#4 - Hairy Adventures

This past week has been quite exciting, as should be expected. 

I’ll start with our random adventures of the week. 

Hair seems to grow fast in the Dominican. Peter started the trend. 

He decided that his head was weighing too much 

and was much too hot so he needed a hair cut. 
Jillayna volunteered, but Jeremy quickly took over. Doesn’t look too 
shabby for a hack job :) The next day Josh wanted a haircut. A couple 
of days later Jillayna cut a good five or six inches off of my hair. 
Then Jillayna wanted to dye her hair so the leaders went out on an 
adventure. We found the perfect colour - we chose the colour because 
the girl on the box had the exact same nose as Jillayna.

Decision: done.

Megan and Olivia dyed her hair and it turned out quite red.  

Oops. 
So Megan and Olivia dyed it again a couple of days later...and it 
turned out a more browny-red. We now call her Anne and occasionally 
offer her Raspberry Cordial. There was extra dye so Jake dyed his 
mohawk and David got racing stripes down his head. 

But the kicker in  this hair saga is DJ and John-Mark. 

These two yahoos were chatting with Juliet, Olivia and Karina 

this past Monday night. 

The girls asked if they could shave the boys’ legs. 

Somehow, for some reason, these two hooligans agreed 

for the mere price of 1,000 pesos (roughly $28) each. 
For a good couple of hours these three ladies shaved both the legs of 
both of these boys. They finished with a complete moisturize of the 
newly shaven area. This craziness finished just before circle time so 
for the duration of our group meeting these boys ceaselessly caressed 
their womanly legs. DJ and Miraya (cousins) were sitting beside each 
other. Someone in the group made the astute observation that their legs 
were nearly identical. I guess hair can hide a lot.
 
Last week was spent in construction. We were never charged with 
completing a major group project, rather, we were given multiple 
smaller tasks to finish. Many kids were stretched in many different 
ways.
 
On the first day of construction Rachel, Megan, Olivia, Nicole, Ian 
and Mitch were sent to the school in San Mateo to do some cleanup. Max 
has been doing much construction at this site. He is building a 
vocational school on the same site as a current Christian elementary 
school. His dream for this vocational school is to have a place where 
skilled people are hired to teach various trades to folks in the 
community. 

This is the same site that last year’s crew worked at: we 
hauled multiple tonnes of coral rock fill and we hauled concrete up a 
self-created thirty foot ramp to pour the roof of the first floor. Now, 
a year later, this building has changed significantly. The second floor 
is nearly complete with block and stucco and should be painted this 
week. Anyhow, there has been much construction at this site and as a 
result, the sand and gravel that is used to mix the concrete had been 
spread out throughout the yard. It was the job of this crew to clean it 
up so instead of having these aggregates take up a wide area with a 
shallow depth; Max wanted it to be piled as compactly as possible. This 
may sound like an easy task but all six of these students will tell you 
that sights can be deceiving. 

They worked extremely hard. It was evident that some of this crew 

were not overly experienced using a shovel, but there was development 

and improvement in this skill as the day went on.
 
This was a day of growth for all six students. This was the day that 
Max, Jake and I left in the afternoon to go to the clinic (as written 
about in the last update). I was with this crew in the morning and then 
after the clinic, Jake and I joined them at about 4:30 in the 
afternoon. When Jake and I got there it seemed like this group was 
done. They weren’t done the work, they were done with each other and 
their task. It appeared as though they were frustrated with how long 
things were taking, with who was in the group and with who they didn’t 
have in their group.  

Jake and I came and helped out and, since there were limited shovels, 

that meant that some of the folks had to take mandatory breaks. 

These are good things because some people don’t have 
it in them to take a break. If gave everyone a much needed breather and 
a chance to get water. I could tell that the group was done so I sent 
Jillayna and Nicole to get some pop from a local colmado (corner 
store). This is a trick I learned from Max. For a mere 80 pesos (2 
dollars) you can lift spirits in incredible ways. We took a break, 
drank some pop, rested and rejuvenated. After this break the crew met 
their task with vigour and renewed determination.
 
That night at circle time I decided to use the events of the day as a 
teachable moment. I recounted the events. 

We talked about frustrations with a group. 

