For Encuentro Family & Friends
Videos & Blogs
Visitor's Guidebook
The Visitor's Guidebook has information about visiting an Encuentro Dominicano student including reserving space at ILAC and places to visit while in the Dominican Republic.
Visitor's Guidebook
Videos
Follow the link below to see an Encuentro Dominicano video created by John O'Keefe, Ph.D., a professor of Theology at Creighton University.
http://www.oakswing.com/Oakswing/Encuentro.html
Click on the links below to see videos made by Encuentro Spring 2010 student, Kate Dorman. Kate has her own video production company called, K(re)8 Productions
Dominican Republic part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnakuLJ33iY&feature=channel
Dominican Republic part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQqLbxZlPfA
Dominican Republic part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbELwnb4Zn0
Domincan Republic part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCZHoEJfivk
Dominican Republic part 5
Blogs
January 24, 2010
From Juli-Ann Gaspar, Associate Professor of Finance and sister Jean Holt, who taught a Microfinance course and incorporated students into their research while in the Dominican Republic.
"Interviews"
We had the first family interviews this afternoon. I think the students felt frustrated that they could not understand more and really excited about what they could understand. I do remember my first interviews when I did my study on hope?and the second and third; Dominican Spanish can be a challenge and the background noise makes it so much worse! But, ultimately, I totally fell in love with the Dominican people and with opportunities to hear about their lives. I hope some of these students will feel the same. Anyway, all the groups seemed to have done a good job and understood a lot of what they heard, even a couple of students who have very little Spanish yet. We will do the model-building on Tuesday and see what they got (I am really looking forward to that!). Juli and I will need to do some listening tomorrow and more on Tuesday morning.
As you may remember, the other organization we planned to work with cancelled out on us. When we told the folks at Fondesa about it, they were surprised and annoyed (at the other organization) and immediately jumped in to offer to arrange 6 more interviews for next Sunday?I don?t know how their boss is going to react. Rafael will get in touch with us on Wednesday to confirm arrangements.
These 3 loan officers were the sweetest gentlemen ever. They worked with us to arrange getting students to families. In order to accomplish all 6 interviews, we had some delays for some of the students. I had figured they could sit in the shade in the park?which is what they did but these guys did not believe that was a safe thing to do. So they worked it out so that one of them was always with whatever students were waiting. Also, they worried about students crossing the street?traffic was light but always a little crazy. So Rafael and I walked back and forth, shepherding student teams to various locations while Juli went with 2 teams and Ricardo to deliver and pick up student teams while Sandoval stayed with students in the park.
After some of the teams finished their interviews and were standing around in the park, 2 of the guys noticed a group of kids playing basketball?they went over to join them and before we left 5 or 6 students and Rafael had joined the game. They played a fast-paced game and worked up quite a sweat.
We had planned to stop at the ice cream store on the way home?they looked forward to that all day. Well, the small bus we hired to transport us had another appointment. After some quick brainstorming, he dropped me and one student off at the ice cream shop and took everyone else home. Claire and I bought the ice cream and then took the guagua the rest of the way back to the Center. Several students commented that they almost preferred this because we could all sit around together in the quiet dining room and chat.
Juli adds: Today?s food:
Breakfast: hard boiled eggs, ham, cheese, bread, dry cereal, fresh fruit (pineapple), milk, pourable yogurt, coffee
Dinner: pork chops baked with pineapple slices (SO good!), pasta salad, vegetables platter, rolls, papaya juice
Supper: chicken lasagna, beet and corn salad, lettuce salad, rolls, fresh fruit (melon and pineapple), limeade
See more blogs at http://nhtortuga.wordpress.com/
January 29, 2010
From Encuentro Student, Claire Bowens
"Santo Domingo"
On Friday morning, our group went to the DR's capital, Santo Domingo. We stayed in a hostel in the colonial area of the city. The architecture was AMAZING! We spent most of Friday and Saturday touring the city. We toured Diego Columbus' and Cortez's house, the 1st cathedral, hospital and university of the Americas, a military fortress & LOTS of monuments. It was really interesting to be able to walk around and see all the places that we are currently learning about in EDP - wish I could do this with every school subject!
