Hello friends and family! We would like to introduce Esteban who is one of the founders of la Federación de Campesinos. Esteban’s speech was life changing because it made our delegation think about how we spend our money, how patient the community is within each other as a whole, having great spirit and most of all the hope the people and volunteers had for their community. One volunteer we met was Samuel. He is a young teen who struggles going to school, work and getting to his destinations. The majority of the time, Samuel spends about 1,000 pesos (22 USD), a significant portion of his earnings, or more on bus fare to get to la Federación de Campesinos and back. Before heading to la Federación, we heard about Esteban’s impact from Miguel and Josefina who shared the last delegation’s sentiments. It was awesome to hear that Esteban is an amazing person with such heart warming words. Thank you to Esteban’s community for staying together for they made a big change. Si, se puede! (Yes, we can) As a group we really appreciate going to la Federación; it was an eye-opening experience. All of us were inspired by Esteban’s words and story. In my opinion, one of the best experiences thus far was hearing Esteban speak about his experience when he and the driver were attacked. However, they NEVER GAVE UP!

SAM_3063

Esteban gave us a tour of la Federación where he explained about the cacao and coffee planting and it’s importance and significance in the community. The reason why planting cacao and coffee is so important is because it’s the most common production made in their pueblo (small town) and since they struggle with getting materials and resources to build space for their small school, coffee shop and etc., they plant these products to make money, help each other fix, build and create new things to make the space useful for volunteers and tourists. Esteban’s goal is to not complete this project but to provide a sustainable base for the next group that will continue this project after their gone and put as much effort, hope and heart into la Federación de Campesino.

Ma, si estas leyendo esto la extrano mucho y tambien la quiero mucho! (Estefania) We love you all and hope you enjoy our blog post, thank you. Peace desde Bonao City.