Bienvenidos!

Son los liders del dia (leaders of the day) Kayla y Morgan! Our focus of today was working like a local. We embarked on our journey bright and early ready for an action-packed day. We then were delighted by a delicious breakfast consisting of pancakes, eggs, and fruit! After, we engaged in a thought-provoking mental warm-up that informed us of the effect baseball has on the Dominican community.

We then continued our journey by riding to ImpACTA Kids Foundation with our greatly appreciated driver, Kelvin! When we arrived we got insight into how this foundation emerged. The Foundation was started by Major League Baseball Star, Manny Acta, who played for the Washington Nationals. Acta went pro in 2007 and came back to his home country in 2008 to start the foundation. The foundation starts children at the young age of 5 and trains them till 18 to be well-rounded individuals specializing in education and baseball.

After learning much about ImpACTA Kids Foundation, we were able to interact more with the kids and participate in a baseball clinic that was set up by one of the coaches named Kerwin Pérez. Everybody did a great job participating and was especially great at being involved with the kids. Shoutout to Kayla, Ella, AJ, and Frances for their fantastic engagement and hard work! They really left everything out on that field and got many rounds of applause from the Dominican team. After having a great time learning and playing baseball we traveled back to the Rancho for some lunch that included white rice, chicken, lentils, tostones, and choices of fruit. After lunch, we had a much-needed hour buffer to digest and have a quick break in the air.

After our break, we engaged in another mental warm-up and learned about the economic impact of baseball on the communities in the Dominican Republic. Major League Baseball Players make the most money out of all other pro sports, which is why many make this their lifelong goal. It helps with the poverty levels of the community, as some even come back to encourage the youths to keep trying. After learning about the deeper meaning and impact of baseball, we traveled back to ImpACTA and watched another video about how the fields were created. We saw the progress the foundation made over the course of a single year as they dedicated a field to Sammy Sosa.

We were able to then interact much more personally with the kids by actually indulging in a game of baseball. We luckily were paired with the younger kids, so we actually had a bit of a chance! They helped us along with our technique and encouraged us with good sportsmanship… well… most of them! Some of the kids were a little sad to be losing against our star players! As luck would have it, the team with our LDDs won! That’s what good leadership does for you! Congrats to Morgan, Kayla, Xoie, Isabel, and Ella (as well as the kids on their team). Clara, Lebron, Emily, Tyler, and Tristian also enjoyed their time on the field while the others sat back in the bleachers and cheered along with their GGLs Holli and Liz.

We then joined up to present a thank you letter to show our gratitude to Carmen Acta, the sister of Manny Acta. We thanked her for her hospitality and generosity for allowing us to interrupt their practice time. We had a fantastic experience, and many are even asking if we can go back to play with the kids a few more times before we leave. We then loaded back onto the bus and had two glorious hours of free time. Everyone relaxed, took naps, and continued getting to know each other in the common areas.

We then gathered for dinner, which consisted of alfredo pasta, tomato pasta, fruit, rice, garlic bread, and an interesting type of cracker that was made out of yuca. Once again, the chefs killed it with an amazing menu for today. We appreciate them dearly and plan to write letters of gratitude for all of their hard work. Following dinner, we concluded our night with our nightly meeting where we gave big love, our thorns and roses, and passed the torch to our new LDDs for tomorrow. Gregory and Giselle will be adopting our roles tomorrow and leading us to success for Aid and Development Day. We are so excited to discover our CAP project and learn how we will be helping out the community and giving back for their kindness.

We loved reading your comments from yesterday and look forward to many more!

Lots of love,

Kayla and Morgan