Day 8

Saturday, September 10

 

Our final full day in the Dominican Republic. We woke up early, had our final breakfast on the top floor of the hotel.. packed our bags into the van.. and left for Santo Domingo!

 

Hannlex, our very entertaining, full-of-life engineer who joined us for the week, made sure to entertain us to the very last minute.  His laughter was absolutely contagious and his energy filled our trip with happiness.

 

We went directly to the beach, where we had lunch on the sand just feet from the ocean. We enjoyed pina coladas, rum drinks, swimming in the ocean, and lounging in the sand.

 

 

After our beach day, we returned to Hotel Mercure, back where our adventure started just one week before. We walked around town, up and down the streets filled with shops and souvenirs. On our bus ride from San Juan de la Maguana, we had stopped at a roadside shop where we purchased our very own Pilons to bring home with us as souvenirs as well!

Lisa, Iris, and Natalie went on a hunt for a doctor that could cut Lisa's cast off and write a note for her to be able to fly. It was harder than expected since it was a Saturday, but they were able to get it done so Lisa could make the trip home on Sunday.

That evening we went to a fun dinner spot in Santo Domingo called El Conuco. Delicious food and drinks, and fun dancing! They had professional dancers performing and each of us took our shot at merengue on the dance floor.

Back at the hotel, we spent our last evening together as a group. Natalie and Hannlex presented us with certificates of appreciation. We said goodbye to one another with tears for the amazing experience we all shared together this week.

 

 

It was an unforgettable week, one that we will all cherish forever and one that has touched each of our hearts for the rest of our lives. Thank you Dominican Republic for welcoming us with open arms. Thank you Iris and Anne for leading us the whole way through. Thank you Habitat DR, Natalie, Hannlex, and Roberto for the work you do in your community and for making it so enjoyable for all of us to be there, and thank you to our entire team for being the best team ever!!

 

Day 7

Friday, September 9

 

Our final day of building! Today we mortared the cement walls together using some serious teamwork! Many of us were up on ladders or crouching down filling the holes and gaps of the walls. Followed by other coming in behind to smooth out the mortar using water and sponges. Once the mortar dried, Suave the painter instructed us all how to paint the home and we began the final stage!

A bright blue paint on the exterior and a calming yellow on the interior. Suave kept us all in line and made sure we all had a job to be done. Lisa was able to join us again today on site and did some great painting between entertaining the kiddos with bubbles.

 

 

 

We did it!! We built a home!! What a neat thing to experience in just 5 short days... we saw the site go from a dirt ground, all the way to a home with windows, walls, doors, and paint! After we completed the work, we gathered around and Corradin, the grandfather of the family, shared with us is gratitude. He said people used to laugh at him when we said he would one day have a home for his family, but he always said his Faith in God would lead him to have a home one day. And here we stood in front of his him. The family was filled with joy and their kind eyes and smiles shown brightly.

 

Thank you Habitat for Humanity and Thrivent for this amazing experience and for changing this family's life forever!

 

Friday evening, we had dinner at a local restaurant with the family from the other build site. We also celebrated out team member Chris' birthday! Balloons, singing, and delicious chocolate cake. It was a celebration!

 

 

Day 6

Thursday, September 8

 

Thursday brought us back to our original build site from Monday. On our way out to the site, we would see lots of different animals (cows pictured below). And on site, we were often greeted by pigs, goats, dogs, and cats.

 

We spent the day assembling the walls of the home. It was a series of cement slabs, held together by metal frames.  We used our learning from the cement factory to be able to find the pieces the masons needed to assemble the walls. The walls all went up today!

 

 

After our day on site, we returned back to the hotel for our reflection meeting and then went out for Pizza and Baseball! The pizza was delicious (we weren't sure what to expect for Dominican pizza, but it was great!).  After pizza, we went and watched two men's league softball teams play a double-header of fast-paced, hard-hitting, quick base-running, exciting softball. Here we learned about the air high fives, which became a team (especially Hannlex) favorite. 

