Los Angeles de CONANI

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
(John 14:18)

This entire experience so far has been absolutely mind blowing. Every emotion has been expressed from annoyance and anger all the way to excitement and happiness. The few months spent assimilating into Dominican culture has been a genuine continuation of achieving enlightenment. I have spent 123 days exhausting in the entanglement of La Republica Domincano in which I have obtained a new, individually unique experience that has allowed my soul to grow and prosper in unimaginable and enlightening ways.

More importantly, there has been one place that has had such a grand impact on me that my heart has grown fonder and more affectionately for others. That place is Los Angeles de CONANI in Santiago.

CONANI is an amazing service site that I am very blessed to have chosen. Prior to making my final decision, I contemplated my options, fully weighing the pro and cons for each. In the end, I decided to serve my community from within the walls of this orphanage. Much tension has arisen from questions regarding the quality of life for the children, but after experiencing everything CONANI has to offer and full-heartedly becoming a member of its community, I can say with all confidence that it is an institution to be admired. 

Serving here brings a sense of bitter-sweet euphoria. There are days when you walk out of the gates feeling distraught; as if your efforts and affections are meaningless. However, there are more in which love conquers this sense of desolation and you know in your heart that you’ve made a difference for these kids at CONANI. I am absolutely, downright empowered to have the opportunity to embrace their loving arms and experience their tender loving hearts enthrall my being. Each child deserves affection and attention, equally and individually. I am torn with knowing and understanding the neglect these children seem to receive. However, I admire these children for the ways they interact without neither arrogance nor subjectivity influence their relationships with one another. The kids are genuinely free spirited and love with an extensive amount of curiosity. It allows me to grow in ways I have been fearfully avoiding. Love can possess both attributes on either end of a spectrum containing greatness and sadness. Above all, the effect that these children have on me is immeasurable; each day I discover a depth of love for these individuals that I never knew I could achieve. This is in some way a work of art, reaching out to inspire, question and enlighten me. My journey here and my first encounter with the true underprivileged and marginalized members of society, will forever shape and direct the path of my life.  

            And if I could offer one piece of advice it would be to never let the fear of desolation prevent you from feeling the impact of another person.

~ Ashley Hottman, Comunidad 16

Medical Missions

            Throughout the semester, we have shared ILAC with various visitors – youth groups, retreats, weddings, etc. The most exciting of these visitors are the medical missions. These are groups that come from the U.S. to work at the clinic for a weekend, or even a week. We have been lucky to meet many of the medical groups over the course of this semester: occupational therapy, dermatology, gynecology, hernia, ENT, and orthopedics teams.

            When we first arrived at ILAC, we shared the campus with the occupational therapy group. This group was very welcoming and played a major part in out first few weeks in the DR. We did Zumba in the breezeway with Dawn and a group of OT students – sometimes a few of the women at ILAC would even join in! One of the professionals with the group, Suzanne, was especially significant. She spent a lot of time talking with us gringas (she even came to our party to learn to dance merengue and bachata with us!) and gave lots of advice on CONANI and school. This group was very meaningful those first few weeks, and set us up for a good semester to follow.          

The medical teams that come to ILAC are a great opportunity for Encuentro students to get involved. The teams really want to involve you in what they’re doing and are happy to find places for students to observe or help out. As a nursing student, I was looking forward to this part of the semester and tried to get involved with as many of the missions as possible. The days I spent in the clinic ended up being one of the best parts of the semester for me.

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Over fall break, the ENT team stayed at ILAC. This was the first group I really helped with and, as I said before, these medical groups really want to help students and get them involved.  I started off shadowing consultations with a Dominican doctor. The doctor I was shadowing took the time to explain what was going on it the consultations – what he was looking for, why he asked certain questions, the criteria to qualify for surgeries, the tests he used, medications, everything! I left that day knowing more about tonsils and adenoids than I might ever need to know.

I spent one entire afternoon in the operating room, watching tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies. This was a great experience for me to ensure that I could actually stomach surgeries – I was always nervous I’d get to nursing clinicals and not be able to handle it, but after that afternoon I now know that I’ll be fine. This was also a chance to experience firsthand the atmosphere in an operating room, to learn the different roles, and to see surgeries up close. Again, as with the consultations, the team members in the operating room explained everything they were doing, why they were doing it, and told plenty of stories of their own experiences. The group made me feel so welcome, I felt like a member of the team. I even had my own role by the end of it – since I know Spanish, it was my job to go find the kids in pre-op and talk with them on the way to the OR, to make things less scary. 

The last part of the mission I spent in post-op. I helped there with whatever was needed. I helped translate for the nurses and patients, brought warm blankets, gave out Skim-Ice popsicles and juice to the patients, and made up goodie bags. There was always something to do, and it was easy to feel useful. Post-op was also a place where I could get to know the other volunteers better. I could talk with the nurses and pharmacists, the Peace Corps volunteers that were helping translate, and the Dominican nurses, Francisca and Ana. I quickly felt like I was a part of the community they formed working in post-op.  