We also talked about how when we look at what we don’t have, 

when we’re fixated on who isn’t in our group, 

when we’re consumed with what our group members can’t do, 

and when we are visibly frustrated, we destroy group. 

We make a group uncomfortable. 

We make our group less productive. 

We make it difficult to accomplish our group goal. 

We are in the Dominican. 

It is not North America. 

Things don’t always work out here. 

If you have power for a couple of hours in a day 
to use power tools, that’s a bonus. When it’s gone, there is no point 
focusing on the fact that you don’t have power. 

This will not get you anywhere. 

When you want to weld but the generator that we rented conks 
out on us right after you have all the bars for a window cut and 
organized, there is not point focusing on how crappy this situation 
is. 

Pull up your socks and cut the bars for all of the other windows 
until there is a machine that works. 

When hauling gravel and sand and you feel like your group 

may be inadequate to finish the task, when you wish 

you had the tank John-Mark to come and save the day, this does not 
get you any closer to completing your goal.

In the DR, and in all of life really, but especially here, 

we need to focus on what we have and make it work. 

Our solutions need to be based on our resources, not on 
our hopes or wishes.
 
David and Josh were the foremen of the carpentry crew for the week. 
Grade ten shop has served them very well, and has now served Max and 
the DR very well. These boys owned this task - both in completing the 
work and in leading their peers. Peter was the overall maestro (the 
higher foreman) for the week. Peter did an incredible job of overseeing 
as opposed to doing. He is currently (when not volunteering as a 
chaperone in the DR) working as a carpentry apprentice so this is his 
forte and thus, a difficult thing to hold back on. But he did a 
wonderful job. He instructed David and Josh on what to do, gave them 
the tools and materials they needed and let them run free.  

David and Josh, in turn, also willingly shared their skills with others. They are 
fantastic teachers and their peers definitely appreciated their 
patience. Kate got to use a chop saw for the first time and when she 
found out what she’d be able to do, she had the biggest smile in all of 
human history. Rachel and Megan made a door handle, completely from 
scratch, for Max’ bathroom door. David, Josh nor Peter would give them 
any advice on what to use or how to make it, but the girls pulled 
through. When parts of this door needed to be attached, David made 
Rachel do it. She was afraid but David was super encouraging, told her 
she could do it, instructed her how to do it, and she completed the 
task!  

Nathan, Miraya, Juliet, Olivia, DJ and Nicole helped to construct 
various bunk beds. At the end of the week, as kind of a reward, Josh 
and David were asked to build Max a bookshelf. They had to design it, 
get their design approved by Max (not a hard task, if it had shelves on 
it - he was happy) and create it. It is quite a pretty piece of work. 
Many of our children were exposed to basic carpentry this week and they 
were all quite proud of of their new skills and various 
accomplishments!
 
There was much welding to be done as there were plenty of spaces 
around the base which needed security bars created. Jeremy did a swell 
job leading this crew. Similarly to Peter, Jeremy did a great job of 
encouraging the development of the children’s skills as opposed to 
completing all of the work by himself...although there is one minor 
difference: Jeremy had never welded before in his life. Somehow he 
claims that he taught Evan and DJ everything they know. Anyhow, Evan 
and DJ claimed to be experienced welders, and they definitely fulfilled 
this claim. Throughout the week they manned this task, while also 
finding ways to encourage people new to the trade. Nathan and Megan 
both owned the grinder and cut the bars with their welding masks, long 
sleeve shirts with the sparks a flyin’! Considering this was a brand 
new experience for both of them, they did very well...and they looked 
pretty cool too ;) 

Despite their successes throughout the week, the welding crew 

was not without their own frustrations. We rented a 
generator that was, pardon my french, crap. DJ, Evan and friends were 
itching to just motor through the work but they were regularly held 
back because of things outside of their control: faulty tools and power 
issues. There were quite a few moments of high anxiety, frustration and 
legit anger. The children were regularly encouraged to remember to 
readjust their focus. We are in the DR. This is life. Enjoy the times 
when the tools do work. But I think that we can all attest that this is 
easier said than done.
 
