April 2017 All School Meeting Presentation

Ten of the 25 DRST 2016 Watkinson School travelers shared stories from the trip at an all-school meeting in order to share out work with the community and kick off the application process for the 2017 trip.

If you are considering joining us for Thanksgiving week in La Romana in 2017, please watch this video and read the stories they shared below as, just like the pieces that create a mosaic comprise something whole, these images and stories cobble together to convey a sense of the complete experience.



Hannah
Sweat, mud, teamwork, friendship, love, playing. I could go on and on about how to describe working at the school in the D.R., but those are the words that come to mind when I think about it. Here is a story: the day before we were leaving, I was freaking out in my mind. I had never been to a place like the DR! At first, when I got there, I was worried about getting sick, or choking on a malaria pill... but all the worrying was so worth it. Like Michaela, I mostly worked at the school. Our group was removing the pile of dirt/mud— we were shoveling and moving the empty buckets back to the ledge so another could fill it up with dirt again. Everyday when our work was done, we would get on the bus – a muddy and filthy mess — and the kids from Kilometer 6 would wave and follow the bus. It was also there where I met the sweetest baby named Rebeca. The most rewarding part of the day is getting to play with the kids and how they just hold on to you and hug you.

Cassie
I remembered before I went to the D.R, I was kind of nervous because of the language. I didn't speak Spanish, and they didn't speak English nor Chinese. I was thinking about: what if I didn't understand what they said. That would be so awkward. But the truth was that it was not. I went to the school on the first day. As soon as I arrived there, those kids rushed out and hugged me for a long time. Just at that moment, I felt like all my worries had gone away. So during that day, I really had a good time with them even though we spoke a different language. Someone said that to me once, “all those kids want is just a smile and a hug”. Btw, I was proud of myself that I even learned some Spanish.

Cameron
After learning that we would not be returning to Batey 50, I started my week very sceptical about what I wanted to do while I was in the D.R.. Once arriving and hearing about the new site called Batey Pepita, which means small potato, I instantly wanted to get right into working on that. On the batey, Mr. Crosson and I spent over an hour cutting the long metal rods, called rebar, and carrying them over to the workers to help build the foundation of one of the new houses. This trip is important because it builds self awareness around the poverty and real need these people have. They have little to nothing and it is rewarding to give back to them open heartedly. You don't have to give a lot, mostly your time and commitment. All contributions, big or small both make a difference.

Edith
Before I went to the D.R., I doubted if I could really help the people there. When I was in the med clinic in the first day, I saw a newborn baby with burn marks and he hadn’t gotten any regular medication. At that moment, I realized how important our doctors and medicines were. Many people in the villages didn’t have enough money for the hospitals; or they didn’t understand the concept of needing to get medical treatment when they got sick. Everyday, our med clinics treated more than a hundred patients per day, and we just may have saved many lives there.

Jessica
This was my fourth year on the trip and I spent most of time in the pharmacy working along students, UCONN doctors and nurses and translators from the DR. This year, we traveled to familiar places where we knew the routine. How to set up and what to be prepared for but we also went to new places and had to navigate the med clinic in small crowded spaces. But we made it work. The doctors treated patients with all kinds of ailments, high blood pressure, diabetes, skin conditions and stomach ailments. We gave out medications to the young and elderly. Working in the pharmacy can be confusing, chaotic and mentally draining but I enjoy the work. It is a time to be focused on others and help people with their most precious commodity…their health.

Alina
Traveling to the D.R. was my first time going on a service trip. I was in the school construction site for 4 days, and every day is was really hard work, but definitely worth it. Everyone worked as best as they can, and no one complained about the bad weather or physical fatigue. The kids in the school also helped us working, even though they could only carry a little amount of sand or soil, they never stopped helping us. After the long workday, the tiredness is part of what showed our day was meaningful. While we were there, we didn’t always have wifi...without the continuous use of devices like phone and computers, there was more communication between us. Our Life was simple but substantial in the DR.

Clare
I was a little nervous going on the DR trip for the first time, thinking that the language barrier would be difficult to overcome and wondering how everyone’s stories from years before had even happened without a shared language. On my first day I was assigned to the construction site, but I spent a good part of the day meeting the people on the batey. When I sat down next to a few of the kids on the ground, they were pretty shy and didn’t really acknowledge me. In an effort to entertain them, I started to pile up small rocks scattered around us into little towers. At first most of them ignored me, but a few minutes later I felt a small tap on my shoulder. One little girl, Johania, was standing behind me proudly pointing to her own rock tower that she had made a few feet away. Soon there were five or six kids surrounding me, all fascinated with the rock towers and building their own as well. After this, the kids were much more comfortable with me and would follow me around, grabbing on to me and playing with my hair. When I returned to the batey on the last day of the trip, I found the kids sitting on the ground, still making rock towers. I learned that sometimes even a small interaction, verbal or non-verbal, can impact you in more ways than imaginable.

