We’re back in the capital now and have begun the countdown until our wonderful group of students arrives on January 10th. Our family placements are fairly complete and we’re continuing to confirm arrangements for speakers and educational excursions for the first six weeks of the 13 week SST program.

We’ll be reading several texts this semester, two in common and four in book groups. If you’re interested in reading along with us, you could start with Why the Cocks Fight, a social history of the island Hispanola particularly concerned with Dominican/Haitian relations.

We hope you enjoy the photos of the natural beauty in the countryside and street scenes in the capital.

Hasta la proxima!

We arrived at their bucolic village in time for a delicious lunch of sancocho ( a meat stew) followed by a special treat of chicharonnes (fried pig skin). The young man of the family took us on a walk down the village road to see cocoa trees and pick grapefruit lining the roadside. We enjoyed an impromptu bachata dance in the colmado, admired a neighbor’s collection of roosters for cockfighting and shared many laughs while reminiscing and catching up with Amy’s host family.

Our short trip was a grace-filled reminder of the transformative, enduring impact of SST on GC students and Dominican hosts alike.

Most of the pictures here are explained in the above text. The final picture in this series, a blooming Flamboyan tree, is the national tree of the Dominican Republic.

Patricia Zwier, an invaluable member of our DR SST team, introduced some families to the ideas in Robert Kohls’ essay Values Americans Live By to help them better understand some general traits of people from the U.S. As an SST group we will also analyze the concepts in Kohl’s essay to deepen our self-understanding and help in the early weeks of cross-cultural adjustment.

Our sons, Zachariah (7) and Silas (almost 4!) began an exciting stage of cross-cultural adjustment this morning on their first day of school. You can see them in their new uniforms in the next to last picture.

The final picture, a door in the colonial zone, is for our students. We wish you well as you prepare for your travels tomorrow and prepare to open the door on a new adventure. ¡Que les vayan muy bien en sus viajes!

In the hotel, after snacking on cheeses, breads and meats, we reviewed some safety and health information, gave a prayer of thanksgiving for a safe arrival and sang I Sing the Mighty Power of God. We have some wonderful singers in our group.

As Tom and I left the hotel the students were laughing, talking and reading their orientation handbooks in preparation for our continuing orientation and meeting their families tomorrow.

* We went on a treasure hunt in the colonial zone to discover what we could buy with 10 pesos. We also viewed a photographic exposition of the US occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916-1924) at the Parque de Independencia. The photos here are of some students showing off their “treasures” to the group.

* Patti Zwier shared insights about living well with host families and stayed for lunch to talk with each student about his/her particular host family.

* We reviewed our syllabus, safety and health information, standards for living together, and course calendar.

* We discovered we have several good actors in the group when we engaged in a cross-cultural communication role play—the newspaper sculptures were part of this fun dinamica. *

And, as ready as they’ll ever be. . .the students met their new host families. . . home at last.

After lunch the torrential rains and the public transportation training began. Throughout the downpour, the language teachers and the students took a variety of modes of public transportation including gua guas (buses operated by private companies) carros publicos (cars that operate like buses picking up five passengers and running on a set route) and OMSA’s (city operated, big and air conditioned buses). The students are not permitted to ride the dangerous motoconchos(motorcycles) but I couldn’t resist this photo of a motochonchista reclining on his vehicle.

Soaking wet, hungry and a bit better oriented, the students and teachers arrived at our home, Casa Goshen. Everyone enjoyed a treat of fresh tropical fruit, soda and time for some relaxation before the host families arrived to take their student home for the weekend.

The students will be engaging in daily life with their families this weekend and we will meet again on Monday morning at language school.

Our first Casa Goshen, group gatherings at the unit house, began with a time of singing, prayer and thanksgiving. We played games as a whole group (see Shane explaining a drawing) and in small groups (see the several tables of Dominican domino players.)

Elizabeth celebrated her 20th birthday yesterday with a delicious chocolate cake and singing. Today Megan celebrated her 21st birthday with another delicious chocolate cake and more singing at Casa Goshen.

