My Days in Dominican Republic

Dear Diary,

     This is very different. Living in the Dominican Republic with my host, Jessina, is completely diverse from what it is like living back home. You never know what is out in the world until you go and explore it. There is 3.1 times greater chance of dying in infancy here, since they spend 94.36% less money on health care here. I have been staying with Jessina and her family, though. they live in a pretty good neighborhood compared to some other places. There are tons of very bad places in the Dominican.  It really has me thinking and reflecting on my home when I am here. I makes me realize that no matter how bad it gets, there is always something out there that is even worse. If people really sit down and think about what goes on in the Dominican Republic, they would be so much more grateful for their lives. When people complain about not getting a bonus that year, there are people down in the Dominican that make 82.11% less money than us. It seems like you can't live like that but they have to or they do not live at all. School is even harder. They can't afford good education so what they can get with the money they have is what they have to deal with. Some schools only have about 20 kids in their entire school. In John Carroll, there is over a hundred kids in our grade alone. I recently participated in Duarte's Day with Jessina. It is the celebration of the founding father of the Dominican Republic. One breakfast dish is eggs and mangu, a dish the Dominican shares with Cuba and Puerto Rico. If America lived a couple days in the life of a Dominican, we would all change our outlook on life. Now here are some pictures of our experiences in my visit.

From, Gianna

<This is actually a rare occurrence to see children in the poorer areas using computers. Some of the richer areas have computers but not all the time. these children are really lucky. This was the school where Jessina and I studied. 

Here you see some of the girls who probably are from a very traditional family who still stick to their religion and beliefs, which could be why they are dressed like this. They are some of Jessina's friends. >

 < Here there are some workers taking out a tree from the ground. These workers look very young and this is probably because their families couldn't support them in school so they were sadly forced to drop out and go to work.

Sources:

http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/US/DO 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.flickr.com/