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            In early November, the hernia team came. This time, I stayed entirely in post op, because there was a shortage of translators. I was quickly adopted by the staff there, and became the sort-of mentee to one of the nurses, Bobbi. She took me under her wing, and taught me all about the machines, processes, paperwork, and more. I did my part to help by translating and helping find water, blankets, family, etc. Every minute I was in post-op, there was something for me to help with, or to learn, or advice for me to listen to.

Nurse Bobbi and me

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Each of these experiences with the medical missions was invaluable to me. Helping in the clinic showed me what my potential future might look like, by allowing me experience what a day as a nurse – albeit a very atypical day – might look like. That sort of experience is hard to find in the U.S. Yes, I can shadow nurses and doctors in Omaha, but not the same way. Here I was able to be highly involved and form relationships with the other volunteers. The sort of work I was able to do in the clinic helped me affirm my vocation to be a nurse. It also confirmed for me that I need to continue to work on Spanish, because it is so important to be able to communicate with one’s patients. I was so surprised that the majority of the volunteers I helped new so little Spanish, it made me want to learn more so that I wouldn’t have to worry about that particular language barrier. Lastly, each volunteer I worked with left me with their own advice and guidance regarding my future, and I know that’s what I’ll look back on as I continue to study.

Showing off my scrubs

The Gift of Love

Spending the semester in the Dominican Republic has led me to do a lot of rather difficult questioning. These questions have all revolved around the experiences and relationships I have had here, and they often times revolve around why things the way they are, why we allow ourselves to continue living in a world with continual patterns of injustice, and what I can do to really change these systems. I’ll admit that this semester I have hit points of frustration and even desolation from feeling like there is not enough that I can do in order to fix what needs to be fixed in this world. But from these experiences and questions I have learned that there is so much still to be done, but also so much that I can, and already have been doing this semester. The biggest lesson I have learned away from my life in at Creighton and in the United States is the power that comes with the ability to love another person.

My intentions with this post are not to create the image of the DR as a horrible place—I would actually venture to say that this country holds a type of beautiful that’s almost too strong for words. There is the obvious beauty in the breathtaking beaches, and the lusciously green mountains. But I think there is so much more than that here. From living here I have realized the beauty that lies in the bustling streets of Santiago and Licey, even with the stray dogs and constant nagging of street vendors. And I have discovered the beauty that resides in the walls of an orphanage that provides a home for children with needs that most others don’t want to care for. And I’ve been absolutely captivated by the beauty of a home and a family that has welcomed me with open arms and hearts, and has accepted me as a daughter in their lives.

The portion of this semester that was spent living with my host family in our campo, Rancho de la Vaca, I spent my time with my family constantly trying to figure out how it was I could give back or repay them for constantly giving and giving to me. I think I even reached points of feeling like I didn’t deserve what I was constantly given—so much captivation, so much love. I felt I couldn’t give them enough—there was a time when I didn’t even know if my family was going to be able to receive water from the aqueduct system our group had built there. There were even times where I felt like I couldn’t emotionally take enough of what they were trying to give me. But I think what I have finally realized from this complicated relationship with my campo family, is what I have really given my family is the love of a daughter—exchanged with the opened hearts of my Dominican parents.

So, a day after my final goodbye with Ana and Danilo, I leave also having wept with this same family, not knowing when we will see each other again. I guess this moment with my host family really made me realize the impact we had made on each other’s lives even with our short time together. Though I have learned about problems in this country—discrimination, poverty, corruption—I begin to pack my bags with tears, smiles, and thankfulness for my time here, knowing I am completely in love with this country. The problems I have learned about have struck a passion  in my soul, one I have never felt before, and I know that this is all due to the people I have encountered here.

For example, when I think of those with poor access to water, I think of the joy on my campo mom’s face when she can turn a valve and receive water in her kitchen sink, even if it’s only every other day. Just that one look of joy on her face, is enough for me to feel empowered enough to even consider taking on these types of (honestly) intimidating problems. I really believe that I have a new outlook on combatting these problems that others face in the world, mostly because now I have people that I am fighting for, and know the impacts change can have on others’ lives.

This country has given me so much, and though I have just finished a semester of service, I think that the biggest exchange that was done this last four months was one of love. I leave this beautiful country with friends and even family, restlessly waiting the day I can return.  And I just really think is more than I could have ever asked for.

