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Jesuit Journeys
Fall 1999
Marquette High students discover joy in service and giving to others
By John Casper
After five days of Spanish lessons and orientation at the Institute for Latin American Concern, we were prepared for the job we had come to do in the tiny village of Ocho de los Caballeros in the heart of the Dominican Republic. Or so we thought.
I don't think anything at the ILAC center in Santiago could have prepared us for that first night when Gloria, our host, showed us our sleeping accommodations in Ocho.
"Where are our beds?" I asked in the best broken Spanish I could muster. She appeared puzzled. I repeatedly asked if we were supposed to sleep on the floor. Finally she nodded, and her son moved a table. Within a span of 10 seconds my roommate, David Miazga, and I counted 5 cats, 2 chickens, and what might as well have been a million insects scurrying across a dirt-encrusted floor. I had visions of trying to sleep with spiders crawling in my mouth, cats sitting on my stomach, and chickens pecking at my eyes. I wanted to run. Where didn't matter, so long as it was far from there.
But I was in the Dominican Republic, taking part in Marquette University High School's Somos Amigos Project (meaning we are friends). There were no telephones, no Mom and Dad to come pick me up, no place to run. I muttered some lame excuse about needing to see Fr. Terry Brennan, SJ, our teacher and chaperone on this adventure. Fr. Brennan quickly showed what could be accomplished with fluent Spanish. In the end, though, even he had a little trouble understanding Gloria, none of the 10 students and 2 faculty chaperones had to sleep with the chickens, cats, and spiders.
Our first day on the job, after a breakfast of hot chocolate and cream of wheat, I grabbed my things and headed off to the construction site.
On The Road In The Dominican Republic
Two volunteers catch a ride to work in the back of a pickup.
We had come to help build a community center, and it was time to get on with it. We walked down a road that was more like a wide dirt path with as many potholes as it had stones. The sun was just peeking over the surrounding mountains.The temperature wasn't too hot yet, only 80 degrees. To our left, several pigs wallowed in dirt. To our left, several pigs wallowed in dirt. To our right, cows glared our way as if to say, "You look different." Indeed, we did. We were taller than most of the villagers. Our group averaged a little over six feet in height. The villagers were generally a few inches shorter. Our clothing was freshly laundered and less worn, and we owned shoes. Most of the villagers didn't. Our skin tone paled next to their dark bronze complexions.
Soon, the work site was in view. A few goats milled about on the big pile of dirt we would use for mixing with cement. Concrete blocks were scattered all around a partially finished building. I hung my bag and canteen from a tree limb, slapped on some sunscreen, and prepared for work.
This would become my typical June morning in the summer of my junior year, when most of my peers were flipping burgers or relaxing at the beach. The work itself was physically demanding - when we had it. The village was devoid of longstanding leadership, so the materials we needed weren't always there. When we had supplies, the sun was hot and the work was hard, whether we were pounding dirt, laying block, or taking on some other task. To make work more bearable, we sang to pass the time under the scalding sun, sometimes improvising absurd lyrics - great for the moment, but a little on the juvenile side and too embarrassing for publication.
Every night after dinner we would sit talking on the front porch for hours, engaging in fierce debates over the topic du jour. We verbally shredded each other over who had the best college football team, who was the best president, and what was the best way to get a date. We never had a problem coming up with something to argue about. One night toward the end of our stay in Ocho, we decided to have a compliment circle instead of a debate. Everyone said one thing nice about everyone else in the group. I was complimented for my sense of humor and thanked for a comment I had made back home about how well one of the guys in our group played the guitar. I found it easy to tell one classmate how much I admired that he was able to work through some academic struggles and post a high grade point average. And I could drop my high school machismo long enough to tell another classmate how much I appreciated his sincerity and altruism.
I feel this was the catalyst that helped bond us as a group. Although I never really knew most of the guys before the trip, we were all becoming friends.
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| Students compact the ground by hand with some help from Fr. Terry Brennan, SJ (second from right, top left photo) as the community center begins to take shape. Other photos show various stages of the project, including a post-completion celebration. |
Looking back on the experience of helping others in a third-world nation, I remember most of all the villagers, and how they opened their homes and their hearts to us. They never made fun of us for being different or yelled at us for doing something wrong. The children liked playing with us, and the adults were grateful for our work. Victor, the newly appointed local leader, was perhaps the most memorable. He was always checking on us to make sure everything was OK at the work site, and he was always up for a game of casino, a popular card game.
Everybody knew Victor.
One day Mark Pienkos, Tony Machi, Dave Miazga and I went to Fontino, a town about 15 miles away. A man came up to us at a cafe and tried saying hello in English. When he learned we were staying in Ocho, he immediately asked if we knew Victor.
Victor was a role model for the young people, showing by example the value in encouraging cooperation for the common good. I learned a great deal from his perspective on life and from the way he prayed. His faith life was strong.
We attended Mass almost every day, but that was but one part of our spiritual experience. Stripped of every possession, except for our clothes and our faith, we learned about ourselves and about life. At first, I thought it was a shame the villagers couldn't experience America. By the time we left, I thought it was a shame that all Americans couldn't have the chance to share my experience.
Back home I had plenty of material possessions, but my faith felt weak. On this trip, my spirit strengthened and my faith in God grew. I realized that, though lacking materially, these people had great faith. And, in the end, all that matters is faith, because your things don't leave this life with you. I thought that I was going to give the people so much, both monetarily and by helping to build the community center. Instead, I received much more, not just in learning about myself, but also about my reltionships with friends and with God.
In the September following our trip, Hurricane George's ripped through most of the Carribean, especially the Dominican Republic. Ocho was completely destroyed. Trees were leveled, roads washed away, and homes demolished. Although no one was injured, nearly everything in the village was lost.
Only the community center we helped build was left standing. Around 30 people took shelter in the building during and after the storm.
I felt a quiet peace that our building withstood the storm and provided the villagers temporary shelter.
The whole experience showed me that God indeed works in mysterious ways. My trust in god is deepened and my eyes have been opened to a whole new way of looking at the world. I am a better person , a better friend, and a better Christian.
I owe the poor, left alone to rebuild a tiny village , to thank for my enrichment. I owe them so much.
About Somos Amigos
The Somos Amigos service project to the Dominican Republic was the idea of Ms. Sue Smith, vice president of Marquette High School. Having participated in a Gesu (Milwaukee) parish Ignatian retreat in the D.R., Sue envisioned providing a similar experience for high schoolers. The first Somos Amigos trip took place in 1996, and there has been an annual trip every summer since.
Typically a trip lasts 3 weeks and involves 10 students and 2 faculty chaperones who travel to rural areas. They provide physical labor and the money for a community project in exchange for being able to live with families. The local community people do the cooking and hospitality. Students pay their own way and also raise $7,000 to finance the work project. The Institute for Latin American Concern, a Jesuit institution serving Dominican poor, coordinates many of the details and training necessary to make each trip a success.
Creighton Prep in Omaha, Nebraska also sponsors a similar program.
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