CSA Team Member Guide

Table of Contents:

S

T  On the ground guide ………………………………….page 1-6

 A bit about CSA………………………………………………Page 7

 Our Staff………………………………………………………..Pages 8-9

 Welcome to DR……………………….…………………..Pages 10-11

 What to expect……………………………………………..Pages 12-13

 DR Map…………………………………………………………Page 14

 Important contacts……………………………………..Page 15

CONTEN OF TABLE

I) PROGRAM SUMMARY: The program will be broken up into two parts: the first consisting of small group Spanish immersion, cultural field activities and academic presentations from local professionals to provide a context to the and an introduction to social issues in the developing-world context. These activities are aimed at preparing II) OVERALL ACADEMIC OBJECTIVES: participants for the service component during the second part of the At the close of this 9 day Academic Service Learning Experiences, program. The second portion of the program will be concentrated in participants should: the field with a service-learning experience in the rural community of El  Be familiar with Dominican history, language, culture and customs Cerrito, El Seybo where you will support the community outreach and understand how these elements have played a key role in the program in the rural community of El Cerrito, aiding in the Mi Vida en behavior and culture of Dominicans today. Juego program along with installation of filters as part of a large-scale  Be able to conduct critical analysis of present social issues and community health project. training of a core of health promoters and systemic responses in the Dominican Republic. youth leaders on health prevention topics, aid in the painting, data  Compare and contrast urban and rural life in the Dominican analysis and mapping at the local primary care clinic and conduct Republic. outreach in the community together with promoters. This schedule will  Apply knowledge, skills in support of a grassroots development allow the group to experience a wide variety of experiences in the initiative through CSA’s projects. Dominican Republic and make contrasts between rural and urban life while contributing to one of CSA’s local projects.

1 2 In the morning, we’ll have a field visit to the markets and colmados to DETAILED PROGRAM ACTIVITIES discuss the economy of a Dominican household. We’ll have lunch followed SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2015 by a merengue class at Ecos Dance studio. CSA will meet you at the airport and we’ll travel to to Hotel Maison Gautraeux, which will be your home for the first few days. We will SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015 have a welcome dinner and orientation to your program. We’ll be heading to the rural town of San Francisco de Macoris for an exchange and tour of a farm where Cacao is produced. You’ll get an SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2015 After breakfast, we’ll pick you up and will have a full introduction to the overview of the economy of rural areas and get an introduction to all of the program followed Spanish evaluations. After lunch at CSA, we’ll have an locally grown products that are exported, including a chance to sample opportunity to exchange money to get settled. cacao. SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2015 MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 2015 In the morning, you’ll have an initial lecture by Atenas Carmona focused on Early in the morning, we will depart for Hato Mayor where our service work Culture and Sub-culture. Lunch will be at CSA. will begin. Upon arrival, we’ll get settled and have a short orientation to After lunch, you’ll have Spanish class followed by an interactive discussion our rural service experience. Mid morning, we’ll visit El Cerrito and get to about Dominican History. know the community and individuals you will be supporting. MONDAY JANUARY 12-THURSDAY JANUARY 15, 2014 TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2015 We will have a lecture focused on the Platform for Social Services in the DR, Each day we’ll divide up into work groups, one group working with the led by local health professionals. Case study analysis will complement this youth program to finalize the baseball field, the other working in the exercise. Lunch will be at CSA. In the afternoon, we’ll visit a local community to install water filters and begin the community vegetable organization to engage in a discussion about the role of non profits in public garden. Lunch will be on site each day and we’ll return at about 4:30pm to health activities, hearing the experience of COIN, an NGO that works with the hotel for some rest and relaxation. Dinner will be at 6:30-7:00pm. Each HIV/AIDS, youth and other social programming. evening, we’ll have a session to process the day and journal after dinner. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2014 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2015 We’ll depart early in the morning for a field trip to Santiago to visit the We will spend the last day full of adventure, where we will travel to second largest city in the DR to see the historical sites and tour the Centro Bayahibe for a boat cruise to Saona island. We spend the day relaxing at the Leon museum. beach, swimming and soaking in the sun. Lunch will be at the beach and after you will have a chance to pick up last minute souvenirs and then THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015 As part of your Spanish class, we’ll take tour of the historical Colonial Zone, return to our hotel in Hato Mayor. stopping at key spots to take in the history and culture of the Old City. In the evening, we’ll have our program wrap-up and evaluations. We’ll have lunch and have a chance to visit the local Mercado Modelo. SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2014 We will have an early breakfast, pack and depart for the airport. FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2015

