Graduation Day

Saturday was Graduation Day for my Engineers Club. We started meeting back in January, doing a different science activity/experiment each week and I told them way back when that we would graduate in 12 weeks. They didn't forget.

In Dominican culture it is very important to have these graduations, ceremonies, etc, to recognize the work one does. There must always be an end goal. Very little doing something for something's sake. So although we still have many experiments left to do and will continue meeting weekly, a graduation was to be had.

In was a simple ceremony in which we discussed the work we have done. My boys who went to Engineers Camp talked about their experience in the mountains of Jarabacoa. We did an example of an experiment (Lava Lamps) for the audience of invited parents, siblings and random community members. Certificates were given to the graduates and we had the obligatory brindis, which is a small snack (in this case soda and cookies) for all attendees.

It was a fun day and the boys enjoyed being recognized for their work (and the cookies).

The graduates and invited guests.

A select few showing off multi-colored 'Lava Lamps'

With their certificates.

International Women's Day

March 8^th marked the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s Day. In recognition of that milestone, volunteers around the DR put together numerous activities to celebrate the big day.

Here in the Eastern region of the DR, we waited until the 28^th of March to celebrate but better late than never. Two female volunteers organized an extremely interesting event in which girls from 7 different volunteer’s communities would take photos of women in their lives and put them on display.

Our youth rarely get the opportunity to express themselves in an artistic manner and have certainly never been to a museum, art gallery or art exhibit of any kind. The photos the girls took were hung on display in a community center, along with a caption explaining the photo, for all to see and enjoy.

Along with the photo exhibit, volunteers facilitated a writing workshop in which the girls learned about prose, poetry and letter writing. The girls wrote their own original pieces and shared their writing and/or their photos with the group.

This is not an easy country in which to be a woman. No country is I suppose. If it were easy we wouldn’t need days like International Women’s Day in order to recognize the achievements of women and examine the gender inequality that continues to exist in the world. That said, the DR is tough for females. It is always very encouraging and empowering to see young girls come together in this country and get the opportunity to have fun, be unique, learn new skills and do the things we so take for granted in the US of A.

This was one of the encouraging and empowering days.

The Cachena group doing the Aplauso del Pelotero

Prose Writing Activity

My Girls with their Photos

Soy Ingeniero

I just made it back from a 4-day camp with 3 muchachos from my Engineering Club. Twelve volunteers and 32 boys aged 11-14ish spent a Thursday to Sunday high up in the mountains teaching, learning, swimming, playing and feeling colder than any of these boys had in their entire life.

The Engineers Camp, Soy Ingeniero, was held in Armando Bermudez National Park in La Cienaga, Jarabacoa. La Cienaga is among the highest towns in the Dominincan Republic (and the Caribbean) and the primary set off point for hikers heading to Pico Duarte, the highest mountain in the Caribbean. It is an entirely different world than what most of our kids are used to with thick, green forests, ice cold rivers and very chilly nights.

We spent the week doing interesting science experiments like building mousetrap cars, building boats of recycled materials, doing density and chemistry experiments, learning about robotics and more. They also did numerous teambuilding activities including having to climb a 10-foot wall as a team and pass through a “spider web” that volunteers put together in trees. There were campfires with s’mores, dips in an ice-cold river, HIV/AIDS activities and intense competition amongst the 4 teams of boys.

I have now been to around 10 youth camps and conferences and Soy Ingeniero definitely stands out above the rest. The boys were able to experience a place they never have before and, for many of them, a place they’ll never experience again. The boys were well behaved and engaged in the activities before them. The volunteers facilitated fun and interesting activities and the kids ate up the material.

It was among the few camps in which at the end of the weekend, the boys are sad to be going home and the volunteers aren’t burnt out and ready leave. Everything went well and my 3 Engineers are eager to share the new experiments with the club.

*Pictures forthcoming