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 posts 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 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 7 & 8
The day had finally come for the start of our two week adventure in the Dominican Republic! On Sunday students were picked up by Kyle, Grace, and Wilson in three waves. We spent the first evening unpacking, playing some games to get to know each other, and exploring the Home Base and beach across the street. We had a traditional home cooked Dominican dinner including chicken, rice, eggplant, beans, and fresh fruit. After a long day of travel the students were ready for lights out.
Monday was our first full day. We “slept in” for breakfast at 8am and then had our orientation to go over rules and expectations of the program. Afterwards, we all took our swim tests and passed with flying colors. Then we had a pool party and played games. Once lunch was ready, we all reluctantly got out of the water and got ready to enjoy some delicious food including ham, rice, and beans. After lunch, we went to the “bottle house” and worked on cementing the structure for our service project. It was hard work mixing and applying cement in the Dominican heat, but fun as well. We were met by Oliver, our final arriving member of our group of fifteen students!
Later during our free time we went to the beach to enjoy some soccer and dipped our legs in the water. In the evening, we had a delicious dinner of chicken, pasta, and fruit. In the evening, we did a goal-setting activity and wrote letters to ourselves about what we hope to gain these next two weeks. Finally we got our cell phones back after our first full day of “digital detox”. It was a nice start to our new adventures.
– Kyle, International Director / Nathan & Evan
BLOG POST FOR JULY 9
On Tuesday everyone was woken up by loud thunder and screeching cows (😂) . We met up for breakfast at the normal time, 7am, and the amazing cooks made eggs, potatoes, and prepared delicious fruit to fuel our bodies for our long day of house-building and making cement. Today was a long day of service work but we got a lot done. We listened to music as we worked on the structure of the house, with a break midway for delicious fried rice with chicken and vegetables.
After this massive work, some of us decided to take a nice ice cream to cool down on the way back to the lodge. During free time some of our “football” fans watched the Euro semifinal, France vs Spain streaming on Kyle’s computer. Unfortunately for our three French students, France lost…. By dinner time we had quite an appetite and ate fresh local fish and potatoes. The sauce was absolutely amazing!
To finish the day, Doctor Caho explained us our mission for tomorrow during the medical brigade training (in Spanish, with translation). He taught us how to measure blood pressure, oxygen in blood, about some different medicines and conditions, and some things to expect for tomorrow.
-Tristan & Samuel
BLOG POST FOR JULY 10
On Wednesday we started the day by leaving home base and heading to our first medical brigade where we helped 30 members of the local community gain access to the healthcare and medications that they needed. As we worked with the locals we had the opportunity to practice our Spanish/Creole skills.
We had a blast working with the doctor and playing with all of the local kids. During the medical brigade we rotated through five stations where we learned about different aspects of the healthcare system such as registering patients, taking vitals, asking about their health history, seeing the doctor, and getting them the medications that they needed. We are all so excited for the opportunity to learn more and meet the locals at our next medical brigade which is on July 15th.
After we got back to home base and cleaned up, we headed over to the beach to play a group game of capture the flag, after that everyone took a little dip in the ocean, then many played beach volleyball followed by a soccer game with some local friends.
Once everyone got home from the beach we had a delicious dinner of burgers and hotdogs which was well deserved. After dinner Wilson, our Local Director, gave us a talk on global health. With his insight on the Dominican Republic we were able to get a better understanding of how health is perceived in places other than where we are from. After that we broke off into our smaller “mentor groups”, which gives us the opportunity to open up and reflect more. We talked about what we learned at the medical brigade and what our values are and how they are similar and different to other cultures. We all had a great time today and are so excited to see what tomorrow holds!
—With love Myra and Anna <3
BLOG POST FOR JULY 11
Thursday was our first excursion day, and we went to the beautiful Laguna Dudu. All of us had a great time swimming in the fresh water, taking pictures with the caves over head, and doing some jumps. We enjoyed some (virgin) piña coladas and then headed to Playa Grande.
