Taking steps toward a selfless life

On Feb. 12, 25 Lawrence Woodmere Academy students along with four chaperones embarked on service learning trip to the Dominican Republic. Although nobody knew exactly what to expect, we were filled with excitement and jitters as our airplane took flight.
In our first day of tropical paradise, we toured around the colonial zone of Santo Domingo. Our guide, Xavier, brought us to many places including an old castle/fort, the first church founded in the New World, and her friend’s hair salon. When we arrived at the hair salon, I was skeptical as to why she took the group there. Then, a lady with hair in braids of all different colors came down the stairs and told us the reason she opened her shop in the Dominican Republic.
Her story began by explaining that many Hispanic women are ashamed of their curls and that she felt very bothered by this. She wanted to find a way for these girls to embrace their hair and be proud of it so she created her own salon specialized in caring for curly hair.
The next day we traveled to Jarabacoa where we volunteered at an environmental school for two days. There, we became truly immersed in the foreign culture by speaking with the Dominican kids while working on the project. We were given the task of building an arboretum by the entrance of the school to make it look presentable and inviting. Looking at all incredible work we did after the area was finished gave each individual who helped to build it a sense of pride and accomplishment. It was extremely rewarding to be able to do something that benefits the school.
Our final destination was Santiago. Many people concluded that this was their favorite place we stayed because of the beautiful beaches that were close by as well as the memories we made at the service site.