This post features student writing.

We have arrived to La Guazara, our host village! We were immediately welcomed by all of the locals with a bienvenida (welcome celebration), which included dinner, various speeches, and dancing! Afterwards, we settled into the community high school, which will be our home for the next several weeks. All of our meals are cooked by a few local women here at the school kitchen where we eat together. La Guazara has been such an inviting community to all of us in many ways. It is small, so everyone knows each other by name and acts as a family. They are an agricultural community, and although they do not have the luxuries we are used to (like electricity sometimes), they are all happy and love their community.

Our main project we are working on is cementing the floors of 20 houses here in the community. Each day we split into two work groups to accomplish two or more houses per day, along with the help of locals, the homeowners and many kids! Not only are we working on our main project, but all 14 of us are going to do individual projects to pursue for our own interests. As well as all of the prioritized projects, the local children are a job in itself. They are all so adorable and love having us here to play with them! They enjoy hanging out and also working alongside us.

Once work is finished each day, we rest, play with the kids, explore the village, and learn from the locals. It gives us time to wind down and further immerse ourselves in the culture. Yesterday, we went to the nearby river to cool off while being accompanied by some of the locals, which was a long walk but a lot of fun. After working hard for several days now, we are all very excited to depart early tomorrow morning for Jarabacoa where we will stay for the next two nights. It is a cooler climate in the mountains. We plan to go horseback riding, whitewater rafting, hiking, and relax! We are all so excited to explore a new part of the Dominican Republic!

— Josie & Emily