Dominican Republic Trip 2024

 Apologies, Blog followers, for the delay in posting the final chapter in this narrative.  After a full final Friday and a long, long day of travel, (and a busy Sunday morning back at my day job), I am back at the keyboard and eager to chronicle our last two days. We woke early on Friday and aftrer breakfast checked out of the wonderful Hostal Maria Yobon, filling the bus with all of our luggage and also many, many gifts for our friends at the Centro Educativo Altagracia. We made it to school on time for the opening, and were once again treated to a wonderful special presentation, a preview of the Independence Day celebrations planned for Tuesday.  It's one of the biggest days on the calendar in the DR.  There will be parades and festitivies across the country, and the students, backed by a phalanx of flags, spelled out the name of a revolutionary hero,  and acted out a drama depicting the earliest days of independence. Then came a wonderful speech in English by...

 Thanks so much to Nicole Lackie, who did the blogging for the last three days.  Your crusty veteran blogger Rob "El Pastor" Grasbill back here for the last blog from Cotui before we begin an extended trip home.  Good thing I am blogging, since Nicole was one of the real stars at the Altagracia school today! We got to school in time for our first "normal" opening ceremony.  Tuesday's was a welcome ceremony, Wednesday's was rained out,  and we will once again be celebrating (and saying goodbye) on Friday.  So today's was typical:  All of the students lined up in the big outdoor courtyard, the flag was raised as the kids sang along with the very long DR national anthem, and the students filed off to classes in two big lines, passing all of us and exchanging high fives, handshakes, and hugs.  Several of the students had made fan mail at home, and gave it to their favorite teachers. We gathered in the small room that has been our home base all week, f...

  February 21, 2024 “Today was an excellent day!” – Lewis Marte, translator for our group and former English teacher That quote truly sums up the experience I had in the Altagracia School today. In fact, it was so excellent that I had tears in my eyes – which isn’t an often occurrence for those that may not know me! It all started in Croydon, NH where I complained to my Superintendent, Dr. Frank Perotti, about wanting updated interactive boards in our school. Being Frank, he said ‘great! I know just what to do with the old ones!’ and so it began. Frank was able to work with the DR Project leader, Rita, and various local organizations to coordinate the shipping, funding and acceptance of three interactive boards to the Dominican Republic. We eagerly packed up the boards and he drove roughly 9 hours to a shipping port in New Jersey to send them on their way!  Fast forward and the DR Project is here in Cotui to begin receiving the boards and other donated goods that were shipped ...

 February 20, 2024 What a day! We had such an incredible day today at the local school, Centro Educativo Altagracia. We arrived to a sea of students (400+) who were beyond excited to see us (and us them). They surprised us with a morning assembly that featured singing, dancing, and various speeches. It started with the singing of the National Anthem of the Dominican Republic and then a singing of the National Anthem of the United States. Did you know there is more than one main verse to our National Anthem?! We didn’t, but we certainly do now! Afterwards, we introduced ourselves and were read a speech by one of the students welcoming us and thanking us for being at their school. The highlight of the event came next – dancing! There were two traditional dances that were demonstrated by a group of students in traditional Dominican Republic clothing. It was beautiful! Our next event was the moment we were all waiting for – working with the students on their English. We met several cla...

Today's post is again from Nicole Lackie (pictured below on the back of the motorcycle owned by Maribel, the nurse at the clinic in El Limon: The mountains were calling, and we HAD to go!   Today was a wonderful day filled with fresh air, an overabundance of fruit and a visit to the mountains! We had the opportunity to visit several villages and donate medical supplies, clothing, and household goods. Our first stop this morning was at a medical clinic where we met Maribel and her coworkers. We delivered supplies that will be used within her clinic and distributed throughout the local villages. Our group was humbled when we learned that some of our supplies were going directly to an injured person in that moment. It helped us all to recognize how crucial our visit and supplies truly are.  In thanks for our visit, Maribel and her coworkers showered us with fruit that was freshly picked from the trees at Maribel’s house. I had the incredible opportunity to ride with Maribel on he...

Today's Blog post is from Nicole Lackie, the Teaching Principal at Crodon Elementary School, a first-time DR Projects participant: February 18, 2024 Hola from Cotui!  After a day of travel and rest, we began our day today with a visit to the Iglesia Inmaculada Concepcion in Cotui. This is a beautiful church that inspires with its stunning marble, stained glass, and murals. Our group was led by the English teacher in Cotui and featured a 15 minute walk to and from the church. We had the opportunity to enjoy a Sunday service and were introduced to the congregation. Afterwards, we went to the town common and met Spiderman! This was a young boy that was celebrating his fourth birthday and was thrilled to show off his skills as Spiderman. Seeing him was a true joy for our group!  A particular joy for me was taking a visit to the local reservoir to watch the sun set last night. We were able to meet the director of the local school as well as a few teachers that work there. I had the...