Day 4 in the beautiful Dominican Republic! I'll start off by giving a short recap of what we did today. (And a side note I'm not that great at putting my thoughts into words because there's so much to think about with this trip! But I'll try my best.)Today we returned to Barrio Blanco to continue to work with the students from the [DR]EAM Project. We split up into groups once again and I first went to continue building the bookshelves that are going to be put in the children's homes. An activity we did after we came back home was to think about different actions and whether those actions were "thin" or "thick" service. I have never heard of thin or thick service but now that I have the meaning is clear to me. Thin service is doing service that will have a very superficial, short-term impact while thick service is doing service that is meaningful, has a lasting impact, and will create change. Thinking back to making the bookshelves, on the surface we were literally drilling nails into wood. The meaningful part comes into the service when the person doing the service chooses to make that extra step. To me, it was not just building bookshelves, it is what opportunities the bookshelves would yield that would end up making a difference. By putting the shelves in the children's homes we are opening that door to accessible education. We are giving the students a chance to take what they do at school and bring it home where they can continuously be motivated to learn. Maybe they can start to read with their siblings or even share the books with a community member who doesn't have the same resources. Like a group member pointed out today, it's not just the literal act of reading the book or putting the books in the home, it is what that means. Because not everyone loves to read or will continue reading once they don't have to. But our intent is that they will find the intrinsic motivation to get a good education, owning a book is just a stepping stone for that.
Today we also finished painting the trashcans which turned out great! We have some really great artists in the group and even some of the kids in the community got to help by putting their hand prints on one of the cans. One of these kids, who we've seen both times we've been to Barrio Blanco, we learned about her "story" today. This made me think about how the AB mission is not just to do service and leave the community. It is important to learn about the community and its members to truly understand what you're doing. It connects you with the people that you're helping and reminds me of the advice we received from our host our first night here. It also reminds me of the quote on our AB t-shirt. Neither of which I don't remember word for word but to paraphrase, all of our lives are intertwined and one is put here to help the other so that both can be liberated. That was probably a poor translation but something I really agree with. I think that we have to stay informed, concerned, and active citizens. And this process is one that never ends.
Lastly we ended our day by making masks and pictures for the play that the students will be putting on on Thursday. This was by far the most exciting part of the day. We got to color with the students and rehearse the play which was narrated by one of our own. And some of us even got parts to play. I could tell all the kids were super excited and were having a lot of fun getting to be creative. Needless to say this play is going to be awesome (even though it's about five minutes long) and I'm so glad we could be apart of everything we do with this community. I will definitely be taking away more than I thought I would on this Alternative Breaks trip. I'm very glad I could be a part of it and get to know [DR]eam, Project Las Americas, and everyone on the [DR]eam Team. Until next time!
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