Tim Shenk, DR SST graduate and current Santo Domingo resident, visited with the group after lunch. He shared several funny stories and offered suggestions for a positive cross-cultural experience. Tim also spoke about the work of Justicia Global, a student activist organization he works with in Santo Domingo.

Throughout the day we met individually with each student to discuss their interests for service placements and their initial adjustment. Students enjoyed visiting, playing and, for David, even taking a nap at Casa Goshen, their home away from home away from home.

One of our book groups will read and facilitate a discussion on a sociological study of Dominican Baseball titled Sugarball: The American Game, the Dominican Dream. Last night’s excursion was a rich text for us all to engage as we participated in an important aspect of Dominican culture.

And, it was so much fun!

Most of the photos are self-explanatory--two to note are Kat's first taste of chicharones (fried pig's skin) and her reaction.

Today, we were honored to have Esther de Groot, a Mennonite Central Committe volunteer in Haiti, lead us in an activity recognizing the interconnected nature of development projects. Esther encouraged the group and shared some stories of her own volunteer experiences.

To celebrate the end to our first full week and recognize the entire group’s achievement on our Caribbean geography quiz, we ate Helados Bon!! Que Buenos Son!

This weekend students will be home with their families and we will all gather on Sunday afternoon for a family picnic.

We also took photos of each family with their new hija/hijo. We'll give copies of these photos to each student and each family. (The final photo captures my first-ever homerun).

Students continued in their second full week of language classes at CEIC, where they meet under thatched roof cabanas in small groups. One student said, "I wish (Prof.) Dean Rhodes could see me now!" Perhaps he will. . .

We toured the colonial zone of the city on Tuesday. Several of the photos posted here are from our walking tour of the 500+ year-old buildings in the center of Santo Domingo. Many of the oldest buildings have pink walls made with ancient coral reef. Students especially enjoyed touring the Fortaleza Ozama—the fortress built by the colonizing Spaniards and used up until dictator Trujillo’s rule during the 1930’s-1950’s. In one photo students are peering into the hole where it is said Trujillo’s prisoners were thrown down into a pit several stories below.

On Wednesday students visited one of four ‘exploration sites’ in small groups. The later pictures are from the group who toured the Faro a Colon—the controversial monument to Christopher Columbus visible from many points in the city. In the afternoon we enjoyed a delicious taco meal prepared by Jacob, Deanne, Chris and Megan, and a joyful time of singing and prayer. We were led in an animated conversation about the economy and socio-cultural impacts of tourism by Leah, Aaron, Megan and Tina the book group who read Last Resorts: The Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean. Ben, a member of this group, was ill during the presentation, but has thankfully made a full recovery.

Our lectures and activities last week prepared us to think critically about participating in the tourist economy as we spent an extended weekend in Salcedo, Samaná and Jarabacoa. We’ll post separate entries about those experiences after collecting photos from our group members this week.

From Salcedo we traveled north to the isthmus of Samaná where we met with GC graduate and former DR SST student, Libby Short, who is now teaching in Samaná and collecting data on a whale watching boat. After settling into our hotel rooms we went in search of the beach. Our guided trek through mud-filled construction sites seemed unlikely to end up at any beach—see photos. But after a bit of a hike in our swim gear, we arrived at a public beach, recently half taken over by an all-inclusive resort, and frolicked until the sun set.

One of Kim's goals, and one of the reasons Libby Short works with her, is to document the migration of these amazing mammals that swim 7000 kilometers one way to arrive at their mating grounds. Kim also emphasized how important it is to support whale watching to make this a more viable economic activity than whale hunting.

(More than half of us got sick on the relatively "calm waters", but we all think the expedition was an amazing opportunity. We decided not to post any photos showcasing our sea sickness--although we do have some good ones--ask Shane.)

