UHS Participates in
Service Learning Project
UHS teachers, Penny Hanna and Grace Mitchell,
accompanied UHS student, Cody Bralts-Steindl, on a trip
to the Dominican Republic in June of 2007. The trip was
a service learning project organized by the Center for Global
Studies at the University of Illinois.
UHS participants stayed in Santiago and worked
on projects in Batey Libertad. A batey is a predominantly
Haitian migrant worker community, often with limited access
to infrastructure, like potable water, garbage pickup, electricity,
or to healthcare and social services. Batey Libertad is
in the Cibao region of the Dominican Republic (about 45
minutes away from Santiago by bus). It is situated on a
small piece of government property, surrounded by private
land. Batey Libertad has a large, established population
of about 1,000 Dominicans and Haitians who work in the rice
fields nearby. The fields used to be devoted to sugar cane,
but as the sugar market has collapsed, many fields have
been converted to other crops. The community works reguarly
with NGOs and student and service groups on community improvement
projects. Service projects are determined by the community,
not the external organization. The projects UHS was involved
with -- building a house, reforestation, clearing land for
eventual creation of a community garden, and working with
local women on their candle-making enterprise -- were selected
because of local need and because of our stated interest
in learning about sustainable development.
Students earned money to assist in
projects for the community. One fund raiser was the sale
of shade-grown, organic coffee grown in the Dominican Republic.
To get a feel for what the trip meant
to the students that went visit the Blog
done by the students when they were in the Dominican Republic.
This is the family with
whom UHS students worked to build a new house at Batey
Libertad in the Dominican Republic. Yanlico is the
young man on the left in the yellow shirt. He is a
college student in the D.R. and helps Jon Erickson,
a faculty member at Univ. of Vermont with some of
his projects. Jon has been assisting the group with
coordinating the trip, and Yanlico was the group's
contact person while there. |
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Picture from www.bateylibertad.org |
Tentative Itinerary:
6/15 - Arrive in Santiago, settle in at Hotel Colonial, check
out the city a bit and rest from travel.
6/16 - Day 1 at Batey Libertad. Tour, meet with community,
start projects. Return to Santiago in the evening.
6/17 - Day 2 at Batey Libertad. Continue with projects. Sunday
is church day, so opportunities to visit, etc. Soccer in the
afternoon. Perhaps a good day for overnight with families
and vodou presentation in the evening - or return to Santiago
in the evening.
6/18 - Day 3 at Batey Libertad. Continue with projects. Late
afternoon, leave for Cabarete.
6/19 - Down time at the beach in Cabarete. Swimming, snorkeling,
sunbathing, etc. Visit with DREAM either in morning or afternoon.
Stay in Cabarete.
6/20 - Visit DREAM project at Batey Caraballo. Return to
Santiago in the evening.
6/21 - Day 4 at Batey Libertad. Continue with projects, etc.
Return to Santiago in the evening.
6/22 - Day 5 at Batey Libertad. Continue with projects, etc.
Return to Santiago in the evening.
6/23 - Day 6 at Batey Libertad. Continue with projects, etc.
Overnight at Batey Libertad or return to Santiago in the evening.
6/24 - Day 7 at Batey Libertad. Continue with projects, host
a soccer tournament, going away party, etc. Return to Santiago
in the evening.
6/25 - Travel to Finca Alta Gracia (organic coffee farm).
Visit waterfall on the way. Overnight in Finca.
6/26 - Day at the farm (Finca), various activities around
organic agroforestry themes, etc. Overnight at Finca.
6/27 - Morning activities at farm. Slowly return to Santiago.
Overnight in Santiago.
6/28 - Day in Santiago, flex day, etc. Overnight in Santiago.
6/29 - Fly home. |
