Monte Cristi-Day 7 (Culture Day)

Today is our last day here with O360. We leave tomorrow at 6:30am for the airport. This morning, we woke up at 7:30 and headed downstairs for breakfast-pancakes and scrambled eggs. After breakfast, we all got on a bus and headed to the Dajabon market that is located at the Haitian/Dominican border. This was a super emotional experience. We walked single file through the market and stopped on the bridge right before entering Haiti. There were people everywhere. Hundreds on Haitians were crossing into the Dominican on the bridge and also in the body of water below (Massacre River). Multiple people were bare foot, carrying tons of objects on their heads. Haitians come to the Dominican to sell clothes, shoes, etc., in return for food from the Dominicans. This experience evoked multiple emotions as everyone was walking through the market with cameras or nice clothes and these people are trying to get just enough to support their families and their country. Walking through the market was very overwhelming but it was nice to see that as soon as you acknowledged someone by saying “Hello”, “Ola”, or “Bonjour”, they lit right up and got so happy that you said hello, regardless of what language you were speaking. It was difficult to see that people had to live at this bare minimum of necessities but it was nice to see how happy they remained.

After the market, we headed over to a baseball field and also a cemetery. The cemetery was interesting. In the Dominican, they cannot burry people underground as they are too close to sea level so all the graves are above ground and they are so beautiful. They were extremely old (oldest was about 1800), but they were so beautifully crafted. After this, we headed to a small museum and after that, the gift shop. It turns out that the gift shop was actually behind one of the outdoor classrooms at the O360 learning centre but no one had noticed. After everyone was done looking around, we headed for lunch. Today, we went out for lunch as a team and it was unreal! We had 3 kinds of rice, beans, chicken, veggies, meatballs, and so much more. After lunch, we headed to El Morro for a nice swim/beach afternoon. The water was so rough and the beach was all rocks but once we moved down further and found a sandy spot, it was so nice. The water was beautiful and the sun was shining. We all swam and played volleyball and it was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon.

After the beach, we came back to the O360 facility to shower. Once we were all clean…. We headed over to get our tattoos. This time, there were 7 of us who went. I went second and I was shocked by the little amount of pain I experienced. I finally got my first tattoo and I could not be happier with the outcome! It was super nerve racking at first, but it definitely helped to have all of the other volunteers there! It was funny as the people as the tattoo parlor said that they could tell we were Canadian because we were so “loco” which is “crazy” in Spanish lol. They said that they have never had a volunteer come to get a tattoo but they were super excited that we all did! After our tattoos, we came back to the O360 facility for dinner and to my surprise, we were having tacos!! Dinner was so good and everyone was chatting and it made me so sad to think that I would be saying good-bye to them tomorrow. After dinner, we headed to Jasmines house as a few of the girls wanted to get their hair braided and she does great braids. While we were sitting there with her kids, she approached me and asked if she could make a video for my church, thanking them for the money that I donated to her. I accepted this idea and she gave me pictures of herself and her husband, her 2 beautiful children, and her twin sister who is still in the O360 orphanage as she is “special”. And get this, her husband is the one who did my tattoo and I had no idea before I got it done. Pretty cool coincidence eh? This trip has been more than extraordinary.

We got back to the O360 facility and had our last group reflection with Algonquin. This time, we all wrote our names on an envelope and everyone got a piece of paper for everyone in the group. Everyone wrote something about you on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope without you knowing. We are supposed to open these envelopes once we get home to Canada. After this reflection, we had a team reflection with all of the O360 volunteers, leaders, and staff members. This reflection was so inspiring. Everyone talked about their experiences from the week and it was overwhelming to hear all of the amazing stories from all of the other volunteers. Afterwards, the leaders surprised us with a video of pictures from the week. This video broke my heart in two as it really made me realise once again, how much I did not want to leave. This week has been so inspirational. And this brings me to the highlight of my day. Today, this would be the video that the O360 leaders surprised us with. It was so great to see pictures from the week of all of the volunteers, and all of the children of SJPS. I’m going to miss Monte Cristi in a way that I cannot even put into words. I have met so many new people and made so many new friends and I am so thankful that I got the chance to have this experience.