Fellows Hope to Implement Lessons Learned on Isle
While many students use their spring break week to sun on the beach, hit the slopes, catch up with friends and family or take a bit of time for respite, many Georgetown students participated in alternative spring breaks. Their community service and work took many of them to such places as the nation’s Gulf region to the Persian Gulf. Read about the students’ experiences. Patrick Healy Fellow Indra Sen, shares his story of traveling to the Dominican Republic to learn about and work with youth initiatives in the Caribbean nation.
I along with Georgetown’s four other senior Patrick Healy Fellows were no different from many of our peers when we chose the tropical locale of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic as our spring break destination. However, Instead of spending a week at the beach, we traveled to the Caribbean island to learn about important issues affecting the country -- youth policy, race relations and problems among the refugee and migrant communities.
During the week, I along with the four other Healy Fellows -- Mahen Gunaratna (SFS '08), Xaivier Ringer (COL '08), Perla Silva (SFS '08) and Jinsun Bae (SFS '08) -- met with a variety of nongovernmental organizations, religious groups and government offices to become more familiar with the people, culture and concerns of the island nation.
We met with Global Youth Partners, a United Nations-funded program that empowers youth to fight against HIV/AIDS, and officials from the Office of the Secretary of Labor. Yet, the trip included more than official visits.
We traded our suits and business folders for t-shirts and shovels to travel to the province of San Cristobal. There we planted an outdoor garden of flowers and plants at a local community center operated by the nonprofit organization FUNDEBMUNI, the Foundation for the Development and Well-being of Women and Children (Fundación para el Desarrollo y Bienestar de la Mujer y la Niñez.)
Additionally, we all visited Cristo Rey, a low-income area in Santo Domingo known for gang activity. It was there we met with priests and teachers who organize weekly check-ins with children who are forced to work full time to support their families. We met a young boy named Alexis. At age nine, he told us that he must work in the informal sector to bring money home.
"I work in a barbershop six days a week and make 45 pesos [$1.33]. I do it to help my family," he said.
Through this experience, the we were able to gain invaluable first-hand knowledge of child labor in the developing country and of the challenges that religious figures and educators face in providing child workers and their parents with assistance and spiritual guidance.
Particularly inspired by the important work being done by teenage youth in the Dominican Republic, we listened to how they educate their peers about sexual health and the dangers of HIV/AIDS. In accompanying teenage leaders of the Dominican Association for Family Welfare, also known as PROFAMILIA, on visits to local communities for presentations on topics such as sexual health and domestic violence, we learned about the immense value of peer-to-peer contact in creating grassroots awareness and reform at the local level. With this model, teenage leaders use creative techniques such as acting, dancing and rapping to impart ideas about the dangers of using drugs, unsafe safe or resorting to domestic violence.
We thought the visits and meetings were far more than just field trips. In fact, we look for the trip to spark longer-term partnerships. I recently founded Inspire Dreams, a nonprofit organizations that uses the arts and sports to promote social change and health education. I hope to incorporate the lessons I learned in the Dominican Republic by watching youth acting and rapping to teach about health education as part of my future work in the West Bank, Kenya and Zambia.
Similarly, the other fellows said they want to use what they learned on the trip to better communities. Perla Silva, who hopes to raise money for the Cristo Rey community, says she will take back what she learned during the trip as a Teach for America Corps member next year in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, Jinsun Bae, a student from Seoul, South Korea, currently interns at the Refugee Council. She said she was inspired by the work that Jesuit Service for Refugees and Immigrants did with Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic.
"I have to do work like this next year," she said after meeting with Jesuit-in-training Emilio Travieso.
She said she’s considering strongly going back to the Dominican Republic or returning to her hometown of Seoul to work with young refugees.
Perhaps, no one was more moved than Xaivier Ringer, who once again fell in love with the country after having studied abroad in Santo Domingo during the fall 2006 semester.
"The last time I came, it was great studying here, living with the people and doing work in the communities. It's a special place," Ringer said. "I painted a mural for a school. I would like to work here for the next two years focusing on youth empowerment issues. My heart is here."
Overall, we all viewed the trip as a successful and meaningful learning experience. Throughout our own college experiences, we've worked with youth programs, including Kids2College -- an early-college awareness program for low-income sixth-graders in D.C. public schools. Kids2College is based out of the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access at Georgetown. By participating in such programs, we were able to draw parallels between the challenges of Dominican and D.C. youth.
The Patrick Healy Fellows Program is looking to send next year’s senior class on another service-learning spring break trip to live out the organization’s mission, which is shared the Society of Jesus -- being "men and women for others."
Founded in 1996, the Patrick Healy Fellows Program is dedicated to providing student leaders with the ability to have an undergraduate experience enriched by exposure to a number of aspects of Georgetown’s multicultural community while also serving as mentors and participating in service projects.
- Indra Sen (SFS '08) Patrick Healy Fellows Program
Source: Office of Communications
March 24, 2008
