Day 7: Immigration Day (No. 3)

We started the day at 6:00 AM, we had ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast at 7:00 AM, and we departed for San Pedro de Macoris at 8:30 AM. At 10:30, we made a quick stop at the rest station to use the bathroom and stretch. We arrived at our destination at 12:30. It was a winding drive through the mountains with many beautiful views. Once we arrived at San Pedro we ate locrio de salami with orange juice for lunch. After lunch, we visited the nuns at the ASCALA organization to talk about the challenges that immigrants face in the Dominican Republic. At the ASCALA building, we met Abdias a Haitian migrant who talked about the discrimination that Haitians face in the Dominican Republic when trying to come over and start new lives in the DR. After a humbling visit, we went to sugar cane fields and spoke with ‘Dictadura’, the leader of the Batey about working in the fields. It was a very humbling experience, finding out about how they work 8 hours daily for roughly $10 USD per day. We learned that there are two different types of jobs in the sugar cane fields, cutting sugar cane or weeding the fields and planting it. After that, we came back to the base house in Juan Dolio and had group self-reflections, talking about the poverty that people face both in the United States and the Dominican Republic. For 7 PM dinner Milqueya (the cooking lady) treated us with delicious tacos con beef, chicken, corn, guacamole, and more. After that, the group got together to plan the CAP seminar presentation for the president of the community association in Cañada de las Palmas, Ramon. After the nightly meeting, we had pool time!!