Fun is a Universal Language | Volunteering In the Dominican Republic
Celebrating the Everyday, Travel //
With curious minds and hearts bursting with so much love, we boarded a huge bus and made our way to the school. We honestly had no idea what we were going to be doing or what the situation would be like when we arrived, but we trusted in our hearts that we had a lot of love to give and it was going to be put to good use! ;)
On the last day of the What If Conference in the Dominican Republic, a large group of the conference attendees ventured off the road well traveled by tourists and made our way to a school in one of the local villages. As we pulled up to the small school surrounded by barbed wire fences, we were surprised to see kids just hanging out… outside of the fence. The school has about 900 attendees. However, there is only enough classroom space for about 150 (that is my best guess, anyway)! It is small. They have to rotate kids in and out. However, the most surprising and heartbreaking thing for me was, not the fact that the kids are only in school for a portion of the day/week, but many of the kids do not attend the public school at all. Their parents choose not to send them. Sometimes those kids are busy working for their parents and/or they just don’t know any different.
We all gathered around the playground and were welcomed with open arms by the kids and the teachers who performed a little ceremony for us! They knew we were coming and they prepared a whole welcoming event, complete with dancing and prayers. We split off into groups and made our way up into the classrooms to hand out some school supplies that we had all gathered for the kids!
As the school bells rang, the kids jumped out of their seats and ran for the playground! We were all there eager to have some fun. But, there was just one challenge. We did not speak the same language! It was definitely a barrier. As much as I tried to pick up a few phrases here and there, I was not a quick learner! All I wanted to do was hug these kids and tell them how special they are! Without words, we definitely struggled at first.
There were a few What Ifers that spoke Spanish and could quickly communicate with the kids. As we watched them, having no idea what they were saying to each other, we realized something. With huge smiles on their faces, they all seemed to be having fun! They were running around, doing what most kids on a playground do… they play. It didn’t really matter what they were saying… they were having fun!
We definitely like to have fun! So we stopped thinking about the barrier and started doing! We picked up a random Frisbee looking thing (that I am pretty sure is typically used as a base) and started playing catch with two of the sweetest little girls! Before we knew it, a few others joined in and we were soon running around the playground playing tag! With no words spoken or understood, we were having fun! It was in that moment that we realized Fun is a universal language!
This day we spent hanging out with these precious kids from the Dominican Republic was a day we will likely never forget! They taught us so much about love that our hearts were even more full than when we had arrived! Next time we are in a situation where there is any type of barrier… we will likely smile bigger, give a warm embrace, and do something crazy fun… all in honor of those beautiful little kids in the Dominican Republic!
