CIE

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Spring 2015, Issue 1 Service-Learning, D.R.

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contents

Working With Community Assets in la Zona Sur

and Juan Pío (Sofia Polo, Occidental College)

Alumni Update: Meet the new Intern!

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10

12

CIEE SL Excursions and Day Trips

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8

14 Community Spotlight: Acción Callejera

Growing Optimism against the Intimidating Exterior

of Development (Anne Read, Clark University)

Learning to Serve (MaryGrace Joyce, Moravian

College)

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The CIEE Service-Learning Model offers students the oppor-

tunity to immerse themselves in Dominican culture by trav-

eling through the county with program excursions and en-

gaging in community work. Students have had the chance to

explore the way in which communities in varied settings

practice development. The excursions and practicum offer

the students an opportunity to see development work first

hand, not only reading about it in the classroom. In this

newsletter, the students “Unpack” their time so far in the

country and discuss their roles as Service Learning students

in the Dominican Republic.

“Unpacking” The Student

Experience

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The paradox of development strategies

has been swirling around my head ever since

my first development class at Clark University.

Being an International Development and So-

cial Change major, I’ve studied the imple-

mentation of development theory for years;

however, I haven’t had the opportunity to

study its first-hand effects in a developing

country. The reason I chose this program was

so that I could see how the seeds of develop-

ment are planted from a grassroots level,

while also stepping out of my comfort zone by

having to utilize my Spanish skills. So far the el-

ement of service has been one of the biggest

learning experiences for me, not exclusively

my observations about community develop-

ment work, but the acknowledgment of some

of the more frustrating truths of actually

providing sustainable service.

Making connections in the community

and getting to know the organization with

which I am working has made the process of

assimilation a lot easier. The idea that I will

bring “progress” to this community, however,

just because I am from a developed country is

one that is difficult to wrap my head around.

My light skin makes me stand out, but it is not

only my country of origin that it signifies. My

nationality inherently affects the opportunities

that I am given, and this privilege alone gives

me leverage that grants me the power to sug-

gest development for a community that I

won’t truly understand until I’ve really lived

“So far the element of service has been one of the

biggest learning experiences for me, not exclu-

sively my observations about community develop-

ment work, but the acknowledgment of some of

the more frustrating truths of actually providing

sustainable service.”

Growing Optimism against the Intimidating

Exterior of Development

Anne Read, Clark University

5

here. Coming to work in a community with this

mindset results in a feeling of cynicism. Initially I

had a self-critical and defeatist attitude to-

ward development that has been easing

away during the past few months through my

immersion into the community. My internship is

with an organization called Arte a Mano, a

group of Dominican artisans using their artistic

talents for economic empowerment. In work-

ing with Arte a Mano, I’ve seen the obstacles

that stand in their way of continuing sustaina-

bility, along with the huge potential that they

have to be successful on many different levels.

What before made me apprehensive about

implementing projects and giving suggestions

has now allowed me to be surprised, as my

vision is slowly becoming clearer around the

change that I can make while I am here.

Not only has my immersion at a com-

munity level helped with my studies and work

here, it has also assisted my immersion into the

country as a

whole. Traveling

around the Do-

minican Republic

and seeing how

Santiago plays a

role, makes my

work feel so much

more representa-

tive of addressing

pressing issues that

are applicable

throughout the

whole country. For example, on one excursion

CIEE took us to visit Alta Gracia, a fair-wage

clothing factory. By comparing this model of

fair and just working conditions to a typical

factory allowed me to see the benefits of how

grassroots organizing can make an impact. I

was able to see how the community that is

supported by Alta Gracia came together with

resources and skills in order to make a change.

Its benefits are applicable everywhere

(including with my internship organization Arte

a Mano) and to see how progress began with

grassroots changes is very inspiring! The Service

-Learning Program has continued to push me

to be introspective about what we observe

every day, to understand how this model af-

fects me and relates to my vision for my time

here. True development is very dependent on

change that is sustained because it comes

from a community level. Hopefully, through my

future experiences with Arte a Mano and with

other excur-

sions, I can un-

derstand how

sustainable

change is

sparked.

