On Global Citizenship
During my time in the Dominican Republic and working with Outreach 360, one of the biggest things I learned was the importance of being fully integrated into the culture and life of the community you are in. When I think back on my time in the Dominican Republic, I wish I had spent more time outside of the facilities we stayed in and explored, at least to the areas we could, where we were staying. I felt that most of the time we had was very centered around my St. Mark’s group and while I enjoyed playing the many card games during our breaks when there was not much to do, I could’ve spent that time talking to people and learning more. One of the moments I remembered most was when we were playing catch in the park and played with some of the locals in the area. Although there was a little bit of a language barrier because of my Spanish 1 skills, I enjoyed interacting with kids my age. It was a good experience because I was learning from them similar to how the students, at the school we worked at, were learning from us. Especially when it comes to community service aboard, there is a mindset of being the person that is going in and making everything better, which I realize is not only a conceited perspective, but it does not exude any kind of global citizenship. Doing community service should be about helping to address challenges communities have and going to understand how life works around those challenges because a community is more than just its challenges.
On Cultural Appreciation
I remember the day before we left the Dominican Republic. I was sad because not only would I have to leave the kids we spent the week getting to know and teaching, but I would miss the meals and dancing in the learning center. Every day I journaled about the days I had in the Dominican Republic and on every single one of those days I wrote down the meals we had. The meals we had were beyond good and I will appreciate them to this day. The best thing about food is that it can be a connecting factor between two different cultures. Food can tell you so much about a culture, such as what is normally available and eaten in the area, traditional cooking styles, and which are considered celebratory. In terms of dance, we learned bachata and merengue, these dances were fairly simple to get a hold of, but it is most definitely easy to tell the difference between someone who has grown up with those dances and me. This reminded me of certain dances I would teach to someone if they wanted to learn about my culture, which made me appreciate them taking the time out to accept even our worst moves. This gave me a deep appreciation for food, dance, and music in the Dominican Republic.
Here is a poem dedicated to the days we spent in the Dominican Republic and in the classrooms with students ranging from 1st to 6th grade.
Under the Pink Sun There Isn’t Always A Pencil
By Naila Strong
Lápiz,
A pencil,
The infamous piece of wood
And the sound of a small voice
Calling for a pencil, rang into my ears
Following from class to class, sheets of paper, blank of thought,
A room of noise and unapologetic laughter and abandoned seats scattered
All while some students sat silent, to place them on the top of a mountain and it’d remain undisturbed,
The instrument of readiness had not found its place with all to school when the sky came to a golden hue,
The morning alive with the call of the roosters that crept through the streets
And the sky awake with golds and yellows
And then some pink,
That embraced, the
Sun.
