Absolute Leadership Development

Today I went to the work site called Dominican Advanced. Its a school that has been built by missionaries that had a passed by not too long ago. It was a hot day but because we were up on a hill, there was a cool breeze that swept over our foreheads. There were many children up there spending time with us, both from Haiti and Dominican. They seemed to get along as through there hasn’t been hundreds of years of hatred and tension between them. After lunch we went for a walk down to the villages. The first village we came upon was a Dominican village. Everyone was very happy to see us and all the children joined our group as we explored the unknown. We then came to a set of stairs which led to the Haitian village. I thought it was quite ironic that the Haitian village was below the Dominican one. As we approached the bottom of the 152 roughly carved stairs, a vast beauty swept over me when I saw there little community all spending time together. As we carried on through the village I noticed students comfortably walking into inviting homes, having what they could of a conversation. It was incredible to see how far a little body language could go. On our way back to the stairway that led to a different world, I had a little girl beside me. She had my hand tight in hers and had made it clear to all that I was hers. After we climbed the stairs a lady walked up beside me and went to grab my hand. She barely had a grip on it before the little girl attached to my other side, smacked it away. At that moment I realized the lady trying to hold my hand was handicapped and was greatly rejected by those in her community. It broke my heart. In Canada people with disabilities are taken care of to the fullest. The fact that this lady had little love or hope to help her survive brought me down to a low. Shortly after the little girl had got distracted and ran off. I looked ahead and saw the lady a few paces ahead of me so I walked up beside her. Reaching for her hand, she looked my way, and reached for mine. She grasped tightly and smiled at me, making joyful noises that would normally make her community walk away, uncomfortable. We walked the rest of the way up to the village and when she saw all the children playing she groaned loudly with excitement and ran towards them. It took all my strength to hold my tears back and hope that the children wouldn’t reject her like the little girl had done. All I could do was smile so big my jaw hurt when she walked by, and all I could do was love her as she should be loved; as every person, young or old should be loved.

Alethea Troves- Student Leader.

Well… we all arrived in The Dominican Republic safe!! The Western and Ontario Departures both got off to a great start. Both teams met up in New Yorks JFK airport, where everyone met some new faces, the Hero Holiday staff, and got ready for the last leg of our journey. On the plane most people slept, traveling really does take a lot out of you. But at 1:05pm, a whole 55 minutes early, our entire team was awake and excited to be landing in The Dominican Republic and starting their time here.

After getting our rooms, roommates and luggage sorted out, we had some free time to go swimming or take a nap before dinner. After dinner Christal Earle, one of the founders of Hero Holiday, did a little orientation of Dominican life with us and we go split up into our groups for the week. These are the groups that we are going to be with at all the work sites, debriefing sessions, and excursions with, its all very exciting.

All in all the first night was a blast!!