Day 2, Part 2: First day of work!

We began our morning with a tour of Rancho Baiguate, the sustainable eco-lodge where we are spending the first half of our trip. In addition to providing lodging and outdoor adventure recreation for volunteers and tourists, the lodge is committed to environmental sustainability. They grow much of the produce served to visitors, much of the waste produced by the livestock is biodigested in order to generate energy, and the mini horses are... well, they're cute. After the tour we did a low ropes course. The seniors beat the underclassmen, in case you were wondering!

After lunch, we ventured into El Limón, the community in which we'll be working. This community, located in the mountains outside of Jarabacoa, is home to about fifteen families who are currently living without access to running water. Our task is to create an aqueduct that will bring water from an existing source to these homes. The task is relatively simple: dig a hole, place a stretch of PVC piping, attached end to end with industrial rubber cement, in the hole, then fill with dirt. The terrain, however, did not make the job easy. This pipeline skirts the main "road" through El Limón, and the ground is hard and rocky. On the bright side, much of the area is shaded, we had a nice breeze throughout the afternoon, and the view is nothing short of spectacular. Armed with pickaxes and shovels, we surprised ourselves with the progress we were able to make in one afternoon. We are excited to spend a full day in El Limón, learning more about Juanito, one of the community members, and his friends, while pushing ourselves to complete as much of the pipeline as we can.

After dinner we had a thought-provoking discussion about our experiences with community service, the challenges involved in helping those who live outside of your own culture and community, and our hopes for this experience. The group is doing good work, not just in terms of digging trenches, but also in terms of beginning to think deeply about the experience. Below you'll find a reflection from Brigie '18, about her first day on the job in El Limón.

What I saw today hit me very hard. This community's living conditions were nothing like I have ever seen before. Living without running water is something I could never imagine. When I realized that we would be giving people a life necessity that they did not have, I knew that we were making a huge impact on this community's life. You know you are making an enormous impact on the community when an 82 year old native starts going at a tree root with a pickaxe. After only 2 1/2 hours, I realized how important our service is in the D.R. I look forward to finishing the aqueduct while we all put in 110%, plus some. I know the outcome will be substantial.