We began the day by snorkeling through a coral reef restoration project run by a Japanese non-governmental organization. The reef is in very shallow water (all less than 2 meters) so it was a safe introduction to snorkeling for those of us new to the sport. The coral reef restoration project has been improving this endangered and amazingly diverse ecosystem for five years with impressive results. We saw fish and coral of shapes and colors straight out of the pages of National Geographic.

We next visited a community-based project working to preserve and reintroduce the endangered rhinoceros iguana. Karrie, a Peace Corps volunteer, her Dominican counterpart and the local youth group proudly showed us around the iguanario. We enjoyed petting the baby iguanas and watching the adults wrestle for food.

We finished our day with a trip to El Playa Rincon, said to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Our intrepid bus drivers, Alberto and Samuel, drove through rough roads, bachata blearing, to arrive triumphant on the picturesque beach. We were saddened to learn that the company that has constructed the three new resorts in Samaná has recently purchased the land around the pristine beach and it will soon become an exclusive resort, making the beach largely unavailable to local people.

Visiting Sonido del Yaque allowed our group to support the ‘responsible’ tourism described in one of our texts, Last Resorts: The Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean. Our experiences there contrasted sharply with what we saw of the new all-inclusive resorts in the Samaná region.

After a restful night listening to the sound of the Yaque river rush by the cabañas, we visited the organic farm of Doña Nati and Don José. We toured their farm, learned about the production of organic coffee and enjoyed an amazing lunch of fresh, local produce. Don José taught us about the economic potential for organic agricultural production here in the Dominican Republic.

The photos posted here show some of our activities at our mountain retreat including singing and playing, hiking, taking an early morning polar bear plunge in the river, crossing the hammock bridge, playing basketball with a bicycle hoop and talking with a neighbor raising roosters for cockfighting.

The first international showing of the Goshen College student-produced documentary Fuerza was hosted by Justicia Global on Saturday.

A crowd of almost 35 Dominican students, professors, interested community members and Goshen College SST students gathered to watch the video and discuss their reactions.

James Weber, one of the four member team of students that produced the documentary about the impact of immigration on Goshen, Indiana, and on Apan, Mexico, is a member of our SST group. James answered questions from the audience and asked the group about parallels between Mexican immigration to the US and Haitian immigration to the Dominican Republic. It was an exciting intercultural exchange ably translated by Goshen College graduate Tim Shenk.

We have recently visited several non governmental organizations working to improve social conditions in the Dominican Republic. On Tuesday we met with the coordinators of the Movement of Haitian and Dominican-Haitian Women (MUDHA), a group of women working towards improved rights for Dominican-Haitians. Our visit to MUDHA and our readings in Why the Cocks Fight helped prepare us for a visit to a batey on Tuesday. If you’d like to learn more about the impressive work of MUDHA, see the RFK memorial web site.

Bateys began as migrant worker camps for sugar cane cutters, who are almost exclusively Haitian immigrants. We learned cane cutters earn 93 Pesos (less than $3) for each ton of sugar cane cut; it takes two days to cut a ton of cane. Residents of bateys often live in ‘company housing’, lack access to educational opportunities, lack adequate health care, and often lack birth certificates or legal residency in either Haiti or the Dominican Republic.

After listening to community members’ stories, we toured Sabana Torso, helped dig in a new garden plot, created art with children, played soccer, and played music in the church. We also prepared and shared a simple meal of salami sandwiches, oranges and punch and ate it with the community.

If you’d like to learn more about bateys, you may find this summary and links provided by Makarios International helpful.

Written by David Shenk

Tuesday began as any other day here in the capital city, clear and warm, with promises to be another great day. The morning began with language study at CEIC, followed by lunch at a place of choice. With full stomachs, formal attire and high hopes to meet the president, we traveled to the National Palace for a tour.

