Day 4: Community

Hey, it’s Salomon, Dani, and Felix here. We started our collective day of leadership by serving and having breakfast ready for the entire group. As a group, we enjoyed sandwiches de jamon y queso. Following this, we visited the community of Sonido del Yaque, a hard working, and primarily agricultural assemblage, growing a wide variety of plants and fruits such as avocados, bananas, blackberrys, passionfruit, macadamia, etc… During our time spent there, we helped them rake leaves in different parts of the establishment. I (Salomon) raked over near the basketball court, and down near the bridge by the river. It was an amazing experience being able to help people of other communities and being part of a community project in general. They welcomed us extremely kindly and fed us some amazing food.  At the same time, I (Danny) raked leaves among el Río Yaque del Norte. With Juan, our local guide of the community, he shared with us the realistic world of agricultural labor. Juan also shared how despite living a life that is not deemed as financially successful, he was grateful for the life he had and living through. The community around him meant so dearly to him. Meanwhile, I (Felix) went further up the mountain to a village house owned previously by the local we were helping. While helping her clean up leaves she told us about the owner of the house who was having problems with his heart. Seeing how this woman was willing to help the man was evident in showing how united the community was when helping others in need. Afterwards, we started to see what was expected for the community action project, and got to meet the amazing families that we are going to be working with. Having the opportunity to see them first hand was an eye opening experience, as it was a type of lifestyle that many of us had not been accustomed to seeing. For the first part of the project, we are going to be redoing the floors on a house in a rural area of Jarabacoa. The current flooring will be replaced with new and fresh concrete. Afterwards, we will be doing repairs on a house nearby that was tragically affected by a fire. Then, we returned to home base, and did a reflection on the activities done during community day. We then assembled where our meetings take place, and we watched a documentary on the deportation of Haitian-Dominicans, and the injustices that they face day-to-day. For many, this was also an opportunity to educate themselves on the topic, and connect it back to issues inside of the United States. Finally, we ended things with our nightly meeting, and passed the torch to the next daily leaders. That’s all for today!!!

Shout outs:

Hey guys I had fun today, we went and visited families today. I miss y’all, can’t wait to see you! Love you guys – Andrea

Hi guys. I hope you are doing well- Leihra

I love you mom, can’t wait to see each other. Halfway there!! – Amir

This is Vanny. I am having a blast and now I don’t like stairs lol.

Hello family! It’s been fun, we visited families and now we’re going to be helping them soon. I’m very grateful for everything you guys give me in life and forever blessed with what we have – Kyanni

Hola mami! I hope you are doing well! I had a lot of fun today and am eating very well! Te extrano mucho!

Hi Mommy and milan, I am having a blast frrr!! I lowkey do not want to come back home. I do miss you guys though, see you when I get back – Akemi