Saturday afternoon we went to the Caribbean Sea, it was another great beach day - the waves were HUGE! Overall, it was a really fun and relaxing trip (i'm working on putting pictures up!) but after two days of eating out I was so ready to get back to ILAC's food, haha.
One week 'til the 1st immersion in the campo! I can't believe it! I'm really excited to meet my first Dominican family and work on my Spanish skills! In the meantime I will be finishing up my 1st of our 3 sections of classes at ILAC. Lindsay just pointed out that we only have 3 more days left of classes in February. . . I might just spend the rest of my college career here.
February 25, 2010
From Encuentro Student, Melissa Hollabaugh
"Ash Wednesday Reflection"
We went on a 2-day retreat in a small mountain village, Juncalito, after the 10-day immersion in Hato Viejo.
What would I have been doing if I were celebrating Ash Wednesday in Omaha at Creighton?
For Ash Wednesday, we had a special prayer service on our retreat. We all sat ourtside in plastic chairs (a Dominican staple) in a circle. There were little kids running around, crickets chirping, dogs barking.
We had two readings (Joel and Corinthians) and a gospel reading (Matthew), all read by students. Themes were about how "now is an acceptable time" and about how we need to pray and fast in secret. God will see what is hidden and knows what is in the depths of our hearts and will reward us in Heaven.
After the readings, Kyle (our program director) led a reflection. Usually during Lent, we tend to focus on the glorious resurrection and the special significance it has for us. But Kyle talked about how it is especially fitting for us to reflect on Jesus' crucifixion as we are witnessing what Brackley (a book we're reading in class) calls the "crucified people of today," especially after having just been on our first immersion in Hato Viejo. We've just witnessed firsthand what it means to be poor, living under sub-standard conditions for humans, facing corruption, disrespect, and injustice every single day. These people are surely crucified and marginalized today in the same way Jesus was back then.
Question now is this: What will our response be?
One comment that stood out by a student was that often times we are considered the "hands and feet of God on this earth," but we forget really easily that Jesus' hands and feet were pierced. Thus, ours will be, too. Jesus faced immense suffering, rejection, and pain, and if we're following in His footsteps, we can expect that our journeys will not be easy. We'll carry our own crosses, just like He did, and face our own burdens and trials.
This comes to no surprise, as I analyze how I'm feeling right now. Conflicted, torn, emotional, sad, confused, reflective, guilty, helpless, impatient, restless, annoyed... these are all things I've been feeling, as have others in my group. I miss living in the campo so much and long to be back in a simple environment. I miss the language, my family and all my new friends, the relaxed, joyful lifestyle. I don't want the burden of having so much material goods. With excess materials comes excess troubles and worries and concerns. It's all so unnecessary for a happy life!
"I will lift my eyes to the healer of the hurt I hold inside. I will lift my eyes to the maker of the mountains I cannot climb." ("I Will Lift My Eyes," Bebo Norman)
There is so much noise in our lives. Physical noise sure - dogs fighting, crickets chirping, construction, loud Dominicans, kids yelling, roosters crowing... But I'm talking about spiritual, mental, "worldly noise" - having so many worries about the future, gossip, hateful thoughts and talk, materialism, plans, wealth. Everything just seems so trivial right now. (Especially school and the 20-page paper coming up in Kyle's class!) Trying to discern a major, figure out classes for the fall, summer plans for class and work... What is my vocation in life and how am I going to respond to what I'm witnessing here this semester? What is God saying to me?
"One the road marked with suffering; though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your Name." ("Blessed Be Your Name," Matt Redman)
After we reflected, we did petitions, said the Our Father, and gave eachother the Sign of Peace. Last, we annointed eachother with ashes, which was really cool because usually the priest or someone else annoints you. But we got to annoint eachother and pass around the cup of ashes. And, the ashes were actually burnt banana leaves that Kyle and some students had made earlier that afternoon. It was beautiful to do this service here in the mountains and to be able to use the banana leaves because these trees are everywhere in the DR. They are a source of nourishment for the Dominicans and for us.
