Day 6

Hola Hokies!

We had full control of the camp so today was our time to shine! Everyone woke up and did their normal routines. A couple of us chose not to do a workout in the morning so we could sleep in a little longer. The last two days of camps were a little long on us after working out so we wanted to be fresh today.

Today was soccer day for the kids led by Nick Smirniotopolous, Katie DeTuro (both VT soccer players) and myself (VT swimmer). The structure of our camp was introductions, “dinámica” (ice breakers), warm-up (led by Carol Kahoun), three stations of instructional play, a habitude lesson, and then a group competition.

A group photo of campers, DPV staff and VT students/staff

We each taught a station and had the kids rotate through each station. Thankfully we had the DPV boys and translators to help us. Our stations consisted of passing, juggling, dribbling, shooting, trapping, and communicating with others. We spent 20 minutes at each station with a 10 minute transition time as groups rotated to the next state, allowing time for water in the midst of a very warm day! We tried to make each station as fun as possible while learning some valuable skills for playing soccer. After we completed the three stations we took an extended break to regroup before our Habitudes lesson.

Habitudes is the title of a series of leadership books that we have used within our athletics department at VT and are also included in our class. The book uses images to teach and form leadership habits and attitudes. The lesson we shared was the “iceberg”, communicated that 90% of a person’s character is under the water while only 10% is above the water.  We changed this image to fit culturally, using the image of a fruit that has a covering for protecting the valuable portion (character) inside, because some kids had never heard of an iceberg. Ultimately, we were trying to teach the kids to get to know one another and not judge one another by the outside appearance. Simply put, we are all leaders.

After this lesson it was time for COMPETITION! The competition that took place was a series of games. The older kids played an actual game of soccer while the younger kids played paired soccer and attempted a small game. After the camp was over the kids returned to Veron or to their homes in Punta Cana.

Reflecting back on the camp, the hardest part was not having full communication with the kids. We all know how to run a camp in the United States but here in the Dominican Republic it was tough and un-natural to rely on translators. The hardest thing for me was not being able to give constant feedback to the kids.  You get a sense of feeling helpless without communication but with the translators it ran smoothly and everyone had lots of fun!

After the camp was over we had down time until 4pm. Katie DeTuro, Madalyn Nuckols, Derrick Hopkins and I went to the lagoons with the DPV boys. We swam around, jumped off the dock and played with the duck that is always there. From the lagoons we went to class where we watched the documentary The Price of Sugar and a Ted Talk. The movie was about the sugar cane production in the Dominican Republic and how poorly the cutters (workers) get treated in both their pay and living conditions.  I would highly recommend watching this documentary or a clip on YouTube.  Most people in the United States think this country is all about beautiful resorts when in reality mass poverty dominants the country.

We used these two videos to frame our reflection of our experience and carried the conversation into dinner.

Seven days down, four more to go. Time is flying by!

Buenos Noches!

Meaghan Holloway

Day 5

Hola from Punta Cana, mis amigos!!

Katie DeTuro (WSC) and two campers

Day 5 started off like most of the previous days--- all of us woke up, ate breakfast, and some of us got our workouts in. Cara and I went to pick up the children from Veron for the second day with Deportes Para La Vida (DPV). Some children that showed up the first day didn’t show up the second day. However, it was great to see that we had several new children show up for the second day that weren’t there the first. When speaking to one of the (almost fluent) English speakers, he told me that he told his friends to come today after attending the first day of the camp with DPV.
As usual, we started off with a “dinámica” to warm the kids up and get them fired up for the day. It consisted of a Spanish chant to a very catchy beat and hand gestures like many dinámicas. I must say, I think this is our favorite dinámica so far; I say this because we have been repeating it all day, long after the camp was over, even through dinner time. After the dinámica, the groups were divided in two, and a variety of games were played while learning about several important social issues.

One game we played had a resemblance to the “trust fall” activity some Americans play when they are younger. Eight people stood around one lone person in a very small circle. The person would keep their feet planted on the ground and start falling. The other eight people would assure the lone child’s safety while making her lean in different directions. This activity was a metaphor for the support that family and friends give to the lone person. Then, our DPV instructor, Victor, told the eight people to imagine the center person has HIV. He instructed two outside people to act as parents and step back and point with accusation instead of supporting the lone individual. Another two were aunts and uncles who stood back, another two were brothers and sisters that turned their backs, and another two were friends that stepped back. This time, when the lone person started leaning, they would essentially fall. This was a great message to the kids to tell them that even when people get HIV, they need the support they usually have from family and friends. They can’t abandon people that get the disease, because they will no longer have much needed support.

