Day two of the Community Action Project (CAP) consisted of paint, sweat, and tears. But first of all, we started the day with an early wake up call at 6:30am. Due to the long day prior to CAP day 2, everyone, including myself, struggled to quickly get ready for the long day ahead of us. At 7:30am, we walked down the streets of San Juan de la Maguana to our usual eating place, Onaney’s, for breakfast, which consisted of the typical Dominican breakfast: mangu and salami. After spending 45 minutes to eat breakfast, we dropped by to the nearest hardware store to pick up more materials for our project and continued the gua gua (bus) ride to the community of Cristo Rey.

Upon the arrival to Cristo Rey at 9:00am, we saw the unfinished work from the previous day. Knowing that today would be the last day we would be able to work on this project, everyone rose up from their bus seat and quickly went to work. With only 6 hours to finish making the basketball court, paint the park walls, and create the swings and see-saws for the children, I personally felt that there was an insufficient amount of time for all the work that needed to be done. Despite my constant worries and frets, all three groups (which consisted of the playground, basketball, and paint crew), diligently poured out their hearts onto finishing their parts of the project.

Basketball crew and the locals playing basketball!

Basketball crew and the locals playing basketball!

The basketball group was able to complete their part of the community project with extra time to play a couple rounds of basketball with the locals in the community. The group repainted the lines on the basketball court, attached the hoop onto the newly painted backboard, bolted the backboard onto the basketball structure, and donated a basketball for the teenagers to play with. Seeing every member in the basketball group, as well as the community volunteers, work hard to finish reconstructing the basketball court was truly an unforgettable sight. Their teamwork served well and team chemistry was definitely created. Despite the language barrier, the group members managed to communicate and work productively with the locals.

IMG_9126The painting group successfully painted the perimeter of the wall with the community’s name, Cristo Rey, as well as the non-profit organizations, Global Glimpse, and Club Activo 20-30. I, along with Alondra, Joelle, Kathy, Jacinda, Emily, and Mariah participated in the painting of the names and quote onto the wall. Painting the words onto the wall and seeing the children and teens of the community come up to put their handprints onto the wall made me really happy because it made me feel like they wanted to be a part of this change.

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La sonrisa de un nino es la esperanza de un futuro. The smile of a kid is the hope of a future.

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Unlike the successes in the basketball court and painting group, the playground group unfortunately did not finish. Because of the complicated situations with the welder, our leaders had to go and look for another person who could get the job done. However, the substitute worker did not show up at the designated time, which delayed our schedule. Sadly, we were unable to complete our community action project, but we all did our part to the best of our capabilities and left it in the hands of Club Activo 20-30. They promised that the park construction would be done this Tuesday, June 30th, and they also promised that they would be sending updates and pictures.

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Leaving the community was very difficult for me and the Glimpsers because we grew attached to the locals, and in the back of our minds, we knew that we would never see them again. The fact that the playground was unfinished made many of the children sad and disappointed because they were anxious to go and play in their newly constructed park.

Returning back to the hotel to wash up and have free time left me and a group of friends wandering around town to buy a fellow Glimpser, Whitney, her birthday cake for her birthday tomorrow. Shortly after, we left for dinner to Onaney’s and were welcomed with hot, crunchy, mouthwatering, fried chicken and warm, toasty French fries with a cup of tangy passion fruit juice. Then we returned back to the hotel to have our daily nightly meeting where I passed the torch to our last El Leader Del Dia, Jacinda Wollenweber.

To Mom Dad Sisters Dogs and everyone else

I bet you don’t miss me as much as I miss you guys! But it’s alright, I’ll see you soon!

To mom: me dem con milk tea void do an doc hom? voi dien thoai! cam on rat nhieu! I yea you me!