DAY : 11 CAP Day Two

Bonjour! Ni Hao! Marhaba! From the best LDD’s Iyania, Alaysya, and Elijah!
Today we started the day with an early wake up call to R&B music. Then there was an amazing yoga session led by the Twins – Griffin and Jake. After that, we had breakfast that consisted of: Pineapple, Papaya, Toast, Ham and Cheese. Furthering through the day, we rode the Safari to the community Los Catorce to dig up more of the trenches that were built the day before and also we installed pipes to have water flow throughout the community.

Iyania-

After this whole trip my visions of the world have changed. From the global business aspect to the small minute communities aspect. We never think about how much that we have and even if we do it’s the luxurious things like ; cars, houses, money etc. Most material things. The people that we have helped and seen during our time in the Dominican Republic have all these things and more. But, they all don’t have the necessities like clean drinking water and sustainable ways of life. Those are things that we take for granted. The people here work almost 12 hour days 5 to 7 days a week for 300 pesos or less (which is 6 US Dollars). And they do it with a smile on their face because they know that they are making a better place for the people that rely on them. Earlier in our trip we visited a Coffee Farm. The farmers work for 8 to 4 everyday, all that work they do for people in the US to be able to pay only 3 dollars or less for a cup of coffee, and that is half of their salary. Another thing that we take for granted is the education and health care that we have access to. Just knowing that if something happens to you and you’re able to go to the hospital is way more than these people have in their entire lives. Just think about all the classes that you’ve skipped, all the chapters of books that you’ve used Sparknotes, any problem that you just copied the morning of. The kids here would kill for a single math, reading, history, or science class. This trip has just taught me so much about appreciating the little things and not taking them for granted, and I hope I’ve given you a glimpse of that.

Alaysya-

The work we did today at Los Catorce has greatly changed the way I view tourism and the government. When tourists come to neighborhoods and communities, it can greatly destroy it. When people come to communities and spread word about it, the government will do things to make sure that beauty stays. This often causes damage to the environment and takes away from the beauty of a place and makes it artificial. Los Catorce helped me realize this because the people in the community spoke on how they used to have tourist and foreign exchange students but because of the lack of water, they no longer have either. I can assume that because of the tourist and foreign exchange students, they began to try and force an artificial factor of the community which has caused such a drought of water and basic resources. This also ties heavy into the government. Naturally, the government can’t be blamed for everything because things happen due to imperialization and colonialism however, the way governments are structured contribute to this. Governments change these naturally beautiful places and make them terrible because they want money and a way to better their economy. However, they fail to try and restore the beauty of a place when it was ruined. So, these communities, like Los Catorce, suffer due to government greed. Working at Los Catorce has made me a better person and helped me understand the real world .

Elijah – I was really impacted by the effort we put in today at Los Catorce. As we rode through the community to go to the worksite I took the time to reflect on the before and after of the work we did and I couldn’t help but think of all of the lives that we were changing. As I’ve been here I have been exposed to different situations that I would have otherwise wouldn’t have known about. One of those situations in particular that stands out is how 0% of the faucet water is drinkable. Before we started the project we got the opportunity to talk to the locals and learn more about the extent of the problem, how they feel about it, and how it affects them. At one of the houses we stopped at, the lady invited us into her house and made the entire group coffee with the limited water she had left. I couldn’t help but notice how she was willing to sacrifice one of her daily necessities in order to make us feel welcome.

And now here are a few words from our fellow Glimpers:

Jessica – Holi 🙂

Angie – Me luv you sissy xoxo

Elizabeth – Don’t forget to pick me up on Friday !

Samirah – My plants better not be dead !

Tais – Take me to wingstop

Melissa – Hi Caramel ! <3

Adam – No offense but I don’t want to come back

Griffin – Miss you guys : Addisson, Ivy, Charolotte, Santo. Also, SOTO TO THE PADRES

Jake – Give me love to the fame and Oscar and maybe a sarkis ham loretta when I get back

Mia T – Miss you guys, Gianna I got a surprise for you 🙂

Edward – Los extraño mucho y nos vemos en unos días.

Natalie – Mom put money in my bank account please <3

Halima – I miss you all very much. I can’t wait to tell you about my awesome experiences

Mia P – Estoy contando los días para verlos y contarles de mi viaje

Jimena – Ya los quiero ver, estoy contenta de verlos muy pronto