Student reflections on service-learning at Batey Libertad

At the conclusion of University of Vermont service-learning classes to the Dominican Republic and Batey Libertad, we often ask the students on the Vermont end of the exchange to reflect on their experience as well as present the results of their community collaborations with the university and broader Vermont community. Below is a reflection from one of the students from a November 2005 trip that really captures the impact that Batey Libertad makes on its visitors. Thanks Nikki!

I LEARNED THAT … happiness has nothing to do with how many things you have been given but by how much love you are able to give. I learned the most on this trip from the young children who, supposedly, have the least life experience. I learned that the bonds we share as people with beating hearts and helping hands are far stronger than the bonds created by lifestyle, money, education and geography. I learned the value of community enrichment and dependency and how incredible it feels to be supported by so many fellow people. I learned that I can go to a pharmacy and buy glucose pills for a diabetic woman and follow up with her every day to make sure she’s taking her meds and be more fulfilled by this 10 minute interaction than a lifetime of working solely for grades or money.

I LEARNED THIS BY … sitting down and truly listening. I listened to the conversations the kids had with each other. I listened to Papito direct the young adults to retain their proper roles on the Batey. I listened to sick women describe the pain of their ill children and husbands. I listened to grandmothers scolding their grandchildren, aunts and uncles rounding up their nieces and adolescent boys telling younger kids the importance of safe sex and HIV awareness. Like a sponge I absorbed these words and songs and replayed their impact in my head. It’s so simple – you learn about who people are by listening to what they have to tell you. It took this batey to make something so simple become so clear.

THIS LEARNING MATTERS BECAUSE … what I’ve learned on this trip cannot be taught in a classroom or from a podium or through a textbook. This learning matters because it is the type of learning that changes you. This experience has changed my mind, changed my heart and has absolutely changed my life. The greatest process of life is self-evolution. Finding that I have the capacity to love someone I barely know and want to be around a community I’ve been with for a few days is something that shakes me. Knowing that I have the means and opportunity to fulfill these capacities is the beginning of an involvement that will continue to flourish. This learning matters because it has made me think and wonder and analyze and struggle with more issues than any other class.

IN LIGHT OF THIS LEARNING I WILL …never be the same. I will return – a lot. I will start to factor this community into my mental deliberations. “What else can I do? How else can I help? Where else can I take what you have given me?” I will recall the moments I spent listening to put my own life into perspective. I will ask more questions. I will take more risks. I will make an effort to remind myself of the way it felt to be on the Batey -the hospitality, the warmth, the concerns, the truths, the embrace and the calm. I will certainly encourage others to be involved in this type of learning or at least consider the idea of going abroad and learning about the world we all live in. I just will, without hesitation. Have I ever said that? Maybe. Have I ever meant it as much as I do this moment? Never.

FPV Alive on the North Coast

In 2007, nearly 300 youth aged 10 to 18 graduated from the Grassroot Soccer-inspired Fútbol Para la Vida HIV prevention program in the Monte Llano region alone. It began in February 2007, when an initial Training of Trainers was conducted in Puerto Plata, where 16 new peer educators were armed with the capacity to train youth in their communities. See the TOT graduation photo.

Since, successful programs have been run in Barrio Samán, Batey Caraballo, Batey Cangrejo, Los Algodones, Puerto Plata, La Unión, PanchoMateo, and Muñoz. These are all communities predominantly populated by Haitian families – many with children born in the DR who have been denied birth certificates. Soccer is strong in all these communities, so the program has been well received both by youth and adults. Here is a picture of the community-wide graduation in Los Algodones.

Thanks in large part to the hard work of Freddy Jean Piet and Wilfrid Pierre, Monte Llano has become a second hub for the FPV program. Programs are still rolling and efforts are underway to integrate the FPV curriculum into the public schools in Monte Llano.

Grassroot Soccer introduced in St. Lucia

Over the January '08 winter break, a group of University of Vermont students traveled to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia as part of a class on Sustainable Development in Small Island States led by Charles Kerchner. One of the service-learning projects that evolved was the demonstration of the Grassroot Soccer curriculum on HIV/AIDS prevention education at local schools and to representatives of public education on the island.

The group was following the lead of other UVM students who have been behind the creation of the Grassroot Soccer inspired Futbol para la Vida program in the Dominican Republic. The demo and discussions were a huge success, and plans are in the works for a follow-up training-of-trainers of peer educators through a local youth sport initiative.

For some local press coverage of the trip, see Caribseek and the island's cable news network.

Congratulations to all the students and local supporters involved!

UVM Students Jumpstart Community Farm

An eager and energetic group of UVM students from January's 'PSS 196 Community Gardening in the DR' class rolled up their sleeves (and pantlegs due to rains) and pitched in as partners with 'Seeds of Self Reliance' and local community members to launch the new gardens at Batey Libertad. Undaunted by the rain and wet heavy clay soils, students spent 3 days and 3 nights learning about life in the Batey and helping to set up the gardens. In that short time, much was accomplished including, organizing a community meeting to exchange ideas on how the farm should be structured, removing and recycling debris from a burnt house, testing soils for pH and nutrients, fixing fence, picking up trash, collecting organic matter from the adjacent countryside to make a compost pile (wheel barrows of pig and cow manure, over 50 sacks of rice hulls, old banana stems, etc.), building a compost and seedling shed, hand digging 200 feet of drainage ditch, creating a double dug vegetable bed, laying out an herb spiral and planting over 150 fruit, forage and hardwood trees. WOW!

This amazing group of students also managed to expand their horizons, change their world views, make new friends, move two tons of children from place to place, and engage in cultural exchange through music, song and dance. I was thrilled and proud to be the class instructor, it was a fantastic experience for me also!

Two of our students, David and Forest have volunteered to stay on in the community until mid March to keep the momentum going. They will be living right above the garden in the apartment attached to 'the locale'.



Stay tuned for updates.

Batey Libertad community center and health clinic

"El Local" is the community center and health clinic of the Batey Libertad community. Construction was completed in March of 2006 through the hard work and fundraising of Batey Libertad and two University of Vermont service-learning classes in 2005. In March of 2007, the community celebrated the building's one-year anniversary with a fiesta and thank you to UVM and the Lintilhac Foundation, a Vermont-based organization that has supported Batey Libertad projects over the last three years through donations, hosting fund-raisers, and supporting UVM's annual Libertad speaker at the Burlington, Vermont campus (Photo: Phil Lintilhac accepting a thank you plaque from Papito, Tony, and Maritza).

During a November 2007 UVM trip, students and community members rolled up their sleeves and built benches and tables, installed a solar photovoltaic lighting system, finished a volunteer apartment above the health clinic, and prepared newly acquired land behind El Local for a community farm. With consistent lighting in the evening, the community is hoping to establish a place for homework, tutoring, and adult literacy classes. The volunteer apartment is already being put to good use, with two UVM students staying on after a January class to help establish the community farm. March 2008 will bring the second anniversary of El Local and a UVM class to help formalize the Batey Libertad literacy program and finish the computer learning center.