Hello from La Suiza del Caribe,
Constanza 2 here!
My name is Jomaria Cruz. I grew up in Constanza, and studied all the way up until high school here, and then I moved to Santo Domingo with my family. I have been able to volunteer for organizations such as Food For The Hungry, Maria’s Kids, Habitat for Humanity, and Alianca pela Crianca. I chose to return to the Dominican Republic to make a change for my country. Thank you for your courage and commitment to being part of this positive change!
My name is Catherine Acevedo, and I was born and raised in Nicaragua. My philosophy in life is Love what you do, to do it with your heart. I am passionate about social work! This passion came from wanting a better quality of life for my own country along with other developing nations. So far, one of my most influential experiences with non-governmental organizations has been an entrepreneurial project that trained me to build interpersonal relationships with people from different cultures and philosophies. I know that this experience will be an enriching exchange between you and the local communities where we are working.
We are very excited to share with you the critical thinking and perspectives that you have, and to see your ideas and leadership take shape, especially in our Community Action Project, where we’ll be working alongside the people who will be adopting you into their homes for the Living Like a Local experience: Doña Mecho and the community members of Rio Grande. Mecho is an amazing community leader and also the president of the Neighborhood Association.
Some of you may be inclined to bring donations with you, and we want to support those of you with a philanthropic spirit to donate in a sustainable way. We’ve identified an incredible partner (who you will get to meet in person) for this purpose. We will be collecting all donations throughout the summer and giving them to our Immigration Partner (Haitian Community in Constanza). The donations that would best serve them are: Spiral notebooks, filler paper, backpacks, Elmer’s glue sticks, pencil boxes or pouches, large eraser, rulers, folders with pockets, binders, Crayola crayons, pencils, pencil sharpeners, Crayola washable markers, Dictionaries (Spanish- Spanish), paperback, protractors, highlighters, ballpoint pens, and subject dividers.
Can’t wait to meet you all! Have a safe trip down!