ISV - Volunteer Projects in the Dominican Republic
The communities of the Dominican Republic tackle with the issues of poverty every day. As an ISV volunteer in the Dominican Republic, you will have the opportunity to improve the quality of lives for the residents of these communities. ISV offers volunteer projects in the Dominican Republic with this goal; they are attempting to achieve this goal through building infrastructure and giving these residents better education programs.
If you choose to volunteer focusing on community development, you will be involved in building and renovating homes, community centers, schools, latrines, water and sewage facilities, sidewalks, and community gardens, and to deliver basic health education and English language programs. ISV's other volunteer option is to work with children and teach English, Math, Geography, Sciences and Health Education in a summer camp setting. They were also be opportunities for fun activities like Music, Ars & Crafts, and physical recreation.
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I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel with International Student Volunteers (ISV) to the Dominican Republic in 2005. ISV gave me a very unique experience where I was able to impact the lives of local families by volunteering and also travel around the Dominican Republic doing a bunch of different fun adventure activities.
When I arrived with ISV I immediately fell in love with the Dominican Republic. The well trained Tour and Project Leaders who guided my group of 20 students along the way, and the children that we were able to help on a daily basis, made this trip the most memorable of my life. ISV took us whitewater rafting, surfing, snorkeling, rappelling down waterfalls, cliff jumping, canyoning, windsurfing, and exploring the Dominican culture giving me the adventure of a lifetime. The organization and number of activities that were set up for me in just two weeks far exceeded my expectations.
As fun as the adventure tour was, the biggest impact that ISV had on me was during the 2 weeks I spent on my Volunteer Project at Crossroads. Seeing things I would have never imagined and the conditions that people have to live in was a very eye opening experience. I instantly fell in love with the place and people we were helping. Seeing the smiles on the kid's faces as our old bus pulls up to their village on the dirt roads, with the kids chasing after us to greet us with hugs, climbing all over us as we arrived each morning still brings a smile to my face today. I was able to really connect with the people in the village. The families invited me in their new homes showed off their decorations and home with so much pride and joy. Seeing how grateful they were for what we were doing is one of the biggest rewards I have ever felt. I can't thank ISV enough for giving me this amazing opportunity and organizing the trip of a lifetime.
We made little mission trips to poor villages giving toiletries, food, milk, and medical treatment for the sick just made me appreciate everything I have so much more. I'll never forget the time I had in the Dominican Republic and the people we were able to help. Their smiles and the joy they shared with me will last forever. As much as we gave to them, from our suitcases full of clothes to the shoes we had on our feet to the houses we helped build giving them running water and electricity for the first time, to teaching the children, it still felt like I was the one they were helping. It gave me a whole new outlook on life and made me appreciate everything I have so much more and gave me a whole new outlook on life.
I have been on other volunteer trips before and nothing comes close to comparing with experience that I had with ISV. ISV's professionalism and organization in setting up such an amazing program is something I would recommend to anyone who is looking to travel. The friendships I made in the Dominican Republic, the lives I helped change, and the kids hanging all over me with smiles on their faces are things that will always be with me thanks to ISV.
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This program was amazing! There was a clear schedule about our daily activities both when volunteering and on the adventure tour. I would have loved to stay and volunteer more because it was the most rewarding and fun part of the trip. I got to meet so many local community members and talk with them about their lives. It was a great feeling knowing that I was making a difference in their lives and that I was bettering their health and safety. To end the day, there was nothing better than the delicious cuisine. Everything I was served couldn't have been better! I stayed in bungalows with my fellow volunteers and the owners were amazing. There really are no words for how gracious and welcoming they were. They felt like family by the time I left and I still keep in touch with them and all the other travelers. After volunteering, the adventure tour began and it was so much fun! I did everything from jumping down waterfalls to horseback riding through the mountains. I would definitely, 100% recommend this program to people. Fundraising is the best idea to cut costs. It helps so much. ISV is a very organized, safe, and fun program. I would travel with them again in a heart beat.
