Day 7 Community Day

Hello friends and family, it is today’s new Leaders of the Day, Alicia and Israel!

Today, it was Community Day where we visited the Monte Coca community and bonded with the families.

Israel and I woke up everyone around 7:00 am. To start our day we had some breakfast, which consisted of oatmeal, eggs, fruit, and toast. After that, we had a mental warm-up, when we talked a little bit about Monte Coca’s history. Monte Coca is a small community that originated from a Haitian family and grew to be a big community for plantation workers. We touched on both the biggest challenges and greatest achievements of the community. We then had a few minutes to get ready and board the bus. The drive was about 45 minutes long, and we listened to music the whole way. When we arrived we headed into a classroom and waited for the families to join us. We all took turns introducing ourselves- saying our names, and where we are from, and sharing a fun fact. The families introduced themselves as well, then we got with the family we were each assigned. Once we were with our families we got to know them a little bit- some of us washed dishes, did laundry, yard work, or chatted.

We helped them for about two hours and headed to lunch where we ate with our families. We had rice, meat, and salad. After lunch, we had some time to bond with the kids of the community- we played freeze tag, volleyball, and arts & crafts. Once we were done, it was time for big love! This is when everyone (whoever wants to) gets a chance to share some appreciation towards someone. Then it was time to say goodbye to the families and we headed back to the accommodation.

When we got back, we had 30 minutes to relax- then it was time for a self-reflection. We got into groups and talked about our experience with the families. After that, we had a quick seminar about the design part of CAP (community action project). We followed up with some free time then dinner!! We had mashed potatoes, veggies, fruit and chicken.

I led our nightly meeting where we discussed how the community routine was similar or different to ours. Then we passed the torch to our next leaders of the day!