Miami South Beach (November 10th and 17th, 2012)

My company (CourseTrends) sent a team of eight to volunteer for one week with Makarios International in the Dominican Republic. Our flights each way involved long layovers of six or seven hours at the Miami International Airport though. Rather than cool our heels in an airport, we took cabs down to explore Miami's South Beach instead.

Makarios School Flood Cleanup (November 11th-14th, 2012)

My company (CourseTrends) sent a team of eight to volunteer for one week with Makarios International in the Dominican Republic. We were intended to help out with some construction work at their school in Montellano, Puerto Plata. As it happened though, a flash flood hit them the night before we began traveling. As a result we were instead needed for immediate help in flood cleanup and recovery at the school, so that it could reopen for students as soon as possible.

Chichigua Village Visit (November 14th, 2012)

My company (CourseTrends) sent a team of eight to volunteer for one week with Makarios International in the Dominican Republic. After three days of very hard work helping with flash flood recovery at the Makarios School, we were able take an afternoon off to go into one of the nearby villages. This village of Chichigua is almost entirely Haitian. While there the Makarios teachers met and played with kids, and our group organized a soccer match.

Makarios School Reopening (November 15th, 2012)

My company (CourseTrends) sent a team of eight to volunteer for one week with Makarios International in the Dominican Republic. After five days of labor by school staff and our own team to recover from the flash flooding, the Makarios School was ready to reopen (for half its normal time). Our hard work of the preceding days was made all the more worthwhile when we were able to witness this, as well as the sheer joy of all the kids.

Poncho Mateo Village Visit (November 15th, 2012)

My company (CourseTrends) sent a team of eight to volunteer for one week with Makarios International in the Dominican Republic. After our last work day and witnessing the reopening of the flooded school, we spent the afternoon visiting the village of Poncho Mateo. We were led on a walk through the village, attracting a train of kids, before heading back to play at the basketball court. The village is a mixture of Dominicans and Haitians, though it was originally a Haitian batey (for sugar cane production).

Cabarete Beach (November 16th, 2012)

My company (CourseTrends) sent a team of eight to volunteer for one week with Makarios International in the Dominican Republic. On our last full day in the country we thankfully had a beach day in Cabarete. This is a tourist area clearly targeted towards English speakers, so it felt like a whole different country compared to what we'd experienced the rest of the week. We finished the day off having dinner with teachers from the Makarios School. Everything was all the more relaxing and enjoyable, after the previous several days of very hard work.