03/30/2020
LIFE-CHANGING TRIP: Judy Karlen, a senior psychology major, provided this report on the Social Responsibility March 7-14 class trip to the Dominican Republic.
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“Are you sure it's safe?” "I woke up this morning and debated shutting the whole trip down"
Although we were already in the Dominican Republic, and it was too late to cancel, I felt my heart drop in response to hearing these comments. Even the idea of the trip being cancelled due to the coronavirus was devastating.
Fifteen Mount Union students, a staff member, and two professors had spent months preparing for our weeklong service trip to Santiago, Dominican Republic. Dr. Steve Kramer, who has taught the class for 29 years, placed some of the focus of the course on sustainability and climate change. Dr. Paul Tidman, who is in his first year of teaching the Social Responsibility class, taught us about what justice truly is. Together, the professors and two Spanish speaking students in the class guided us in learning Spanish to prepare for the pinnacle of the course – a trip to a developing country that takes place every Spring Break.
We spent our week doing service in Santiago, Dominican Republic. We did whatever was asked of us, focusing on painting houses and a school, pulling up tiles in a church, and teaching communities about hygiene by providing kits containing soap, shampoo, and other personal hygiene products.
“At the beginning of the week, our hosts gave us an orientation about the community that we would be helping, and they informed us that we would feel like we weren’t doing a lot,” senior Bethany Tober said. “But they also told us to know that our presence in the community, and showing love to the kids, meant more than we knew, and I feel like that helped me connect more with the work we were doing.”
By far the most meaningful part of the trip was the connection we made with each other and the people we met. Over the short seven days, each of us created bonds with our hosts, the church leaders who provided us a place to stay, and other volunteers who spent time with us along the way.
Senior Lauren Skulina, who plans to gointo the Peace Corps following graduation, said, “The connections that I made with the people and the work that I was able to do in just that one week made me even more excited about what I’ll be able to do in my two years in the Peace Corps. Immersing myself in this new culture has prepared me for future experiences.”
We spent multiple days in one of the villages, and there we got to know many of the children in the community. Finally, each night after dinner we had time as a class to reflect on the day, and spend time getting to know each other better. We often stayed up late playing different card games, hide and seek outside, and talking about how things would change when we got back to the states.
During the trip we had very little Internet connection, most of us only connecting to the Internet on our bus, driving to our next location. In a time when coronavirus updates were coming left and right, we only heard news about what was going on at home once or twice a day. One moment we heard that March Madness was cancelled, and the next that we were moving to online classes as a university. Nobody really knew what things would look like when we landed in New Jersey on March 14, nor did we know what life would be like in the coming weeks.
Luckily, what we did know was in the short time we had in Santiago, we made an impact on people’s lives, and they had the same on ours. We will not forget those we met, and the connections we made that will last a lifetime.
Senior Jared Marsh puts it perfectly: “The work we did felt special and meaningful, but there was more than that; in the moments when we shared a laugh with someone despite not speaking the same language, or saw the children smile, or got the biggest hug from someone we will likely never meet again ... Those were the moments that taught me the importance of service and giving and loving others”.
We ended the trip the same way Kramer ended every class – hearing his signature phrase. "Take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and take care of our Mother Earth."
