Day 8: Immigration Day (No. 3)

To kick off our day we woke up bright and early at 6:00 am. This was because we were going to transport to Juandolio but, unfortunately, we had a change of plans. Our schedule got pushed back an hour but we were able to make it through everything we had planned. After breakfast at 8:00 am, we took a 3 hour bus ride to Juandolio. We had a pit stop at a gift shop place where the glimpsers were able to purchase many different souvenirs such as hats, bracelets, magnets, and keychains. We eventually made it to our base house in Juandolio where we had lunch at 1:30 pm.

After lunch, we went to the Ascala office to listen to a speaker about their passion for working with Haitian immigrants. We learned that a while back in Haiti there were laws created that made it difficult for someone to belong to a nationality – it was hard for Haitians to become a citizen in the D.R. A quote that stood out to us was by the director of the department of documentation from Ascala, “No importa el color ni el idioma, todo somos seres humanos.” Lastly, to close our activities for today we took a tour of the sugar cane fields where we learned how difficult the labor was and how hard it was to earn money. 

After the activities, we had free time when we arrived back to the base house. For free time most of the glimpsers enjoyed their time taking a dip in the pool, a trip to the spa… sike just a dip in the pool. Overall, it was a successful day learning more about the impact on immigration in the D.R. while still being able to enjoy the environment .