With love,

Selina

Feeling the Impact

When the looking back begins, I often find it hard to narrow down the nebulous span of a life-changing experience into a specific handful of instances, struggle to make concrete the impact, to pinpoint what truly made the difference and where I changed along the line. When I reflect on my four months in the Dominican Republic, there are so many faces that pop up, so many moments and experiences that have challenged and changed me in big ways and small. There's no denying that I'm leaving a different person than the one that stepped off the plane in August. I've grown up a lot and become more aware of the need in this world and the role I am called to play in doing something about it. I've learned a lot about myself and who I want to be and received so much more than I could ever hope to give. And I wish that I could in words sum up everything I've felt and seen, learned, heard, experienced, and been given. But summaries rarely do the small moments justice, and I firmly believe that journeys are never about the finish lines--they are about every single little step along the way.

This semester has most certainly been a journey. There will be many memories that I cherish. I have loved becoming a family with the four other girls in my group despite our countless differences. Challenging classes and trips around the country opened my eyes to the world in which I was living and gave my experience a depth it would never have had otherwise. My daily routines of service and my life at the ILAC center taught me just as much, if not more than I learned in the classroom. I will never forget my time at my service site, Acción Callejera, spending hours teaching English pronouns and simple verb conjugations to an 18-year-old boy who had never really been taught how to learn. Nor will I forget the life conversations I had at 3:00 a.m. with Antonio and José Luis, the security guards, or the hilarity of our evening volleyball games with the ILAC employees, the mornings spent drinking coffee and gossiping with the kitchen ladies, or the routine adventures we had taking public transportation, squeezing 32 people into 15-passenger guaguas and being the head-turning Americanas wherever we went.

I will forever smile at the memories I made in my campo, Rancho de la Vaca: Waking up at 6:00 a.m. to the sound of roosters and my campo grandma warbling along to her favorite Catholic radio station. Sweeping the street in front of my house to make it look presentable while she brewed me my first cup of coffee for the morning. Teaching my six-year-old sister how to dance like a princess and leaving the house feeling like one every time my mom did my hair in extravagant up-dos. Walking the rolling dirt streets from house to house to visit my growing number of "families," and being invited into every house I passed by for juice, coffee, and conversation. The swelling of blisters and ant bites as I shoveled and picked the roadside trenches for the aqueduct system we helped build for the community, and the pride I felt at watching the whole community come together and the work we were able to accomplish. Swinging little children around on my back, teaching them games and songs, and forgetting that I was supposed to be grown up. The nights dancing merengue and bachata in front of one of the colmados, the smell of tomatoes as we washed our hands and arms in the stream after a morning of picking in the fields with the men, and scrubbing baby pink and blue paint out of my hair after spending two days transforming the plain wooden slats of Ana and Danilo's house into a cute, little doll house on top of the hill. Shared meals, starry skies, card games, coffee picking, frustrations, hugs, lessons, and laughter. So much tangible love, so many tearful goodbyes, and so many pieces of my heart left behind.

Perhaps I had no one moment of impact, but I can say without a doubt that I've been impacted just the same. I've been impacted by the love and generosity of so many people who welcomed me into their lives, homes, and hearts. I've been touched and changed by the suffering, struggles, joys and beauty that I've seen all around me. More than anything it has been the people I've met and the relationships I have formed that have defined my experience here in the D.R. --people who will probably never know how much they've meant to me. My semester here may be coming to a close, but I know that the echos of this experience will continue to ring on, no matter where I go or where my future takes me. Because some impacts are deeper than feeling, deeper than words, and so much deeper than we know. Those are the ones that truly last forever.

Hope at the Bi-National Market

During our time in the Dominican Republic, we have learned about Dominican-Haitian relations. We have witnessed the differences between the two nationalities, especially during one of our learning experiences to Dajabón. Dajabón is a city that lies on the Haitian-Dominican border, with the Massacre River dividing the two nations. It is a site where Trujillo, a past Dominican dictator, committed a large-scale slaughter of Haitians. In Dajabón, we visited the well-known Dominican-Haitian market, where Haitians and Dominicans come together every Monday and Friday to trade. During our visit, a Jesuit organization that oversees human rights issues at the border, Solidaridad Fronteriza, graciously offered to show and further explain to us how the market works. Every Monday and Friday morning, Haitians line up behind a gate on the bridge, waiting to be let into Dajabón so they can sell and buy goods. Similarly, Dominicans organize stands at the market or cross into Haiti to buy and sell goods too. We were privileged to have the chance to hear a Dominican woman’s story, Margarita’s, about her connection with the market. Margarita had worked full-time at the market every Monday and Friday for years, on top of taking classes at a University in a different town in order to become a teacher. Eventually, she graduated from college and received a part-time teaching position, which was not a sufficient income to be able to pay for her children to go to school. She continued working part-time at the market until she was offered a full-time teaching position. Now, she occasionally works at the market with her husband, who oversees their market stand. We were blessed to be able to talk to such a strong woman, who persevered through long days of work and education in order to provide a more reliable future for her family and herself. Margarita gave us a name and a face to humanize the many buyers and sellers at the market who come together every Monday and Friday in an attempt to make a living.