With relative ease we passed through security and walked into the White House of the Dominican Republic. We were shown through various rooms of the National Palace, all highly decorated with different shades of Dominican and Italian marble. Completed in 1947 by an Italian architect for the infamous dictator Trujillo, the Palacio Nacional has been the office and workplace, but never the home, of every Dominican president since Trujillo. While visiting one room, only a doorway separated our group from current president Leonel Fernandez. Although we didn’t get to meet the president, we were given the next best thing, coca-cola served to us at the President's lunch table via a butler at the end of the tour.

Following the tour of Palacio Nacional, everyone piled into 2 cars headed for the house of Williams and Lourdes Velez. We were met with open arms and served a delicious meal of pasta and tacos. We were also given our assignments for the upcoming village study on Friday, which made for a room full of open maps and excited students anticipating their adventure for the coming weekend.

After playing many rounds of dominoes on the roof and balcony of the house, the group scattered off to their host families as the sun set yet again over Santo Domingo.

The following entry is written by Ellen McCrae.

We began our second four-day field trip at 8:00 am on Thursday morning, piling once again into the well-beloved Tengerengue bus driven by our favorite bachata-loving drivers, Alberto and Samuel.

The drive itself was about four hours, but we stopped in San Juan (hometown of Alberto and Samuel) to visit an ancient Taino site and to eat lunch. After visiting the house of both our drivers and meeting their children, parents and grandmothers, we were off again to arrive at our first stop in the small village of Baptista by mid-afternoon.

Surrounded by incredible views of impressive mountains, we clamored out of the bus and made our way to a clinic temporarily created in the elementary school where a group of volunteer doctors, nurses and dentists from the US, coordinated by the Mennonites in San Juan and El Cercado, served the members of the town.

Next we took a walk down to the middle of town to the ‘park’ where a couple of teenagers demonstrated the bachata dance for our group. As we left town we happened upon a cock fight and stopped to take in the scene for a short while.

El Cercado was our final stop of the afternoon where we would be spending three nights with host families in groups of 2-4 SSTers in each home. Joanne Peterson, a community organizer for the Catholic Church, living in El Cercado, met us in the Central Plaza with a group of youth who welcomed us with song. We sang a couple of hymns in response, much to the delight of the fifty or so elementary school children who had just been let out of school and had deemed us their entertainment of the evening. We were also greeted by Pastor Morales of the El Cercado Mennonite Church.

As dusk fell, we were dropped off at our host family homes where we spent the evening getting to know the people of El Cercado.

(This is the first of three entries about our trip to El Cercado.)

We began the day with an inspiring meeting with three members of Plan International’s legal rights and development team. Plan International has recently shifted their emphasis from child-sponsorship to community development. On the Dominican/Haitian border they work with obtaining legal status for Dominican-Haitians, establishing bi-national relationships and community development projects. We were impressed with their work and presentation.

We walked through the customs office and spent some time observing tap-taps, colorfully painted Haitian passenger trucks, cross through the river which separates Haiti from the Dominican Republic. It was a sobering experience as we reflected on the brutal massacre of Haitians, ordered by dictator Trujillo, which occurred on this border in 1937. We were also saddened and disturbed to see the impoverished conditions of people living on the border.

From the border we headed into the bustling market where some students made small purchases among the clothes and household goods. Shane’s purchase was not so small (see photo) but very useful in the sun and heat.

After eating a refreshing plato del día we returned to El Cercado where we toured the Mennonite clinic and school in town. We enjoyed an afternoon treat of ice cream before returning to our El Cercado host families for the night.

(This is the second of three entries about our trip to El Cercado.)

After lunching at our project sites, we joined together for a refreshing afternoon swim. Tina used the opportunity to wash her hair and Aaron, Chris, James and Jacob struck poses for the camera. Our family’s host mother, Edy, spent the day with us and enjoyed playing in the river, too.

Joanne Peterson, one of our hosts, met with us at the Catholic retreat center on Saturday afternoon to talk about her 24 years of work in the region organizing Christian Base Communities. Her talk helped us better understand all the projects we visited and gave an inspiring framework for ecumenical social development.

