Service in the Dominican Republic enhances learning

By KELLY DONNELLY, Special to the Enterprise
TUPPER LAKE — A group of 10 Siena College students went to the Dominican Republic on a service trip recently, with Dr. Shannon O’Neill, director of the Sister Thea Bowman Center for Women, and Brother Larry Anderson, OFM, an instructor in the Foundations first year program at the college. The group volunteered with a team of Franciscan Sisters.

Everyone on the trip found the whole experience eye-opening, as we had a chance to live and serve in an incredible nation that is so different from our own. The community we served was extremely impoverished.

The roads are dirt or in great need of repair. Most of the houses are made of different metals (mostly rusted) that are pieced together, have one or two rooms and gaping holes in the ceilings and walls. There are piles of trash everywhere.

Overall, the people own hardly any material possessions. Yet, amid this poverty they were phenomenally faith filled and happy.

On the first day, when we were at Mass, tons of children came up and hugged us before they even really met us. Throughout the week, we were continually impressed with how much everyone in the community welcomed us and were willing to give and do for one another, despite the hardships they faced.

We were all amazed with how much the Sisters do for the community. The children only go to school for half a day, so the Sisters run a before-school program for the children who attend school in the afternoon and an after-school program for those who attend school in the morning. Without this program, most of the children would be left alone on the incredibly unsafe streets without any supervision.

The Sisters also run a health clinic that provides needed medical supplies and care for the immediate community and some of the surrounding communities. They run a baseball program for boys, which is an incentive for them to remain in school, as well as giving them a safe activity to participate in.

In learning about all of these programs, we were all inspired to see how much the Sisters had truly implemented programs that served the unique needs of the community. Everything was done with practicality in mind, and they made sure that the community’s needs were met in an extremely sensitive manner.

Before going to the Dominican Republic, we collected supplies to be used in the medical clinic and by the children. We planned and led activities for the children in the before and after-school programs, helped out with some English classes for older children, and helped in the medical clinic.

We were amazed with how incredible the children were. Materially, they had virtually nothing, and yet they were so filled with joy! They were incredibly kind-hearted towards everyone, and grateful for the tiniest things.

One of the activities we led was an Easter egg hunt, where each child received a plastic egg filled with some candy. The kids were absolutely ecstatic when they found the eggs; it is impossible to describe just how excited and grateful the kids were. This gratitude and excitement carried through in all of the activities.

The whole Siena group commented on how fortunate we felt to meet all the people we encountered. It was a joy and a privilege to spend time with each of the people we had a chance to serve. Our whole experience was phenomenal, and it is clear that each person who went was inspired by everything and everyone we encountered, and made memories that will last a lifetime.

Kelly Donnelly, who is studying English education at Siena College, will be a student teacher at Tamarac Middle School and Columbia High School this fall.