Hey everyone!

Today was our first CAP (community action project) day, and it went pretty well!

After eating breakfast at 8 am, we headed over to the community where we would be building the benches. We met up with the HOA leader and his crew to discuss the final logistics for the bench-building plan and then got to work.

Using pickaxes and shovels, we dug holes to place the cinder blocks that would act as the legs of the bench. This was a time-consuming process because the plans switched, so we were only able to get the holes dug before we had to break for lunch.

When we came back, the community members had finished building the final molds, so we began assembling the rebar into each of the molds. Once this was finished at around 3 pm, we finally got to making the cement.

Because we were making such a large amount of cement, instead of simply mixing the ingredients in a bucket, we had to make a bowl-like configuration of the dry materials and fill it with water before mixing it up (similar to making pasta). As we made the cement, clouds started to roll in and thunder could be heard from afar, so we had to move quickly.

Once the cement had attained a gooey texture, we started filling the molds with it. When that was done, we had to clean the tools of all the cement, and that’s when it started to rain. We finished what we could as fast as we could before heading back to the hotel we were staying at.

Back at the hotel, we wrote letters to Global Glimpse supporters in America about our trip. This was a relaxing activity, and it allowed us to reflect on the experience we had in the DR so far.

After our nightly meeting and some free time, we went to bed at 10:30 pm. Tomorrow, we will continue the creation of the benches in CAP Day 2, so stay tuned. That’s all for today, though.

Signing off,
Tanya Aguirre and Muhammed Ali, Leaders of the Day