When we made the sign of the cross on each other's foreheads, we said:
"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
What am I going to do with this gift of life God has given me?
What am I going to do or not do this Lenten season to grow closer to Christ and others?
How am I going to respond to the crucified people I am living amongst and serving here in the Dominican Republic?
How am I going to respond to God's call to get free to love and to serve?
How can I re-prioritize my life to more fully live in solidarity through simplicity and humility?
See more of Melissa's Blogs at
March 1, 2010
From Encuentro Student, Lindsay McMillan
Monday I got up early to go to Sala de Tarea, my service site and I got there and it was closed. While inquiring why it was closed I got a variety of answers from Carnival was the day before, to it had been raining the day before, to the teacher couldn?t get there because the road was dirty. So I headed back to ILAC and used the much needed time to unearth my desk..which had my swim suit in the drawer and my sundresses draped over all possible places, and try to get caught up on some homework. Of course I ended up getting caught up on facebook instead. Monday night ended up being a really late night too because I didn?t do ANY homework over the entire spring break. Kyle finally came back to us on Monday night after a loooong trip to Omaha and Boston.
Tuesday the day began with breakfast; at breakfast we decided that we were all going to wear blue to Kyle?s class to see how long it would take him to notice. So we all headed back to our rooms to change into our blue and headed to class. The first half of the class Kyle didn?t notice our blue, but did inform us that we would be his last semester of Encuentro. We continued class..giggling every couple minutes because he STILL hadn?t noticed an hour into class that we were all wearing blue. During our break Kyle was talking to a group of students when he decided to inform us that ?he was starting a new chapter in his life? I was in my room and all of a sudden I heard screams and people jumping up and down. So I ran downstairs and long story short while he was in the United States he got engaged! Once we got back to class we decided that we needed to make it a little easier for Kyle, so we arranged ourselves in shade order of blues..just to help him out a little of course. So he comes back into the room, we are all begging him to tell us the story of how he got engaged when FINALLY he said ?There is a lot of blue in this room? So then Justin started the ?I?m Blue? theme song. We had to wait until we had got through all of our class material before he would tell us the story, but we got all the juicy details eventually. And hopefully there will be a ?comunidad nueve trip to Boston? in December! After class we followed him around like 19 little ducks so we could hopefully see everyone else?s reaction as he told them, but unfortunately this thing called Philosophy class got in the way. We did finally get to see pictures though! Pretty sure Kyle has 19 new wedding planners.
Wednesday I went to my service site. I had a really good day at my service site today! I felt like I actually got somewhere with a couple of the students and I was surprised at how much better I was able to understand the students and the teacher after immersion. While I was there one of the neighbors came in and told the teacher that she was pregnant, which started the conversation if I had ever been pregnant? Why not? Did I have kids? Why not? Where was my husband? And about 8 billion other questions. After the day had ended I went outside and a Dominican man was apparently waiting for me to walk me back to ILAC. Turns out he was a friend of one of the security guards here at ILAC and we actually had a really good conversation. I still am taken by surprise how genuinely nice people are here. They are so patient with me and willing to help when I can?t come up with a word in Spanish. And the man helped me over ever little bump of the messy road and through the obstacle course of the construction. After lunch we had a community meeting and had ice cream cake to celebrate Kyle getting engaged and talked about what was coming ahead for the month of March. I can?t believe how fast the time is going by!
We are headed to Dajabon tomorrow, which is a city on the boarder of Haiti where they open up the boarder for a market for the Dominicans and Haitians to trade. So I will be back on Saturday! Miss you all!
P.S. Rumor has it my parents are going to do a ?guest entry? on their travels here..so when they get that to me I will post it!
