Witness to Faith

The D.R.E.A.M.S. Project

The students of St. Mary Secondary School of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as part of the D.R.E.A.M.S. Project work in  the Dominican Republic. The following is an article about them and their project which appeared in The Catholic Register.

Looking back at high school, they will remember exams and football games. They will think of prom, student council, favourite teachers and hard assignments. But for a group of students at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton, they will also remember a very special field trip to a small town in the Dominican Republic.

“I know that none of us will ever forget what happened there,” said Katie Lucas, a Grade 12 student. “It will stay with us for the rest of our lives.”

This year, as for the past five years, students travelled to a small town on a mountainside, 32 kilometres away from San Jose de Ocoa, in the south of the Dominican Republic. This is all about having big dreams, as the project is called — D.R.E.A.M.S. stands for Dominican Republic Education and Medical Support. With the help of the villagers of La Cienaga de La Horma, St. Mary’s students have built an elementary school and 24 homes, with the goal of building a medical centre and 50 homes in total. Two groups of students (16 in January, and 16 in March) travelled to La Cienage de La Horma to lay the foundation for two more homes.

The work involved physical labour that not a lot of high school students have experience with — how many high school students can say they’ve built a house? But to these students from St. Mary’s, the jobs seemed neither daunting nor difficult when placed in the context of helping young families and new friends.

“Basically, they were living in houses made of sheet metal,” said Matthew McQuillan, a Grade 12 student. “They didn’t have much so we came and built these big cement houses that were strong and sturdy that could hold up to the weather.”

But as strong as that foundation was, an excitement spilling out into the stories of their journey to the Dominican hints that even sturdier foundations of faith and friendship were built.  Not only did the students bond as a group (these are people who may never have otherwise met in a school of more than 1,200) but they connected with the locals they met and worked with.

“They loved having us there and they welcomed us,” said Gary Abbott. “Every day we’d go off to work in the morning and come back at lunch and the kids would be waiting for us to play. Then we’d go back to work and they would be down there working, trying to do whatever they could.

“A lot of us found kids that we just fell in love with so it was really tough, saying goodbye to someone you really care about.”

That, according to the founders of the D.R.E.A.M.S.' project, is a lesson that students can’t necessarily grasp while sitting in a classroom.

Teacher Paul Morrison said the idea first came out of a Grade 12 religion class whose students thought they could accomplish more in the Dominican than at their desks. Morrison said that idea fit into the school’s philosophy of challenging and supporting students.

“We wanted to do something for our kids, something that would help them,” Morrison said. “And if it helped them in the Dominican Republic in a Third World country, then that would be great.”

In planning, Morrison was joined by John Labatte, who, now retired from teaching, stays in the Dominican from January to March, welcoming and assisting the student groups that travel there to work. Not only does he work with the students from St. Mary’s, but former graduates of the school as well who have gone on to start D.R.E.A.M.S.' projects at various universities and colleges. He isn’t surprised students go back.

“They see that warmth, the happiness of people when they don’t have shoes, they don’t have running water or electricity and they’re living in shacks,” Labatte said. “They come to appreciate that what we have makes us temporarily happy but some things are intrinsically important to their development and to them being a better person.”

And the students get it. They know this isn’t your average field trip and are open to the lessons it teaches them.
“The motto of our school is live, love and learn,” said Grade 12 student Ian Jeyaseelan. “And we can do two of those at our school, which is live and learn. But really to truly love is to go out and show Christ’s love to the world.

“I guess this was the perfect opportunity for us to really put our words into action and that was going to these children and families in the Dominican and showing that love.”

BY GILLIAN GIRODAT
The Catholic Register
June, 2005

Used with permission.

From the Chairman of their School Board:

Patrick J. Daly
Chairperson
Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic D.S.B.
  
As a Trustee and a parent of a participant I have nothing but admiration for those who began and continue the D.R.E.A.M.S. Project. The Project is an outstanding model of Christian Service, one of the elements which distinguish Catholic schools.
 
The Program contributes significantly to the lives of people of the Dominican Republic. As well it provides the possibility of transforming the lives of the student participants. In both ways those involved live out the message of Jesus Christ.
 
I extend my deep respect and admiration for those whose vision and work brought D.R.E.A.M.S. to life and to those whose efforts continue to nurture it today.
 

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