3 4 LODGING AND OTHER LOGISTICS SUPPORT TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT- EL During the first portion of the trip in Santo Domingo, the group will be CERRITO lodged in double and triple rooms in a modest hotel called Maison El Cerrito is a community that lacks water and electricity and site for Gautraux, located in Gazcue. You will have breakfast and dinner at the CSA’s youth at risk sports and education program (Mi Vida en Juego). hotel and lunch at CSA´s center. During the second half of the trip the We have decided to expand many of our efforts to this community given group will stay at Hotel Las Colinas in Hato Mayor. The site provides a the needs that it presents as well as the active participation of pool, recreation spaces and a beautiful terrain. Internet access will be community members. Your efforts will help to both finalize the baseball limited and can be accessed via a computer. Participants will share field for the youth program as well as kick off our public health rooms with other members from your group and you will have breakfast interventions with installation of water filters and breaking ground to and dinner at the Hotel. Each day, you will be transported by CSA staff begin the community vegetable garden. This support is part of ongoing at 8:30 a.m. to your project site. Presentations and fieldtrips will support to the El Cerrito community, together with local community typically end around 4:30 or 5:00p.m., when you will return to the hotel organizations, the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. and have dinner in the evening.

TRAVEL 6 The group will travel in a mini-bus while in the country. Transportation to and from the airport, to Hato Mayor, and within Hato Mayor, El Seibo and Santo Domingo will take place on these mini-bus driven by a professional driver.

SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT DETAILSCONSTRUCTION OF VEGETABLE GARDENS

During your time in the community, you will be working to support

CSA’s health initiatives in the rural community of El Cerrrito in the El

Seibo province.

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Our staff is a dynamic team of experienced professionals who are dedicated to bringing A bit about life Our changing experiences Staff through cross -cultural programs.

The Community Service Alliance (CSA)

Here at CSA, we believe in the power of bringing together people who dare to Rigil-kent Ballester is the co-founder and Director of CSA. He has a B.A challenge the status quo – international volunteers and students who are passionate in Education and is a certified instructor of Spanish as a second language. Rigil brings to CSA over 18 years of experience in the design about making a difference and local leaders who can envision a better future for their families and their communities – will result in lives that are changed and communities 8 and implementation of service learning programs with foreign

that are transformed. Universities, and has provided language and technical training for international volunteer corps and embassies. Each of our International Exchange Programs are designed to take the energy, abilities, and passion of our Elizabeth Conklin the co-founder and Management Advisor of CSA. international volunteers and students, and partner them After graduating from Ithaca College in Health Education, Elizabeth with a local community where they will come together, first and adults living in a Haitian-Dominican batey (impoverished sharing in knowledge, hard work, and triumphs. community). In addition to founding CSA, she has collaborated on a variety of public development projects with USAID, United Nations and We work directly with local communities and grassroots organizations to identify Global Fund, with a particular focus on HIV and Maternal/Child Health.

needs. Then, we develop our volunteer projects and internships to respond to these Elizabeth received her Master's in Public Health from the University of specific community-identified needs. Through supporting local leaders, communities Albany. are empowered with the knowledge and resources that they need to realize their vision of better lives for themselves and their families. Veronica Ballester is the General Manager of CSA, as well as CSA´s home stay coordinator. She is a licensed Psychologist with over 15 years of experience working in the education field. Veronica is responsible for all aspects of the home stay experience in addition to a variety of administrative tasks.

Furthermore, CSA's ongoing relationships with local Maria Cristina German is responsible for the design and supervision of organizations means that your impact doesn't end when you leave the DR, but through CSA´s Spanish immersion programs. She has over 25 years of the collaborative efforts of teams from throughout North America, the projects have experience working in cross-cultural training and instruction of Spanish

both long and short term results. as a second language, including collaboration with the Spanish Training STAFF OUR Department for the Peace Corps.