September 5, 2010
From Encuentro Student, Hannah Oreskovich
"Dicen que el agua da la vida, y yo les creo"
Have you ever heard the rain? Have you ever seen them dance?
When the rain pours upon the roof of tin, the little ones begin to prance.
Have you ever seen them laughing as the water hits their face?
With a lack of running water, rain is needed in this place.
Have you ever heard the rain? Have you ever seen them dance?
I have seen them, I have danced there, I have held their hands:
Entranced.
***
They say that water brings life, and I believe them.
In the campos, rain is something special. It sets a rhythm to life all its own. Upon waking up in the morning, the people of Gajo tell me whether it is going to rain. They know this earth, these skies, and this air. They have lived here all of their lives, some for generations, and their weather wisdom never fails. But as the lightening hisses across the sky, it sets an electric energy in the souls that inhabit this mountainside. This rain means that later, they will be able to wash their clothes, dirty from a day in the fields. This rain means that they can have tea tonight during their dominoes game, the scents of the storm tickling the spices of the drink. This rain means that they can take a shower, standing on a rocky ledge behind their house with a bucket and a dried up, yellow bit of soap. You can see why this rain can set a soul aglow, can light a fire within someone; an irony as its properties normally extinguish flame.
In the mountains, the best part of the storm is the beginning. You can be standing anywhere- at the house of your family, near the ledge overlooking a valley, near the tank above the community- and you can hear it start. It whispers far away and when you look out, the trees murmur to each other as the rain bounces from one to the next. Soon the storm is getting close- you can see it touch the trees just a few feet away and a low mumble strokes the leaves nearest you. Now it is upon you, patting the ground below your feet as it moves on to meet the forest behind your back, and leaves you sometimes sprinkled and other times soaked.
But the noises are not solely in the trees. The houses, every one, have tin roofs. Inside, families cheer as the first drops spatter upon the metal. You look up, as this new sound enters your mind and allows you to process the moment. Sometimes the tin is only lightly brushed and the storm passes with a hush. Other times, the rain is loud, foreboding, and generous as water from the gutters spills into the collecting buckets your family will use later. The cheers continue and you might run outside with your little cousin to splash each other near the plastic pails. Maybe you will stand outside and just open your mouth to take in the current converging from the sky. Or you may simply nod with a smile at your family, a tinge of shame behind your eyes knowing how you take water for granted in your home country. But no matter what you do, the power of the rain is undeniable. In the dances, in the cheers, in the smiles it is true: This celebration for rain is unlike any other.
They say that water brings life, and I believe them.
When we started the job of building an aqueduct in Gajo la Yuca, we were there with the motivation to satisfy a need. We came in with few expectations, ready to dig, to pour concrete, to cut pipes, to pickax the soft earth away. And yet, we found there was so much more to this project than the tangible.
See more of Hannah's blogs at http://hannahoreskovich.blogspot.com/
Fall 2010
From Encuentro student, Anna Green
"Giving Water, Giving Time"
Every day at the batey brings heartbreaks and joy. One girl learned how to make an ³m² correctly, but still thinks it is the letter ³a². At recess, the children were laughing so much running around the field, but then suggested we play in the trash dump. On Monday afternoon back at ILAC, I noticed that my watch did not display the correct time. At first I was kind of frustrated because I had a Spanish test soon and did not want to go through the hassle of changing my watch back to the normal time. I realized, though, that my watch was like this because all day the children at the batey were so intrigued pressing all of the buttons as they watched the numbers move. This small moment made me really reflect on time, how differently it is defined in other cultures, and how valuable it is.
Why was I so irritated by the time being off by a few minutes? Why was I in such a rush to go from the guagua to lunch to my room to the library? The American society creates for ourselves these hectic schedules, formal or informal, to get things done in order to be successful. We are so hard on ourselves that we do not feel accomplished unless we complete every item on our ³to-do² list. Every piece of technology we have tells us the time- our computers, ipods, watches, phones, and clocks displayed in almost every public setting. We plan so much about the future and how we will use our time to be most efficient that sometimes the present moment is taken away.