Saturday evening we had the unique opportunity to dance with community members at a toca del palo, a traditional Afro-Caribbean celebration with three drums. David showed off his dancing skills in an impromptu dance circle and many of us enjoyed the opportunity to learn a new dance.

On Sunday morning the group again divided up and attended both Mennonite and Catholic Church services. The group who attended the Mennonite church were invited to sing a couple of songs for the congregation and we received a prayer of sending prior to our departure for the capital.

On our way back to Santo Domingo, we stopped to eat lunch, play ball and jump in the waves at the beach in Azua.

(This is the third of three entries about our trip to El Cercado.)

One of the highlights of our lecture series was visiting with a community of Catholic sisters in a poor barrio of Santo Domingo. Sister Antonia described her perspective on service and gave us a tour of a preschool/nutrition program the sisters operate with volunteer teachers. The sisters toured us through the barrio where we saw the remains of an open sewer. Together with neighborhood residents, they have been advocating for the government to cover this dangerous and foul black river running through the community.

After lunch with Tom Meyers, who had been visiting for a few days, we headed off to the U.S. Peace Corps office. We were fortunate to hear from three representatives of the US Embassy who spoke about process of implementing the free trade agreement DR-CAFTA. The representatives of the US Embassy and USAID offered and their perspectives on the human and economic costs and benefits of this free trade agreement. Students asked several informed and probing questions. We appreciated the opportunity to learn about our government's work here in the DR.

Two entertaining Peace Corps volunteers shared about their experiences as volunteers. The Peace Corps volunteers also helped the SST students who are about to serve with Peace Corps volunteers understand more of what their service might entail.

The most engaging activity of the afternoon was playing 'peso caliente' where we formed two lines and had to pass a peso through our clothes--top to bottom--before handing the peso onto to the next player. A few of the photos here capture our ‘hot’ game.

The penultimate photos are of the village study experiences for two of the five groups: Guyabal for with Evan, Aaron and Leah and not quite Florencia for Tina, James and Megan.

In the final photos, Ellen demonstrates getting a blood test done by her friendly phlebotomist.

Before their departure we celebrated Morgan's 20th birthday, ate a wonderful meal, were awed by our diverse talents in a talent show, played dominos and sang together.

The photos on this page were taken during our weekly Casa Goshen celebrations and during our pre-service festivities. Of special note are the first photo of Jacob and Tyler wearing all their safety gear for service, the coincidental decision of 5 women to wear black tank tops on the same Casa Goshen day, Shane and David with a Dominican Dylan performance, Leah modeling her new scrubs, Jacob with his new service 'do', and the womens' chorus with a most unusual way of singing hymns.

We are happy to report that everyone has arrived at their service locations safely and will be settling in over the weekend. We are looking forward to some great visits in the next few weeks. We anticipate that the next posting on this blog will be after March 12th, when we return from the first of our service visits.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week most of the country will celebrate Dominican Independence Day. ¡Feliz Dias de Fiesta a Todos!

His work colleagues tease that he is developing strong muscles from carrying and working with heavy loads of cement. After eating a delicious lunch prepared for all the center’s workers, David and his colleagues bathe in the nearby river and return to work in the afternoon. David lives with a gracious extended family of pig farmers in a house up a steep hill on a rutted road.

Our jeep was able to forge 6 streams and climb several steep hills to tour David’s work and home. However, just as we drove out of the last river, the clutch died. Fortunately, the Dominican Republic is home to hundreds of road-side mechanical experts and many generous people. After a lengthy and steep tow by rope, we left the car with a mechanic for the remainder of the weekend as we continued on our service visits to Kat, Deanne and Ben.

During her weeks of service Kat hopes to help the rhinoceros iguana project learn more about the individual traits of the iguanas currently in captivity. In addition, she is helping with the creation of some scientific materials for the eco-tourism projects of the small community, El Rincon, where she lives.

Kat is also hoping to have the weekly opportunity to observe whales with the Canadian marine biologist Kim Biddell. Over a bowl of intestine soup, Kat said, “I hope everyone is having as much fun on service as I am.” And so do we!