Watching the kids play these simple games and learning so much always shocks me. They are laughing and having fun, while also answering the (sometimes difficult) questions about the details of HIV, AIDS, abuse, etc. I was even more impressed when Laura, a 13 year-old female who translates for all of us, who told me the important concepts of the games before the instructor even explained them.

In another game, children were given scenes in which different pressure-filled situations were presented, to which they had to properly respond. Situations included turning away sex from a person of more power than them, not getting rides from the opposite sex that you don’t know, amongst others. In my group, we acted out a classroom situation in which the teacher (played by me) asked a student to stay after class and demanded that the student be his girlfriend to get a good grade in the class. She had to refuse the demand in a high pressure situation. I must say, the girl I worked with might have a future in the acting business, but me, not so much…

What shocked me about this activity was what the instructor explained afterwards. He said that sometimes there is a child abuse case and the police are called. When the police go to the house, the parents often just pay off the cops to leave their house. Cops in the Dominican Republic make about 180 dollars per month. Therefore, the cops give in to getting paid even a little cash by the parents. This really hit me hard and made me feel thankful for the authorities that are available in the U.S.

Other activities were done throughout the day, including peer pressure limbo, partner soccer juggling, and more – all with their own important lessons. At the end of the day, all VT students, DPV instructors, Peace Corps volunteers and children took a huge group photo! Shortly after, we ended with a huge “LET’S GO, HOKIES!!” chant. We then relaxed in the lagoons and enjoyed each others company for the rest of the day. We went to the grocery store for a little food and ate at La Tortuguita with the DPV instructors.

We then headed to our classroom around 9pm and learned what drives the DPV instructors to deviate from the social norm and care for the community like they do. They all had their stories, some of which were similar. They all came from shanty-towns with little money. They all had the motivation to help their community because, simply put, if they did not do it, no one would. Some started as early as the age of 15 to make huge differences in their communities. It was truly inspiring to see that there are people out there,even in third-world countries, that are self-motivated to help others and make the world a better place. After all the stories, each instructor received an “Actively Caring” wristband.
This blog was not nearly as short as I had planned but I didn’t want to leave anything out for all of you! Keep following our cause and know that we are excited to start the sports-teaching section of our camp on Wednesday!

Devin Carter

Day 4

¡HOLA AMIGOS!

            We have all been anxiously waiting for this day to come. Monday is finally here! This morning’s routine was just about the same as any other. Quick bite to eat, off to workout, back to the foundation to shower, and then a bigger breakfast; however, today is special because it is the first day of camp! Not only will we be meeting the group of kids we will be working with for the rest of the week, but also we finally have the opportunity to take a leadership role and apply the new principle’s we have been learning. The bus pulled up, and we instantly picked up a soccer ball and started playing around with some of the children that had just arrived.

            Today was run by the DPV members. I was completely amazed at how every activity kept the kids’ attention, provided important educational lessons, and included a fun interactive game that reviewed the previous lesson learned. The camp consisted of 64 children that included a variety of ages ranging between 5 years old to around 14 years old.  Not only did they vary in age, but also their socio-economic differences and upbringing brought about numerous challenges to overcome.

            The day started off with a pre-test for the kids aimed at gauging their current knowledge and understanding of how HIV, AIDS, and STDs are contracted and affect the human body. Following the test, Carlito, a DPV trainer, gave the campers a short presentation including the basic information about HIV, AIDS, and STDS. His presentation provided the proper definitions of each of the acronyms, as well as ways a person can contract each of them, and ways to treat each of them. They rest of the day was built around that beginning session.

            We split the camp into two separate groups (32 campers in each group) and proceeded to play a variety of games. The first game was “pasa la palota” translating to “pass the ball.”  In this game we split into two separate teams, stood in a straight line, and passed a tennis ball behind our backs making sure the other team couldn’t see who was holding the ball when we were instructed to stop. Each team would try to guess which player was holding the tennis ball. You could not tell who was holding the ball just by looking at the other team, demonstrating that you cannot tell if a person has HIV or AIDS just by looking at them since there are no physical symptoms of an infected person. Each one of the games that followed related back to a lesson learned at the beginning of the day. Before we knew it, the day was coming to a close. It appeared to us that everything had gone as planned, and flowed decently well for having 64 participants and only expecting maybe 30.

