By Ann Petit, annpetit@vistamarschool.org
Vistamar is an independent high school in the South Bay area of Los Angeles (El Segundo). Part of our mission is to promote diversity of thought and culture that encourages authentic exchange of perspectives, mutual respect and a mature understanding of the world. We put a lot of emphasis on global perspective and cross-cultural understanding. We have a very diverse student population; over 45% of our students receive financial aid.
This year for Vistamar’s spring break, 21 students and 2 staff members headed to the Dominican Republic as part of an Orphanage Outreach program. Orphanage Outreach (OO), www.orphanage-outreach.org, is an organization whose mission is “…to provide opportunities to orphaned, abandoned, and disadvantaged children.”
We stayed at the orphanage with 21 boys aged 6 – 17 in Jaibon, a village in the northwest foothills of the Dominican. We stayed in bunk style dorms; only some had lights & electricity.
Day One: We’re tired, but the food is amazing.
On our arrival day, we were treated to a fantastic lunch by the women from the village who work with Orphanage Outreach, a portent of the wonderful food to come. Cinnamon, nutmeg and other spices are used liberally, fresh pineapple and bananas are served at every meal, this time with oatmeal with sweetened condensed milk, baked chicken, marinated meat, mmmm. The best part: we didn’t have to cook or wash dishes. Hiring out for these tasks allows Orphanage Outreach to employ local people and help the local economy.
Day Two: Yes, we really would like the orientation tour.
On Sunday, many students attended mass at the church located on the orphanage property. The mass was high-spirited and featured the boys from the orphanage singing. We then got a tour of the property, 26 acres in all. In addition to the church, the orphanage has a small school, dormitories, fields and OO facilities.
The OO facilities have 2 dorms, a large open-air pavilion, a small office and storage space and 2 bathhouses. The facilities were clean and comfortable. During down time the volunteers relaxed in the pavilion, playing cards or reading. All together, there were 60 volunteers the week we were there: a second high school, a small college group and 2 families.
Currently, the boys who live at the orphanage do not have any quiet or private space to study or read. However, the orphanage recently completed a second floor in their compound to use as a study and library space for the boys. We were thrilled to learn that the money we raised is going to be used to tile the educational space, bringing them one step closer to making it usable. “Floors by Vistamar”!
Day Three: Beaches already? Plus some historical stuff.
Today was our cultural day. We traveled to Monti Cristi to see the local sites: a tower designed by Eiffel, the house where Cuba’s declaration of independence was signed, the language institute run by OO, and the orphanage in Monti Cristi where OO got its start.
After another fabulous lunch – this one featuring goat meat – we went to the beach. Several of us hiked up the cliff overlooking the water and were rewarded with fantastic views of a nearby island and the blue Caribbean waters. We swam in the warm water. Afterward, a big treat – ice cream!
Day Four – Day Six, Day Seven… how long were we gone? Finally, we earn our keep.
On Tuesday, our real work began.
The school system in the Dominican is lacking. Children spend only 4 hours a day at school, either in the morning or afternoon. The reality is that, after things like snacks and recess, the average child receives 2 ½ hours of school a day. For the wealthy, there are better schools. But of course, most people are not wealthy. Approximately 45% of the households in the Dominican subsist on the equivalent of $1 – 2 a day. One of the ways that people can get better jobs is by learning English and working in tourist areas. A large focus for OO is teaching English, not just to the children at the orphanages, but to children in the local villages as well. During the school year, volunteers teach English in the classrooms.
We were there during Holy Week, so all the kids were out of school. Our schedule during the week followed this rhythm: in the morning, we headed to a local village, where we met local kids at a church. We then set up 4 camp stations for them: reading, arts and crafts, teaching English and recreation. The kids were divided by age and gender and made their way to each station. We changed roles during the week so we all go to try different activities.
We’d head back for lunch and siesta, then go to a different village in the afternoon. We went to 7 places altogether, and one place twice, for a total of 8 camps. In the evenings, we did activities with the boys from the orphanage.
The village kids were obviously thrilled to be part of these camps. In a few places, when we started there were only a few kids, but by the time we left, there would be upwards of 50 kids! As we left, some would run by the side of the bus, others would stand by the side of the road and wave. There were adults present as well; they would stand off to the side, sometimes with babies, and watch the kids play.
We spent one full day at the orphanage, where we ran a camp for the boys, played games in the afternoon, and did work projects such as painting and digging. We also were able to spend time with the boys during our down time: siesta, after meals and in the evenings. Many of us developed friendships with the boys. We hope to continue those friendships through a pen-pal system.
We all had different highlights from this trip, and there were different parts that impacted each of us. I’ll share a little of what impacted me.
On our last day, in the afternoon, we went to Batey Libertdad. We drove by many acres of rice fields, and came to a cluster of shacks alongside the road. The wooden shacks were close together and had tin roofs with paint peeling. We got off the bus and walked up the dirt road. Water dripped from a storage tank, and ran down the road.
People sat in front of their homes and gave us friendly “Holas”. One elderly woman was doing her wash: three buckets in front of her, with clothes making their way through each. The small center of the tiny village was concrete gazebo. Some older men sat playing chess. Some kids ran around, and more ran out as they saw us. There was another large storage tank, and a little further up, a cluster of latrines. Just beyond that, the trash.
There is no public trash pickup in the villages of the Dominican. Everywhere we went, there was trash. At the orphanage, a lot of the trash was dumped right next to, and in, the lagoon. It bloomed like wildflowers alongside the road. I watched as our bus driver put oil in the bus, and then dumped the empty bottles on the roadside. There are no dumpsters, trash cans or trash trucks. We did see some dumpsters and trucks in Santiago. Mostly, the dumpsters were surrounded by trash.
And Batey Libertdad is the on the bottom of the rung in the Dominican. The people all spoke Creole, reflecting their Haitian heritage. No doubt, many of them are illegals. They work in the fields, or do other work that the Dominicans don’t do. Some of the children go to school and know basic Spanish. Most adults don’t. The pregnancy rate is incredibly high. The cultural attitude is such that the men are very dominant; the girls and women don’t know differently and submit to what is asked of them.
As I sat on the ground with the young children, looking at their ripped clothes and dirty faces, I wondered about their future. And that’s the difference, I think, between Americans and many Dominicans. They don’t look to the future like we do. They are not planning for college, a car, a job. For most of them, those things are so far out of reach, it’s not worth dreaming about. There’s no school, no education, no tomorrow. Instead, it’s about today, right now. For those kids, it was about coloring, throwing a football, reading a book. Those small things brought immense joy, not just to them, but to us as well.
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