Even employers in the United States see tardiness as a quality associated with laziness, disinterest, and someone who does not have their life together. Time, essentially, defines our lives. It determines what we are doing at that exact moment, how much time we will spend doing that, how long we can engage in a conversation, and what we will be doing in five minutes.
As I write this, I am becoming overwhelmed by how much we really are on a constant agenda.
In the batey, there is no sense of structured time. Sure the employers of the fields arrive around morning to pick up the needed Haitian workers for the day and, yes, the teachers from Esperanza come for about two hours every day. When I walk into the batey, though, I do not feel any sense of urgency to get things done. There is no pressure to have a list of accomplishments from each day. Time for the people of the batey revolves around the seasons of work: sugar, coffee, or rice. The article, Needed but Unwanted, said that in Haiti the life expectancy is 53 years. The Haitian migrant workers were paid 8.6 pesos an hour, compared with between 10.8 and
18.2 pesos for the Dominicans. Under a law here, parents have to declare their child within 60 days of the birth to get a birth certificate. After 60 days there is a costly and time-consuming procedure called ?late declarationı. This is time for the people in the batey. How many hours they spend in the fields will sometimes determine how much they are paid to support their families. How many quality hours the children spend in school will sometimes determine if there is hope for them to continue their education.
When we are young, we do not spend our time thinking about going to the trash dump to scrimmage for food. These children spend their time thinking about the things essential to their life and survival. As we talked about in International Political Economy with Kyle, the simplest action of giving a community clean, running water gives them back TIME. With spigots in the batey that are accessible to everyone, the people do not have to spend the time walking to get clean water from Batey Uno. They no longer have to spend the time to boil and clean the water that is dirty. Less time now is spent worrying how mothersı will bathe their children that morning or how their childıs diarrhea is going to get better without access to clean water. We have essentially given these people something even greater than clean water without even knowing it. With this new time, the people will be able to do things they never could before. The children will have time to go to school every day and study. The mothers will have time to bath their babies and even create hobbies. The men of the batey will have time to repair their broken tin homes and earn more money in the fields. Even though these Haitians still face barriers, such as not being documented and language, having time to develop skills and healthy hygiene habits is such a stride to a better life.
As a result of our limitedness of time throughout our life, we have to decide what is worth doing and what is not. Many times these decisions stem from individualism and what we can do to better our own lives. We go about our days following the routine we have set in place and as John Mayer so rightly sings, ³We are waiting on the world to change? now we see everything that's going wrong. With the world and those who lead it, we just feel like we donıt have the means to rise above and beat it.² The majority of people in the world are aware of and understand the injustices present in our world, but do not feel like they are adequate enough to fix them. The reality of this is that we do have the resources, the knowledge, and usually the passion to help others. We just do not allot time to do these things. We cannot justify giving up something in our lives to do something that we may not get any benefit. It is funny that somebodyıs going hungry and someone else is worried about being late for a dinner date at a five star restaurant. It is funny that somebodyıs walking to the river to get water with their child and someone else is rushing to drive their son or daughter to soccer practice. It is funny that somebodyıs waiting in a food line to receive their share of rice and someone else is complaining about sitting in a traffic jam on the highway. Time is valuable and we are in charge of deciding how we want to spend it. The time to help others and stand up for the suffering is NOW. It is not when we graduate from college or when this busy week ends or when we finish eating our TV dinners. If we keep saying that we will have time later, we wonıt. Our schedules are going to continue to fill up and we will continue to place solidarity and charity on the backburners.
