Our Dominican Experience

Canadian “Dominican Experience” volunteer shares her story
4 June 2010 - Dominican Republic

Volunteers after a hard day´s work.

Over the past few months volunteers from the ¨Dominican Experience¨ have come to the NPH Dominican Republic home each Saturday to work on various agricultural projects.

The Dominican Experience is an educational project which works with young people from secondary schools, colleges and universities. During their stay they live with Dominican families and experience many aspects of Dominican life. The volunteers are exposed to slums, bateyes, the fair trade industry and unforgiving local working conditions. NPH would like to thank the “Dominican Experience” teams for their hard work and dedication to our home. We hope their time spent with us has encouraged the teams to return one day ; they are always welcome in our home.

Dominican Experience volunteer Valerie Forte shares her own Dominican Experience with us :

This past March, my husband and I had the privilege of travelling to the Dominican Republic with 10 students from the school where I work. It was an eye opening and life altering journey into a land we knew little about ; a journey rich in culture, faith, poverty and education.

I had for some time been interested in getting our school involved with this dynamic awareness program “Experiencia Dominicana” under the direction of Robert Laurin. The program focuses on the importance of education to fight poverty, deepening the faith and exposing students to the difficulties that people face to survive in a third world country riddled with political injustices. Never did we realize how much this short week would mean to us ; how much we would learn about ourselves and others ; how much it would change our lives forever ; how much we have in Canada in material wealth but how much we lack in a sense of community ; and how it would motivate us to reach out, take responsibility and share with those in this world who are suffering and have less. It was a journey of a life time …

Even in the early hours of our arrival, we could already see vast differences from our way of life in Canada. Poverty was apparent from the onset. The hydro system was off more often than on, hot water was rare, fresh water was supplied in a bottle not out of a tap, housing was often run down and dilapidated, buildings were abandoned and dirt roads poorly maintained, all of which were all signs that this country was indeed third world.

And yet, as our first day came to a close, something very rich and vibrant was also evident : faith and community reigned here with definitive affirmation. Evening mass was well attended by the whole community. Here the Catholic faith was alive and well, embraced, lived out with love and happiness. This set the tone for our incredible week ahead.

Our days were busy and full, exhausting, and emotional at times. We learned about the isolated batey communities where migrant Haitian families live. We witnessed the many injustices and struggles they face every day. We met and visited with families and elderly people who struggle just to stay alive.

We had the opportunity of working alongside Haitian men in a sugar plantation to experience the harshness of this slave-like labour. We felt anger and frustration when we discovered how poorly paid these men are – not much better than slavery itself.

We learned about free trade opportunities in cacao and how some local women have worked together to form cottage industries to produce products from natural resources as a means to supplement their family incomes.

We also visited a very special orphanage called Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos. This wonderful place is home to 198 children – all rescued from sad and terrible circumstances. Before long, we were put to work in a variety of ways. Our morning task was to take care of some gardening around the perimeter of the grounds where we dug up the soil in preparation for planting of some flowering bushes and plants. Another group worked on turning the soil over in a large vegetable garden in order to prepare it for planting, as well as clear away bits of garbage on the grounds. Later, we helped to unload food donations from trucks that were being reloaded again with urgently needed supplies to be taken to Haiti for relief aid. We were happy to think that we were directly impacting aid to devastated Haiti following the terrible earthquake.

As the children prepared for the afternoon events, we were taken to the different homes on the NPH property. Children are placed in small cozy group houses relevant to their ages and genders. They are tended to by “Tias” – who feed and care for them. This was the highlight of our visit – spending this time with these precious little brothers and sisters - so many beautiful children, all God’s little miracles. The end of this day came far too soon for me, because I just wanted to stay there. Many of us returned to Canada and took on sponsorship of these children. My husband and I look forward to returning to NPH to work there as volunteers sometime in the future – maybe sooner than later.

The most amazing aspect about NPH is that once a child is brought into the orphanage, they become part of that large family. They are never adopted out – the philosophy of the founder, Father Wasson, who started the orphanage in the late 1940s. This concept exemplifies how God has made us all to be brother and sister to each other. These children grow up in this environment, living and sharing with each other every day. Once they have received their education and are ready to support themselves, they are able to become healthy contributing citizens, breaking the bonds of poverty.

The week ended all too soon. Our brief experience of living in poverty has made us all richer people. Our students have returned to Canada matured and wizened. We understand the importance of being part of a community, of having faith and family, of being loved, and the need for education to escape disparity and poverty. Our young people had the opportunity to learn about third world issues and be defenders of the poor. They will be the future which can make life better, to change the tides of injustice and inequity. It can be done. There is always hope.

Valerie Forte 
Dominican Experience Volunteer