 

 



Day 5

Wednesday, September 7

 

Today we spent the day on a separate build site. This site belongs to a family of 4 (mother, father, 2 sons) and another son on the way.  They received a microloan from an organization that allowed this home to be built for them. We arrived on site, where the ground had been prepped for us to lay rebar.

 

For many of us, it was our first time tying rebar together. We pieced it together using metal ties and a special twisting tool. One by one, we laid the rebar down in the ditches.  Once the rebar was all laid, we assembled it together in the ditch and then added the vertical rebar (not very technical construction terms here).  After the rebar was all set, we started the process of making and pouring the cement. This was very hard manual labor and we tag teamed shoveling gravel and sand, wheel-barrowing, and pouring the cement. Luckily, we had many pros and helpful workers on site that guided us.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, today was the day our team member Lisa went to the doctor to get her foot checked out. She had rolled her foot on a little step-down on the stairwell at the hotel. Many of us had tripped or stumbled over it, because it was very hard to see. By Wednesday, Lisa's foot had begun to bruise and swell, so they insisted on her going to get it checked out. Low and behold, a fracture to the outside of her right foot. Lisa, Iris, and Natalie spent a few hours at the hospital and returned with a cast on Lisa's foot. She was in great spirits and allowed us all to draw all over her cast after dinner.

 

In the evening, after our reflection meeting, Natalie gave us a lesson in the traditional dance of Merengue! We watched videos, listened to the music, and she gave us a demonstration. Our team member Chris was the brave sole who jumped up and volunteered to try out merengue with Natalie, it was a great time!

 

 

Day 4

Tuesday, September 6

 

Our second day of work in San Juan de la Maguana was spent at the cement factory. We don't have any pictures to add this day yet, so be on the lookout for other posts that will contain pictures from the cement factory.

 

The cement factory is where they make all of the slabs that form the walls of homes. We were split into teams... one to make the cement using the large cement mixer operated by a generator (where the team poured water, concrete mix, gravel, and sand into the barrel and created the cement; then transported it over to the covered area by wheelbarrow and shoveled it into the cement slab forms).  And the other team would then move the cement around in the forms using different tools to shake out the air pockets, fill in the corners and borders, and smooth over the top. The cement slabs were separated by metal sheets covered in diesel so they would not stick when dried.

 

After we completed a full set of cement slabs (possibly set the record for the most made by a team?!?), they took us out to the backyard where they stored all of the completed cement slabs.  We learned their names (ocho ocho, guitaro, ocho quatro, etc.) so that when it came time for us to assemble the home on Thursday, we would know what the masons needed when they called out the names.

 

Following our full day of work at the factory, we returned back to the hotel. We met for reflection time, before being taught how to make Mofongo by our Habitat DR trip leader Natalie. We all had a chance to make the Mofongo, using the pilon (mortar and pestle), fried plaintains, chicharrones, and seasoning.

 

We finished up the evening with dinner at the hotel, which was served each night on the top floor of the hotel. The top floor was glass windows over looking the beautiful mountains and sunsets of San Juan de le Maguana.

Day 3

Monday, September 5

Here we go! Pictured above is our team in the hotel lobby before we hopped in the vans for our first day of building. We gathered in the hotel lobby to apply lots of bug spray and sunscreen, then loaded into 2 vans and drove about 20 minutes to the build site. We were all excited and full of energy, ready to get started!

We made it to the build site where the ground had been cleared and leveled, all prepared for us to lay the foundation. We soon found out that the family's former home, which was built mainly out of smaller pieces of wood, was taken down just days before in order to prepare for the new home. The old home had a dirt floor, no bathroom inside, 1 room for the family of 6, and frequently leaked when it rained.

