Community day: Splash of fun

Hey this is America, Saniya, and Sumaiyah, bringing you our Day 5 Blog! We had a dragonfly and a gecko in our room today. More on that later. This morning, we started the day off at 7am knocking on doors, making a ruckus, making sure everyone was awake. We wanted to be on time for everything today! After breakfast, we got on the bus and headed to a nearby community to do a bit of service and learn about their programs. To get there, we had to climb down 200 uneven steps. In the heat. Don’t even ask about the walk up later. We were welcomed with open arms and, of course, more Dominican coffee. America wants a winky face here, so here you go: 😉

We got to scope out some homemade jewelry and buy some to help the community make money for their projects. After that we split into groups to work! Some of us swept, some raked, some mopped, and some washed dishes in preparation for our community lunch! We bonded with kids from the community, which was a heartwarming experience all around.

Most of us then went to the river – get it? Splash of fun? – and it was beautiful down there. Some of us were admiring the beauty while a few we won’t name tried to drown themselves and each other. The rest of us explored a bit to find a rumored cafe, and drank our Sprites and Coke. Then we had the brutal trek back up the mountain. It was… the opposite of heaven. We needed several breaks along the way, but we made it! SO here is another winky face! 😉 Some glimpsers are still trying to exercise even after that; we are trying to get them kicked off the trip.

Next we visited the school where we will be doing our Community Action Project. We got introduced to our project – planting, building, and painting – and then came back to the Ranch. Dinner was tacos, and it was a hit! After dinner we had our nightly meeting, where we passed the torch to our new leaders del dia, who you will meet in tomorrow’s blog post. We would write more, but America’s nose is itchy, Sumaiyah and Saniya keep sneezing, and America has to pee; she has never peed this much because of drinking so much water. We hope you enjoyed this splash of information! Get it? Because of the river?

We miss everyone and can’t believe how soon we will see you, since the trip is almost halfway over! See you when we get home, <3

PS – Mom, please make me chicken and rice when I get home. (America)

PPS – ANd have some Takis at the door when I get home (Sumaiyah)

PPPS – Please, Starbucks (Saniya)