It’s been 12 day since our arrival in Bonao, Dominican Republic. The day of finalizing our CAP project finally arrived. We successfully finished the project of turning the gym space into a basketball/volleyball court with lines for soccer. We arrived at Ninos con una Esperanza around 9 in the morning and got right to work. We separated into two groups, one for finishing the soccer net and the other for measurements and painting the court. In the beginning of the day, doing these tasks seemed nearly impossible to complete within our time frame. Frustration and exhaustion started to kick in half way through because of the worry of not finishing on time. We struggled with teamwork for getting the dimensions of the court right, correctly creating the nets for the soccer goal, and making straight lines to represent the different sports. Yet, we prevailed through these struggles. As leaders of the day, we saw everyone unify to complete this project during our final hours. It was a hectic but eventful experience that lasted 6 hours. We thanked the leaders at Esperanza for giving us the opportunity to assist them in creating a better community focused on the future generations. Seeing the children immediately jumping onto the court and playing made all the work worth wild. It was a pleasure to take part in such a beautiful project, to make the slightest difference in these children’s lives, while creating a more vibrant space for these children to develop in.

Although the CAP project took up the majority of our day, it wasn’t over yet. Sadly, today was our last day of English tutoring. It has been a bumpy road but we can all say proudly that our experience here will have a lasting impression on our lives. Though these tutoring classes varied for everyone, ranging from teaching different age groups to language barriers, we managed to pull through and enjoy our last few moments with these students. We had thirty minutes to prepare for our talent show to show off what our students learned these past two weeks. The talents ranged from children songs to adults dancing and acting. It was an amazing experience that showed the growth of the student along with the bonds formed between student and teacher.

This last activity filled day was probably one of the most emotional days during this trip because of the completion of our CAP project and our final goodbyes.