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El Convite: San Cristobal
This is the on-line documentation for Ithaca College's Sociology 312 class. We went to the Dominican Republic and traveled and learned together for 20 days. These are our thoughts, experiences, and reflections.
Culture and Society
El Convite: San Cristobal
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1 comment:
Blog Entry
Topic: Los Platanitos
Author: Jill Petty
For as long as I can remember, kids have been my element. They always make me feel refreshed and renewed. Maybe it's my idealist beliefs which I have been struggling with since I have been here, but kids restore my hope in the future.
That said, while working with Oné Respé in Gurabo we were lucky enough to visit two communities and schools. The first community I visited was called Los Platanitos. At first I was overwhelmed with what I saw, but then I watched the people. They went so far out of their way to care about each other and check in, make sure everyone is doing okay. In fact, it was the same process of support we are trying to develop in our group of students while working as a collective.
Then we went to the school! I was so excited to see the kids! But for the first time in my life I was hesitant. What was stopping me? Then I knew the answer: the language barrier. It was my first struggle when I got here and it has been an eternal struggle ever since. Then it was time for self-assessment: was I going to let a language barrier stop me from one of my favorite things?
I walked over to a table of kids. Using my hands and the broken Spanish that I kind of knew, we were able to communicate ages. Then I took a notebook and we began to play "peek-a-boo". I was carrying my bag with multi-colored stripes. I pointed to the red one and said the one color that I knew "rojo." Then the boy proceeded to teach me all the colors that he saw on my bag. He would point to it and say the color, then have me repeat it, then say it again. It did not matter that we could not speak in sentences. Then there was a girl who seemed sad. I decided to give her my sunglasses and then all the kids wanted to wear them. They were singing and piling on each other. It didn't really matter that I couldn't understand what they were saying, I could read their smiles just fine.
I left the classroom with the happiness children always restore within me. We continued our walk around the school. Standing in front of the classrooms the boy who had taught me the colors came outside. Without words, he threw his arms around my legs. As I hugged him back I came to a realization: between people of all ages we only need one language. Words are miniscule factors in the universal language…the language of love. :-)
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