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Arriving in Dominican Republic could have been terrible. My original flight was canceled due to weather but ISV was able to update my new flight info. I landed in Santiago and was dropped off at my host family's house. The best foods were given to us, fresh juices and fruit, yummy breakfast, and such a welcoming family. The locals were so friendly and happy. It really changes your perspective to see how they have economic issues, pollution, things Americans would consider "low class," but everyone is always happy with what they've got. The volunteer week is considered the highlight of the program because this is where you are able to give, but I and so many will say that what made it worthwhile was what you got out of it. The interactions I had with the children was so heart-warming. Even when my spanish skills were poor, if you make an effort to communicate with the kids, they will communicate back. I will always remember the long bus ride to the construction site, the scenery was so beautiful, even when it rained. The small moments where we had an hour long lunch break and everyone bonds over eating the same food over and over, the weekend where we had free time and went to the beach. I did experience homesickness, and I wish I could have gotten over it quicker so I could have enjoyed my time to the fullest. I only wish I could have stayed longer.
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Volunteering in the Dominican Republic was absolutely amazing! The children were so cute and very willing to learn. We got to teach them English and play lots of games. We built a small village latrines that they were in desperate need of. The most challenging part was not knowing Spanish very well. I would recommend this trip to anyone!!
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I loved my time in the D.R. with ISV. I met some people I am proud to call life long friends and did so while experiencing a new land. The whole experience was amazing in La Mina, and I cannot wait until I am old enough to send my future children there.
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I still remember the fateful day when an enthusiastic man with an Australian accent entered my math class and changed my life in under thirty seconds, or at least provided a catalyst for change. After looking at the ISV pamphlet I just knew that I had to go on one of these trips. The staff helped me decide on the Dominican Republic based on my interest in childhood education. The following summer I found myself riding a Safari truck, surrounded by friends, watching a rainbow of houses on stilts, a lush tropical forest, and waving locals, zoom by as we rode up a mountain to the place where we would spend many hours digging, shoveling and laying bricks. The neatest part about the construction project was the locals that helped us. At one point, an elderly woman asked to borrow my pick axe and proceeded to clear out more weeds than I had in the last half hour in thirty seconds. Her strength and character was inspiring. Later that week I found myself teaching a yoga lesson in Spanish to a group of beautiful children. When we asked the pre-schoolers who their role model was, they unanimously replied, "Yos", or God. To see the simple joy that I could bring through throwing a ball with a young child, or conversing to another about baseball, changed my heart forever. I witnessed a lunar rainbow and a million smiles that were equally illuminating while in the Dominican Republic. But what really made this trip life changing for me, was the friendships I formed with my fellow volunteers. It took but two weeks for me to fall in love with the country the culture, and a dozen people that I just met. I am a more educated, more compassionate person because of that trip, but most importantly, I was inspired to promote change through education and compassion.
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I volunteered in the RD in the Summer of June 2011. It was the greatest experience I ever had. I got to live in the city for one week and improve on my Spanish as well as running a summer camp and doing construction for 2 weeks. It was incredible! The people are so friendly and volunteering with ISV will give you great memories.
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In June of 2011, I joined ISV for three weeks in the Dominican Republic. My first week was spent with a host family in Santiago. There I went to Spanish immersions program and learned about the Dominican culture. For the last two weeks, I stayed at Tubuaga an eco plantation outside of Puerto Plata. We ran a summer camp and did beautification projects in Caraballo. We got to interact with children that lived in the refuge camp that had absolutely nothing, but were the nicest most caring kids you will ever meet. Volunteering with ISV opened my eyes and realize how lucky I am to have what I have. I also got to meet amazing people from around North America that I will continue to communicate with.
If you want a life changing adventure, do ISV. Although you are there to volunteer, you do more than that. You experience the culture through traveling and going places where you interact with the locals. The accommodations are out of this world as well as the food. This is a wonderful way to travel because you aren't just hanging out at the resort all day. I think about those three weeks daily and know that it has made me a better person. I liked ISV so much that I'm volunteering with them again in Summer 2012.
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I went on three trips to three countries and spent a total of 12 weeks abroad. I went to Ecuador (5 weeks), Dominican Republic (5 weeks) and Thailand (2 weeks). While in Ecuador and Dominican Republic, I spent a week getting Spanish lessons where I got to practice talking in Spanish while learning about the country. With the lessons, the teachers also provide dance lessons, salsa in Ecuador and meringue in the Dominican Republic, and cooking lessons to show off to volunteers' friends back at home. While there, I stayed in local families in Quito, Ecuador and Santiago, Dominican Republic for the lessons.