Another task of the welding crew was to measure out the necessary bars 
to fit into specific windows at a school, San Mateo, which is a fifteen 
minute walk away from the base. For some reason DJ and Jeremy were 
trusted with this task. They were dropped off by Max to measure the 
windows. They did so. They went to return to base by foot. They came 
back 45 minutes later because they were lost. I drew them a map. They 
left again. This time they were lost for a couple of hours, but 
eventually they found a guy on a motorcycle who apparently knew Max. 
The two of them hopped on the back of this dude’s bike and he took them 
to the base. We thought all was well. 

As they were working away they were looking at the measurements 

that they had recorded.

There was one width which just had “1/5”. Umm...yeah. That doesn’t work. 

Clearly someone erred. Away they went on foot again to find the other school. 
They got lost again on the way to the school, but the good thing is 
that they were able to find a landmark. When they were lost the first 
time Jeremy recalls seeing a building that he didn’t recognize which 
was his cue that they really were lost. When they were lost the third 
time they recognized the building that they earlier had not recognized 
so they knew they were lost in the same spot as this morning. Somehow 
this was reassuring. Eventually they made it to the school, corrected 
their measurement and, miraculously, made it back to the base. 

The most hilarious part? At the end of that same day Megan, Rachel and Jake ran 
to the school (sidebar: it is a 15-20 minute walk: they ran it in 4 
minutes, no jokes) to redo the measurements because many of them were 
off. What a day!
 
In addition to carpentry and welding there was also lots of concrete 
to be done. Jake, Miraya, Karina, Kate, Nicole, Nathan, DJ, Evan, 
Juliet, Stacey, Mitch, Olivia and many others got to be a part of this 
job. First the forms needed to be created and attached to the top of 
the existing wall that borders the base so we could lay concrete and 
level it out so we could put two new layers of block on top. Kate, DJ, 
Olivia and Miraya helped put up the forms, these four, Jake and others 
helped lay block, some mixed concrete by hand and many passed buckets 
of concrete to those who were forming. Concrete happened on at least 
three days so most children were involved in this at some point.
 
When the concrete was finished Max had the children move on to 
painting. Nicole, Kate, Stacey, Olivia and Mitch were integral in this 
job. Recently the walls had been stuccoed (a thin concrete coat was put 
overtop the block and concrete wall) and as such they had many rough 
patches. First these folks had to take stones and sand the entire 
surface: a much bigger job than one may imagine. They worked with 
diligence and consistency. Then they were able to paint. They saw many 
successes in this job but here are the three most exciting 
achievements: paint got on the walls, hardly any paint got on them and 
hardly any paint got on the floor. This is quite incredible considering 
many of the painters were first-timers.
 
One final task we had was at the San Mateo site (where the elementary 
and soon-to-be vocational school are). Jillayna and I oversaw this 
site. In addition to the moving of sand and gravel, one main task of 
the week was to knock holes into the relatively new concrete walls. 
Yep. We had hammers and chisels and we carved holes through block and 
cement. Why? Because we are involved in Dominican construction. Here 
they build the walls and plan out electrical outlets later. We had four 
rooms that each needed eight outlets. We needed to create holes for the 
electrical boxes and then create a path down from the box for the pipe 
which would be connected below the floor. John-Mark and Juliet took 
leadership in mapping where the outlets should be. They started by 
asking if I had a pen or a pencil. Within minutes they Dominicanized 
themselves and disregarded writing utensils and used hunks of concrete 
to mark the spots with Xs.
 
Many people experienced this work: Rachel, Miraya, Juliet, Karina, 
Kate, John-Mark, Stacey and Ian. It is tedious and time-consuming. It 
often seemed like we were living the definition of insanity: doing the 
same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We 
often cranked on the wall for a solid minute and didn’t see any change. 
We spent hours hammering at concrete walls. The number one benefit of 
this task (other than patience) was that it provided time to bond. 
Since we didn’t have to think much while completing this work we were 
able to play games and ask questions. Some of the questions we asked 
were: 

if you could pick any one to walk through that door right now, 
who would it be?  

What is your best family memory?  

Other than your parents, who has had the greatest influence on your life 

(if you lived your life over and this person was not involved in your life, 

you would be a very different person),  

who is your favourite parent (kidding),  

if you had to pick one sense to lose which would it be and why,  

if you could live one year of your life over again (but not change it at all) 
which year would it be and why? 

