Miguel, Victor and I have recently returned from a whirlwind trip across the country.
Allow me to elaborate. Miguel and Victor are two 12 year old boys that participate in Club Superman and were chosen (by me based on a complete body of work including class attendance, final exam grads, overall behavior, etc.......no favoritism) to attend a 5-day all-inclusive youth leadership and development camp in San Cristobal with 46 kids from around the country. Where is San Cristobal? Well, it is a grueling 2-day journey from the Northwest to the Southwest. As the crow flies its maybe 2 hours, like literally if a crow were to fly there from here it would take 2 hours. Unfortunately, public transport doesn't use the crow route and it ends up taking closer to 9 hours. Anyways, we are going to focus on our little Miguel for the remainder of this story and hopefully you will start to see the word through his eyes:
Miguel is a 12 year old boy that used to live here.......
......with his mother, father and 9 brothers and sisters. Not too long ago he was unofficially adopted by a nice older woman named Rosa who gives him his own bed, 3 meals a day and a safe environment (yay!). He is a well mannered kid with excellent grades who hopes on becoming a Doctor one day. He is Haitian-Dominican and speaks both languages fluently. He helps me translate whenever we do work out in the Haitian wilderness.
Miguel has never been as far as 5 kilometers outside of town, so telling him he was invited to spend a week not only away from town but on the complete opposite end of the country was quite a thrill. He was ecstatic. Bright and early Tuesday morning we got on the bus to head to Santiago. Miguel has his bagged pack and his FIMRC hat, sunglasses and water bottle all ready to go. The moment we step on the bus Miguel's face is glued to the window. He watches as we drive further away from town.....5km....10km....we pass towns....Loma de Cabrera.....Monte Grande his eyes soaking in this new world that he has only heard about. The bus stops in Dajabon so we can make our transfer. This is where Miguel encounters his first dilemma.....crossing the street. Yes, we have streets in Restauracion, but the streets in Dajabon might as well be Manhattan to Miguel. Hundreds of cars, motorcycles and trucks are whizzing by. Victor and I cross the street and turn around to realize Miguel hasn't left the curb. Victor goes back for him and they cross together. Mission accomplished. We board our next bus to Santiago.
We arrive in Santiago and to the HUB. The HUB is a guest house in a very nice part of town. We head to our room and Miguel chooses his bed. First question, "Jose, does the toilet flush here?" to which I reply, "of course it does. Here the water never goes out and neither does the electricity". This is shocking news as he rushes into the bathroom to experience it. We head to lunch at the world famous Wendys. I wanted to show them what we fat Americans eat on a daily basis. I order 2 burger combos for the boys and place it before them on the table. Victors eyes burst wide open as he hurriedly gets to work. Miguel just sits there and asks, " How do you eat this?". As I showed him how to eat a cheeseburger and explain how dipping your fries in ketchup makes them taste better, I tried to remember how old I was when I first learned. After Miguel got into a rhythm he could not be stopped. He and Victor demolished their meals. They had biggie size cokes, and they could not finish the whole thing. Miguel asks what we do with the leftovers, and Victor recommends we give them to the kids that were begging outside. It was one of those humbling moments where you realize that a kid living in poverty is still conscious of people who may be less fortunate in the moment. I notice Miguel start to sink down into the seat next to me. I ask him what is up, and he just shakes his head. He sinks even further, so I pester further. He only told me after we had left that he felt uncomfortable because a group of people were staring at him and laughing. Miguel is a very dark boy, and where we were in Santiago is filled with mostly affluent, light-skinned people. He felt uncomfortable. It was heartbreaking.
On our way back to the hub I had to explain a few things to Miguel:
Are all those cars for sale? (referring to a parking lot)
Do they still use pesos here?
How do the cars know when to turn and when to stop?
Whats behind that wall?
Who lives in that house and how many brother ans sisters do they have?
We get back to the HUB and prepare to take showers. I explain that their is hot water available.....and that was their evening....taking turns showering in hot water. I have never seen anyone as giddy as these 2 boys were. I have never used the word giddy to describe something, but they couldn't even speak. They giggled with excitement. I have to admit I understand the feeling :) Obviously, not as hard as these kids. We climbed to the top of the iconic monument in Santiago and i managed to snap a gem:
Best friends! We had a great time in Santiago. The next morning we headed to Santo Domingo to catch our connecting bus to San Cristobal. Victor and I caught some zzz's, but Miguel claimed he never winked. We get to San Cristobal, set up our tent and it begins to downpour. All day it rains, everything gets soaked, no bueno. They still had the time of their lives. The camp was awesome and we did lots of cool stuff and activities and blah blah blah. We zip lined, rock climbed, river dove among many other things. We returned the same route we came through Santo Domingo to Santiago to Dajabon to Restuaracion. 4 buses, 9 hours.
By the end of the trip i wanted to die. Miguel had asked a bajillion and one questions and i had to haul all of their bags in each transfer because they could not lift them. I had been surrounded by 46 kids for 5 days, soaking wet. But it is hard to really dwell on any of that (except to write it in a blog :) ) when I dwell on the experience Miguel had. I wander how many things he didn't ask. How many things did he assume, and what were they? What were his thoughts on this and that, and how will he describe these things to his family?
Si dios quiere, Miguel will be a Doctor one day. I hope he experiences the world and I hope you guys reading this will take a look around and try to see things through Miguel's eyes.
Paz
