Paradise Amongst Poverty

By Patricia Stavropoulos

The dirt ground feels hard beneath my feet. The dust in the air clouds my eyes. I look around. Huts and old dilapidated half-houses encircle the makeshift dirt field I’m standing in. In this remote and poor village people go about their daily lives. A shady one-room school house stands off to the side. Children in blue and khaki uniforms with no shoes teach Spanish songs to visitors. A brave young man climbs up a two story palm tree to collect oversized coconuts. A solitary boy reads from an old textbook in the shade. Life goes on.

Dozens of children form a large circle. They sing and dance a sort of merry-go-round game and freeze. Bursts of laughter fill the air. Mothers clutching half-naked babies point and smile. Enjoying the good time the children are having, just as much as they are. While the sun shines brilliantly, illuminating the fun. A young woman washes clothes by hand in a broken washing machine. The wind blows dirt on the clean clothes hanging beside her. She is laughing too.

It starts to rain. Thousands of heavy water droplets litter the ground. I feel my clothes start to stick to my body as everyone dashes for cover. Over hanging tin roofs become a new shelter. An escape from the tumultuous weather. Thick raindrops compose a new beat on the hard metal. Bodies black and white cling to each other for protection. Young students tie their uniform shirts around their heads to stay dry. A new game is invented. In the midst of poverty, happiness exists in the simplest of things. Life goes on.

Patricia, a student at the University of Ottawa, traveled to the Dominican Republic on a high-school exposure trip in 2007.