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One of the most important things I

have learned from our Service Learning clas-

ses is that the best way to profoundly and

sustainably help a community is to build off

of its assets. Traditionally, when outside

groups come into a community with altruistic

intentions to improve life for the residents,

they focus on the problems they see there,

and unintentionally show the people they

are helping that charity and services from

the outside are the solutions to those prob-

lems. What we have learned in our classes

and discussions however, is that when an

outsider comes into a community with the

intention of enhancing its assets rather than

pointing out its problems, they are also help-

ing the community be more self-dependant

and rely less on outside help. As John P.

Kretzman and John L. McNight state in their

1993 article Building Communities from the

Inside Out, a good place to start when be-

ginning work in a new community is to cre-

ate an assets map, like the one pictured.

This assets map is one I made for Cristo

Rey and Pekin, two communities that I work

in 12 hours a week for my internship, and

where I will be doing a large portion of my

research. They are located in the Zona Sur,

or the southern part of Santiago, which is a

lower to middle income, bustling sector of

the city. Because I am working there with a

promotora who is a well-known leader in the

area, I have a good sense of the assets that

the community possesses. In fact, the pro-

motoras themselves and the system they

work within are a huge asset. They go house

to house vaccinating children, giving thera-

py to people with special needs, and taking

a census of the community for the Depart-

ment of Public Health. We also work out of

an organized primary health care structure,

which consists of a large clinic that serves

the Zona Sur and “UNAPs” which are basi-

Working With Community Assets

in Zona Sur and Juan Pío

Sofia Polo, Occidental College

7

cally branches of the clinic dispersed

throughout the sector where people can

go for checkups, prenatal visits, or for pre-

scriptions. Each of these branches also pro-

vides the communities with charlas (chats)

about preventative health topics, as well

as clubs for pregnant women, diabetics,

and other vulnerable groups. Besides the

health related assets in these communities,

there are also many spaces where people

congregate to chat or for organized activi-

ties, such as churches, schools, and colma-

dos (corner stores). All of these are aspects

of the communities that are being or have

been utilized by Service Learning students,

like me, not just to meet the needs and de-

sires of the communities, but also to help it

help itself so it does not need to look to out-

side sources for help.

If I were to make an assets map for a

rural community, such as Juan Pío, the

campo (countryside) we visited as a CIEE

group for our weekend-long work retreat, it

would look very different from the urban

map. For example, the church would be a

much larger and more important part of

the map. The physical structure of the

church is used as a community center, and

the congregation includes most, if not all,

of the inhabitants of the community and

seemed like a very organized network. In

the time that we were staying in the com-

munity, there were various church services

there, and the building was also used for

movie screenings at night. Another asset

that would be highlighted would be the

natural beauty that surrounds the commu-

nity. When our group went to swim in the

river, locals told us that sometimes tourists

come by to see the caves where the spring

water comes up from the ground. The river,

in my opinion, is a wonderful asset to the

community not only because it is a great

resource for community members to enjoy,

but because is also frequented from outsid-

ers who bring business to the community.

“When an outsider comes into a community

with the intention of enhancing its assets

rather than pointing out its problems, they

are also helping the community be more

self-dependent…”

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What have the students been up to this semester?

During excursions, the group takes learning outside of the classroom for some co-curricular adventures!

Students explore the historical city of Santo Domingo, rural Dominican communities, picturesque

beaches, and more. Through engaging with community members in each region and reflecting as a

group, students delve into themes, such as development, sustainability, and human rights.

January 3 – January 11: Orientation Week

Orientation week was full of activities prepar-

ing students for their time in Santiago. From a

city-wide scavenger hunt, community visits,

presentations about host families, and a fun

night spent with Dominican university stu-

dents learning common phrases, the students

January 12: Start of classes

Classes began at the partner university Pon-

tificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maes-

tra (PUCMM)! The students are enrollent in

Intermediate/Advanced Spanish, Poverty

and Development, Research Methodology,

a Community Participation Seminar, and

Capstone Research.

