How has your time working in Cabarete affected you, now and then?
What did the experience mean to you?
I was just in Cabarete this past summer, so I am still processing
the experience and seeing the affect it has had on me personally
and on my career plans. The
experience was extremely valuable in terms of allowing me to be a part of a project
that was having an impact on the local community. The exposure it gave me to
the problems facing the people of Cabarete and the DR I could have only gotten
from living and working there. For me, this experience has turned my attention
to careers abroad, specifically working in Latin America on similar types of
projects that are aimed at bringing in foreign help and money to work with local
development projects. One of the reasons I chose to do the program was because
I had been feeling that my life at Dartmouth was so insulated from the “real
world” and that I wasn’t really doing anything important or influential.
Teaching at Flavia’s school gave me a chance to live in that “real
world” and to interact with and influence real people outside the Dartmouth
community.
The experience also helped immensely in developing my Spanish skills, one of
my objectives before going down to the DR. I am hoping to use Spanish in my career,
whether I am working somewhere in Latin America or in the States with a Spanish
speaking population.
It’s hard to quantify the knowledge and awareness one gets from an experience
like this. I can tell you that even after spending a term in Uruguay and a summer
in Ecuador, this experience was extremely profound and eye-opening. I became
aware and interested to a greater extent in international and political issues
as these issues became more apparent and REAL for me.
More personally, I have some amazing friends and memories from my time
in the DR. I met Darleny, the daughter of Flavia, and also a teacher
at the school,
and we are now dating. I plan to go back to the DR after graduation and
am looking into working and living there. Ultimately, the experience
showed me a passion
I have for working in communities trying to enact positive change, something
I am planning on pursuing in some form following graduation.
Do you feel you or the program made a difference in the lives of
the children and in the community? (Give examples.)
I was teaching during the summer, so the kids who were coming into
the school or who were required to come for class were getting an
opportunity
they would
have otherwise not had if Raina and I not been down there. Besides helping
the kids with academics (primarily literacy and math) I think they benefited
from
the exposure to foreigners, whom no doubt they will have to interact
with during most of their lives given the tourist economy in the DR and
specifically in Cabarete.
Most of these kids, despite the presence of all the foreigners, didn’t
know ANYTHING about any country besides their own (much like many American
kids, unfortunately). The interaction they had with us broadened their knowledge
a
bit about what other things were out there in the world. I felt like
as much as teaching the students academics we were simply positive, role-model
type figures
who cared for them and their well being and development.
Also, simply the money that we brought in helped the community.
The DR is going through some rough times right now and
tourism is down significantly.
I felt
like the money we were spending was in itself a positive contribution
to the community, especially if one bought directly from a Dominican-owned
business
or restaurant.
What special things, activities, or projects, did you do?
I taught English to a group of adults during the evenings
three nights a week. It was a group Flavia had
been working with and when I told her
I was interested
in another teaching experience, possibly English, she said that they
were interested and handed the class over to me. Although I didn’t start
a baseball team, I did play on the local baseball team in Cabarete, even traveling
with them to
La Filipina, a small community up in the mountains, to play some games.
I also played with some little boys near my house in la Callejon de la Loma
and gave
them balls to play with.
What you are doing now?
I am currently entering my last year at Dartmouth. I
major in biophysical chemistry and minor in Spanish.
I plan to work in the DR or Mexico following
graduation
and am interested in issues related to development and immigration. In
the distant future I may go onto medical school or graduate school. That
is, if I return
from the DR.
Thanks, Tricia for everything you’ve done for the program. I had an amazing
experience that has really changed my ideas about what I want to do with my life.