            After some much needed down time, we reunited for dinner. We reflected on the first day of camp and realized that it had not gone as well as we thought. The DPV members expressed some concern that there were multiple disruptive kids and that they personally felt disrespected for the majority of the day. Victor, one of the DPV trainers, explained that he had to tell numerous campers to fix their attitudes or they would be asked to remove themselves from the exercise. As we continued to discuss some of the issues for that day we came to a mutual agreement that the language barrier posed problems for both sides. We could not understand what Victor was saying and therefore did not recognize when he was addressing a camper for being interruptive as compared to when he addressed a camper in instruction. We understood that we both needed to work together to keep the campers focused. We pledged to watch for wanderers and pull them back into the group while they were leading an exercise. We also had an understanding that if a camper needed to be removed from an activity for lack of cooperation, that simply by signaling for our attention, we would know to take care of it. We agreed that we want the best for the kids that are focused and paying attention and that we would be right by their side to aid in their success. After all concerns were addressed, dinner came to a close, and we were feeling optimistic about Day 2 of camp on Tuesday. The positive energy was back and we were headed into the day with a new and improved game plan.

We’ll update you shortly and let you know how it all goes!

Hasta Manana!

-Katie DeTuro 

Day 3

            Today we woke up to the pitter patter of a light rain, the calm remainder of the night’s thunderstorm. We were able to experience the first thunderstorm in the Dominican Republic in quite a while, providing the perfect atmosphere for our relaxing, yet busy Sunday. 

            We began the morning with a group meeting about our sports camps, which start this week. We will be working under a local NGO called Deportes Para la Vida (DPV), which means “sports for life,” for the first two days of the week. This organization, inspired by Grassroots Soccer from Vermont, uses sports as a means to teach valuable health and life lessons. Our morning session, however, was about planning the days in which we would be leading our sports camps – we would not meet the members of DPV until the afternoon.

            We began the session by recognizing Danny and Jon for Father’s Day, emphasizing how grateful we all are as students to have this tremendous experiential learning opportunity. This was of special significance for Danny because this is his first Father’s Day.

            The session brought up some strong barriers to the sports camp: there is a strong language barrier, we don’t have the ideal facilities, we don’t know the culture well and we have yet to actually interact with the kids. However, we have all taken an optimistic approach, and we know the power that sports have to break the language barrier. That has been one thing we have really learned here: whether it is an activity, an action, or a smile, there are some things that are universal and which can serve as the foundation for our relationships with the locals.

            After our sports camp meeting, we broke for lunch and reconnected for class in the afternoon. Shane taught us about the basic principles of Nonviolent Communication (NVC). NVC draws on ideas from humanism which states that an individual is separate from their behavior and thus cannot be evaluated based on a single behavior. NVC assesses how an individual’s emotional response reflects needs that need to be met, so we were able to lay out a framework for how to address those needs in real conversations. This was something we found very difficult because it is so counter-cultural, but we agreed that it was worth the trouble. After all, talking about emotions and bringing truths to light is better than letting them fester.

(from left to right) Rido, Carlito,
Victor, Julio and Kenny

            Immediately following class we were able to meet the members of DPV. Kenny, a local Peace Corps volunteer and DPV Director, provided us some additional information about his background and the organization. Kenny has been working for the Peace Corps for 3 years and lives in a barrilo, or a Dominican slum community, in order to impact the community at a grassroots level. DPV trains Dominicans to become teachers through an intensive 5-day program, and then sends them out with a Peace Corps volunteer to host sports camps for the youth.

            Kenny introduced us to the four camp directors: Julio, Rido, Carlito and Victor. They range from ages 19-25 and all had very interesting stories about how they got involved with DPV. It was really inspiring to hear their stories of coming from battailes and being inspired to impact the health and education of the youth in their area. It was a great testament to their self-motivation, which was a great practical application from what we have been learning about through Actively Caring. They have had to fight discrimination, harsh living conditions and weak social infrastructure, yet they have persevered to try to make a difference – and we hope to do what we can to help.