We were introduced to the beautiful family... The grandparents, the pregnant mother, and the children. The grandfather spoke about their appreciation for us to be there to build their new home. He spoke about his motivation to work, which was simply to be able to feed the family, and told us that the father of the children had recently been killed by thunder (lightning). Despite these conditions, which were very eye opening to us, the whole family was kind, joyful, appreciative, and full of love. The children played throughout the day, often giving us smiles, hugs, and high fives. They colored on whatever they could find and made games from anything laying around. Neighbors stopped by throughout the day and we could all feel the sense of community and support.

 

Our workday was filled with tough physical labor. We laid rebar, stacked rocks to hold the cement in,  shoveled gravel and sand into the cement mixer, wheelbarrowed the mixed cement into the foundation area, and smoothed the cement over. It was in the direct sunlight and we had to take many, many water breaks, however every single minute was worth it as we all worked together to serve this beautiful family.

 

 

 

Our cultural activity for tonight was a tour of the town of San Juan de la Maguana. We had a great tour guide who took us around to see the sites and told us the history of the town. Following the tour, we returned back to our hotel for dinner. It was a wonderful first day.

Day 2

Sunday, September 4

Here is our team in the Colonial City, Santo Domingo.

Top row, left to right: Tim, Lisa, Iris (team leader!), Tor

Staggered bottom row: Chris, Emmi, Chelsie, Kristina, Anne, Bryan

Our first full day in the Dominican Republic was today. We woke up and had a delicious buffet breakfast at Hotel Mercure before heading out for a walking tour of the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo. Our tour guide, Evelyn, told us all sorts of interesting facts and information about the history of the country and the city. From the indigenous Taino people to Christopher Columbus and early settlers, to kings and queens and all the way to the current President. She told us about the symbolic architecture, like the balls that represented the favorite pearl necklace of the queen and the ropes around the doorway that represent the ropes from the belt of priests. Balconies are only on newer buildings because years ago they  would never dream of putting themselves in harms way, such as a poisonous arrow. Many of the buildings were made of coral, showing fossils of shells from many years ago. The city is currently being revitalized by the government to restore the history and beauty.  

  

  

After our tour of the city, we said goodbye to Evelyn and had lunch at Hotel Mercure. After another great meal, we piled into our comfortable bus for the 3 hour trip out to San Juan de la Maguana! On the bus, our Global Village Coordinator, Natalie, introduced us to the two engineers who would accompany us for the week- Alex and Roberto. They are so friendly and we are excited to have them on our team for the week.

We made one quick stop at a supermarket (very similar to a Walmart), named Bani, where we stocked up on snacks, used the atm, and Natalie bought us delicious corn pudding and dolce de leche fruit snacks.

We arrived in San Juan de la Maguana around 5:30pm and checked into Hotel El Libano, our home away from home for the next week!

After settling in, a few of us went on walks to check out the town before we all found our way back to the upstairs dining room for dinner and orientation with Natalie, Roberto, and Alex. After orientation, we realized we had a full week ahead so off to bed for a good nights sleep. Work begins tomorrow! Buenos noches!!

Day 1

September 3, 2016

This morning a team of 10 people hopped on planes from Washington, Oregon, California, Kansas, Indiana, and Nebraska with a destination of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. That team of 10 people are all set to embark on a journey through the Dominican Republic to help build homes for families in the town of San Juan de la Manguana. We couldn't be more excited to partner with the great people at Habitat para la Humanidad Republica Dominicana.

After long, but smooth flights... We arrived!!! The first group arrived around 3pm and the second around 9pm.  We were warmly greeted by our amazing host coordinator Natalie at the airport and taken to Hotel Mercure in La Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo. The group that had been volunteering the week before us was at the hotel and a few of us were able to meet them and get some tips and tricks for the upcoming week. We had our first team dinner together, began to get to know one another over authentic Dominican food and flan and fresh fruit dessert.., but were soon off to catch some much needed Z's. It was a great first day... Stay tuned for what's in store for the next week!