Dos Primeras Semanas: First 2 Weeks

This summer I was lucky enough to get the position as a Jefferson County Extension intern. Ms. Ashley is a pleasure to work with and her personality definitely makes the internship that much more enjoyable. My first two weeks started outside of the office, as I was fortunate enough to study abroad in the Dominican Republic. While I was there, I did a tremendous amount of learning as well as a lot of service learning activities that I believe were directly related to the youth development services we provide in the 4-H Department here in Cooperative Extension.
I learned so much about the inequalities that exist within and among Dominican communities and I was able to apply it to the American communities we have here in the United States. Political, social, and financial inequalities all play a major role in the development of a child. This exposure to such a diverse community that is so different from my own has given me a greater ability to appreciate and understand other people who do not share the same background as me. It has allowed me to see why some children may be more at risk for things like violence, dropping out of school, not getting proper nutrition/obesity, among other things. These are all factors you have to take into consideration while working with youth.

While I was there, I was able to see firsthand a community that was extremely poverty stricken and how it impacted the children inside the community. However, right outside of this community, there was a community center for the kids in that lived in the area. The neighborhood the children lived in was so compact and full of trash that there was nowhere for them to do anything recreational. The center provided ample resources for the children, from tutoring, to motivating them, to a large courtyard for them to do recreational things, like basketball or soccer. We were able to go in the classrooms and interact with the kids, helping them with their writing and teaching them a few English words. The ages ranged from about 2 to 16, but the majority of the kids there were very young. We were able to walk through the community, which was literally life changing. There was trash all over the entire neighborhood. There had to be at least one ton of garbage in the entire community. The way the people there had become accustomed to that type of life style was mind blowing. We learned that because they’re close to the river and their homes were so poorly built, they are in constant danger of their roofs collapsing when it rains and their community flooding. This service learning activity, I feel like, did so much for all of us. I think it made everybody there a lot more appreciative of what they have. It made me, in particular, want to stop this repeating circle of poverty and give back to the kids so that they can live a better life. I feel like a lot of this is what we are responsible for in 4-H and I'm glad I was able to do something involving youth development in such a diverse setting. I've began planning for my special project and I think a lot of my ideas have been inspired from this abroad experience.