I have only spent a few days here in the Dominican and I have already learned so much. Before I came here, I envisioned a place with extreme poverty. I quickly realized I was wrong. I learned that in the Dominican there is places of extreme poverty but there is also places and people of wealth.
On Monday, the first day of “normal” routine here, I was sent to Nueva Creacion to teach.
Billy, Derek, Rebecca, Brian (our chaperone) and I were all dropped off at the school to teach classes. I taught a Grade 4 and a Grade 8 class with Rebecca before break. All 5 of us then played a game of basketball with the students. After break Derek and I taught a very excited Grade 3 class. After a quiet lunch in a back room, to avoid bringing attention to our food, we headed out on a walk around town. We met a group of boys, who were all cousins, that loved showing off their muscles and playing tag.
A group of kids that had formed around us lead us on a tour around the town. We walked around houses that were inches apart made out of tin and rotten wood. None of us had seen houses like this in the Dominican so far. Most of the houses around the base were made out of concrete and painted with vibrant colours, some with cars parked on the streets. The houses around the base weren’t perfect, and a major step down to the houses we are use to living in, but they were definitely a step up from these houses. This was a side of the Dominican I had yet to see.
Just yesterday I had seen the opposite of this. On Sunday, after church we went to a mall that Rachael nicknamed “the bomb shelter.” (Mom, if you’re reading this, don’t worry it’s not too bad, it’s just a run down mall.) When the internet at the “bomb shelter” didn’t work a group of us made our way to a mall just 10 minutes up the road called the Blue Mall. This mall was really nice. It was nicer than most of the malls in Canada.The mall had security guards at everyone door with stores like Cartier and Louis Vuitton. Makayla and I were sitting off to one side of the mall, away from any stores or people, when a security guard came up to us and told us were couldn’t sit. He then followed us around the mall, even watching us when we were in the food court. Even before you walked into the mall you could tell it was really nice. I didn’t expect to find places like this in the Dominican.
These two opposite experiences has taught me a lot about the Dominican.
The Dominican is not all poverty and disparity. In the Dominican you can find places of extreme wealth, sometimes separated by steps from poverty. These situations can be found all over the world. In downtown Toronto you can find people without homes begging for money outside of an arena, where people can afford to pay hundreds of dollars to watch their favourite team play. I think many people will agree with me when I say that these situations are not what were would envision a “just society” to be like. Is a “just society” a place where everyone is equal? Is it a society that doesn’t contain such vast extremes? It is hard to know what a “just society” would look like. I believe that a “just society” is one where everyone is equal. A society where people are given the same opportunities. A society where everyone gets what they need, rather than some getting what they need and what they want, while others struggle for necessities.
It’s hard to know how to attain my ideal of a “just society.” It’s pretty much impossible. Every county has these problems and there is not a simple solution. I try my best to instead focus on what I can do to make a difference. However I know that the answer is not the rich giving fleeting help to those who need it. I know that giving kids some money or some food will not help them for long. What I can do is to give experiences and memories that they can take with them. I can try my best to create relationships. I try to start conversations with as many people and kids as I can. I try to carry the conversation as far as my Spanish will allow me and start games when there isn’t anymore to say. I know that these experiences and conversations probably mean more to me then they do to them, but they last longer than a sip of water or the food I have on me. I know I can’t solve world hunger or poverty but I can give those less fortunate than me something they can keep. I know I haven’t been in the Dominican long, but I have already learned so much and I’m excited to see what else this county has in store for me.
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