A Look at the First Day of 4-H Day Camp

Today was the first day of the 4-H Day Camp at the Puntacan Ecological Foundation.  43 campers arrived  with 19 of them coming from Veron on the scholarships we provided them.   They were divided into 4 groups with every group having 4-H teen leaders and our Dominican teen partners.  The Dominican teens are friendly and helpful and a delight to talk with about their culture and education.  Many of these teens go to private schools as the public education system is not well developed as ours.  As adult chaperones, we prepared the various crafts so each child could work on them. 

In the morning, they colored reusable cups to have for the remainder of the camp to use to drink water.  This is one way that we try to teach conservation and to avoid using a lot of plastic cups as garbage disposal is a huge problem and concern of the Dominicans.  The children made necklaces using the colors of both of our countries flags (red, white and blue), tie dyed t-shirts, painted picture frames which we will place a group photo in tomorrow. 

We toured a ranch and an iguana farm which are also a part of the biodiversity center here.  We actually walked among the iguanas -something that we could not do in the U.S.  Because the iguana is endangered, the Ecological Foundation is working to increase their numbers and last month released 15 into the wild.  Other parts of the ranch included showing research to improve their crops of vegetables and sugar cane as well as a petting zoo.  This tour helped the children realize the importance of preserving nature as well as growing foods in poor soil through their composting efforts.

 

In the afternoon, we continued with many games and ended the day with water balloon relays and games. 

We really enjoyed meeting Kayla who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Veron and learning about her efforts to improve the quality of the drinking water.  Kayla stayed with us all day and helped with the children.

 

Jake Kheel also talked with all of us about his job as the Environmental Director of Grupo Puntacana, as well as being the Director of the Ecological Foudation.  It all started for him when he became an exchange student in the Dominican Republic and fell in love with the country, the language and the culture.  He encouraged all youth to take every opportunity available to them.

Today I felt very special to be a part of these children’s lives in trying to teach them about Americans as well as about their environment.  The children were so gracious and happy, frequently giving hugs to all.  This is a very rewarding experience for everyone. 

Contributed by Suzanne Loveland, chaperon from Shenandoah Co.