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June 21, 2012

Student Roles Foster Unity and Maintain Community Connections

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The service learning program developed by the City College of New York and InteRDom requires that participants work as a team in order to accomplish the goals of the project and to serve the needs of the communities of Bayona and Cielo in which they are working. To this end, each participant was carefully assigned a role in the urban gardening project that goes above and beyond the actual planting to ensure that each makes use of his or her particular interests and talents in order to make the best possible contribution to the project and to ensure its success and sustainability.

 “Not only we all are curious to get to know everything,” explained student Miyu Leilani, “but they are curious to know about different cultures as well. Also, they help us a lot to understand the explanations given in Spanish. I don’t find any language barriers between us so far. I feel that we are beginning to establish real friendships.”

The overarching goal of the project is to participate actively in the planting, to use wholly organic and biodegradable materials in the process and to work with the community to ensure that the gardens will be sustained by the community at the denouement of the program.   All partners in the project– the Dominican Republic Ministry of Agriculture, ADRA Dominicana, the National Botanical Gardens—share these overarching goals and are working to devise strategies for the sustainability of the gardens in both communities.
Individually, the students of City College are working in three teams of two students to fulfill specific roles within the project which will contribute to its significance in the community and its visibility for future groups to actively participate in similar projects.

Continúa el programa de aprendizaje por servicio de City College con la charla: Capacidad de producción, consumo y exportación de frutas y vegetales de la R.D. Michael Cruz of Hostos Community College and Malika Jones of the City College of New York are working together as Audiovisual Production Coordinators, and are charged with documenting the project through film and photography to be edited at the offices of InteRDom’s parent organization, Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), and presented at the second edition of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF) in September as an example for thousands of Dominican residents who can initiate similar urban gardening initiatives in their communities.  The Audiovisual Production Coordinators are also responsible for conducting interviews with the community members, volunteers and other project coordinators to document every stage of the project.

In an effort to incorporate all members of the community into the initiative and to foster ownership of the project, Hector Pichardo and Amber Brookmire, both of City College, will be coordinating initiatives to encourage gender-inclusiveness.  In their interactions with the community, they will attempt to uncover the reasons why gardening and food-production tend to be female-dominated activities and to present a series of 5 recommendations at the end of the project for how to incorporate men into the initiative and encourage their collective ownership of the gardens.

Finally, City College students Catherine Velupillai and Miyu Leilani will work as Participation Evaluators.  They will survey the 50 participating families in the communities of Bayona and Cielo to uncover their reasons for participating in the urban gardening project and their expectations for the results.  They will then present these results to the project coordinators who will be better prepared to respond to the needs and expectations of the participants.

One of the greatest sustainability safeguards is the participation of 10 high school students representing the Bayona and Cielo communities.  These students have taken part in the training activities and workshops and have worked alongside the City College students learning to construct and maintain the gardens in their communities.  They also have introduced the City College students to other community members and provided rich exchange.

Continúa el programa de aprendizaje por servicio de City College con la charla: Capacidad de producción, consumo y exportación de frutas y vegetales de la R.D. “Not only we all are curious to get to know everything,” explained student Miyu Leilani, “but they are curious to know about different cultures as well. Also, they help us a lot to understand the explanations given in Spanish. I don’t find any language barriers between us so far. I feel that we are beginning to establish real friendships.”

To close out their second week in the Dominican Republic, on Friday, June 22 the City College students received a tour of the historic Colonial Zone and dined to the tune of typical Dominican music and dance at El Conuco.  The tour was personalized to the interest of the students and El Conuco provided not only an introduction to typical Dominican cooking, but music and dancing as well.

“The tour guide was amazing,” said student Michael Cruz, “he was extremely informative and even tailored parts of the tour to each of our interests. I am learning vast amounts of information about Dominican History and I was especially fascinated with the exhibit on Afro-indigenous religions and/or mysticism. “
The urban gardening initiative in Bayona and Cielo is a collaborative effort between The Dominican Republic Ministry of Agriculture, ADRA Dominicana, the National Botanical Gardens, Global Coalition for Peace and InteRDom Internships in the Dominican Republic.

The program developed between City College and InteRDom is a credit-bearing course that exposes students to both academic and practical experiences that increase their international awareness, cultural sensitivity, professional development and Spanish-language capacities.

The internship program, InteRDom, an initiative of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), is the premier internship, research and academic study program in the Dominican Republic. It offers international students the opportunity to research important topics at the forefront of the United Nations agenda, obtain professional experience by interning with Dominican organizations and businesses related to their fields of study and/or earn academic credits by taking courses and seminars at a local university.

Continúa el programa de aprendizaje por servicio de City College con la charla: Capacidad de producción, consumo y exportación de frutas y vegetales de la R.D. Continúa el programa de aprendizaje por servicio de City College con la charla: Capacidad de producción, consumo y exportación de frutas y vegetales de la R.D.

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