Service visits continued

After our trek to the north/west part of the DR, we headed to the south/west and then took a couple of day trips to finish up visiting all of the students. Here is the second installment that will give you a glimpse of the students' lives in their service locations: Sara W. & Chris, Ashley & Jessica, Tom, Joy, Adam and Megan.

One tradition during service visits is to take the students out for ice cream when possible.

Bon, a socially-conscious, Dominican owed and run ice cream company, is a favorite of many students. Jamie Moreno, a vice-president for Bon, and a son of the founder, is one of our regular lecturers at Goshen College. The recently-released "Café Organico" (organic coffee) flavor was a hit with many students. Here, Tom and Joy enjoy "un chin" (a little) of the new flavor.

Sara W. and Chris (San Juan)

Sara is teaching English, assisting in a preschool class and performing a variety of other tasks (including translating for groups of visiting North Americans!) at the Centro Cristiano de Educacion para Desarollo in San Juan. A mission-supported school for the surrounding Barrio Nuevo, the school provides quality education and other community support.

Sara has what she describes as her "nine-year-old fan club" which follows her around the school grounds. The three-year-olds in her preschool class also clamor for her attention. View photo of Sara and her kids.

Sara's host parents are both school administrators, as well as having other roles in the community (including pastor). During her free time after school, Sara enjoys getting to know the surrounding community, and has arranged informal Spanish/English lessons with new found friends.

Chris works not far away from Sara's school at the Clinica de la Salud Integral, part of the same mission. As a pre-med student, Chris has enjoyed being around the clinic and observing medical procedures there. He has observed many (and in a few cases assisted in) surgeries, like the one pictured at right.

Perhaps sensing that his medical school requirements will be somewhat more demanding than his current SST service assignment, he is taking advantage of his flexible schedule to relax with his host family (view photo of Chris' host family) and explore other aspects of life in San Juan. But perhaps secretly, Chris' real enthusiasm for his service assignment comes from the fact that he can consume all the "Red Rock" red soda he desires - free of charge at the clinic!

Ashley and Jessica (Las Matas)

Down the road ½ an hour from San Juan is the smaller town of Las Matas de Farfan, home to Ash and Jess.

They both spend the mornings helping out in a child nutrition/feeding center operated by nuns from the same order as Mother Teresa. They work along side the staff, interacting with the young children ages 2-5 during their play and meal times. While their patience is sometimes challenged by the children's endless energy, regular diaper messes and occasional spit-ups, they have developed special bonds with many of the children.

They are pictured here assisting the children during meal time (upper left and at right).

Jess and Ash have shared many things together, including the same host family and the same bed. The picture here shows them with some members of their family and the "garden-like" setting surrounding their house (view photo of Jess and Ashley with their host family). They have a wide variety of fruits available just outside their door.

In their free time, they like to play volleyball and go running with new friends, watch sunsets, and explore new types of entertainment. They report that they have very much enjoyed their time in Las Matas and will find it hard to say goodbye to their friends there.

Tom (Paraiso)

Tom lives in the aptly named town of Paraiso (Paradise), a seaside town flanked on the opposite side by lush, green mountains (view earlier photos of Paradiso). Tom has found the laid-back nature of his service assignment to his liking. He does build houses for Habitat for Humanity when work is available (or in some cases, as shown here, perhaps "supervises" - view photo of Tom 'supervising' worksite).

He also finds plenty of time to run along the ocean, read, explore the area with friends, and hang out with his family. Incidentally, Tom also lives in a "Habitat house" which was built behind his family's main house. He shares the house with 2 host brothers. He reports that his host mother (and the rest of the large family) treats him royally and feeds him well. We just hope he won't have too much trouble adjusting back to his former lifestyle!

Joy (Barahona)

Anytime that Joy is around children, she naturally draws them to her (view photo of Joy interacting with a group of children near one of Tom's worksites). Although the childcare center in which she was supposed to work has not yet opened, she has found lots of ways to be involved in her community and with children. She is pictured here helping the children to paint a mural on the inside walls of the soon-to-be-opened center (pictured at left).

She also does informal tutoring and gives music lessons on the porch of her family's house. Although adjacent to the city of Barahona, Joy has the unique experience of living on a batey -- Batey Central. She reports picking up a few words of Haitian Creole (as well as a few rows of braided hair).

Adam (Rancho Arriba)

Adam has had a varied and interesting mix in his service assignment. To begin with, he lives in the back room of a clinic with two Dominican doctors who keep him on his toes with their sense of humor. Since he has no formal "assignment" he spends his days learning to know the community, building relationships, and improving his Spanish (there are virtually no English speakers).

He has been a cowboy, driving cattle down a valley for three hours and then galloping back. He also picks and eats an unlimited number of oranges at the home of one of his friends (view photo).

He has explored the area far and wide, and made an amazing amount of friends. He showed us one of his favorite spots for reading and reflecting on his life in Rancho Arriba - a spot high on a hillside overlooking the valley in which Rancho Arriba is situated.

Megan (Los Alcarrizos)

Situated on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, Megan didn't need to travel far to get to her service assignment location. However, in many ways she is far removed from her former life in the city. Los Alcarrizos is a large lower-income neighborhood that feels very isolated from the nearby capital.

Megan spends her days in the Pediatrics unit of the Elias Santana Clinic, assisting the pediatrician as she sees patients. She has also observed in other areas of the clinic. Megan has many friends in the pediatric unit, since some children come on a daily basis for a nutrition and family education program.

Megan lives in the same neighborhood as the clinic, a short (but at times steep!) walk away (view photo of Megan's steep walk). She is learning to live in a very active household since she has four sisters and lots of neighborhood children in and out of the house. She is pictured at right with some family members.