Service Learning in the Dominican Republic

By Carmen Klotz ‘23

November 2019

Have you ever gone on a vacation to another country? This summer Señorita Bueti organized a trip to the Dominican Republic, and I was fortunate enough to go on it! This was one of the best experiences of my life. When we arrived in the Dominican Republic, we met our tour guide Brayan, and our bus driver Rafael. Little did we know that they would be very helpful and teach us things we would never forget. After that we went back to the hotel, and went to sleep. The next day was a long journey to Angostura, after getting to see the city Santiago. While in Angostura we got to do many things. Every morning we got to eat breakfast, which consisted of traditional Dominican food. After breakfast we had about five minutes to get everything, and then we went to a Spanish class. This class wasn’t traditional because we were very interactive, and it was mostly games. During the day, some of the things we did were cooking classes, helping in the community, and working at a plant nursery. Cooking class consisted of going to a native’s home and learning how to make a traditional meals. The students that went on the trip were separated into groups, here we were assigned to different homes and made different meals. Upon completion we joined everyone at the Eco Hotel and sampled all of the foods for lunch. Another thing we were able to do was help at a plant nursery. We spent two days at the nursery, cleaning and stacking the cones, filling the cones with dirt for trees, and helping weed the cones with trees already planted. This gave us the opportunity to help with a sustainable project for a family that needed it. We built a stove out of clay, so the family was able to cook. This is because the president doesn’t support sustainable projects. There were also many other fun things we were able to do! We got to go white water rafting in a Dominican River. This was nothing like rafting experiences in the Poconos. The rapids were like miniature waterfalls, and it was a thrill. Everyone on the river that day made so many unforgettable memories. We were also able to have a beach day! In my opinion this was one of the best parts of the trip. We drove from Santiago to a boat launch. We then took a fast boat across the blue, still, clear water to a small island. On this island there were stands with freshly cut fruit and drinks. We were allowed to swim, snorkel, and play volleyball. Snorkeling was amazing because we were able to see coral and beautiful fish. It looked like a 3D viewing of Disney’s “Finding Nemo”. Something you wouldn't expect to be fun, would be the bus rides. There were many interesting conversations and things that happened on that bus! We were also able to listen to the pop music of the Dominican Republic and get to see what it was like to live like the Dominican people. Dance lessons were an additional favorite on this trip! We were able to learn the traditional Dominican dances, and teach the people of Angostura different American dances such as The Woah and The Whip and Nae Nae. Our tour director, Brayan, also taught us many new games. All of these games were very fun, and everyone loved them. One of my favorites was a game that was similar to Red Rover. There were two teams and everyone gets assigned a number. When your number gets called you needed to run and get the towel before the other team. All in all this is an experience I will never forget, and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Señorita Bueti is also organizing a trip to Costa Rica for 2021 and Mr. Feifel is organizing an Italy trip. I will also be going on this trip, and I encourage you to go to! This will be a fun and unforgettable adventure.