By Alex Romano and Ashley Butler
This past summer, senior Ashley Butler, embarked on a trip to the Dominican Republic with three fellow WHS seniors: Lauren Smith, Emily Hogan, and Mary Kenyon. When this exotic vacation spot comes to mind, it is usually accompanied with relaxing beaches, exciting excursions, and luxurious hotels. However, this trip was centered more on helping others.
In the city of Punta Cana exists an orphanage of over 1,500 Dominican children. Smith’s grandmother, who lives close by to the orphanage, invited the four girls to stay the week at her house as they volunteered. Smith often vacations to the area to visit her grandmother and take advantage of the warm weather and beautiful beaches. She wanted to make this trip more meaningful by volunteering at the orphanage. Together they raised almost $2000 through donations from friends and family as well as local companies. This money was not used for airfare or costs of stay, but for countless toys, clothing, diapers, and other necessities asked for by the orphanage. Rolling countless extra suitcases to hold the donations, the girls left the United States early morning on August 17 with tired but eager faces.
Butler’s day started at 7 A.M., by getting ready to arrive at the orphanage within the next hour. The first day, the girls were given a tour by the head principal of the orphanage. They were shown the many rooms in which children were taught kindergarten through 12th grade. Along with classrooms, the orphanage also provided doctors and dentist offices, and a room for infants. The girls were given a daily choice of where to volunteer, and chose to work at the infant room Monday through Friday for four hours a day. Playing, feeding, and changing the infants took all of the girls’ energy, but was well rewarded by the babies’ bright smiles and warm hugs.
Butler comments, “Right when we walked in the room, all of the children raised their arms up to be held in need of attention, and it was nice to know by simply picking them up we were making a difference.”
With over 300 infants the girls were happy to know that all of the diapers, toys, and help in general were utilized by the infants and limited staff members.
“We received certificates at the end of the week that proved our 20 hours of volunteer work, but that one document could not display what we learned from the trip,” Butler admitted.
She further explained that this trip would last in her memory longer and with greater value than her recreational vacations to Mexico and Costa Rica. Although privileged to visit other parts of the world, she realized this was a privilege of its own to learn the hardships of the culture and see more than resorts and beaches of the Dominican Republic.
