Batey Monte Coca, Day 2

Pretty much everybody reported sleeping better the second night at ASCALA than they did the first. Some of that is the tiredness that our first day of work brought, some of that is getting used to a new bed in new surroundings, and it seems the lizard in the girls’ room has decided to find a new and more welcoming home. We rose to a breakfast of cereal, hard boiled eggs, fresh fruit, juice, and coffee, then put on our work clothes and headed out for our second day of service.

At the latrine, a roof had been added to the walls we built yesterday, and a door frame was in place. A new crew of four students who were at the house site the day before set to work mixing a smoother, finer soup of concrete for “plastering” the outside walls while others threw shovelfuls of dirt to build up the level of the ground around the walls. With a coat of “plaster” applied by Kelvin, a community member who was leading this job, we used sponges cut from a salvaged foam padding to smooth the surface of the walls in preparation for a coat of paint.

Meanwhile, at the house, the crew continued to cut and assemble rebar supports for the flooring and walls. Although most enjoyed the work, it often felt that bending wire around metal rods for hours brought nobody closer to a new home. Meanwhile, unlike at the latrine where trees provide a fair amount of shade, the sun beat down heavily on everybody for a solid three hours.

After lunch, we returned to the sites—again a new group of four at the latrine—and really began to see the fruits of our labors. In the hours that we were away Kelvin cemented the floor and installed the rudimentary concrete toilet, and PVC pipes snaked out the back wall. The walls that were “plastered” in the morning got a coat of bright blue paint, and a door was built out of wood and corrugated tin with the help of Liam, who has become the Master of the Saw. A quarter of a mile away, the constructed rebar towers were raised in place in their trenches giving at long last the impression of walls that are soon to come, and all was made ready for the next day’s pouring of gallons and gallons of concrete. Within that group, perhaps the biggest success came with Zakkai finding that he had a real skill in bending steel rods into the shapes needed for a new home.

After another excellent dinner prepared entirely from local ingredients, Fofo and Laura led our group in an activity designed to help students understand the difficulties that face the different groups that make up the Dominican Republic, including the Haitian sugar workers. The central message was that nobody has the power to choose where they are born or what privileges are granted or denied from circumstances beyond our control. It was a powerful exercise, and many of the kids opened up in honest ways that we hadn’t heard so far on our trip. Abdulaziz reflected on the struggles that come with being an immigrant for Saudi Arabia, and Ana talked a bit about her own circumstances and her trips to Central America. A couple of kids mentioned family members who had vacationed at Dominican resorts and voiced their wonder at the dramatically different images that those travelers got compared to what we are seeing.

But rather than summarizing their words and thoughts--and probably doing so poorly--allow us to share a few reflections from students’ journal entries. For this first round, we collected only the girls’ journals; we’ll hear from the boys in a couple of days.

“I have never seen such harsh conditions for people to have to live in; maybe animals, but not people….The conditions these people work in are inhumane. The machetes are really dangerous, the sugar cane leaves can cut a worker at any moment, and the sun is beating on them all through the day.” –Ayanna

“I had thought about less wealthy people and Third World country people, but never actually realized how bad it really was. Yet whenever I see them, they are friendly and happy. They have terrible conditions too, like heat and not a lot of pay; $3 is barely enough for a pen, and some people have to survive on that.” –Leah

“We had a talk beforehand to discuss the culture shock we would face, which I did. Entering the town there was so much trash, kids not in school, animals running around, this all surprised me.” –Ana

“It was [at the house site] that I first met Mickey. He was one of the men working there, and he looked to be about 20. He knew very little English, and my Spanish is not the best. Despite this, we were still able to communicate. Throughout the day we communicated using both languages mixed with signals and pointing. I felt excited to teach him some words in English and could not hold in the smile when he joyously pronounced the English words over and over again. He also taught me some words in Spanish, and by the end of the day we were communicating in full sentences. As work continued in the afternoon many of the other men learned my name. All of them wanted to help me out, and I felt so much support as I connected metal rods with wire, which was something I had never done before. Every once in a while one of them would stop me and try to help me improve my technique. All of the men were so kind and accepting of me, who was a privileged stranger only a few hours before….The men would stop me once in a while to ask if I was tired and would not let me continue until I had some water. I think this speaks volumes as I only saw Mickey drink water once the whole day….I think this is such a good example of how every person and every job needs support from others. This connects to my definition of a community as a group that uses each other’s strengths and weaknesses to improve the community for everyone.” –Samantha

“We headed back around 5:30 because all of the [day’s] work was done. I got a shower immediately after we got back, then had a great dinner. The pork was so, so, so good!! (Maybe because yo tengo mucho hambre!)” –Katie

“We had a great discussion of people talking about their experiences and what we’ve seen so far in the bateyes. Just in general it had me thinking about how I am a privileged person to have an education and to have parents with good and steady incomes. It just made me wish it was like that for everyone.” –Behare

“I really enjoyed working and getting a feel for the environment. It was special.” –Ana

“I want to say so much about this experience, but the feeling is so hard to express in words. There is a special connection created through work like this which I will never forget. Even though I only spent a day with these men, I was so desperate to communicate with them and had a need to learn more about them. Despite being exhausted, I would replay this day over and over again to absorb as much as possible. It was not really all work, and I actually had a lot of fun. There is no way of having this experience or personal connection in a classroom. This is one of the best things I have ever done, and I am so excited to do more service in the coming days.” –Samantha