Post-Dominican Republic Project Reflection by SBS

Our D.R.O.P. journey began in September of 2009.....meetings....interviews.....selection of candidates for the trip.....all those fund raisers....then the reality of getting on the bus to Miami and then on the plane and arrving in Santiago.

Not only did we have our own suitcases, but each of us had a suitcase full of school supplies, shoes, clothing, and arts and crafts materials for our projects that we had planned for the children.

So many memories will stay with me forever...Lazaro and the Hotel Colonial.

the smells, the sounds, and tastes of the Dominican Republic....

But more than that.....the children we worked with and played with....

The children have left their marks on me as I reflect on so little they seem to have and so much they give to others. I connect with a Haitian boy who speaks no Spanish. We speak in French of his life...his work...his family far away. He gives me his name on a piece of brown paper that we had as part of our monster costume on Monster Day. Peter is one of many who leave their mark. My mark is the painting of the cancha (the basketball court and the mural). The children's green handprints...the leaves of the tree....our white birds flying from the trees....a painted mural of our 10 days in the Dominican Republic sharing who we are and learning about who they are. We share the same values....a respect for one another and the dignity of our fellow man.

We see the poverty everywhere but in that poverty is the possibility of a future where one can pursue one's dreams. The laughter and music that is everywhere remind us of how appreciative we should be of what we have. We bring back more than what we came with though our suitcases are fewer. We know that the staff at Accion and the children who are always welcome there have taught us more than we have taught them.

We have made enormous small steps in making a difference to those around us. Where there are children, there is hope for a better world.

We're Home

After all of the hugs and goodbyes at the FGCU parking lot, I dropped Ann Marie, Tom and Jenna off before heading back to Naples. Tom remarked how clean everything is. As we drove along trying to warm up from the unseasonably cool temperature, home feels somewhat cold and sterile (both literally and figuratively). I’m already missing Santiago even with its dirty, littered streets, diesel exhaust fumes, hard to maneuver curbs and unevenly-cobbled and crowded sidewalks. It was much warmer there but not just because the thermometer said so.

As I process all this sensory overload, I still vividly see the eyes of the children at Accion and Ninos - big, beautiful, soulful eyes. I’ll never forget the unending bear hugs from the boys of Accion and those smiles from the children at Ninos as one by one they asked each of us to sign our names on a piece of paper. I felt the same as Sheila about it being a humbling experience seeing children with so little finding so much joy in something so simple as getting our signatures.

I was touched by so much, whether it be the multitude of physical hugs when greeting anyone Dominican, or smooshing together on crowded buses, or to be deeply emotionally touched by stories we heard from the children and the staff at Ninos and Accion and by our own group members during reflection.

There’s lots of poverty in Santiago yet there’s a richness in the spirit of the people.

It’s way too quiet here.

Deb R.

Dia de Monstros

Our eight days in the DR couldn't have gotten any better for anyone of us here today. Today was the Day of the Monsters based on the children's book and the movie Where the Wild Things Are. After reading the book to a group of about 40 of the boys at Accion, we broke up into teams of 5 and went through 10 stations to test our strength, intelligence, agility, and courage.

From carrying a heavy sack of yuccas to skipping rope to pushups, monster dances, taste testing, making our own monster to matching monsters, making our tree for the bosca, or forest, getting claws and ending by confronting a monster in a dark room....we were crowned and handed septors. We had our faces painted and ran through the neighborhood looking for the stations to complete our provas, or tests. We were the Campiones team and what a team we became, each member helping the other to complete our tests.

We watched a video of last year's group and then sang our Monster song that Tom wrote. It was the best day ever. Bento and her staff are truly doing a good thing for the boys here. We concluded our glorious last day with the boys by putting our names on our hands on the mural over the basketball court, or cancha as it is called here.

What a glorious end to a great week with the students, Bento and her staff at Accion, the FGCU students, the ninos at Accion and Ninos Con Esperanza. It's 7.30 p.m. now and time to look for the gang and celebrate our last night. You will hear more as we process our experiences.

Adios mis amigos. Hasta luego.


SBS ......or Chella to my ninos........

Dominican Time

Soooo, everybody is nice and dressed up for dinner at Camp David, which we were supposed to leave for almost an hour ago. The bus broke down and now we're just waiting around..... So what better time to write in our blog?

Today we all went to Accion in the morning. We divided into groups and most of us went out to the barrios while some stayed and painted the mural in the cancha (basketball court area). The barrios are divisions within the city. We visited some of the poorer ones where most of the kids and quite a bit of the Accion staff live. It was an eye opening experience and we got to see first hand what roles the staff play within the neighborhoods, with the families, with the kids, etc.

Later, most of the boys got tidied up by the barber at Accion. We went back to add some hand-birds to the mural, and then left to visit one of the outreach divisions of Accion. It was in the Barrio where one of the guys lived. He showed us a plot where he was going to build his house, and we got to meet his father.

There's a lot of pictures of me taking naps throughout the day, but now the bus is here!

From J. with the help of Dana and Jen.

whoops.. long time no see

It's been a bit crazy around here (in a good way, of course) so we keep forgetting to take the time to contribute to this blog. However, we are all doing amazing and everyone is thoroughly enjoying our time with the kids (that doesn't quite express it, actually) whether it's playing board games in the morning, doing team building activities withe the kids, making shoes, learning capoeira, playing futbol on the court, or doing our lesson plans in the afternoons at Ninos.

Yesterday was a significant day for the group because it is the first time any of us got to experience La Mosque (the city dump), and it was intense. Thats all I can say about that...

We said goodbye to the children at Ninos today also, and a couple kids got the opportunity to express their gratitude to our team... it was an emotional experience

Thank you to everyone for supporting us and following our team's experience through this blog

And now today is a new day

TomE

Second Time Around

Hello All,

I love the Dominican Republic. I can't wait for the days ahead, but at the same time I don't want the days and nights to end.

Sincerely,

Liz

Sunday 2/28/10 Kerry

Today we went to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Having been there before, the streets and buildings were not new to me. What was new to me was the museo that claimed to have the remains of Christopher Columbus and Tres Ojos. The Museo was interesting but Tres Ojos was amazing!! There were three giant caves "ojos" filled with water. The second "eye" was beautiful and we took a boat to get into the cave. This was no ordinary boat, it was all operated by ropes that stretched to one end of the cave to the other. There were even bats!!! The water was bright blue because of minerals from the rock. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

Tomorrow will be our first day with the boys. I know were are all looking forward to it. I am very excited to see what boys are there from last year. I am hoping to see some familiar faces tomorrow and some new ones to. I hope that all the boys are excelling and doing well. I cant wait to see their progress.