Discovering Monte Coca!

We went through a program seminar at 10:00 am, where we went over the discovery phase of the Community Action Project that we would be undertaking during the following week. The project location was Monte Coca, a tiny community near Consuelo, where we would help to construct a house as well as finish up a latrine that was under construction in the area. At 1:00 pm, we took a bus for 30 minutes to Monte Coca. This is where we met Don Roberto, who runs a nonprofit organization (Servicio Social De Iglesias) at Monte Coca to improve the area. Monte Coca is unfortunately neglected by government aid, so the work of Don Roberto falls under Servicio Social De Iglesias.

Don Roberto was a very sweet man. He was interested in where we were all from and our favorite animals and then answered all our questions about him and his organization. Servicio Social de Iglesias works in many different communities and provides charitable services to each community, such as wellness and health checks, environmental services, legal support, humanitarian services, and education for the youth. He mentioned that he is dedicated to educating the children because he wants to prevent them from a life of crime, which is a widespread issue in the Dominican Republic. He inspired me to look into my own community and gave me ideas for how to improve my school. After our conversation with him, he took us to the house (la casa) that we were going to help complete, which was currently just concrete and metal rebars. The family had moved out for us to complete the home, so I hope everyone will put in their best to give this family a new home.