Then, I traveled to my volunteer site. In Ecuador, I stayed in a local village in the Amazonian Jungle where my group helped teach English and helped take care of cocoa plants. The cocoa plants were used so the village could sell the cocoa bean and make money from that so the village did not have to rely on money from the oil companies who are destroying the rainforest.
For my Dominican Republic trip, I stayed a seminary (ISV has no religious affiliations) that was near the school and worksite. Half of the group went to the school and taught English and other fun stuff for educational summer camps while the other group was building a community center that was to be used by 17 communities. Then the groups switch the following day. The kids loved having us as much as the workers who watched over us during the build.
Lastly, I spent a couple weeks in Thailand where I spent the first week working at a school where we helped finished building a new classroom for the school and spent time playing with the kids. During this week, we learned about Thailand, the culture, the Thai language, and Buddhism. My group was even fortunate enough to witness Mother's Day in Thailand which was extremely emotional for the Thai parents and kids as well as my group. The following week, I spent a week at the Elephant Nature Park where I helped the park take care of the elephants. Mainly our tasks were to clean pumpkins for the elephant's lunch, get corn stalks for the elephant's dinner, or clean up after the elephants that morning. Around lunch and dinner, volunteers and visitors were allowed to feed and bathe the elephants. Volunteers that are interested in veterinary could watch veterinarians apply medical care to the elephants.
Along with the volunteer project, most of the volunteers through ISV can do another two weeks touring the country. I extremely recommend this because one does more in two weeks with ISV and he or she can do in a lifetime. In Ecuador, I went rock climbing and mountain biking one day to climbing to the tropical glaciers on Cotopaxi, Ecuador's most active volcano, to white water rafting to surfing on the beach and watching humpback whales. Ecuador has it all! I also went did the two weeks in the Dominican Republic where I did as more water activities than I thought was possible. From going surfing to jumping off waterfalls to white water rafting before exploring the colonial center in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic it has everything you want in a tropical island.
I highly recommend this company which has allowed to me to travel and to see the world differently that a normal tourist would not see. While there, I got to make a difference to someone and made some great friends in the process. You will not be disappointed with ISV!
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Alumni Interviews
Meet Cassandra Haven, ISV volunteer alum
GO: Why did you decide to volunteer with ISV in the Dominican Republic?
Cassie: I decided to volunteer in the Dominican Republic after hearing about it in one of my classes. The recruiter was so enthusiastic and postive about volunteering and it made me want to go. I chose the Dominican because it had the best program for working with children and that is always what I have wanted to do. I also love volunteering so it was a perfect fit for me!
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Cassie: For the volunteer portion of my trip, we split up into two groups. One group would volunteer at the local summer camp and the other group would volunteer in the community digging latrines. When working with the kids in the summer camp, we would implement lesson plans that we prepared in the days before. Some lessons were centered around games and others were more formal school-type work. It was great to see how the children interacted in the different settings! My group would take turns expaining the different lessons so we could all have equal opporunities to talk with the children.
On the days we volunteered in the community, we built latrines. It started by digging a very deep hole. Then we mixed and poured concrete to form the top and seat and lastly we built the wooden structure to enclose the latrine. While we were working on the latrines, we had the opportunity to interact and talk with the locals and hear what their lives have been like. After a days hard work, we all would stop by the mango tree to get some fresh mangos for the night! It was great to see the entire group in one place with all the people we were helping and getting to know! Being involved in the summer camp and community were, by far, the most amzaing, rewarding, and interesting parts of the trip!
GO: What made this volunteer experience unique and special?
Cassie: I think what made this volunteer abroad trip unique and special was that we really were immersed in the culture and lives of the people we were helping. To see how happy and thankful they were for our work really made everything worth while and really put our own lives into perspective.
GO: How has this experience helped you grow personally and professionally?
Cassie: This experience has impacted my future in the best ways possible. It made me realize how many things I take for granted, like running water and the health and safety of where I live. Working with the children solidified my wanting to become a teacher and it has opened me up to the idea of teaching children another language as well. When my friends ask me how my trip was, it is very hard to explain that it truly did change my life. I am now considering moving to another country for a year to teach children english and other life skills as well as finding more opportunities to volunteer either in my own country or another country. In the end, going to the Dominican Republic to volunteer was by far the best experience of my life and would go again in a heart beat.
