Donations to schools...and Donna arrives!
Trip Start
Sep 06, 2008
1
17
19
Trip End
Nov 25, 2008
San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic
Monday, November 10, 2008
In addition to Donna's visit, this past week I was FINALLY able to distribute the school supplies that I had brought with me from Canada! I had decided that I didn't want to donate to the bateyes were I am teaching, as they receive aid often from various Canadian school groups that come here, from various organizations, etc. Instead, I decided that I wanted to travel to more remote bateyes that are too far away from any towns and that don't receive any aid during the year. However, getting to these bateyes has been a bit of a problem, as we have had to wait for the daily rains to stop so that the very sketchy roads out there would be in decent shape to drive on. The Rotary Club secretary recruited a friend who drives a police truck to drive us around the countryside with the schools supplies, and we had a great adventure cramming 4 of us into the cab of the truck!
We did try to donate the supplies 2 weeks ago, but the driver was very late coming back from an appointment in the capital, and when we got all the out to the first batey, the club president realized that there were no classes that day - and hence, so teachers or students in the schools. So we had a wasted trip, and I was a little disappointed, but we did re-schedule right away for this past week - and this time it was a success! We were able to split the supplies between 3 different bateyes, and it was so nice to see the joy on the students' faces when they each received their black plastic bag of school supplies! The schools were very small, as you can see, but the teachers have worked very hard to make the walls attractive and to do the best they can with what they've got. One of the Consuelo Rotarians is actually a teacher in one of these bateyes, so it was really nice for her to have her students receive these supplies.
Since we arrived at the 2nd school at the end of the day, we were invited to stay for the end-of-day ceremony, where all of the students go outside and arrange themselves in lines in front of the Dominican flag, and then they sing the national anthem and say a prayer. This was really special to see, and it is a tradition that many of the smaller schools practice. We still have to go to the 3rd batey, but it is in completely different direction, so we will have to go another day!
