I had such an incredible experience that summer I had to go back. It was a no brainer to spend the following summer participating with Amigos de Las Americas again. I quickly feel in love with my new host family in a rural village of the Dominican Republic. The place was beautiful, the lifestyle simple, the heart big and the work hard. The house I was living in was a small modest house with four rooms. Two bedrooms, the kitchen, and the dining room/kitchen. One bedroom for for the 3 kids and the other for the parents. When my partner and I arrived, they gave us one of the two bedrooms so we could have some privacy. For two months, two parents and three kids shared one small room without even thinking twice.
Generosity. Generosity that I couldn't even fathom existed before meeting these people. These people really did have "nothing", but they were the kindest, most generous, and loving people I had ever meet.
Not before long we were so close to the family we had the kids room with us and had slumber parties. One of my favorite moments, an unexpected perk between the community service building,
water purification and latrine building projects, was my "sisters" birthday.
Our "Dad" had gone into "town" to trade the cows and buy some supplies for the town. He came back with a box of purple hair dye as a present. Sure. I was in. No big deal, right? I was supposed to live like the locals right? That was part of the program appeal?!?
When no one was looking, I quickly grabbed for the box and began to scan the Spanish. This was my second summer, but I still did not know that much Spanish...quimicos (that can't be good), morado (not helpful-the photo told me it was purple)....lots of words I couldn't' recognize, then the brass ring... it made sense... The words I read were semi-permanente. I breathed an immediate and lightening sigh of relief. No big deal, I thought. 24 washouts. Mom and Dad won't even know. Sign me up. I'm in for a purple hair dying party. Well. What I didn't think about at the time was that I didn't have access to a shower or shampoo, and...there is a major difference in concept of time in the rural areas of Central and South America.