Now when I look down at my watch and notice that the time is off, I just smile to myself. The time on my watch might be a lie, but I donıt care because I know why. The next moment we are stressing about getting somewhere on time or planning tomorrow minute-by-minute, letıs stop and think. Letıs think about why we are expending energy on these things. Letıs think about what and who we want to prioritize. How can we make time in our own lives now to do our part in the world? Is it possible for us to detach ourselves from the pressure society puts on us to follow a constant tempo? How can we give back time to those who really need it? The average life expectancy in the United States is 78.4 years. How will we spend our time? We should listen to the words of John Legend in his song, ³If you hear this message, wherever you stand. I'm calling every woman, calling every man. We're the generation. We can't afford to wait. The future started yesterday and we're already late.²
January 15, 2011
From Encuentro student, Gray Jackson
"This past week..."
This has been the busiest week of my life. It feels like it has been over a month, but tonight marks the 7 day mark. I'll share the two most important parts of my week: dancing and Cien Fuegos.
For those of you that know me, I'm a pretty lousy dancer. I somehow have fun at dances, but I never really looked forward to them. So, when I was informed that we would be having dancing lessons in Merengue and Bachata, I was worried. The classes were alright, and on Wednesday night, we had a little dance in the comedor (cafeteria) of the ILAC center. I absolutely loved it, and I didn't want to stop. I was able to have fun and actually put a pop in my hip movements. During these next few months, I'm looking forward to practicing and getting better. It's the most comfortable I've ever felt on a dance floor.
Cien Fuegos, which translates to "100 fires," is a town built next to a large trash dump. The city is straight out of a textbook describing third-world countries. To see those pictures is one thing, but to experience them is something entirely different. To see wild roosters, wild dogs, and malnourished children roaming the streets littered with debris nearly made my heart explode with pity. I was overwhelmed by the entire city, and, as we stood on a decaying basketball court, I could see the slum extended for miles. The rusted roofs glinted in the sunlight, and the school that we were visiting was comprised of 13 classrooms for over 800 kids. They weren't there that day, because yesterday was a holiday, and the kids usually don't want to go after a holiday. The dirt roads were pock-marked with holes and tainted by an air of desperation. The children were really the only ones smiling. That school will be my service site this next semester, and I hope those children can get me through it. I will need to focus on their joy and innocence to fight against the desolation that surrounds them.
Adios
See more of Gray's blogs at http://www.graysonleedr.blogspot.com/
March 6, 2011
From Encuentro student, Rachel Wilhelm
"When do you know if what you're doing is the right thing?"
Throughout the past month or so my mind has been thinking a lot. What am I meant to do in life? When will I ever really know for sure that what I'm doing is the right path for me in life? Am I truly happy right now?
Only God knows what I'm supposed to do with my life. He's in charge of it, and I have to listen for the call. Well, what is that call? It's my vocation. But how will I know when I hear it? When will I ever know if what I think of as my 'vocation' is the right thing for me and what God wants of me?
For most of my high school career and freshman year of college, I always thought I was supposed to prepare to go to Medical School so that I could be a doctor. I kept my eyes and ears open, but I was set. I declared Biochemistry and a PreMed track my second semester of college. I thought I had it all figured out...until I came down here to the DR.
People told me that this is a life-changing experience, something I'll remember for the rest of my life. However, I had no idea it would literally be life-changing, making me question if I really wanted to be a doctor. Well, it did, and I decided that 'no' I don't want to be a doctor. There were too many things about that profession that I couldn't seem to justify in my head going through, and it would have interfered with what I want from my life as an adult (the non-negotiables).
I was so confused though. I had no idea what to do. I decided that I might as well continue shadowing doctors, seeing if I had made the right decision in my mind. When a team of doctors came to ILAC from Washington U. in St. Louis, MO, I was fortunate enough to know one of the doctors (small world!), so I got in some special shadowing in the Operating Room. While in there, I started talking to the Nurse Anesthetists a lot. Their job just seemed so cool! Everything about it I liked and wanted. It seemed perfect for me...just what I had been looking for.
I'm sometimes quick to glorify things in my head; catch on to new ideas and hold them tight without really thinking about them. I decided that I would love to be a Nurse Anesthetist. But was I really sure? Well, only time would answer that.
See more of Rachel's blogs at http://www.dreamsinthedr.blogspot.com/