Finally, you as a volunteer or student will not be able to leave this experience unchanged. Your time sharing with the Dominican people - playing with kids, teaching Freddy Contreras has been CSA's chief financial officer since 2007. In health classes, putting up the walls of a community center, talking together – will give addition to being a certified public accountant, he has strengths in

A BIT ABOUT CSA BIT A you not only a better understand of this warm, open culture, but a better perspective designing and automating accounting systems. His extensive on your own. CSA is a registered nonprofit organization, based in Santo Domingo, experience, both as an independent financial consultant and through Dominican Republic. advanced fiscal and human resources training, is a tremendous asset to CSA. 7 8

Welcome to DR

. Geography The Dominican Republic (Spanish: República Dominicana) is a Latin American country Luis Silvestre is the CSA Coordinator for the East. In addition to his that occupies the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island called , which it studies in linguistics, Luis completed postgraduate studies in shares with the Republic of Haiti. education and he has worked in a variety of school settings with a The whole country measures an area of 44,442 km² making it the second largest focus in bilingual education. Having trained as a professional country in the Antilles after Cuba. The Dominican Republic has the highest peak in the baseball player, one of Luis's greatest passions is baseball. As native Caribbean, named Picouarte(3,087 m / 10,128 above sea level) and Lake Enriquillo is

of Hato Mayor, he brings to CSA extensive experience working with the biggest lake in the Caribbean. WELCOME TO DR local communities. Culture The culture of the Dominican Republic is a Creole blend of the native indigenous Pedro de la Cruz is CSA’s field coordinator for the “Mi Vida en peoples with the Spanish colonization strongly influencing language and religion and

also introducing African slaves who brought their own cultures to the mix. Castilian Juego” youth project. He is a bilingual with professional background in psychology. He worked for years as a commonly known as Spanish is the official language of the DR, but it includes some professional baseball player and has been dedicated to words taken from the indigenous Taíno language. Haitian Creole is spoken fluently by community outreach for more than 20 years. about 1.2 million people and is the second most widely spoken language.

According to the CIA, World Fact Book, The population of the Dominican Republic is made up of 16% whites, 11% blacks, and 73% of mixed race. A study completed by the Cesar Hinojosa is one of CSA´s local technicians. He has a B.A. in CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, identified about 90% of Business Administration and has worked in community the contemporary Dominican population as having African development for over 15 years, actively involved in the Fe y ancestry. However, many Dominicans self-identify as being Alegria School in Batey Lecheria, close to his home in Los of mixed-race rather than "black," in contrast to African

Alcarrizos. Cesar´s experience in project management, identity movements in the US. A variety of terms are used leadership with youth make him an excellent asset to CSA´s to represent a range of skin tones, including "morena" team. (brown), "india" (Indian), "blanca oscura" (dark white), and "trigueño" (wheat colored).

OUR STAFF OUR

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Musically, the Dominican Republic is known for its exportation of merengue music, a type of lively, joyful music and dance music consisting of a tempo of about 120 to 160 What to expect beats per minute. Its syncopated beats use Latin percussion, brass instruments, bass, and piano or keyboard. Well known merengue artists include Juan Luis Guerra, Sergio Vargas, and Milly Quezada. Personal Safety

CSA team members have had very few problems during Also very common is bachata, a musical style originally considered to be a traditional folk music. However since their time in the DR. Still, knowing that petty theft is the 2000, new groups from New York City's Dominican most frequent problem, take common sense precautions.

population, such as Aventura, have created a new Please do not bring any valuables.

WHAT TO EXPECT mainstream that has become very popular in pop culture and can be heard in corner stores and buses everywhere Don't wear flashy jewelry (even fake), don't walk around with your camera out, and Baseball is by far the most popular sport in the Dominican don't pull out wads of cash, or leave belongings unattended anywhere. Keep your Republic today. After the United States, the DR boasts the passport and extra cash locked in your suitcase. Never go anywhere alone. If you need second-highest number of baseball players in the Major to leave the group always go with a buddy, let your leader know where you'll be and League Baseball, whose greats include, Albert Pujols, Pedro when you'll be back. By taking these precautions, you'll be able to avoid most problems. Martínez, Vladimir Guerrero and David Ortiz. The Dominican Republic also has its own six team, baseball Money winter league in which many MLB players and minor leaguers play during the off-season. The Dominican Republic is a fairly inexpensive destination. An average meal costs only $5 US and tip is generally 10% of the bill, although it may already be included. While More than 95% of the population adheres to Christianity, mostly Roman Catholicism, some banks and ATMs are available in the Santo Domingo, they are not communities followed by a growing contingent of Protestant groups such as Seventh-day Adventist, where we work, so it is better to bring cash to exchange upon arrival. We recommend and Jehovah's Witnesses. that you do not bring travelers checks.