After being formerly introduced, we were able to interact with them one-on-one and get to know them better. They knew a little English, and we knew un poquito de Espanol, which allowed for some surface level conversation. We played volleyball for a long time on the beach, which again showed me the power of sports in breaking language barriers. After an intense round of volleyball, we all went to Franco’s Pizzeria for a nice, sit-down dinner, where were able to continue the conversation and get to know them better.

Every day is truly a new day for us in Punta Cana. We continue to grow closer as a community, applying everything we are learning in class to actively care for one another. We have gotten a great view of the culture through the first couple of days, and I am excited to finally interact with these children, sharing our time, our talents and our love.

Buenas noches. Hasta manana!

Nick Smirniotopoulos 

Day 2

Buenos dias mi amigos! 

What an eventful day once more. It started out fairly similar to yesterday – workout by the beach and quick breakfast before meeting ‘Ben the man’, Logistical Coordinator for the Caribbean Center for Education and Research. Another Hokie along with two other students, who are here to study the medical benefits of local plants, joined us on our tour to the neighboring city of Higuey. 

The bus took us passed Veron, endless sugar cane fields and colorful neighborhoods. According to Ben the sugar cane fields are all owned by two major industries which employ a minimum amount of workers each extracting about five tons of sugar cane a day. They get paid enough to support their family for one day, living in miserable conditions. As those fields become more and more sparse we finally approach the city of Higuey. The Basilica, a fairly juvenescent church built to preserve a famous painting of the Virgin Mary, welcomes us with its high arches and beautiful stained-glass windows. The girls had to cover up with colorful cloths not to expose our bare legs in this holy pilgrim place. 

A view of the local food market in Higuey

Our next stop was a local food market. What an adventure!  Ben walked us through the crowded aisles as we eagerly looked left and right. Fruits and vegetables in every shape and color lay out in front of little huts. As we came through alittle square we got a glimpse of a guy carrying two dead chickens by theirfeet. The next aisle would be what we’d call the ‘Butcher’s corner’ – dead meat everywhere, little currents of blood on the ground and guys chopping up entire cows and pigs with their bare hands. The one thing that shocked me most was the sight of a little boy sitting around right next to a cow’s head. It seemed so casual. Not to us; we were all fairly happy to get back to the fresh-smelling fruit and happily bought some ripe mangoes, passion fruits and a pineapple.  

After a surprising lunch of rice, beans and chicken (we have been eating that for the past couple of days) we all took a nap. The morning, charged with sight-seeing and impressions wore us out. 

Refreshed and energized we got together for a class discussion. Today’s topic was Humanistic Behaviorism and Empathic Leadership/Communication. Shane McCarty, our classroom facilitator as he likes to be called, led us into very interesting discussions on the importance of individual needs and how we need to communicate them interpersonally. The talk ended with quick feedback on the relevance and presentation of the course material and off we were to dinner. 

Tonight’s menu was very special – Wendy’s! While some of us preferred buying dinner at the grocery store others enjoyed a full America meal in the midst of the Caribbean. What a luxury! 

Our third day in Punta Cana has been as impressive and exciting as the ones before. Our group of actively caring people has grown and become more comfortable interacting with each other and complete strangers. It is a learning process to achieve a vision we all embrace! 

Buenas noches amigos, nos vemos manana

Carol Kahoun

Day 1

Hola from Punta Cana! J

Wow, what a day this was! I could probably narrate a novel of the day’s adventures but I’ll try to keep it more on the brief side. Most of us started the day off with a 7am workout (we are taking a self-motivation class after all) and then met Ben Hulefeld, Logistical Coordinator for the Caribbean Center for Education and Research, to make our way over to our official living headquarters for the trip – The Ecological Foundation. Ben is really something else! The best way we have been able to describe him is authentic – he loves this place, he loves his job, and he wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. We fueled up with a quick breakfast and piled into our van.

