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Correspondents
Local students go to Dominican Republic
By Mary Ryan
Spedal to The Expositor
Brad Murray, Michelle
Flanagan, Gillian Van Slyke
and Katie Ann Vivian are
four local young people who
recently returned from a
poverty awareness trip to the
Dominican Republic, having
left on Feb. 17.
The contingent of 15
students was accompanied
by teacher Carolyn Wilson
anal Father Joe Hardy.
The field trip to
experience daily living in a
Third World country is part
of the World Development
Co-operative Education
Course at the St. Michael's
high school, Stratford. The
students had spent some time
in preparation for this
poverty awareness
experience, including
meetings and a retreat day.
They arrived in Santo
Domingo, the capital of the
Dominican Republic. From
there they traveled to
Consuelo, a sugar mill town
of approximately 20,000
people.
Brad Murray and
roommate, Joel Murraj+ from
St. Marys, stayed with the
Sanchez family. The family
consisted of a grandpa and
grandma, a mon and dad
who worked away, two
brothers aged eight and 14,
and a sister aged 11. Their
"mom" provided good food
mainly consisting of rice,
chicken, a melted cheese on
a bun (something like a
grilled cheese) and crispy
papaya chips, something like
french fries.
Brad describes how one
morning for breakfast their
mom served them french
fries thinking they might be
missing their home.
Michelle Flanagan and her
roommate, Janelle Wydeven
from St. Marys, stayed with
grandma Elena, and an 11 -
year -old sister Cindy.
Six other people who lived
in that house were away
working a lot. As Michelle
describes it, you never knew
for sure who was part of the
family, because the
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neighbourhood is very open
and and relatives and friends
were welcome at any time to
drop in.
In Michelle's words, the
visitors were welcomed with
open arms and treated like
• gold.
Brad tells of meeting
Sister Anne Nolen,
originally from the Seaforth
area, who has spent most of
her life in Consuelo. Brad
describes her as an amazing
women; so quiet spoken that
one really has to listen to
hear what she has to say. In
describing the scepticism
with which the idea of a
school was originally
greeted, she tells the story of
how the school got started.
The people didn't believe
that their young people could
go to school or would ever
get anywhere because they
were "just Dominicans".
It was a struggle against
their negative mind set.
The sisters would get the
school started, only to have
parents take their children
out of school to go to work.
Their first graduating class
consisted of eight students.
The next year, they had
300. The enrollment
increased and now, they have
an elementary school and a
high school.
The teachers sacrifice their
time as they are not paid by
the government.
Sister Anne counseled the
visiting young people to do
one thing everyday to make
that day count. It doesn't
matter what you do, just
make it count.
Brad describes Consuelo
as "busy." Their family
lived on a hill called "La
Loma" in the town. The
visitors used motor-conchos
to travel from home to one
of the churches in either San
Pedro or San Lucas where
they met every day before
travelling out to their various
destinations for the day. The
highlight of the first day was
attending mass in Spanish
where the visitors were --
welcomed into the
community.
The following days
included visits to the batteys,
which are villages where the
Haitian workers live and
work like slaves cutting the
sugar cane.
A day was spent at the
schoolhouse on one of the
batteys where the children
sang songs with gestures for
the visitors. Our young
people responded with
"skinny marink" and the
"hokey pokey" to the delight
of the Haitian children.
They soon became good
friends as the children
became their guides for the
day, showing them all
around the battey. In spite of
their impoverish conditions
the people are happy, and
though they have very little,
they offered it all to the
visitors.
Brad relates to an incident
from their day in the battey.
A team of oxen spooked
and started heading toward
their group. The local
children all ran to get out of
the way.
One little Haitian boy was
holding onto the hand of one
of the girls in their group.
The girl wasn't moving as
fast because she hadn't
realized the danger she was
in. Instead of releasing her
hand and taking off, this
amazing little boy grabbed
hold of her free hand and
pulled her along to make her
move faster. This little boy
didn't even know her name,
yet was willing to risk his
own safety to make sure she
was going to be safe.