Deanne and Ben are working with Liz, a Peace Corps volunteer, on two projects, installing water filtration systems and building a cacao bean fermentation site. They have quickly integrated into the life of their small-small town of 300 people.

After meeting up with Deanne and Ben for lunch on the beach about 45 minutes from their site, we traveled the rough dirt road back to El Yayal together. The men of Ben's family were playing dominos when we arrived and they invited us to join in the game. (Evidently Deanne is getting known as a dominos champion in the village.)

We toured through the town, witnessed the functioning of one of their newly installed water filters and saw a cacao drying platform. And, we saw the path leading to their daily bathing spot in the river running alongside town.

Deanne's family delighted in meeting us and all her sisters demonstrated a keen affection for their new big sister.

In their written check-in, Ben and Deanne write, "We have truly enjoyed our first week in El Yayal and are looking forward to spending the next 5 weeks here."

Leah works at a Mennonite-affiliated health clinic. In an early photo she shows off her 'nurse clothes' in front of the clinic. Leah assists with multiple aspects of the clinic operations including attending to the weighing of children and taking blood pressure readings, keeping records and documentation for a program for malnourished children and assisting the clinic doctor with her consultations.

Leah lives with Grecia and Morales, two of the pillars of the local Mennonite church, and their two young children. Leah's family is delighted to have their 'new daughter' and speak very warmly of her.

Liz works at the new Mennonite elementary school in El Cercado. Liz is quite popular among the children at the school and is teaching them English, in addition to assisting in each of the classrooms throughout the day.

Liz lives with a family of four sisters and has been easily integrated into their family happenings. Liz's family is also very active in the local Mennonite church. On the day of our visit, Liz's host mother prepared a wonderful cornmeal and coconut milk dish called chen chen.

In some of the photos Liz and Leah are demonstrating Leah's lovely mosquito net , posing with their new cache of mail and watching a field in between their homes be plowed by an oxen-powered plow.

While we visited El Cercado and the surrounding villages, Tom had an opportunity help construct a green house and a model worm composting bin. Zach and Silas enjoyed playing with the local children and making toys out of used tires.

After two nights in the countryside we headed off to the 'big' city of San Juan de la Maguana to meet up with Morgan.

Morgan works with Lindsay, a Peace Corps volunteer, in a variety of projects including youth development and a gardening project. The lack of rain has hampered Lindsay's and Morgan's efforts with the garden project, but has not hindered Morgan from becoming integrated into her host family and host community.

We met Morgan as planned at the bus station in San Juan de la Maguana. However, because we did not have a vehicle, and the buses were not running on Sunday, we were not able to easily travel to Morgan's more remote community. Over a meal of eggs and yucca (Morgan says she is just loving viveres these days) we shared stories and heard about Morgan's new community. One of the highlights of the community, in addition to her host family, is the nearby river where Morgan bathes each afternoon.

After meeting up with Morgan's host sisters and some friends, we took in a very LOUD political rally of a presidential candidate. We continued our visit at the reception site for the rally and enjoyed sharing more stories and insights over sandwiches and soda.

As we all loaded on the bus to travel part-way to Buena Vista, Morgan was eagerly anticipating her town's patronales fiestas and the opportunity to bachata the night away.

We're off to visit James in San Cristobal and then back to the border, to the northern part this time, to visit with Tina, Shane, Chris and Aaron this weekend. Stay tuned!

Early in the semester, Justicia Global hosted a showing of Fuerza, a documentary James and three other Goshen College students produced about the impact of immigration on Apan, Mexico and Goshen, Indiana. The impact of that documentary and the ensuing conversation convinced the members of Justicia Global that they would like to have a documentary made about some of their work. (For a more detailed description of that inter-cultural exchange, see our earlier blog entry:

http://www4.goshen.edu/cgi-bin/blosxom/sst-drspring07/2007/Feb/7/InterculturalExchangeImmigrationIssues

After spending two weeks in Santo Domingo receiving training and orientation, James moved to a small village outside of San Cristobal. He reports being very happy in his village, living with a dear host family, enjoying wonderful mountain views and his work.