We first enjoyed some lunch on the beach which was very delicious! After, we all headed down to the beach, and decided to do some different activities. Some of us played soccer, some swam, and others of us tanned! It was a very hot day which made us appreciate the ocean much more!
After a long day, we headed back to home base to enjoy dinner and continue some of our group and mentor activities!
-Faith & Beni
BLOG POST FOR JULY 12
Goooooodmorning! 🌅😊
On Friday we got to sleep in until 8am and had a delicious breakfast! After that we got ready for the day and headed to the bus for the drive to the Women’s Chocolate Collective! We got to try dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. We were given a tour of all the different machines used to make chocolate using the cacao grown on-site. Then we were able to buy some of their goods and started the drive back for lunch.
Before lunch we have a little bit of rest time and then had another amazing meal! We then took a short drive to go build bee-boxes. We put in lots of hard work hammering and cutting the wood to assemble the boxes. These boxes will be given to locals in need along with training to help them produce their own honey and other products. The girls also got their hair done by some of the young locals! After a long day of work we headed back for rest time.
For a few hours we had time to relax, listen to music, swim in the pool, and make friendship bracelets. We then had dinner where we all got to try Sancocho! Lastly we had a malnutrition talk with the doctor and took the rest of the night to rest.
Gooodnighttttt 😴🌌
-With love, Maya and Naomi
BLOG POST FOR JULY 13
To start off the day, we visited a historic fort adorned with cannons and history. We then went to an amber museum and learned about various minerals found in the Dominican Republic. Wanting to stock up on souvenirs, snacks, and clothing from the DR, we went shopping and touring around Puerto Plata followed by a fulfilling lunch. Afterwards we shopped at Jumbo center for some familiar snacks and items. Then a cooldown was called for at home base. Dinner flew by, and the day ended with a critical discussion about self-care with Grace.
-Max & Izak
BLOG POST FOR JULY 14
This morning we woke up and ate a delicious breakfast with eggs and pork. We then went to the “bottle houses” and finished concreting a bathroom. Then we ate lunch which was rice 🍚 and chicken 🍗 and beans 🫘 and it was so yummy 😋.
After lunch at the work site, we finished up our work by setting up the floors in one of the houses with dirt we dug from a hole outside 🕳️. We also got to interact with locals including the family who will live there, and played with some local kids.
We headed back to home base at 3:00 and spent some time cooling off in the pool before a small group of us went to watch the Euro Cup Finals on a laptop ⚽️. We decided to leave in the middle of the match for a trip to the beach where we played a quick game of our own of soccer on the sand🏝️.
At 5:00pm we returned and got ready for a delicious dinner of rice, pork, and plantains 🍽️. With a full belly, we spent the evening with a healthcare talk from Wilson, then he taught us how to dance Bachata 💃🕺. Finally, we wrapped up our day with some free time to relax before we hit the hay and got ready for the next day 😴.
-Nate & Oliver
BLOG POST FOR JULY 15
On Monday went to the medical brigade to help the locals by giving them a health screening and medicine. This one was nearby in Las Canas so we were able to walk there. About seeing about 40 local patients, we had a lunch there of local fish, pasta salad, potatoes, a d veggies. We brought lots of food today so we’re able to share with the locals as well!
We got back to camp early and had extra free time where everyone had their choice of beach, pool, or just relaxing. Those who went to the beach took a dip in the sea and played football (soccer). Then we had dinner and ended the day with a video on the projector about the history of Hispaniola, which the DR shares with Haiti. Then we had a movie night and watched a horror film.
-Adrien & Jules
BLOG POST FOR JULY 16
We started the day with another amazing breakfast 🍳 at homebase, then packed up and prepared for a 2ish hour bus ride 🚌 to Damajagua! There we put on our life jackets and helmets, and started our treck up the hill 🏔️. After our wait, we got to experience natural Dominican water slides and jumped from a few waterfalls 💧!