Ryan
This being my first service trip ever, I had no idea what to expect. One story that I’d like to share is when working on the batey one day a woman was standing outside the home we put our bags and water in. My friend Alex from the university high school and I went to take a break — we had been pick axing the ground to dig a foundation. The woman engaged us in conversation using our limited Spanish we put together she was not from the batey. She comes to the batey to help, she teaches the kids, helps organize mission groups, and she is also a pastor at the church. The people on the batey had very little, but outside the bateys people were not that much better off. She did not come from wealth, she was trying to make ends meet too. The fact that she spends her days helping others while not having the most herself was inspiring. This woman taught Alex and me that service does not need to be done by those who can afford to travel from Hartford to the DR, but can be done by anyone anywhere. Helping others is so rewarding, so why not do it any and every where you can.

Jen
Imagine for a moment this is your life: the physical structure you call home is made up of leftover scraps (cardboard, corrugated metal sheets and wire), with a dirt floor, no running water or electricity and shared with multiple family members: adults, children, and elderly all together. Your meals, if you are fortunate enough, consist of small portions of legumes and rice or bread and if you’re lucky a very small portion of meat once a day. The water you drink is fetched from a running stream where bacteria and disease are the common components. Your workday is under the beating hot sun, cutting sugarcane by hand with the swing of your machete. Work that your livelihood depends on, but it can’t afford you medical care or treatment for emergencies, illness and much less pre-existing conditions. However, at the core of it all is this deep rooted faith that God is looking after you and you hold on to the hope that someday you might be lucky enough to have a better life. WE are that hopeline; our work, our contributions and fundraising efforts provide some of these people with desperately needed improved life conditions and the HOPE that it can be better. Join the team and help keep the HOPE alive.

Natty
Much of my time in Dominican Republic was spent working in the medical clinics and i just have a short story about one patient we saw. On our last day of clinic a patient came in towards the very end of the day with a blood pressure that was something like 70/40 which is dangerously low. We tried to start an IV on him to give him fluids and antibiotics but we were unsuccessful because his veins had collapsed from the dehydration and sepsis. We learned that this man had been in the hospital just a few days before and had been discharged even though he was not improving. Cases like this are avoidable with proper medical care and access to medications. This life-threatening scenario could have been solved it had been caught weeks earlier in its early stages. The more people that can get down there and see these patients and help these people get access to something that is a basic human right, proper medical treatment, the more lives can be saved. It is not just those in the medical clinics helping to improve health, everyone did by simply getting people to smile and laugh which sometimes does more good than a pill ever could. So if the one thing holding you back from going on this trip is that you feel like you will not be useful that is not an excuse. Every single person that has traveled to the Dominican Republic makes a difference in their own way and every one of you has the potential to make your difference. All you have to do is make someone smile!

Days 3 & 4 (Two for the price of one)

Day 3 was so busy that we just didn't have time to blog.  So it's time to catch up now.

Work went on as usual at all three sites.  Intermittent showers left us with precious resting time between work assignments.  We made the bold decision to go to the beach despite the threat of rain.  Good thing, because the weather turned out absolutely beautiful for a two-hour dip into the warm Caribbean water.

After that much-needed respite, we attended a local baseball game. We got to the stadium at 8 pm and although the game was supposed to start at 7, it did not start until after 9:30. For the first hour and a half of our "baseball game," we watched them fold a tarp. It's tempting to be frustrated, but there's a thing called "Dominican time" in which nothing ever goes according to schedule.  We are certainly practicing patience.  In the sole inning that we were able to see, there was a grand slam. Immediately after, a batter charged the mound, which led to a minor tussle between the two teams.  With eight innings remaining, we left to get some much-needed rest in preparation for Day 4.

Day 4:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Our medical team visited a Batey near and dear to our hearts: Batey 50. Over the past 6 years, we have done construction every year at Batey 50. Many of our group members have long time friendships with the adults and children of Batey 50. Since our construction team has moved onto Joe Hartman and Batey Papita, this was the only chance for our team members to reconnect and serve with old friends.

The team that went to Joe Hartman had all hands on deck.  The past three days of work had all been leading up to today: concrete day.  About 10 Dominican workers mixed concrete, enabling the DRST group to form efficient assembly lines for easy transport of the material.  There was a "buzz" of work unlike anything we've experienced before.  It was clear that the work team on site was operating on a deadline, and so our volunteers worked with newfound strength and determination.  As a teacher, I have never witnessed such perseverance as I saw today.

