WIN_20160720_103322WIN_20160720_074244

Hello families back home! We started our morning off with breakfast of cheese and ham. Afterwards, the entire group hopped on the bus. The bus ride was about 30 minutes, filled with unbridled excitement towards our project. Upon our arrival to San Luis, we were greeted by the friendly community that we would be helping and split into our predetermined committees. One of the groups (which Dat was in) picked up the many layers of trash that were scattered around the perimeter of the community center, while another group painted the insides and outsides of the center. The third group (which Mitchell was in) worked on fence construction, where they dug holes and made cement to solidify the base of the fence. Once we finished the CAP project work for the day, we headed back on what seemed to be a shorter ride, maybe due to the fact that everyone was exhausted from the intense manual labor. The group changed into business casual clothing in order to get ready for our last day of English tutoring. It was a life-changing event that was shared by both the teachers and the students. After we finished classes, all the students, regardless of age, wanted to take pictures of us, and then it was a sad goodbye. We came back to the hostel afterwards, had dinner, and had a great meeting to close out the night.

Now we need to do a reflection. Yay! Today, we started a movement that could change the lives of an entire community and their children. We hope that everything we did today, and what we will do tomorrow will last, but with everything we’ve seen within the communities and others like San Luis, we have our doubts. But we also have our hopes. The future generation of San Luis is educated and we know that the community will be getting help from environmental programs in the DR. For me personally (Mitchell), everything that we have done in San Luis has changed my thought process, because I used to never think about what was going on, other than where I was at the moment. But now, there’s some part of my mind that will always be thinking of San Luis and what’s going on in other countries dealing with poverty. And for me (Dat), doing what I did today, which was get my shoes all muddy (order me new kicks please) while wading through the trash filled wasteland that is San Luis was an eye opener. I realized that not everyone lived where there are as many privileges as in the United States. Moving forward, I’ll always help those in need, and fight for struggle of the lower class.

We hope that everyone who is reading this blog understands that they can’t just focus on themselves, but on the less fortunate as well. The trip so far has been amazing and everyone gets along really well. It’s sad to think that this will be over in a few days, but we’re glad to come back to hot showers and watching Netflix in our comfortable beds. Well that’s all we have for our blog, and we look forward to telling our stories when we get back. Big love to everyone reading this!

WIN_20160720_103639