Nicole: Closing Thoughts

I have a strong sense that I'll have a better understanding of how this experience in the Dominican Republic has changed me after resuming my life in the United States. My learning here has consisted of experiential lessons on the way life works in Republica Dominicana and how the lifestyle I've been born and raised into compares. I've been spending a lot of time these last few days developing a solid answer to the question I know is waiting for me back home: "How was your trip? What'd you do?" Basic changes with in my own person that I'm aware of for now and that I know I can use to tell others about these experiences.
I will never start my day enjoying a cup of coffee without remembering the hard labor of the men I watched harvesting the beans, the women who brought the men food to eat, the songs they sang to keep them working and the model they served of solidarity in action.
I will never look at a pair of cargo pants again without wondering the number of people on an assembly line it took to make them ready for purchase.
I have a new respect for the role religion plays and desire to better understand the value of having a faith. I've witnessed its incredible power to keep people moving and united through tough times. I have also becomes aware of how easy it is to become soft and complacent in a place where all your basic needs are met without struggle and services for making life comfortable are expected. I'm more cognizant of the luxuries I have (electricity, paved roads, wegmans, an education, waste management) and even though I've complained about their quality, I realize it took a lot of organizing to happen.
I also have a newly realized love for mangos. One last thought to them out there- a peer n this trip threw out a quote from one of the first days here and I've been considering it ever since.
"I believe in the power of people to change the spaces around them." – Meredith
At the time I thought it was a beautiful idea, but now I have witnessed the truth in this belief.