Cassie Haven, 21, volunteered with ISV from May 27th 2011 to June 23rd 2011. She is from and lives in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. She is currently a senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and plans to go to Graduate School for Education next year at UMass as well.
Meet Genevieve Chan, volunteer alum
GO: Why did you decide to volunteer with ISV in the Dominican Republic?
Genevieve: I first heard about ISV when I was a freshman at San Francisco State University. One of the reps came into a classroom and said a lot of details in a short amount of time. The idea of traveling appealed to me but I never went to the information meetings, even though I would take a flyer and hold on to it for the entire year. After hearing the announcement for ISV for the third time in my junior year, I finally decided to go to the info meeting.
I wanted to volunteer in a country where I could work with kids because my career goal is to become a social worker. Dominican Republic just seemed like a good choice price-wise and it was not too far to fly to. I did not think much about the country, even when I landed I had no idea what to expect. Little did I know that it turned out to be the best decision I have ever randomly made.
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Genevieve: During the volunteer week, we would have a lesson planning day on the weekend so we could be prepare for the entire week's lesson. On a typical day, I would wake up and get ready and go down to the dinning room for breakfast. After gathering the necessities, either for a day at the construction site or for school, we would split into our two groups. One group would go to the construction site while the other goes to school and we would rotate the next day.
At the construction site, we would mix cement, carry cinder blocks, build a wall, dig a hole, carry dirt and use it to create a leveled floor. The sun would always shine bright and volunteers were constantly being reminded to drink water and reapply sunscreen by our project leader. After an hour long break for lunch we would continue our tasks and often the locals would come out to watch, socialize, or help.
At the school we would break up into our assigned classrooms and gather the kids according to their age group. We would have math lessons, geography, art and dance, personal development, and English. During the free time, we would bring out frisbees, jump rope, and various sports balls that volunteers donated to the program. Some of the younger children's favorite thing to do was to have a piggy-back ride, we would run around and spin while they laughed and giggled.
GO: What made this volunteer experience unique and special?
Genevieve: What really made the volunteer trip special for me was the little things that stood out. I always enjoyed the long bus ride to the construction site. The scenery was always filled with different shades of green, even when it rained and the sky was gray and cloudy. I loved how our accommodations reminded me of a college dorm for freshmen students. Our trip to Puerto Plata on the weekend was a day of leisure, it was such a difference how a tourist city looked compared to Santiago. I loved how there was always fresh fruit and I even enjoyed the times when the electricity went out and we sat around in the dark. I loved how the bond between me and my favorite little girl from school started because she was drawing pictures with chalk and I kept saying "bonita" and "muy bien" because that was all I could think of to say (I was lacking in Spanish speaking skills). I also loved the realization that while it is good to want to travel and learn about other countries, it would still be a good experience to travel in your own country.
GO: How has this experience helped you grow personally and professionally?
Genevieve: Once I graduate, I plan to use "volunteered with ISV" to the fullest on job applications, resumes, and eventually on my application to grad school. I think working with ISV gave me the kick start to volunteering and I feel I have more opportunities because of the experience. Being exposed to Dominican culture helped open my eyes more, there is so much in life, in other cultures, and even in my own culture and heritage that I have yet to learn.
Genevieve Chan is from San Francisco, California. She traveled to Dominican Republic between July 1-July 23, 2011 when she was 21-years-old and about to become a senior at the upcoming fall semester, studying psychology as an undergrad at San Francisco State.
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About ISV
Our mission is to create an environment that combines conservation, education, community development and recreation into the ultimate adventure travel program for participants who desire to make a difference by volunteering in communities abroad. ISV offers life-changing volunteer and adventure programs across 6 continents. Over 22,000 participants from around the world have experienced our volunteer, educational, cultural and adventure programs.
Many college and university students who participated in ISV Programs have also earned academic credit for their involvement. ISV is recognized as one of the highest rated volunteer and travel organizations in the world.
ISV is a non-profit organization in the USA, Costa Rica, Thailand and Ecuador. While our sending offices in Australia, New Zealand, UK and Canada serve the same purpose as our USA office (looking after students and sending them abroad), they are not registered as a non-profit.
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Every moment of everyday I think about last summer's volunteer experience in the Dominican Republic. It truly changed my life, and I plan to go back someday and see our the improvements we did at Blue Moon still there with the people.