 It was always a fantastic time because each question required a descriptive answer 

which often led to story-telling and sharing of who we were. 

Not gonna lie, there were at least three occasions where a question 

quickly merged into talks that lasted more than an hour. 

That’s okay, we were being Dominican. In this culture most often people come first 

and tasks come second. This part of culture is not overly difficult to adapt to.
 
Ian was a tank this week. He was at this site every day and he kept 
chipping away at the walls with persistence. One day Max came with a 
sledge hammer (a welcome tool given the current supply of hand-held 
hammers), walked right over to Ian, said not a word, and handed it to 
him. Ian’s smile was almost as big as Kate’s when she got to use the 
chop saw. Ian also did a very good job of sharing his special tool with 
John-Mark. This tool taught John-Mark a lot about his own strength: he 
is literally a tank. He, more than once, went to hit the wall but went 
right through it to the other side. Yep, but he wasn’t the only one. 
Karina also does not know her own strength and did the same thing. The 
difference? John-Mark was smart enough to do it on a complete inside 
wall. Karina created a hole to the outside world.
 
On Saturday the leaders surprised the children with a trip to a local 
waterfall! Many of the children came to the Dominican with a goal of 
riding in the back of a pickup truck. Saturday was the day. Pierre, who 
lives at the base with his family, and Max drove us to the waterfall. 
Some of us took the back of the truck on the way there, others did so 
on the way back to the base. 

This waterfall was simply gorgeous - 

the fall fed into a beautiful blue/green pool of water. 

This pool trickled down into various streams and over a multitude of rocks 

and created new smaller falls. The water was cool but refreshing and invigorating.

It was a welcome, relaxing afternoon. 

Some girls (Kate, Karina, Nicole and Juliet) found some mud behind the falls 

and proceeded to give themselves a complete mud treatment: 

from every hair on their head to the bottoms of their feet. They were covered. 

There were a couple of folks close by who, after these girls were covered in mud, 

let them know that some of their friends recently went to the bathroom in the 
spot the ladies got the mud from. 

Lovely.
 
On Sunday afternoon the leaders took the children on an adventure. We 
went to a local sports park. All we took was cameras, water and a disc 
to play Ultimate frisbee. I think the children were somewhat skeptical 
of the plan. I told them to just start playing the game because then 
local people would come, and interaction and adventures would ensue. 
The afternoon started with an Ultimate game but ended with:
DJ entering a dance-off with some local boys
DJ and Evan play-fighting with some local boys
Jillayna, Olivia, Nicole and Stacey making friends with some little 
girls
Rachel, Peter, Miraya, Megan, Mitch, John-Mark, Evan and Josh throwing 
the disc around with some locals
Nathan and Karina having a race (and Nathan definitely won)
Juliet, David, Rachel and Jeremy doing a boot-camp workout with some 
local ripped army dudes
 
This week was great for group dynamics. 

Throughout the week there was incredible encouragement. 

Some has already been mentioned (specifically in the carpentry work) 

but it was heard and felt at nearly every job site. 

Many people’s roses for the day throughout the week was the 
encouragement that they felt from their peers. I can’t speak for all of 
the other job sites but I do know that Stacey was an incredible 
encouragement at the insanity station. She would periodically and 
intentionally turn around and specifically compliment each person in 
the room. 

This week was also great for group dynamics in other ways. In 
Santo Domingo both the boys and girls are split up into two separate 
rooms. In Sabana Grande the girls were in two different rooms but all 
nine boys had the privilege of sharing one room and one bathroom. 
Because power was intermittent it was not possible to have music 
playing constantly which, for many, was a welcome respite. As a result, 
games started to be played: Dutch Blitz, Uno, Euchre, Go Fish and 
multiple other card games. Juliet taught some of her peers a Ukrainian 
card game and they loved it! Risk was played twice but the first time 
our children made a grave mistake: they played with Max (for it is his 
game) and they eliminated him first. Clearly they do not understand the 
concept of keeping powerful people on your side. 

It was a beautiful and much needed week.
 
We left on Monday and have spent the past two days on rotation. 

All is well. 

~Update from Rachael~