A local doctor (middle back) tours our group through a
clinic of which VCOM is a major contributing partner

                  Our short drive was into the city/town of Veron. It’s hard to believe that fifteen minutes inland of the Punta Cana resorts the entire scene changes. We were suddenly surrounded by poverty. The first stop was the public “hospital” of the town, much of which has been constructed by VCOM, where a local doctor gave us a tour of the small building. The clinic sees over 200 patients a day, a devastatingly large portion of those patients being treated for HIV by only one HIV-specialist. The clinic also has a pediatric unit, an ob-gyn area and even a TB room. Their emergency room consists of three medical tables that aren’t separated from each other. Soon they are planning to expand to give the ER its own special area. The clinic is certainly short-staffed and short-supplied, but its expansion in such a short amount of time presents room for hope.

                  Next we visited both a vocational school and a public school and were able to tour some of the classrooms. The students are on summer break, but are preparing for standardized tests coming up next week. A few charming, little girls toured us through the public school classrooms, explaining that the students were grades one through eight and attended school either in the morning or in the afternoon, and that the classes had anywhere from 30 to 70 people. Obviously this is a sad state of affairs in terms of the education here, but I’ll leave that area to discussion for days when we run camps with the kids!

                  We then returned home, where we grabbed lunch and met back with Ben for a tour of the Foundation. The grounds are used for many different things- from worm-composting, to bee-keeping, to farming and even an iguana habitat! The Foundation is a pioneer in sustainable development with so many things to learn and so many practices to study. The rest of the afternoon was left for us to relax and explore a little bit, so we walked to some nearby lagoons and had a blast! The water was so clear and smooth – we all jumped in for a cool, relaxing swim and enjoyed tossing around a football for a while. After, we returned to our area of the beach and some of us jumped in on another game of beach volleyball (and Cara and I thought we could get away!), again meeting some new, friendly faces.

                  To finish the evening, we had dinner at a lovely pizzeria on the hotel grounds (an appreciated upgrade from the cafeteria food) and then concluded with a two hour class session with a discussion on values and personal traits we hope to develop, all the while enjoying the ocean breeze outside. Our group has become so close in our class discussions. It’s really neat to find that so many different types of people have so much in common!

                  I have thoroughly enjoyed this flood of information and scenery we’ve been introduced to today and can’t wait for so much more to come!

                  Hasta luego, Liz Trinchere

A little background...

As we embark on our UNIV 3954 study abroad course to the Dominican Republic, I believe there are a few things those who are following our journey should know. First and foremost, many key leaders across the landscape of this university have made this course possible. To them we owe a great deal of gratitude. Secondly, Virginia Tech has some amazing students – ten of which are traveling with us and who will write a blog entry each day while abroad. The Punta Cana Ecological Foundation, Deportes Para La Vida and the Peace Corps are doing remarkable work in Punta Cana and the surrounding communities - we hope to come along side them and learn from their efforts. Finally, it is our hope that the university's motto of Ut Prosim will come to life for us during this course as we merge academic theory behind motivation with thoughtful service to others. That being said, please allow me to share some brief thoughts behind the vision of this course: 

Os Guinness, the great-great-grandson of Authur Guiness, once said that "contrast is the mother of clarity." Our travels to the Dominican Republic will no doubt provide a contrast on multiple planes, I believe. We will see a contrast of our past, a contrast of our present experience, which may lead to a contrast of our future plans. 

Our past: We will undoubtedly interact with children of another nation and another language that will at times, seem no different than the American children we know. After all, running, jumping, throwing, and kicking are all actions that bind children together on any playground. However, we will notice that despite some youthful similarities to our past, our childhood experience may have been very different. Our clothing, our nutrition, our education and our family and support structure may offer us sharp contrasts. 

Our present: Again, we will see a community going about their daily lives, which will lead to a contrast of our daily American lives. What will be similar about our days? Eating, sleeping, school, working... Indeed, there will be similarities. But there will be great differences as well. What of their present working conditions and career options?  How does it compare with ours?  Are they equipped with education and opportunity or not? While it is true that iPods and smartphones don't make for a better life, contrasts of present experiences will expose whether or not opportunity has been taken for granted. 

Our future: Here's where Os Guiness' quote comes to life – will this contrast lead to any clarity for our futures? We know that we have been provided opportunity by our university and nation, and our hope is that the contrasts we observe will lead to greater clarity for a future embedded with service to others with an appreciation for their stories. 

I hope you enjoy the blog entries of the students daily experiences. They are smart, talented and caring individuals – I have no doubt you'll agree once you read their thoughts. 

Danny White