On our way back we stopped at the supermarket 🛒 and stocked up on a bit (a lot) of snacks for the remainder of our trip. Then we had a very classic Dominican lunch, McDonalds!! 🍟
At “chow circle” we reflected on our highs, lows, and mids of the day, and then enjoyed dinner 🍲. After dinner our local director, Wilson, gave a talk on human security, where he explained the different types of security such as economic, personal, and environmental 🌎. At night we set up the projector and finished our chosen (scary) movie, which may or may not have scarred us for life 🍼(iykyk). We are looking forward to our last day of service at the “bottle houses” tomorrow! 😻
-(The best group leaders,) Myra & Anna! 😘
BLOG POST FOR JULY 17
On Wednesday we had a great start to the morning by our wonderful cooks making us pancakes! It gave us enough fuel to get through our last day of cementing. We made four batches of concrete and helped make the floors of one of the houses. We also enjoyed our time interacting with the locals and playing with the kids.
Our afternoon activity was the debate. We split into groups and debated a hypothetical, but very relevant situation of the Dominican government building a sports stadium in a low-income Haitian community. Though it was an activity we might have dreaded, we got very into it and had a great debate.
After some pool and chill time, we finished off the night with dinner and mentor groups, with a nice beach sunset walk in between.
-Beni & Faith
BLOG POST FOR JULY 18
On Thursday we started off with another amazing breakfast and then packed up to head to our last medical brigade. It was about a two hour drive and then we got to work. It ended up being very slow with only about 10 patients, but still it was important we were there as a resource for the community. Since we had more time we all did friendship bracelets, or as the guys like to call them, “cool-guy bracelets”.
After we had packed up all the things from the medical brigade we walked into a “bateye” community in La Grúa. “Bateyes” are settlements where former sugar mill workers are housed. These people would do very hard labor for little pay, and lived/live in very poor conditions without running water or other services. This one has a very large Haitian population, who have left their home country, but remain without Dominican citizenship or rights.
We walked through this community and spent time with the local children. We played hand games, gave piggy back rides, and played soccer. They were excited to receive some candy and little items we passed out.
Once we were back at home base we started getting ready for dinner and our “night out with the locals”. With the locals we danced for hours on end and learned how to bachata. Everyone had an incredible time.
We finished off the day with a night swim in our clothes and then headed to bed! 😊😊
-Maya and Naomi
BLOG POST FOR JULY 19 & 20
Friday was our last full day of our program! We started the day with breakfast and headed to Playa Sosua. There we boarded a boat and took a ride out on the water. They took us to some coral reefs for snorkeling! We enjoyed seeing the many varieties of colorful fish then some jumped off the boat into the water. Unfortunately, the weather was a little gray with some rain… But we were getting wet anyways! Afterwards, we returned to Sosua Beach for some (long-awaited) pizza, souvenir shopping, swimming, and relaxing for a few hours.
Then back Home Base the students completed another goal-setting exercise and reflected on the past two weeks. After some time for packing and dinner, we did an “appreciation circle” where the students highlighted each other for different things. After, we walked over to the beach for a bonfire! Some students wrote and “threw their fears” into the fire. We enjoyed until some heavy rain came down and we had to run for shelter nearby to wait out the storm.
The next morning, Saturday, the day had finally come to say goodbye (for now). Students had breakfast and headed off in several airport trips to Puerto Plata and Santiago with our final two students returning to France that night.
I think I can speak for everyone (and so can the survey results) in saying that an amazing time was had by all! The students experienced a new culture through the lenses of service and adventure. They got a glimpse into the lives of locals in the Dominican Republic, learned about healthcare in a developing country, enjoyed various excursions, practiced some Spanish, and made many new friendships while stepping out of their comfort zones.
Wilson, Grace, and I wish the best for all students and hope that they can carry these experiences and what they learned with them in the future, and can one day “be the change” in their own communities! ¡Nos vemos en el futuro!
-Kyle, International Director