For additional information on the DR As all food, housing and transportation will be provided as part of your program, $150 Lots of good travel, news and general information is available in English on the Dr1 spending money is typically enough for the trip. Again, be sure to put aside $10 cash for website: www.dr1.com. For those interested in getting a better feel for the history and the required tourist card upon arrival at the airport here in the DR. culture of the DR, we recommend the writer, Julia Alvarez, The exchange rate is $1 USD = 43 Dominican Pesos.

(http://www.juliaalvarez.com/). Her novels, beyond being well-written works of fiction, offer much insight into the history of the Dominican Republic. Contacting Home North American cell phones frequently do not have Climate & Weather: Rain and Shine coverage in the Dominican Republic, and those that do The Dominican Republic has hot tropical weather pretty much year-round. Rainy often have very high roaming rates. Participants are advised season begins in May and lasts through September, when unexpected, brief tropical to use local phone cards to make calls home. You will be

WELCOME TO DR TO WELCOME provided an initial phone card and instructions upon arrival. downpours are not uncommon. June-November is officially hurricane season. Finally, December through February is considered Dominican winter, when temperatures will Feel free to leave CSA's emergency contact numbers with become very comfortable and even cool in the early mornings. family at home in case of emergencies. Internet access and computers are available in Santo Domingo. In the rural communities there is some limited access through wifi or cyber cafes, but it is not always available.

Food DR Map v In the DR, people typically eat breakfast with might include eggs, smashed plantains or a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with coffee or fruit juice. Lunch is the main meal of the day and the traditional version is called the 'bandera' (flag) which11 consists of foods that represent each color of the Dominican flag. 12

Other typical lunches could include spaghetti, chicken and rice, plátanos, beans and rice,

beef and fish. Dinner is usually a simple grilled sandwich or soup. There will always be vegetarian options available during your trip. Please let us know before you arrive if you would like vegetarian meals or have any specific food allergies.

Bugs The DR is home to a wide variety of wonderful crawly creatures. Mosquitoes, however, can be very bothersome and so we recommend you bring repellent.

Flexibility DR MAP A positive attitude, flexibility, and a sense of adventure are the first requirements for a meaningful experience. Especially if you are on your first trip to a developing nation you must keep in mind that things do not always work as we are accustomed to, nor as we expect them to. The infrastructure in the DR is not the same as that of North America or Europe. Plans often have to be changed due to unforeseeable circumstances. Although we will do our best to keep things as close to schedule as possible, should inconveniences

occur, understanding is al-ways greatly appreciated. Most experienced travelers will tell you that often it is the unplanned and unexpected surprises which are the greatest adventures and the most meaningful memories.

Emergency Procedures

If a natural disaster or social disturbance occurs, or is being announced through radio or television, you should remain with the CSA staff at all times. Participants in all CSA programs are required to possess up-to-date medical insurance coverage, as participants are responsible to assume all cost associated with illness, injury or accidents that may occur during their time in the Dominican Republic. In the case of emergency or other needs you might have, don’t hesitate to contact the staff. CSA should be contacted in the case of any medical or other type of emergency.

WHAT TO EXPECT TO WHAT We consider an emergency if: -You have been badly injured. -You’ve been assaulted or robbed. -You are at the hospital.

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Contact Information

 CSA Office Mario García Alvarado #50. Ens. Quisqueya Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Phone: (809) 363-0961 E-mail: [email protected] www.csadr.org

 Hotel Maison Gautreax Felix Mariano lluberes #8 Gazcue, Santo Domingo, Phone: (809) 412-7838

http://www.maisongautreaux.net/

 Tomas Bonilla (For emergency use only) Cell: 829.917.1303

 Veronica Ballester (For emergency use only) Phone: 809-238-5141

Cell: 809- 630-9393

Emergency Contacts  U.S. Embassy Cesar Nicolas Penson #68, Esq Leopoldo Navarro Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Phone: (809) 221-2171 Marine guard after hours Phone: (809) 221-8100

 Medical Clinic in Hato Mayor Grupo Medico Zorrilla Cruz Calle San Esteban #27 Hato Mayor del Rey Phone: (809)553-3725 15

9 CONTACT INFORMATION CONTACT

CSA TEAM MEMBER GUIDE

CSA TEAM MEMBER GUIDE

UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY Academic Service Learning Program January 3-17, 2015 Santo Domingo & El Seibo, Dominican Republic

CSA TEAM MEMBER GUIDE MEMBER TEAM CSA www.csadr.org