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January 16-17: Excursion to Santo Domingo

This weekend the Service-Learning students, along with Liberal Arts students, travel to the capital city of Santo Domingo. Upon arrival the students are exposed to numerous historical sites, including the house of Christopher Co-lumbus’ son Diego, the ruins of a 16th Century sugar mill, and the first hospital in the Ameri-cas. All tours were expertly led by our very own director and resident historian Lynne Gui-tar.

January 24th : Playa Ensenada

All CIEE staff and students visited

the picturesque beach of Playa Ense-

nada for a day of snorkeling, swim-

ming, and taking in the stunning

scene.

February 13-15: Work Retreat

CIEE takes a change in scenery from urban

to rural in the first work retreat of the se-

mester. Here students worked with a com-

munity in Juan Pío to construct a communi-

ty center. By contrasting the urban Domini-

can life with the rural, students can have a

deeper immersion into the country.

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During my first visit to my community, La Es-

cuela Arturo Jiménez (Arturo Jiménez School), I

thought it was recess time. You could hear the

yelling and movement of the students every-

where you went, and several were running

around outside. There were also a couple of-

teachers talking in groups outside. I have since

learned that this is a normal class-time environ-

ment at the school, which is run by Oné Respe,

a social justice non-profit organization.

Education here looks very different from

my experiences in the United States. I grew up

going to a very small Catholic school with

strong discipline and structured teaching. Even

when working with lower-income students in a

Kindergarten class at home, there was a very

organized workday and rules of behavior the

students were expected to follow. Here in the

D.R., school only transitioned to a full-day

schedule a year ago. The teachers are still ad-

justing to instructing for eight hours a day as

opposed to four, and the students are not ac-

customed to staying in their seats or paying

attention for any long span of time. There is a

lot of violence in the classroom, and fights

break out frequently during class. While I sus-

Learning to Serve

MaryGrace Joyce, Moravian College

11

pect that this environment would not be totally

foreign to someone who attended a larger

school with less structure in the U.S., being here

has made me much more aware of my own priv-

ilege and position in the educational environ-

ment from which I come. CIEE Service-Learning

students and I had a charla (community talk)

about the differences in the U.S. and Dominican

education systems during our orientation here,

but I wasn’t expecting to experience it so fully.

Privilege is something I think about fre-

quently here in the Dominican Republic. My

white skin, something that is so easy to make

invisible in the U.S. (though that’s an issue for

another essay), feels like a flamboyant outfit I

can never take off. Here, my skin is weighed

down with connotations of wealth, education,

beauty, and other stereotypes. This is especially

difficult at school, where children often ask me

for money and go wild trying to get my atten-

tion whenever I enter a room. My own exoticism

is unfamiliar and uncomfortable to me, and I of-

ten feel embarrassed that it can take away from

a teacher’s lesson and thus take away from the

children’s education.

“CIEE Service-Learning students and I had a

charla (community talk) about the differ-

ences in the U.S. and Dominican educational

systems during our orientation here, but I

wasn’t expecting to experience it so fully. “

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As a student, working with the partner organi-

zation Niños con una Esperanza (Children with a

Hope) I was able to see first hand how access to

resources directly affects an individuals’ ability

to participate or engage in development process-

es. I learned multiple tools for engaging with

community members in order to understand the

underlying forces that prevent access. It is with

these newly honed skills that I was able to re-

turn to my home university (University of Wash-

ington) with a newly found focus and skill-set.

As a Medical Anthropology and Global Health

major I used the momentum and skills from CI-

EE Service-Learning and implemented them at

a local level by getting involved in development

work in my own city.

For more than a year I worked at a non-

profit in Seattle called Global to Local, with the

mission of utilizing global health strategies in a

local capacity. The mission was very appropri-

ate for a CIEE Service-Learning alumnus, for it

ALMNI UPDATE:

MEET THE NEW ALUMNI INTERN

The Alumni Update is a chance for our talented Alumni to share their experi-

ences and highlight what they have been up to since returning to the USA.

