Amigos de las Americas - Dominican Republic: Barahona

My summer in the Dominican Republic was one of the most fruitful, inspiring, and rewarding experiences I have had in my life thus far. Amigos de las Americas is an incredible program that allows teenagers to have foreign experiences in the most important years of their life. This program was so crucial and important to my growth as a teenager into adulthood. I was able to learn about another culture by fully immersing myself in my community through food, customs, music, and sports. I made some of my best friends on this program, in both the Dominican Republic and spread out across the U.S. I will never forget the day my partner and I decided to hold a meeting during midday, right around the time it started to rain, and quickly learned that none of the community members would show up with the rain still pouring. I ate so much delicious food, learned how to dance bachata and merengue, and got my fair share of "outs" in baseball. This program was the best summer I have ever spent in my life.

My time there was the most amazing/hardest experience I have ever encountered. I was probably homesick for the first day but than got very involved in my community and recovered fast. My community is called Ingenito and is located in the mountains of San Juan dela Maguana. I have never felt so safe and at peace than when I touched foot on this land. I recommend this program to any one and everyone because I believe everyone can benefit from it in some way or another. It helped me grow and become way more independent.

Amigos is a great experience for high school and college students alike. I participated in the program this past summer and had an amazing experience. You are placed in a community, generally rural (although the DR is the most urban country in the program, I believe) with one or two other partners. You live with a host family, lead activities with children, and collaborate with your community on a project.

The best part about Amigos is that you're on your own. Yes, you have a host family, and yes you have a partner or two and a supervisor, but you are the one who makes sure you finish what you need to. You're in control of your own experiences, and while there is a great staff and support system, it all comes down to how much you want to get out of it.

On top of that, Amigos is affordable, especially in a chapter where you fundraise together. I was given a scholarship through my chapter due to my family's low income, bringing the price down to about as much as the flight would cost.

The Dominican Republic is a great place to go with Amigos. The people are friendly, they're willing to help, and the music is non-stop. While the dialect is difficult to understand, you get it eventually. The climate is hot and humid, but the rain cools it down.

I loved the experience but I'm not sure if I would do it again anytime soon. I remember crying the first 2 weeks because I wanted to go home since I was not comfortable in a house with a latrine. It takes some getting used to. Eventually I had to move to another host family which was a better fit host family for me. By the end of my trip I was crying because I didn't want to leave. The first month or two that I came back to the U.S., I was longing to be in the Dominican Republic and found any way possible of communication with my friends from over there. The phone bill even reached the $500 mark due to long distance calls.... Now I look back at it and absolutely loved that it happened but am not sure if I am willing to go through all of that emotional stress a second time. It was definitely a character building experience for me, and the challenge helped me to grow.

I volunteered with AMIGOS in 2000 in a small community between Neiba and Barahona. I lived with two other high school volunteers from the USA in a small, rural community. We stayed with host families and volunteered with the school and helped to get a project started that would create a communal park space for children to play. The program was 8 weeks long and very hot and dusty! The best thing was that the people were so nice and loving, like our own families. Even though the power went off frequently, the bachata, merengue, and salsa music never stopped flowing! Since then, I've been inspired to volunteer with the Peace Corps and eventually become a Spanish teacher. I still volunteer with AMIGOS, but as a trainer for volunteers preparing to go abroad, and as a board member with my local chapter. This organization has only gotten better over the years since I was a volunteer. I definitely recommend this program to anybody with the desire to get to know the people and community in which they'll live, and to volunteer their time for the projects.

I volunteered with AMIGOS in the DR in '07. I stayed with a host family in a town called Hato Nuevo. My partners and I ran a day camp with the local kids to teach them dental hygene, water purification, played sports etc and we also raised money and supplies to paint and fix up the local school. Our day camp kids also helped us paint a mural at the school. I fell in love with the country and the people and the culture. My host family took great care of us and we felt safe walking around the town. We rarely had electricity and sometimes didn't get our bellies full, but it was such an AMAZING expierence!!! I wouldn't have changed a thing. Our supervisor checked in every week and addressed our concerns and evaluated our progress towards our goals. He always made us feel so comfortable. I did get a nasty chest cold and had to stay a few nights at the supervisors headquarters on a cot, but they got me some medicine and I was fixed up in no time. I feel like our program really made a difference to the people in the town and I cherish the time I spent there. I dream of going back one day. I highly recommend AMIGOS de las Americas.

I became homesick the first ten minutes of being in community but after that I was fine. The community members were extremely open and had fun asking all kinds of questions. The Spanish speaking part was one of the most difficult challenges I had because native speakers talk so much fast than your average Spanish teachers do. I picked up quick. Through out my experience as an Amigo volunteer I grew up alot and I became so much more confident. AMIGOS really changed the way I view life.

I thoroughly enjoyed the eight weeks i spent with AMIGOS as a volunteer of the San Juan Project. I lived with a host family in a rural community and taught children's rights as well as facilitated a community and youth based initiative to institute a trash collection system. I learned so much about the culture, learning to dance, cook, and play dominoes and I made amazing friends. This was one of the best experiences of my life, I have gained greater self-confidence as well as cultural insight. My host community was incredibly safe; however, the weather was quite hot. Overall, I would strongly recommend this program.