At the end of the day, we made time for a brief photo-op.  Although we were covered head to toe in concrete and dirt, we smiled proudly for the camera.

The Dream Team returned to Batey Papita today. We mixed over 1,500 pounds of dry cement into a concrete mixture and then poured it all around the trenches of the house. It was tough tough work, as this was the hottest day of the week so far. The team worked incredibly hard moving cinder blocks, mixing concrete, and moving wheelbarrows.

Following our work days on the Batey, we all met up at a local Orphanage and played with the children. A huge game of volleyball formed - these kids can play! Following the orphanage, we returned to Casa Pastoral to shower and prepare for our Thanksgiving dinner at Casa Del Campo.

We are derparting for Thanksgiving Dinner now. Hasta mañana!

Day 2: Let It Rain

Team 1:  Joe Hartman School

We returned to Joe Hartman School today to finish the work we started yesterday.  After two truckloads of dirt had been delivered to the school, at least one and a half of them remained for us to haul into place today.  It seemed unthinkable to finish it all in one day, but our work crew was adamant.  We couldn’t accept any more shipments until a space was cleared.  Bucket by bucket, we filled each wheelbarrow with the mud that had been soaked with the overnight rain.  The mud was stickier and heavier than yesterday, but we weren’t deterred.  

Intermittent showers periodically interrupted our work, but honestly, this was probably a blessing.  We were so focused on our goal that we hardly remembered to take breaks.  Fortunately, whenever it started to rain, our crew leaders demanded we take a little descanso until the rain let up.  Those little rests certainly helped us maintain our stamina throughout the difficult work day.  Just as we transported our last wheelbarrow full of dirt, the bus arrived to take us back to Casa Pastoral.  With impeccable timing, we had accomplished a goal that had once seemed impossible.

Team 2: The Dream Team

Our Dream Team was all fired up to return to Batey 9 on Tuesday to pour concrete into the newly dug trenches and begin constructing the foundation of the house. We arrived at turn-off to Batey 91 and discovered the road was impassable due to flooding, which prevented our construction crew from delivering the cement mixer and other heavy machinery to the work site. We will have to wait at least until tomorrow to pour the foundation.

For the meantime, here is a photo of the trenches at the end of yesterday’s workday on Batey 91. Note the dilapidated houses in the background, which eventually will all be replaced with new concrete homes like the one we are building now.

Instead of working on Batey 91, we traveled to a suburban neighborhood outside La Romana to continue construction on their new school (not Kilometer 6 and the Joe Hartman School). One team prepared the concrete walls of the second floor for painting by smoothing out the walls with rocks while another group worked in the courtyard to remove large concrete pillars that had been set in the ground. The process took team members with a combined weight of over 1,000 lbs to tear each pillar out of the ground and transport it to a dump site. Much of this work was done during a Caribbean downpour, which only strengthened the team’s resolve to remove the pillars.

Our wall sanding squad. 

At the end of the day, we were soaked and tired, but happy with our work.

Team 3: Medical Clinic

We had a yuuuuge day at the medical clinic. Despite the downpour, we treated 152 patients, many of whom waited outside in the downpour. Today's spectrum of cases included but were not limited to; Flu, cold symptoms, infectious abscesses, muscle dystrophy, malnourishment, dehydration, hypertension, diabetes, glaucoma, parasites, acne, and scabies. 

Doctor Lys holds an extremely malnourished six-month-old infant has had the development of a two-month-old. She was incredibly small and could not sit. According to our doctors, she was at least 6 - 8 lbs underweight.

Digging, rebar, and foot casts oh my!

Mission: Day 1
Status: Complete.

Today was our first day of real work out in the field. La Fuerza Azul split into three teams that went to separate locations.

Team 1: The self-proclaimed "Dream Team" were the first group ever to begin work at Batey 91, known locally as "Papita." Since all of the concrete homes at Batey 50 were completed, we have the opportunity to work with a nearby village and forge new, lasting relationships. We were the first team to break ground on the first house to be built in the batey. Working alongside our contracted Dominican construction crew, we dug long trenches approximately 2 feet deep using just pickaxes and shovels.  Often we encountered large rocks that had to be painstakingly broken apart before we could continue shoveling.  In addition to shoveling, students tied together rebar to prepare it for placement in the trenches to reinforce the concrete.  We saw a wide variety of animals including  pigs, turkeys, chickens, horses, donkeys, dogs, and cats. Although there were countless animals, we took to naming two of the dogs.  One we named "Dog," and the other we named "Cat."

