Global Village Returns with a Build in the Dominican Republic

Habitat for Humanity’s work expands outside of the Twin Cities into nearly 70 countries around the world. As part of this work, Twin Cities Habitat supports the global mission through its Global Impact Fund and leads Global Village trips to international destinations. The program has been on hiatus due to the pandemic and subsequent restructuring by Habitat International but is gradually returning. Noah Keller, Twin Cities Habitat Global Engagement Program Manager, gives a glimpse into our most recent trip. As with any large, international program, the start-up process will continue to be methodical, but we are excited to offer as many opportunities as possible in the coming years.

From February 8 to 15, a group of 15 volunteers with ties to Twin Cities Habitat, including three staff members (Kate Loe, Moriah Baltz, and me) worked under the supervision of Habitat for Humanity – Dominican Republic to improve homes in the rural community of Los Guineos. After staying the first night in the capital city, Santo Domingo, the group traveled north for about 2 ½ hours to our lodgings for the week: a retreat center called Serapius Green, just outside the town of Sabana Grande de Boyá. 

On Sunday, the team drove about an hour to Los Guineos on a route which would be our work commute the next five days. We met with women leaders in the community, learned about their economic initiatives (including a fish farm and an irrigated greenhouse for vegetable farming), and saw the homes on which we’d be working. Depending on specific household situations, that work would be converting dirt floors to concrete, constructing new bathrooms, building/installing windows and doors, or painting home exteriors.

Make way for concrete! Converting dirt floors to much safer and healthier concrete.

The women leaders represented faith groups and entrepreneurial organizations, and they had leveraged grants from other nonprofits to help start up the aforementioned co-op businesses. They were also the ones who worked with Habitat Dominican Republic to prioritize projects for this first phase of the partnership.

Arguably the most challenging aspect of a Global Village experience is managing everyone’s eagerness to simply get to work during the day before that work can start! Our hosts (Alejandra, Roberto, Edwin, and José) did a great job facilitating meaningful interactions with the community members and outlining the work – and of course the safety shpiel – on that ‘day before’ so that we could be as efficient as possible the next morning.

Site Supervisor Roberto instructing the team on how to stage the concrete mixing/hauling area.

While the heat was a challenge for us Minnesotans, the volunteers tackled the work—unsurprisingly—with gusto. The various improvements lent themselves to different strengths and affinities among the team members. As heavy as most of the work was, complaints, if there were any, were unspoken when we spent most of Wednesday painting two of the homes.

Volunteer Skip and Habitat DR site supervisor Edwin build a new window shutter.

The ‘bathroom team’ made amazing progress, starting from two foundation trenches and ending with full structures roughed-in with electric and plumbing—full bathrooms that would replace latrines. The paint jobs resulted in big smiles and obvious pride on display by the homeowners. The floor conversion crew reached peak workflow Monday afternoon and maintained that efficiency throughout the week as six families happily bid farewell to dirt floors and made way for concrete, instantly improving health outlooks for those residents. A brand new and wonderfully solid front door and new windows in two homes rounded out the production list. Homeowners and their friends worked alongside the volunteers and masons every day, which added to the camaraderie throughout the week.

Left: Volunteers Ann, Moriah, and Haley get started on the new bathrooms with site supervisor Roberto. Right: Volunteer Pete about to try out the new door he just built.

Post-work diversions included wandering the grounds of Serapius Green, replete with peacocks and other curiosities. Side note: I learned the Spanish term for peacock is pavo real or "royal turkey" . . . it’s so perfect! Our hosts set up karaoke one evening, cribbage was ubiquitous, and several volunteers became savvy Dominican Dominos players, if not quite matching the intensity of their teachers. After dinner each night, one volunteer “played us out” on an heirloom piano. The staff of Serapius Green kept us well-fed and well-fueled for each new day’s work.

Friday saw a half-day of work, wrapping up the week’s projects, followed by a community-hosted lunch and farewell event. The community leaders were presented with balloon-hearts in honor of St. Valentine (one of our volunteers is an expert balloon-animal wizard!), words of gratitude were exchanged, and an impromptu SKOL chant swept through the low hillsides of Los Guineos.

Not even a temporary chair-fail prevented volunteer Ken from meeting the
balloon animal requests from the community.

Back to that point of contention I mentioned earlier: one could also easily argue that the hardest part of Global Village is saying goodbye to the community members, host staff, and fellow volunteers. It’s safe to say that the farewell event crystallizes the feeling among volunteers that si Dios quiere (if God allows) we’ll get to do it all again.

As everyone departed for home or other travels, one of our volunteers shared a quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Each and every Habitat build day represents this, be it in the Dominican Republic, the Twin Cities, or any other place Habitat builds.

The goal is nothing short of changing the world for families that weren’t previously able to access the resources needed to significantly improve their homes from a health and stability standpoint. In that spirit, thank you to everyone reading this, as I know you share our belief that we can change the world, even when it feels daunting. Let’s keep doing it again and again! 

Interested in learning about future Global Village opportunities? Email globalvillage@tchabitat.org.