This March, we were excited to host our second Learning Exchange trip of 2023! This time, we welcomed a group of students from Yale, organized by the Yale Dominican Student Association. The 11 University students from Yale spent a busy week in the Dominican Republic learning about the culture, tradition, history, immigration, and education.
The group arrived into Santiago de Los Caballeros, where they received a tour of the historically rich city. The tour stopped by neighborhoods filled with colorful murals, and learned about the behind the scenes action that goes into making Carnival in Santiago happen. They stopped by a local empanada stand to enjoy homemade empanadas and delicious natural fruit juices.
The group then travelled to Dajabon where they were able to see the Haitian-Dominican border open, and explore the bi-national market. This was an educational and thought provoking part of the trip, as many members of the group had never traveled to a border, much less one with as much political heat as the Dominican-Haitian border. This trip fomented important and deep discussions about identity, race, and border politics, through our daily journal reflections. Following this trip, the students returned to Batey Libertad, where they were able to better their understanding of the situation through multiple presentations regarding immigration, politics, and education in the public school system presented by our University scholars and local staff, Sofia, Chiclina, Oriana, and Yohanna.
During their stay in the Batey, the students spent several days filled with activities and community immersion. They enjoyed their visit to "El Chorro", a nearby waterfall, with our University scholar Rosa, and resident Chorro tour guide, Francis. The students then went on to spend time working with local community artists Angelica, Gato, and Yamilet, painting the preschool and our newly rented classroom.
The students then took another short trip to one of the nearby public schools to better understand the educational system. Later that day they took another dip into the historical background of the Dominican Republic by visiting a Taino museum filled with original Taino artifacts, and run by an expert historian who has studied Taino history for decades. The trip ended with an relaxing beach day in La Ensenada!
Yspaniola is thrilled about this visit and we are thankful to all of the participants from Yale for taking the time out of their spring break to come visit us, learn, and share their skills.
If a new adventure is calling, don't hesitate to get in touch with us to arrange an exceptional learning exchange trip, customized for you!
Yale students working alongside Gato, one of our local artists, to paint our classroom :)
The beautiful finished product!
Thank you to all the Yale students that helped make this possible, and the leadership of our talented local artists for taking on this project!
What's coming up next?!
Our April Match Fundraiser!
Support Federico in his goal of providing every child in the Batey with a copy of his book 📖
Yspaniola's spring Little by Little matching fundraiser is just around the corner! This year, from April 3, 2023, at to April 7, 2023 at midnight EST, all eligible donations up to $50 USD per donor will be matched at 50%! What better time to give than during this time in order to maximize your gifts and ensure that your contribution will have a greater impact.
This goal of this campaign is to purchase a copy of Federico M. Charles book "Gato: La Pesadilla de las Brujas" for every student in Batey Libertad. Federico was born and raised in Batey Libertad, he was an Yspaniola University Scholar who went on to get his Masters degree in Spain and now lives in the United States. His book was inspired by experiences and legends he heard growing up and wanted to write something that he knew children in the Batey and in the Dominican Republic could relate to.
The goal is to raise at least $3,000 to purchase 85 copies of the book Gato: La Pesadilla de las Brujas. All donations will go into supporting Federico and the children in the community and to encourage reading. Moreover, Federico and Yspaniola want the children of the community to be inspired to read a book with characters and settings they are familiar with. We hope it inspires them to dream big and believe in themselves. If Federico can do it, so can they!
We hope that you will be willing to support Federico as an author, as this is his first book, and help us deliver this book to the children of the community.
We will be sharing the fundraiser on Monday, April 3! Please look out for our emails and instagram posts on Monday!
