This year, 29 Tafties (24 students, 3 faculty members, and 2 faculty children) spent a week over March break volunteering in the Dominican Republic.
"We worked with Outreach 360 teaching English in the John F. Kennedy school in the DR," explains Jeremy Clifford, who has chaperoned the trip four times. "We split into two groups and each group taught five classes of English per day from 1st to 5th grade. Because of our group size, we were able to work with one English speaker assigned to a group of 2-3 students."
They taught in the town of Monte Christi in the northwest part of the Dominican Republic. While there, the group also visited a marketplace in the town of Dajabon on the DR/Haiti border and salt flats that have been used to harvest salt from the ocean for hundreds of years, as well as a beautiful rocky beach. Fernando
Fernandez, Kayla Romano, Heather Gordon, Megan Stone, Anna Farrell, Ismatou Bah, and Katie Pfefferle are all repeat visitors.
"What makes this trip so special," explains Heather, "is that the culture you are taught through movies and talks (given each night by Outreach 360), you are able to experience everyday, not only by teaching in the schools, but also by spending time with children on the playground or going to the supermarket or to church. You become engulfed in the culture and eventually fall in love with it."
In fact, this was Heather's third time on the trip. "Coming back each year, the progress made is so subtle yet so apparent. You are able to see kids move through their elementary education. I worked with one boy last year named Wascar and was able to work with him again this year. The difference a year makes is incredible. His English had improved significantly and it was such an honor to be a part of this growth. You become invested in these children, to the piont where their successes become your own."
For more information, visit outreach360.org.