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 Jarron ’26 and Emma ’27 as they share about kicking off their trip by building house walls alongside local families, navigating language barriers, bonding over mangoes and babies, and reflecting on cultural differences.
Jarron speaking, I was able to miss the famous Koyama wake up by waking up just seconds earlier. Today was a great start to our trip. The breakfast was very yummy and filled us up till lunch. The workers were very inviting, even though I had no prior knowledge of Spanish, which made me feel very welcome and wanted. Working through pointing and clueless stares, I was able to contribute heavily to the house, moving concrete, scooping mezcla, spreading said mezcla and wielding a pickaxe for the time. Though the sun was insanely hot compared to home, luckily it was dry heat, meaning it wasn’t humid at all. Jeans were definitely the play as they were too hot but protected us from scratches and dirt. I’m thinking of wearing a short sleeve tomorrow to hopefully get a great tan. I talked to Jose and learned that most Dominicans have never seen snow!!! This brought to light fully the different environments and activities the residence and I have grown up with. At the work site, I was able to pick up little bits of Spanish, which I hope caused more fruitful conversation between the volunteers and I. My body is sore and tired but staring at the 11 block high walls made it all feel worth it. I was very proud of the work we completed today and how we handled being in a new environment and working past the language barrier. Josie, another student, found her love for mangoes, as she ate 8 of them, I’m sure she will eat more tomorrow. Emma was more of a babysitter than a concrete pourer, as I swear every time I saw her she was holding the baby of the family we were building for. Jack was playing the harmonica wayyyyyyy too much today, as it slowly became less of an instrument and more of an object of fear. The morning revealed who had the best outfit, and Cole deserved that title with his handy belt, camo pants and cool sunglasses. After the hard workday we took a trip to Jose’s cousin’s house and swam in the pool. It was very refreshing, and I managed to hold not one but two people on my shoulders; more like one and a half, sorry Jack. I saw so many animals roaming the street like pigs and dogs. Somehow, we got stopped by a herd of cows in the road, Jose scared them off. No Dad just because I built a house does not mean I need to do more handy work around our house. Bye!
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Hi Deerfield families, this is Emma Pless. We began the day at 6:30, and I woke up to Ms. Koyama knocking on our door for five minutes till one of us got out of bed to answer. Even though we were all tired, we slowly got up and pulled on our overalls and heavy boots. The overalls are actually a lot more comfortable than you would imagine, which we learned after working in them for 8 hours. We made our way to breakfast which was good and once we finished it was time to climb into our van. Right before leaving, Ms. Koyama made me go to the front desk to ask for help with the broken light in our room. I was nervous because he only spoke Spanish, but it ended up going well even though he laughed at me a little. We had a really pretty drive to the worksite. It was full of mountains, farmlands, and lots of animals. I love these drives because it gives me time to consider the differences in the lives of people here versus communities at home. The work today was extremely exhausting. Although Ms. Koyama briefed us ahead of time that today would be the hardest day, I don’t think any of us were really prepared. We spent the day building the foundations and walls of the house. That may not sound difficult, but right now every muscle in my body is aching. I’m not sure if Jarron will out me in his blog, but he may say I did more baby holding than building. I would argue that I did still build a lot, but either way, somebody had to hold the baby, and I was just the person to volunteer. I think they will link a photo of said baby, and you will quickly understand how I couldn’t say no to holding her. I quickly learned her nickname in the family which is “Gordita.” It is an endearing way to call someone chunky or fat. I also spent a lot of time getting to know the mother and woman we are building the house for. She is an incredible person and at 25 she has two kids and is helping to build her own house. She explained a lot of her life to me, including her education and her husband’s work. It was also incredible to see all the woman of the house working together to make a huge meal for us and take care of everyone at the worksite. We ate a delicious meal, and then got back to work. Finally, 8 hours later the walls were up, and we called it a day. Jose brought us to his cousin’s beautiful house, where we swam in his pool and picked mangoes from his trees. It was the best mango I’ve ever eaten. While I wish I could write about some deep thoughts I had on the bus ride back to the hotel, I was too busy taking a nap. We finished the day with a group dinner which consisted of Italian food. Now while I write this everyone is playing a huge game of cards around me, and I’m going to finish this so I can join. Hi Mom, Dad, JT, and Sophie I miss you.
