DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Beachside Service Adventure – July 26 – August 4, 2015

Everyone has arrived safely!

-Elena Gamboa

My morning started around 5 am thanks to the community rooster. Breakfast convened at 7:20, and we were on the bus by 8:20. The scenery constantly changed throughout the hour and 15 minute bus ride. We saw everything from mountains to shops to abandoned factories to former sugar cane fields. Before even stepping off the bus, it was clear this community was very different from the one we visited yesterday. The homes were very small and unpainted. As soon as we stepped off the bus, there were kids everywhere. They were all eager and willing to assist in the various projects we were working on. From painting fences and dugouts to building soccer goals, there was never a shortage of helping hands. I, along with several young girls named Lucia, Lisa, and Janel, painted the dugouts, although we may have gotten more paint on ourselves than the dugout. It amazes me that kids who have so little were willing to give their time and energy to help us with our project. Lucia, who is eight, even took off the necklace she was wearing and tied it around my neck. I was speechless at her selflessness and generosity. As sweet as they were, the kids were quick to beg us for money and many made us pinky promise to visit their shop. After lunch, we went on a tour of the surrounding villages and gained a greater understanding of their living situations. As we walked through their hometown, the children clung to our hands as we waved to other village children. We visited the market, which was a very chaotic of and stressful experience for most of us, as most of us are not used to being pulled from store to store by young children. As we boarded the bus and said our goodbyes, we headed back to the home base with unforgettable memories and lots of beaded bracelets.

By Lauryn BassToday we visited Caraballo, a community of Haitians and Dominicans near the mountains. We started working at the bottle school in the community (which happens to be the largest in the world) painting fence posts and baseball dugouts, and making soccer goals behind the school. Next we took a tour around the village. The houses were very small; many were made from corroded pieces of sheet metal. I noticed that many people sat outside their homes and watched us. As we walked by, all of the children in the community came up and grabbed our hands or put their arms around us. At the end of our visit we went to the market place and bought bracelets and jewelry from the locals, which was pretty intense because they all were desperate saleswomen. We ended our time in the village with hugs, goodbyes, and turning down some of the teenage village boys who had requested to be our boyfriends haha. When we got back to camp some of us went to the beach or pool. For dinner we had a great home cooked meal and ended the night with a message about human security. After these past 2 days, I’ve learned a new respect for people who are bilingual but have also realized how far gestures, expressions, and some friendly competition can universally translate.
By Madison Jones

Today we went to La Grua which is about two and a half hours away from home base.  While we were there we helped develop a bottle school by helping to sort water bottles that can be used for solely insulation. First we had to separate them from the crushed bottles to make sure that they could be stacked properly. After that we proceeded to put chicken wire on the walls, we filled it in with loads of bottles, and finally we put cement on the walls from the bottom to the top of the wall. We also took a tour within the Hatian/Dominican community while being lectured by the mentor James. Towards the middle of the tour within the community we stopped to pick up litter. We had a group of kids help with picking up the litter, we filled seven bags of trash. A lot of us got out of our comfort zone and danced merengue. The community was very warm and welcoming. We then proceeded to eat lunch. Lunch was filled with tons of nutritional goodness such as pasta, chicken, and mango. After lunch the Dominicans continued to help us in working.     When we got back we listened to a human security lecture and a leadership session with Ted Talks by our Director Cameron. It was a great day!

After our long day yesterday of having fun at the Dudu Lagoon, the cliffside jumping, we woke up feeling sore and tired but promptly at 8 am this morning, we left for our last day in La Grua. Once we arrived, the first group of tours began while the others started cementing the walls. On the tour, James took us around and showed us the difference between the Haitian and Dominican sides of the village. We learned the economic and social difference between the two groups. We also stopped at one area to pick up trash to show the people in the village the right way to dispose their trash and help improve the environment. Back at the bottle school, the team worked on cementing the walls and mixing the cement. Around lunch time kids started to show up to play and helped us work on the school. After we ate lunch, we regained our energy and began dancing with the kids. Surprisingly, the little girls showed us up by dancing to American throwback songs better than we could. At the end of our hard work day, we had a special reward waiting for us- an ice cream shop. We danced, took pictures, laughed a lot and had a great last day in La Grua.

– Lindsey Brakefield and Matthew Gang

This morning some of us woke up earlier than usual and went on a 3 mile run on the beach followed by a nice dip in the ocean or pool. The rest of us all joined together for one of my favorite breakfasts yet: Frosted Flakes, fruit, pancakes with fresh honey, and an awesome papaya smoothie. We got on the bus at 9 for a five minute ride followed by a ten minute up-hill walk to Cano Dulce. We immediately began mixing cement which we would use to pour floors for some of the locals. Most of them currently have dirt floors which causes reoccurring illnesses within the community. We mixed around 16 bags of cement throughout the day and carried them all down to the local homes where a professional mason poured the flooring. Some of us also painted bee houses, a huge part of the growing economy in Cano Dulce. We then walked back down to the main part of the community and ate lunch and played basketball with some of the locals. Lunch was followed by a tour of the unique community of Cano Dulce. We walked through various different nature sights, saw cocoa trees, and struggled across a 4 inch bridge made entirely of wires up to a bee farm. The bee farm was filled with 120 bee houses, each one housing around 1,000 bees. The importance of bees and their honey to the economy of Cano Dulce was especially interesting. We left the sight around 3 and got back to home base and all went to the beach. It was a very well-needed break from mixing cement all day. Our leadership activities were different than usual today as we broke into teams and completed various different obstacles in the Low Ropes Course developed by our director around home base. Each obstacle had a lesson within such as trust, communication, team-work, and learning to ask for help. Dinner was served at 6 followed by a human security seminar at 8. Free time in between and after was spent playing cards, dancing, and swimming.

– Katie Conners

What do you have to do to get to school in the morning? You probably do not have to hike two and a half miles up a steep mountain just to get there. For the Dominican children that live on Mount Brison, this is their daily chore. Today, we stepped into their shoes and made the difficult hike.After an hour on the bus, we started up the mountain, pausing periodically to learn about the community that lives there. Looking over the mountain, there was an obvious lack of trees. GLA is making an effort to reforest the mountain with profitable cocoa trees. The cocoa trees will provide the local Dominicans with an access to funds that they have never had access to before. This will provide them with political influence to better their community, such as paving the dirt roads that lead up the mountain. Not only will this make the hike easier, but it will also make transportation safer.The hike up the mountain definitely proved the dire need for better roads and more tree cover. The blazing heat and steep, slippery slopes tested the endurance of the group. Some of the group felt sick and had to ride the pack mules that were on the hike with us, while others raced ahead. We all struggled on the hike up, but this made it all the more rewarding when we finally made it to the top.

Waiting for us at the top of the mountain was the best meal we have had the whole trip. The meal tasted even better after our arduous adventure. After everyone had gotten their fill alongside adorable puppies and satanic birds, we took advantage of the beautiful views and amazing photo opportunities.

Our descent of the mountain was a breeze compared to the strenuous hike up. Although it was relatively easy, it was not without its difficulties. Almost everyone stumbled on the loose rock that coated the precipitous trail, but there were no injuries.

It was a shame that we didn’t get to actually work on the reforestation project, as the area is in the middle of a drought, and any of the work we did would have been counterproductive. We did, however, gain a valuable understanding of the day to day hardships of the locals.

Overall, the day’s activities were a valuable learning experience that allowed us to empathize with the locals.

– Brooke Sanders and Mary Brown