Safe transportation for children from a rural community in the Dominican Republic
(1).JPG)
In 2019 the Association "Smile and Grow", founded in Barcelona, will celebrate the tenth anniversary of collaboration with the Community of Saint Paul and La Sagrada Familia Parish. It has been ten consecutive years in which young people from Spain have spent their summers in the Dominican Republic, organizing, as volunteers, activities for the children of Sabana Yegua.
Apart from its traditional summer activities (tutoring students, teaching values true games), the group has been incorporating other collaborations in recent years, taking advantage of the professional training of its volunteers. For example, they created "Smile in Health", with medical talks in various communities conducted by medical and nursing students.
This year, two architecture students were dismayed by the precarious situation of the “Km 13” community, a rural village located on the edge of the state highway, only two kilometers away from Sabana Yegua. One of their concerns was the insecurity that people endure by being so close to the road, and especially the difficulty of the children to walk to school in Sabana Yegua following the road, where cars and trucks pass at full speed, having already produced several accidents.
Five years ago, the parish got a bus, donated by the Dominican Government, for school transportation of young people from two other rural communities (Km 7 and Km 8) to the Secondary School of Sabana Yegua. Those in charge of the parish had already considered expanding the route and the bus also picking up the children from km. 13 to take them to school, but the difficulty there was to obtain enough resources to pay the driver (each child is already asked to give a contribution to cover the fuel). After a meeting with the community, the two young men from “Smile and Grow” decided to meet with the mayor of Sabana Yegua and request a collaboration, so that “Km. 13” could have this service, and they got it! The municipality is giving a small monthly contribution to pay the driver and since last August, 25 children and young people from “Km. 13” already go to school by bus. From here, we would like to express our gratitude to the youth of “Smile and Grow” for their commitment and sensitivity, which bear new fruits every year.
Apart from its traditional summer activities (tutoring students, teaching values true games), the group has been incorporating other collaborations in recent years, taking advantage of the professional training of its volunteers. For example, they created "Smile in Health", with medical talks in various communities conducted by medical and nursing students.
This year, two architecture students were dismayed by the precarious situation of the “Km 13” community, a rural village located on the edge of the state highway, only two kilometers away from Sabana Yegua. One of their concerns was the insecurity that people endure by being so close to the road, and especially the difficulty of the children to walk to school in Sabana Yegua following the road, where cars and trucks pass at full speed, having already produced several accidents.
Five years ago, the parish got a bus, donated by the Dominican Government, for school transportation of young people from two other rural communities (Km 7 and Km 8) to the Secondary School of Sabana Yegua. Those in charge of the parish had already considered expanding the route and the bus also picking up the children from km. 13 to take them to school, but the difficulty there was to obtain enough resources to pay the driver (each child is already asked to give a contribution to cover the fuel). After a meeting with the community, the two young men from “Smile and Grow” decided to meet with the mayor of Sabana Yegua and request a collaboration, so that “Km. 13” could have this service, and they got it! The municipality is giving a small monthly contribution to pay the driver and since last August, 25 children and young people from “Km. 13” already go to school by bus. From here, we would like to express our gratitude to the youth of “Smile and Grow” for their commitment and sensitivity, which bear new fruits every year.