Zach D. & Nate F. in the trenches

Claire C. playing with a child on Batey 91

"Dream Team" selfie

Team 2: The second group of students returned to the Joe Hartman School located at Kilometer 6. This is a private elementary school affiliated with The Good Samaritan Mission.  Our team has sponsored the education of several students and the secondary education of their teachers over the years.

Last year, our Wat DR team helped build a playground for the students. Here it is today:

After arriving to the campus, we got to work immediately on the next phase of expansion: the cafeteria.  First, we cleared the ground of plywood, nails, and weeds in preparation for leveling the floor. By lunchtime, we had hauled a truckload of 94 lb bags of concrete into a storage unit.  In the afternoon, we worked on the future floor of the cafeteria.  Because the ground was too low and rather uneven, we moved two truckloads of dirt--by hand--to begin the leveling process.  One of our greatest takeaways was the time it took to complete our task at hand.  In the United States, machines would have done in ten minutes what it took a team of fifteen people literally hours to accomplish.   We certainly had a newfound appreciation for infrastucture, both here in the DR and abroad.

Team 3: Our third and final team went Batey Guazabal to run our medical clinic. Our team of students, adults, doctors, a dentist, and multiple other medical professionals treated 110 patients. Common ailmants that we saw were malnutrition, vision problems (cataracts), headaches, back pain, infections, and several large absesses that required draining. One patient needed to have a cast removed from his foot that had been on for five months. This process took upwards of 30 minutes and required the attention of all four doctors.

Our four fearless doctors! (From left to right) Anil, Maggie, Lys, and Ann.

One adorable little patient. 

Former Head of Upper School, Sandy Garcia, helping to run the medical clinic. Her dual fluency in English and Spanish is key to our success.

Several children on Batey Guazabal

To finish our night, we are food packing. We are thankful for a successful work day and look forward to the opportunities tomorrow will bring for us to improve the standard of living for our fellow human beings here in the Dominican Republic.

Hasta mañana! 

No fear- we're here!

La Fuerza Azul (The Blue Force) has arrived safe and sound at La Casa Pastoral! Our wonderful hosts have been working hard to make sure we are confortable, well fed, and ready to go for our first day of work tomorrow.

Travel day went without a hitch, and all 54 travelers (and their bags!) made it safely from JFK to Santo Domingo. Serious props to JetBlue for accommodating such a large group! Upon our arrival to Casa Pastoral last night, we were treated to a delicious dinner of chicken and rice, a staple of our daily diet here in the DR. 

TODAY:  Day 0. 

(Day 1 is reserved for tomorrow, our first day in the field.)

Following a scrumptious breakfast of pancakes and sausages, we sorted through the remainder of our collected medicine and vitamins into labeled plastic baggies for distribution. For several hours, the dining hall transformed into a bustling pharmacy, with students and adults working together under the supervision of our fearless doctors and teachers. Our work was accompanied by a playlist featuring old-school Taylor Swift in her country days. Over the course of the week, we expect to treat over 700 patients in our mobile med clinic and exhaust all of our medical donations. Any leftover medical supplies will be donated to El Buen Samaritano, the local hospital affiliated with La Casa Pastoral. 

This afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the beach. The rain stayed away just long enough for us to enjoy a dip into the beautiful Caribbean water.  "I have never water that blue!" exclaimed one of the students. Photographs just do not convey the full beauty of the Dominican Republic. You really have to be there to see it. #WatDR2017, you in? 

After dinner, we gathered as a team to prepare food kits. Each bag of food contains 12 bags of rice, a container of oil, corn maize, pasta, and sardines.  This is enough to feed a family for approximately a month.  Our organized assembly lines made for incredible efficiency and teamwork.

We had a mild and restful day to prepare for a work-filled week ahead.  We're anxious, excited, and above all else- we're ready.  Buenas noches, y hasta mañana.

Applying for the 2016 Trip

The application process for the 2016 DRST is about to kick off! There is a new resource board on the Watkinson learning management system (LMS) that has an archive of trip photos, required application forms, travel dates, and important background info. If you are considering traveling with the team and have questions, please contact Jenni French.

FAQs
Middle school students are allowed to apply, but if selected must travel with a parent. Parents of Watkinson students are welcome on this trip, whether their student is traveling with the team or not. Alumni and alumni parents are also welcome to join the team.

Working on our 6th House

Watkinson's Dominican Republic Service Team just returned from its sixth week of work in La Romana. When we began this work in 2010, we had no idea how much the team would grow, how many community partners we would forge, or how many friends we'd make on the bateys of La Romana.

Here is a photo of the 6th house we worked on at Batey 50. What a blessing it is to be the one who gets to bring the help!