even played some beach soccer which could get pretty competitive.

6:00- 7 PM: Dinner- Dinner was prepared by the lovely staff at the Indalo Lodge who made great food. Dinner usually consisted of some variation of chicken, beans, rice with fresh fruit and some other entree for those who vegetarian or vegan.

7- 8 PM: Human Security Talks /Leadership Training /Documentary Watching- During this time we would usually be given a talk on one of the seven elements of Human Security (Food, Personal, Community, Health, Environment, Political, Economic) by Giorgio, our Italian-born, ex-military, surfing, scientist, who was one of the coolest and most thoughtful people I have ever met. The talks were educating and enlightening and allowed the group to look deeper into issues in our world and make connections between seemingly different problems. A couple of nights we received talks about how to be a leader and how to develop a vision by Cameron, these lessons were very practical and could very easily be applied to everyday life. Other nights we watched documentaries about various issues and had in-depth discussions about our opinions on the subject matter.

8- 9 PM: Mentor Groups- The group would split into three smaller subunits and we would meet with our mentors. We would talk about our day, how the trip was going (both good and bad things), and how we were reacting to what was around us. It was a nice time to reflect on our new environment and education.

9:15- 10 PM: In our rooms- We would relax and take showers and unwind from our long day. Some kids would write in their journals, others would take showers, and some would read. Generally a nice relaxing time.

10 PM: LIGHTS OUT!- Time to go to sleep and prepare for tomorrow’s opportunities.

As we said the whole trip, “The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.”

The finished 12,000 gallon water tank that we helped build for a community called La Grua that was in desperate need of clean water.

A young Dominican girl enjoying the new shade from the roof/shelter we had just built to prevent the plants from receiving direct sunlight and to allow the community to sustain itself.

Time Capsule Letter – October 2016

Hi guys!

It’s Ben! I hope you’re all doing well, and haven’t forgotten me or the team yet! My summer in the DR is wrapped up as you know and now I have a chance to reflect on the great memories we built together.

You guys were such a great group to finish the summer, there were occasional complaints (I still love the hike), I’ve learned more than I ever thought I would about how to pose for photos (thanks Nicky), and underwear mysteriously appearing in the swimming pool.
I’m not sure I’ve had that much beach time with any group before and I’m missing it badly already

We got everything wrapped up after you left, windows and doors in the houses, water flowing to the houses in La Grua, trees growing all over the place.

I hope to see you all again soon. Make your life matter. Make me remember you when I read about you changing the world for the better. I hope I’ve helped to bring you a little closer to becoming an expert global citizen.
Your Director and friend,

Benjamin O’Hanlon.

The best locals Vs. Domincans volleyball match EVER!

Summer Blog Posts

Today we arrived in the Dominican Republic, upon arrival we experienced a . glimpse of the culture and life of the Dominican natives. While driving through the country we saw many intriguing neighborhoods and natural wonders. Once we arrived at the lodge and met the wonderful staff, we experienced our first taste of the beautiful beaches. After our swim, we had a traditional Dominican style dish, which included chicken, rice, and beans with tropical fruits. We ended our first night with orientation and discussing how we would soon improve the lives of locals. As we close out the night, we are ecstatic to start our first day of work in the community with our beach-side service adventure team!

August 11, 2016

Hey ladies and gentlemen, today on our adventure we went to a local house built by previous volunteers, and began to finish the job. During this job we endured a blazing hot sun beaming down upon us through the beautiful palm, and coconut trees. We also worked through sun showers, and pesky bugs and with that being said we managed to finish the job with smiles on our faces. During the time while we were working we bonded with the local children and animals. The family’s who home is being constructed, cooked fresh food that includes chicken, rice and beans salad, plantains, and fruits, which was all caught and/or grown locally. Today was a life changing experience and will continue to grow throughout the duration of our trip! Talk to you later!
-Jared

August 12

Today we woke up at 8 and enjoyed a heartfelt breakfast before leaving for Las Cuevas. After a 20 minute bus ride we arrived at a protected park to start our reforestation project. We worked diligently alongside the park rangers to plant trees to help form a tourist walkway through the park. By doing this we learned about environmental security and contributed to improving the local tourism market. Once we finished we walked to a refreshing freshwater cave located inside the park and took turns jumping in. Soon after we ate lunch on site and then stopped for ice cream before heading toward a local community. There we took a short tour where we got to see previous GLA projects as well as a bee farm. We then headed back to home base and enjoyed some free time on the beach before dinner. After dinner we did a workshop on leadership with Cam and then went to the beach to watch the stars before bed.

– Daniella, Kelly, Nicky

August 13

Hola!!

Today was the toughest day of service. First, we worked together to finish a cement floor for a family of 6. This family previously lived in a one bedroom shack. The family prepared an amazing lunch of delicious local food. Playing with the kids during breaks made the hard work seem easy. Seeing the finished floor was rewarding. Then we walked to our next service site. We finished painting the house we worked on earlier in the week. We finished the day with fun time beach time! After Taco Saturday dinner, we had an interesting conversation regarding leadership with Cameron. We’re so excited for what’s in store for tomorrow!

Adios!!!

-Meg, Taylor, Raymond

August 14

Today was our trip to Dudu Lagoon which started off with a pancake breakfast and local honey. At the lagoon there was cliff jumping, zip ling, and exploring cave systems. A highlight of the day was when our group got together and had a friendly game of volleyball with the locals. Then we went to Playa Preciosa, a beach where we conversed with local vendors, and tried local foods. It was a beautiful private beach and was truly paradise that you wouldn’t get to experience anywhere else. After dinner back at the home base we had a lecture from Georgio about security with regards to the environment. Learning about human security and biodiversity are real world applicable lessons that we will take with us long after this trip. Today was a great adventure day, and we were all happy to take a break after the hard work day we had yesterday.

August 15

Today we were off to an early start and expedition to “La Grua.” When we arrived to the community, we went to the Dominican side of the community,and split up into two work groups. After splitting up into groups, we got straight to work, lifting rocks and digging holes to make a clean water source for the community there. Around noon, we ate lunch on site, which was prepared y a local dona.

After lunch, we finished up the work and took a tour of the Batey. We learned about the struggles and hardships regarding human security that the locals have to face. Then we returned to the lodge and had some free time, where we hung out by the pool and relaxed after the long day. At around six, we had dinner, then we watched a documentary on the Haitians and the Dominicans.

Laura, Ashley and Yennik

August 17

Yesterday we hiked up a three mile path, on the way up we stopped at different locations to learn about the culture and the way of life on the mountains. Today we went to the bottle house for the last time, we finished the flooring and the outside wall. The last step to the house is putting in doors and windows.

We also had a 11 year old local boy come to the lodge to teach us how to make bracelets out of recycled plastic bags. We also had are last human security lecture today. Towards the end of the night we went to the beach and one of the GLA mentors played the guitar and sang for us.

-Jonah/Olivia/Jeanne