Farmington Students Join Art Teacher in Dominican Republic

Last fall, art teacher Maria Blanco traveled to the Dominican Republic, where , teaching for the DREAM (Dominican Republican Education and Mentoring) Project.

We connected with Blanco via Facebook and asked her to share some of her experiences as she teaches students who receive only a half-day of government provided education. The DREAM Project takes care of the second half of the day.

Blanco said her day starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m.:

I teach reading and writing – lectura y escritura – to three groups of students in the morning and three in the afternoon. The 120 students that we service rotate between 3 classes (mine, social studies/computer and English/math) and they range from 8 years old to 8th grade ... since we are housed right next to the public school, our students flip flop between both schools.

The living conditions here are easy to adjust to ... no washer and dryer, sometimes no hot water, no television, no phone, no car, but I do have running water, a flushing toilet, a generator when the lights go off, Internet and a computer (well actually I'm borrowing a computer because I spilled Sprite all over mine, oops).

Blanco wrote that she has missed family and friends, but staying in touch through Facebook, Skype, and e-mail "makes it a lot easier". In January, her two sons visited, and 32 Farmington Schools International Baccalaureate students spent their winter break week working with her and the DREAM Project.

"They have painted a colorful mural on the cement wall outside of the public school, planting shrubs and flowers at 2 schools, worked directly with our students teaching karate, soccer, art, English, and literacy," Blanco wrote. 

At , students said they were deeply affected by the experience.

"I was amazed and humbled by the people of the Dominican Republic," Rahul Gannapureddy said. "Not only did we learn about the ... lifestyle, we also learned we shouldn't pity them for what they don't have, but appreciate what they do have."

Kyla Roland said her life before the trip was primarily taken up with "school, sports and sleep". In the Dominican Republic, she said, "I discovered I really liked helping people and working with kids, which is something I didn't think I would ever say."

Roland said she used a pick axe and a wheelbarrow for the first time, as students helped transform an area overgrown with weeds into a beautiful garden. 

Like the students, Blanco writes that she feels "very rewarded with the work I am doing here". Of her six groups of students; only two are at grade level, because they have had so little time in school.

"I have 3rd graders that don't know the alphabet and fourth graders that don't know how to spell their last names," she wrote. 

To learn more about the DREAM Project, visit dominicandream.org.