We look forward to seeing the documentary James and the members of Justicia Global's team produce. Like many students, James will use the his service work, producing the documentary, as the focus of his final project.

After a harrowing motoconcho ride up a series of steep hills, we arrived to their tranquil and picturesque town.

We visited with Chris's large family who own the local Colmado and Aaron's host mother who is delighted to have his company.

Chris and Aaron proudly showed us their living quarters. We also saw their almost-completed first latrine. Chris and Aaron enthusiastically shared what they have learned about constructing a long lasting and structurally sound latrine.

While in La Pina, we also witnessed the local school children preparing for a carnival parade.

After visiting with Chris and Aaron, Shane, Tina and I returned to Santiago Rodriguez. We enjoyed an empanada in the park and Shane's brother gave him a quick trim. In the early evening Tina and Shane taught an English class. The attendance and participation of the students attests to how much they appreciate their new teachers.

From the English class we rode in the back of a pickup truck to their small town of El Caimital. Shane's family own the local colmado and his front porch is the site of nightly youth gatherings. We enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by Shane's family.

Tina lives about a 15 minute walk from Shane down a scenic dirt road. Her host father is one of the primary farmers at a large chicken farm. Her host father also keeps bees and gifted us with wonderful, fragrant honey.

Shane and Tina are both enjoying their work and new community. They reported wondering where all their service time has gone and expressed ambivalence about returning from their bucolic town to the city in just two weeks.

Lindsay introduced me to some of her work colleagues in NAM’s offices, who are grateful for Lindsay’s help and presence during her time of service, and we observed a training session for psychology students. One of Lindsay’s goals for service was to get to know a new city. As we hopped from one carro publico to another, it was clear that Lindsay has met that goal.

We stopped by her lovely home where Lindsay showed me some the collages she’s been creating as part of her final project. We enjoyed a pica pollo lunch at one of Lindsay’s favorite spots and had a good opportunity to visit about the growth and challenges offered in doing a solo service adventure. Lindsay was delighted by her huge stash of mail from fans back home and seemed quite content as she left me at the bus station.

I met up with Megan and Elena in front of their church in Jarabacoa. Megan’s host family dropped her off for our meeting which allowed me the opportunity to meet her host father, who is a pastor at a local church, and her lovely siblings with whom Megan shares a bedroom.

Both Megan and Elena work at schools related the Indiana-based Kid’s Alive! education ministry. Elena’s school is right next to the church and she is pictured in front of the great playground equipment there. Elena lives in a small town outside of Jarabacoa and enjoys her more peaceful setting as well as the 30+minute daily walk to and from school. Elena’s host mother is a member of a walking club, so in addition to Elena’s walking commute, she also enjoys regular hikes with her host mother and friends throughout the scenic mountain area of Jarabacoa.

We visited for a while in the picturesque central park, Elena and Megan enjoyed reading through their mail as I read through their journals. And, then we headed off for a wonderful lunch and an ice cream treat. Both Elena and Megan commented on how much they are enjoying the pace of life and community of people in Jarabacoa.

Although Boca Chica is less than an hour outside of the capital and a tourist hub, Tyler and Jacob’s service experience has definitely been ‘off the beaten path.’

Together with Beth, Tyler and Jacob have meet with Church of the Brethren loan recipients throughout the country (some of the photos here are from a business trip to the southwest coast of Barahona). Their objectives have been threefold: assess the current state of the COB microloan program in Boca Chica; document the needs and resources of the Boca Chica business community, especially the large immigrant Haitian community; make recommendations for future businesses for Boca Chica residents.

Jacob and Tyler report that the entire process has been quite educational and helped them build upon classroom learning they completed as business majors at GC. Zach and I met up with Tyler and Jacob on the occasion of their shared 22nd birthday. After learning about their service work and hearing Beth’s accolades about their dedication and productivity, we went out to pizza to celebrate!

