First Visit to the Altagracia School

 We began the week as we had planned, getting on the bus as scheduled and making the short drive to the Centro Educativo Las Altagracia, the PreK-6^th grade elementary school with which DR Projects has been working for seven years. The catch is that there were no students in school today.  A national teacher certification exam took priority, and with half of the teachers engaged thusly, the Director gave all of the teaching staff the day off.  We nevertheless got a lot accomplished on our morning visit.  The first item (unexpected) was an interview by the local cable news station, Channel 10.  They had been a church yesterday to begin filming a story about DR Projects and our work in Cotui, and followed up by interviewing Maria Del Carmen Rodrigues, the school Director, and our own Rita Severinghaus and Sydeny Johnstone.  It’s a compelling story:  Rita spent three formative years as a young teenager in Cotui, living in poverty, and returns four decades later to begin an impressive record of service to this growing city of 30,000.  We’ve said before that in the last two decades, Rita and DR Projects have made over 30 visits to Cotui and the surrounding villa.ges. We are actually trying to quantify the numbers from these mission trips, which have benefitted schools, health clinics, nursing homes, communities such as Las Ayamas and Hernando Alonso, which we visited yesterday, and even the Cotui Fire Department.

 

Since so many of our group are first-timers (12 out of 16), we were given a comprehensive tour of the school. We saw many classrooms crowded with worn desks, some unbelievably small, some divided by a wooden screen that would do little to stifle the noise from one classroom filtering into the next.  But we also saw charts posted showing the significant and steady progress the 482 students were making every year. The progress has been noted, and last year La Altagracia was awarded a national silver medal by the Ministry of Education.  Even more recently Maria Del Carmen was given a regional citation.  The school culture is very positive, even with so little material support. One of the best stops on our tour was an open courtyard between two wings of the building.  Soon it will be a construction site, home to a two-story building that will house an art classroom and a spacious teacher workroom, with attached student bathrooms. We had been hearing their dream of an art classroom for several years, and in our own modest way planned to undertake this project ourselves. A local contractor had volunteered significant support, and we were making progress in planning for fundraising. Then we got word that the Ministry of Education liked the idea so much  it decided to take on the project, expanding it an providing full support.  Permits have already been completed. We may do some sort of groundbreaking this week.  How amazing to watch a dream come true before our very eyes.

 

After the tour, we gathered in a classroom with the administrative staff and several teachers who had volunteered to come in on their own time. (See what we mean about positive school culture). Taking advantage of one of the Promethean smart boards, we watched several videos of the school’s special events this year, and then a compelling public television documentary about the Tiano people, the indigenous first inhabitants of the island.  There were 400,00 Tiano living on Hispaniola when Columbus came in 1492, and after several decades of brutal exploitation and European disease, they were wiped out.  The tragedy of this genocide was repeated throughout the “New World”, and it is particularly troubling in the DR, knowing how peaceful and productive the Tiano were, living in harmony with a natural world that they loved and respected.

Our last job at school this morning was delivering two full suitcases of school supplies to the Director:  games for the children, hundreds of markers and pencils, notebooks, and an ink cartridge for their copier. They were all received with gratitude.

 

After lunch back at the hotel we set out on an afternoon journey that included a stop at the local nursing home sponsored by Cotui Lions Club.  DR Projects has worked with the Lions in several endeavors, and we always bring supplies for the nursing home.  Today we brought 14 dozen adult diapers, which will replenish a dwindling supply. There is more to come in the large shipment that we made two weeks ago, and which will arrive later this week.  DR Project stalwart Frank Perotti drove a full pickup hauling a U-Haul trailer to Jersey to a shipper we have connected with, and the expedited container will arrive directly in Cotui.  The expense saved is enormous, and it’s allowed us to ship so much. This time the load included four wheelchairs, thanks to the Upper Valley Lions medical supply closet, and a number of laptop computers.

 

We left the nursing home and were driven to downtown Cotui, where we were dropped off by our drive Glen across the town square from the church we visited yesterday.  There’s a wonderful frozen yogurt shop there, and the group enjoyed a frozen treat before we walked back to the hotel.  Several members of the group mentioned how much they enjoyed just seeing the sights in the local neighborhoods. Rita and Danielle Taylor were back at the hotel working on logistics, which meant that I was leading the hike.  Somehow we found our way back to the hotel.  We’ll need the extra rest we received today. Tomorrow is a big day, and we are so eager to connect with the students and start our teaching.