Here we have an update from Anne Safar, a student of Fall 2012 who has re-

cently returned as the new CIEE-SL Alumni Intern.

13

kept me continually developing as a profes-

sional in the Public Health field. While there, I

was able to work on improving health out-

comes by engaging with the community mem-

bers and understanding their needs. The strat-

egies included, preparing diabetes cooking

classes that had tailored menus to fit different

nationalities, providing social service referrals

with multiple language services, and utilizing

local community leaders to empower their

communities in healthy life-style changes. All

of these strategies were congruent with the

Service-Learning model adopted by CIEE. I can

proudly say that my time as a CIEE Service-

Learning student helped shape my professional

and ethical goals. For that reason, I was excit-

ed to learn that CIEE was accepting applica-

tions for a new Alumni Intern. After develop-

ing so much as a student with CIEE Service-

Learning, I was excited to return as staff and

continuing my learning.

This past January, I returned to the Do-

minican Republic as the new CIEE Service-

Learning Intern. I have loved returning to this

beautiful island and working with a talented

staff and extremely impressive group of stu-

dents. I’m looking forward to building my lead-

ership skills, evaluating how CIEE Service-

Learning works to ensure equity in the com-

munities where we work, and seeing how the

students develop through the program. I am

extremely happy to return to CIEE Service-

Learning and bring my interests and skills to

the group as well as learning so much from

such talented staff and students.

“As a Medical Anthropology and Global

Health major, I used the momentum and

skills from CIEE Service-Learning and

implemented them at a local level; by get-

ting involved in development work in my

own city.”

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Fundación Educativa Acción

Callejera is a non-profit institution that

provides a multitude of services support-

ing children, adolescents, and adults who

are positioned in a socially precarious situ-

ation. Acción Callejera works to address

their needs, understand the sources of in-

equality and, therefore, appropriately ad-

dress the programs that can target their

emotional, physical, and social circum-

stances.

Acción Callejera has always been

a great partner community for CIEE Ser-

vice-Learning. For the past 8 years we

have had students learning from this val-

ued organization. In turn, the students

have provided the organization with their

research projects. This semester two of our

students are working with Acción Calleje-

ra: One working in the Salas de Tarea

(Homework Centers) and the other with

the organization’s youth leadership pro-

grams.

With all their work in the communi-

ties of Santiago, Acción Callejera serves

as an institution dedicated to addressing

social injustices in a humanistic and sus-

tainable manner. We are extremely hon-

ored to have them as an integral part of

the CIEE Service Learning program. This

January, Acción Callejera celebrated its

25th anniversary. The students and staff

participated in celebratory activities, in-

cluding a powerful photography exposi-

tion titled, “Si Me Miras” (If You Look at

Me) that artistically depicted the realities

of homeless and at-risk youths. CIEE Ser-

vice Learning is honored to have such a

valuable community partner. Congratula-

tions Acción Callejera for your 25 years of

endlessly impactful work!

To learn more about Acción Callejera

and how you can get involved, please

check out their website at:

www.accioncallejera.org

Community Spotlight Acción Callejera celebrates its 25th Year Anniversary!

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“Our mission is to empower children and adolescents who live in vulnerable and high risk situations while advocating their Human Rights. We strive to understand the difficult backgrounds that many children and adolescents come from in order to provide quality services and wide ranging support programs that positively impact their lives.”

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For more information, contact:

CIEE Advisor:

Jensine Fraser, jfraser@ciee.org

Center Director:

Lynne Guitar, lguitar@ciee.org

Academic Director:

Mercedes Muñóz, mmunoz@ciee.org

Program Assistant:

Dorka Tejada, dtejada@ ciee.org

Alumni Intern:

Anne Safar slinterndr1@gmail.com

Visit CIEE Service-Learning to learn more!

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