The photos here include pictures of Tyler and Jacob’s home, of their trip to Barahona and it’s stone beach and of our joint birthday celebration.

Ellen is pictured in front of one of the murals she helped create with her student group. She lives with Yenni and her children in a delightful blue house with a view of a neighbor's horse out her front door.

When Tom visited Ellen, he was impressed with how well she has adapted to the slower pace of life in Bayaguana and how content she seems there. Ellen reports enjoying the sound of the milk truck in the morning and enjoying the opportunity to go horseback riding.

We are looking forward to seeing Ellen and the other SST'ers when they return to the capital on Tuesday. On Wednesday they students will have their Spanish final exam and present their final projects. We'll enjoy some time for visiting and sharing stories during Holy Week and then on Monday the 9th, we'll go to Guyacanes for our final retreat.

Stay tuned!

Tomorrow morning students will take their oral and written Spanish exams. In the afternoon we will again gather at Casa Goshen for the presentation of their final projects. We are looking forward to their presentations and learning about the projects they’ve been preparing for the last six weeks.

The photos here include the taxi that broke down in front of the house, a shot featuring the service-inspired “Bigger Hair Club for Men”, and Morgan's awesome Chaco tan.

Last night, Zachariah was thrilled to host his first grade teacher, Ms. Short, and her mother as they finished a week of service work in the D.R.

The final projects ran a wide gamut and many involved learnings from the students' service experiences. The broad ranging presentations included Dominican children’s music, a video documentary about collective work as an antidote to DR-CAFTA, photo montages of cocoa production, a collage addressing domestic violence, and hot chocolate the student processed from the cocoa bean.

Several students investigated aspects of their hosting organization and these reports included investigations of a malnutrition abatement program, a rhinoceros iguana reintroduction program and a micro loan program. Others provided instructions for skills they learned while on service including cooking Dominican cuisine, teaching English and constructing a latrine.

We were impressed with the variety and depth of many students' work. Tomorrow we will begin individual closing interviews and host an open house in the afternoon.

As the photos illustrate, we had a relaxing, fun and productive time in our two rented houses on the beach. In the morning, while many students sunbathed (and got burnt!), others swam, played dominos and visited. Tom and I conducted our final round of service interviews.

After a comforting cold cut and PB&J sandwich lunch, we played volleyball,swam and hung out. In the midafternoon we spent a couple of hours processing these last 13 weeks and discussing how to bring our SST experience home. Many students, although grateful to be returning to their families and loved ones, expressed concern about the challenges of returning home to tell their stories and live in light of their new experiences. At the end of this conversation, we all pledged to do one concrete thing to live more sustainbly and more mindfully of the our learnings here in the DR.

After eating our last Helados Bon treat and more time of relaxation, (read: more dominos, more swimming, more snacking) we enjoyed a lovely worship service on the porch just before the sun set over the Caribbean.

Our fabulous catered dinner featured grilled pork (not quite the whole pig, but more than enough for us) grilled chicken, fried fish, two salads and moro con guandules. Delicious!

The group spent the evening visiting and playing listening the sounds of the waves and bachata. We surprised Shane with a belated 22nd birthday treat on the beach. Leah and Kat whipped up amazing smoothies for everyone. Finally, everyone went to sleep by 3:30 am, more or less.

Wake up call at 6:00!

The final photo is of a Man O' War Jellyfish that Tom caught in the surf. Thankfully our only group encounter with it was in th blue bucket in which it is pictured.

We are so grateful for the wonderful members of our group. It has been a privilege and joy to travel and learn together. We look forward to staying in touch and continuing to learn about their unfolding stories. And, we’re taking bets about who will return to the DR first!

Thank you to all of you who have leant your support and prayers to our time together this semester. We have appreciated knowing you were reading about us and caring for us.

Ha’ta la proxima!