Project to the Dominican Republic

Morgan Trelease
Office of Learning Abroad
July 12, 2017-July 28, 2017

Project Summary
For my project, I went to the Dominican Republic for
a total of 16 days. In those 16 days, I spent time in
both Santiago and Santo Domingo. The bulk of my
project was spent in Santiago where I worked with a
group of 25 others from the United States and helped
locals expand a medical clinic. We worked Monday
through Friday from about 9 in the morning to 3 in
the afternoon, and every 4th day of work I had the
opportunity to teach an English class to some locals.

On the worksite, we learned many construction tasks.

We added height to cinder block walls, we mixed
concrete and plaster in the middle of the road using
shovels to keep the water from escaping, and we
slapped and smoothed plaster to the walls. Four local
workers, Felix, Rafael, Chico, and Senior Garcia
mentored us through every job and task.
The picture above is the group from the English class,
including the other teachers. On the far left is my favorite
student, a boy named Samuel. Every day after English
class, Samuel would hang out at our worksite to see how
we spoke, so he could continue to learn more English.

Project Highlights
Meeting local Dominicans and interacting with
them even though we spoke different languages
Teaching English to children and some adults
After working in the Dominican Republic, I have
changed how I look at the things in my life. The
humility of the people in the Dominican
Republic has impacted my view of the world.
My project taught me a lot about not only
working hard, but continually working hard. I The picture above is the worksite. When we first started
learned that it is easier to work hard when there at the worksite, all the walls looked like the one on the
is a good reason. far left, and the wall on the far left did not even exist.

From My Journal
We are at the point at the worksite where all we do is plaster the walls. I will
never look at a plastered wall the same. There is so much you have to do to
make the wall look perfect. And Felix doesnt accept anything but perfect.