This Summer, 14 students and three faculty members are traveling to the Dominican Republic to build a house for a family with the organization Cambiando Vidas. Please enjoy the blog posts below from Josie ’26 and Cole ’26 where they share how through shared labor, playful moments, and meaningful cultural exchange, students deepened their understanding of sustainability, connection, and community despite language barriers.
By Josie ’26:
Today was an exciting day full of new adventures. The only negative part of my day (other than the heat) was my struggle to communicate with most of the people working around me. Due to my slim Spanish skills, I was confined to the phrases hola, como estás, and como te llamas. While these are helpful when greeting my peers, it is difficult to collaborate among a group that I cannot converse with. In addition to what I already knew, I learned the words “mezcla” which is the mixture of concrete, water, and rocks that we use to pile the concrete bricks, and “plana,” which is the tool that we use to do so. Despite the language barrier, throughout the day, I learned several tips from various people that were on the worksite with me. While removing nails from planks of wood, one of the women preparing our lunch approached me and demonstrated how to more effectively and efficiently remove each nail. She saw me struggling and simply placed a small piece of wood below the head of the hammer which made tugging the nail out easier. While it was a simple gesture, it made a significant difference, and I was grateful to take away a tip from someone unexpected. After eventually separating the nails from the planks, a group of us headed down the road to José’s house. We sat in the back of a pick-up truck and had the opportunity to admire our surroundings. Prior to this drive, I had only had the chance to truly view the nature from the bus that we take to each morning to reach the worksite. The mountains and animals we passed were wonderful and the breeze was a nice break from the humidity. The clouds concealed the mountain tops, and the occasional flowers stood as stark contrasts against the grass. When we arrived, we dropped off the wood and I learned how it is reused each time a house is built. It is used to properly shape the walls, ensuring that they are not off-kilt. In comparison to typical housing construction where these would be disposed of after each build, this reflects an effort towards sustainability and saving. Next, while dropping rocks into the hole that would serve as a septic tank, I learned how they were placed to filter the waste and water that transfers through the sinks or toilets. One of my peers, JT, informed me some valuable insight that I would not have gained anywhere else. He told me that certain brands write on the labels of their water bottles that their water is filtered through rocks. I don’t tend to look too closely at water bottle labels so this gave me the incentive to do so in the future. Last night, I delivered a presentation about water in the DR and noted the decreased number of wastewater plants here versus in the U.S. This was an interesting addition to my knowledge on what happens to wastewater in the D.R. and contributed to my understanding on why it is unsafe to drink the water here.
By Cole ’26:
After a very demanding but intriguing morning, we had an amazing lunch cooked by members of the host household and village. This meal consisted of rice, beans, chicken, and avocado. After working hard throughout the morning, lunch served as an incredible opportunity to grow closer to my peers and reflect on our progress. The family for whom we are building the house has a couple daughters who always make an appearance during lunch and brighten our day with their laughter. These small interactions make our project much closer and personal, which instills much determination within me to make this house a wonderful place for this family to call home. Following lunch, I grew much closer to one of the workers, Dani. Dani, a couple of my peers, and myself were filling a very large hole with a rock base. This meant surfing the property for large rocks to fill the hole with, until a delivery of very large rocks arrived. We made a game out of it, finding the largest rocks and throwing them in the hole, all while attempting to hit a certain target at the bottom. Eventually this broke out into a playful pebble fight, why Dani and I took a break and threw pebbles across the way at each other. Although there is a clear language barrier, I believe I learned a lot about Dani solely through his sense of humor and personality. While filling the hole, I also saw one of the strongest people I have ever seen. This gentleman was fulfilling difficult tasks with ease, and it was inspiring to see how the other workers respected him. All the workers have amazing personalities that are very evident despite the language barrier, and I am very fortunate to be surrounded by their positive energy. Later, I helped bring large tin sheets to the work site for the roof. At this point, there was much taking place on the roof, which made the site more dangerous. However, the workers were always looking out for our safety, which made me feel like more a part of this project and closer to them. Instead of scolding you for a mistake, the workers will always demonstrate how to correctly execute a task with a sense of humor and smile. The roof began to take shape, and we left the site for the hotel. I spent the next couple of hours bonding with my teammates. I learned a couple of card games and we learned a lot about each other. This afternoon demonstrated the endless opportunities that this trip provides and made me question how I had not gotten to know my peers as close while we were at Deerfield. Dinner was held at José’s house, who leads this program and is very passionate about us and his community. I took in the natural beauty of the Dominican Republic with a beautiful sunset while reflecting on how fortunate we are to be here and to be able to help others. I got to know Mrs. Boudway a lot better as well at dinner, which was an amazing opportunity. We ended the night at José’s house with an exciting game of tips, which is a game where you pass around a soccer ball while jumping. It was very fun, and I believe it was a perfect way to end this incredible day. I felt closest with our group at this dinner, and I hope to become even closer with them in the next couple of days.
