Human Services Dominican Republic Practicum 2012

• Schooling is free • Students have access to minimal resources:

• chalk board • small teacher’s desk • Students sit in chairs instead of desks

School System

“I wish every child could have a house” “I wish every child could be protected”

Inspiring Messages from Preschool Children

Kids Create Private School Daycare

School Yards

• No playgrounds

Cultural Observations

• Limited electricity • Limited running

water • Barred windows

We played “What time is it Mr. Wolf?” with the kids at the Peurta Plata school. Even though the kids did not speak English, and we did not speak Spanish, we were able to communicate with them, no problem. After a couple rounds, I got one of the little boys to help me out by being the wolf, and after that he was glued to me and hanging off me like a monkey for the rest of the day.

It shocked me, at how little they actually knew, but it felt good teaching them what they wanted to learn. We slowly got six steps on washing your hands done. We had to get a volunteer to do the art work of each step. I wish we had more days like this where we were able to set up activities, workshops or any lesson, and interact with people from the community. I felt like I was accomplishing what I went down there to do.

Teaching Health and Safety While in Neyba, we were split into three groups to help the world vision group come up with ideas on how to promote health and safety. This was a group of people from the ages of 14-35, and they wanted to know more on the importance of washing your hands.

This trip was a major eye opener for me in many ways. It was tough to see the way people live down there. It was nice knowing that people respected what we were there for, and that they made sure we knew they valued everything we did for/with them. It makes me want to go back and continue what we were doing!

Alaina Diebolt