On our last context day, Immigration Day, we woke up at 7:00 am and left to Centro de Vida, Iglesias Asamblea de Dios at 8:45 am. Once we arrived at the church we were greeted by Gemuel Delgado, the pastor and community leader of the church. Something that really stood out to us was the fact that kids aged 5-7 don’t know how to read or write because they start school at a really late age. The most inspiring person we met today was Gemuel Delgado. During his small presentation he gave to our group, he spoke about how important it is for youth to get an education as soon as possible. Delgado also spoke about how he and his group would donate purified water to those in need and who were affected by a river that would destroy homes. This was truly inspiring to us because in the United States not one drop of water is given for free.
Being the leader of the day was an unexplainable experience and truly one that we will never forget. We took on a role that others would never have the courage to take on. We came to realize that being a leader isn’t always about telling others what to do but about being a role model for them. Today we decided to get together as a community to play 3 different sports which were volleyball, basketball, and dodgeball. Before doing these activities we connected more with the Haitian community members of the church and gotten the opportunity to hear the stories about themselves and how they traveled here to the Dominican Republic. Due to the fact that each and every single one us of bonded with a different Haitian community member, it was easier for the community members to feel comfortable & accept us as close friends. This is the beauty of communicating, but not from a device that we’re all so comfortable using, but a device that we need to all start being aware of which is our voice.
Our travel experience was very much different from life at home but similar in a few ways. One of the differences that we encountered during our trip to the church was not many people have accessible clean water as we do. One similarity that we noticed was the lack of health care, not many people can afford healthcare similar to some situations in the United States. Fortunately, we have come to realize that we shouldn’t take things such as education, access to healthcare, and clean tap/drinking water for granted. Most of us have grown up with these necessities given to us at birth, so we pay no mind to how important it is.