"I felt like I should have
felt sorry for them, but I
couldn't because they are so
happy," says Brad.
Some of the drawbacks
described by Brad included
the people not having
enough to eat. Also, living
conditions on the batteys
where six to eight men call a
room 8 feet by 10 feet.,
home are far from
acceptable.
The Canadian young
people went into the store on
the battey and each spent 40
pesos to buy three days
worth of food. Their
purchases included a small
bag of rice, some beans and
cooking oil which they gave
to the schoolhouse teacher
on the battey, who in turn
distributed the food to the
most needy families;
Brad notes that it probably
would be enough food for
three days for them, but by
our standards, it wouldn't be
enough for any one of us.
Before leaving Canada the
students held a packing day
at St. Michael, where
supplies donated by local
people were separated into
groups of medications,
school supplies, sanitary
supplies and baby clothes.
Each person travelling to the
Dominican Republic took
two suitcases. One suitcase
was for themselves, but the
second suitcase was filled
with these supplies for the
people. Upon arriving in the
Dominican Republic, the
supplies were given to Dean
Riley, one of the people who
sets up the poverty
awareness trip. --He in-tur-n;-
sees that the supplies
brought down are distributed
to the most needy families.
While a good portion of
time was spent on the
batteys, the travelers also
saw other parts of the town
of Consuelo and the capital,
Santo Domingo. The sugar
cane factory in Consuelo
remains shut down. It had
been closed by the
government causing the
workers on the batteys to
worry about where the cut
cane could be processed, and
how it might affect their
livelihood.
The factory was
privatized, bought by
Mexicans, and then shut
down by the government.
The cane cut by the
workers on the batteys is
being shipped to other
places, so there is still work.
In the capital of Santo
Domingo, the travelers
toured past a fenced -in sweat
shop and were told by
guards they couldn't go in
unless they worked there.
A fun day for the travelers
was spent at the beach. Brad
and Joel took the two
brothers from the family
where they were staying
with them for the day.
Brad described Columbus
Monument, a museum in
Santo Domingo.
Nine years ago. the area
was home to as many as
100,000 people. Their
homes were demolished to
make this beautiful
monument for the tourist.
Every weekend. at night.
hydro power is taken from
the poorest sections of the
city where the children run
barefoot in the streets and
play with garbage on the
side of the road, to power
this magnificent monument
so that a cross can he
projected into the sky to he
seen for miles around.
The visitors also noticed
the quite striking difference
from the section where
wealthier people live in huge
mansions surrounded by up •
to one kilometre in lawns
and green space. to the
sections where the same one
kilometre would provide
living space for up to
100,000 people.
In spite of overwhelming
obstacles. the people are
happy.
Michelle reflects that in
the batteys, the people are
always smiling.
Brad describes the strange
sensation of waking up in a
different bed enclosed in a
bug net, wandering into a
strange kitchen where a lady
who doesn't speak any
English is busy preparing
your breakfast, and having
her put everything down to
give you a great big hug.
On their last evening
there. a big neighbourhood
party was held. This was a
pot luck party with music.
dancing and a talent show •
with skits. All the families
who had billeted the visitors
participated.
For Michelle. the
experience is too hard to put
into words. Since each
individual experiences the
trip differently. she says that
one has to experience it for
themselves.
Her sister. Tara. and
brother, Jeff. have each
travelled to the Dominican
Republic. In hearing about -
their experience. Michelle
says she may have had more
preparation than most. but
still not nearly enough.
Brad said that one impact
for him was in changing his
priorities, learning to live for
the moment. not stress for
tomorrow.
He hopes to have more
time for those he loves. and
for those who love him: He
wants to be there for his
friends when they need
someone to listen. Michelle
explains that it is really hard
to adapt to being hack home.
So much is taken for granted
like hot showers or being
able to turn on a Tight switch
when we enter a room.
After his return. Brad and
a friend were watching the
TV program "Survivor".
Brad was struck by the
paradox that the Haitians
working in the cane fields
have to do this just to
survive. while the great
North American pop culture
sends people to do the same
thing to compete for a
million dollars
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