The Dominican Experiment: A Teacher and His Students Explore a Garbage Dump, a Sweatshop, and Vodou

by Michael D'Amato, George Santos (Contributor)

The Dominican Republic is the most visited country in the Caribbean and, according to CNN, the second-happiest place on the planet. However, most of its workers make less than fifteen dollars a day, it has around two million stateless people, and 70 percent of its schools do not offer students safe drinking water. The island is certainly a fascinating place for students to research, so why not take a social justice trip there so they can see it for themselves? That was what Kevin LaMastra had in mind when he took his students to the DR for some snorkeling, horseback riding, and waterfall jumping, but also to check out a garbage dump, a sweatshop, and an HIV/AIDS orphanage. We learn the most when we step outside our comfort zones. That's not exactly LaMastra's sales pitch when he's looking for students to sign up each year, but it becomes the leading philosophy of the trip when he takes them to bond with survivors of Haiti's 2010 earthquake, to visit communities hidden deep inside sugarcane fields, and to witness an actual Vodou ceremony.

158 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2014

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of college students, and less often middle and high school students take international trips to developing countries. Their purpose is to "help" and learn about life in poor countries. The tour D'Amato describes is different. It is a social justice tour with goal of bringing justice not charity. The book describes a country with a great deal of economic injustice, but with people who show a joy for life. The plight of Haitian immigrants and workers is highlighted when the group visits bateys on sugar cane plantations. The situation of workers in Free Trade Zones is abysmal, but the group visits a factory that has unionized and afforded workers a living wage.

This book not only does an exceptional job at describing justice vs. charity, but describing the sterility of the resorts that completely isolated foreign tourists from the people and culture of the country they are visiting. In the early 1980's when I first went to the DR. there were no direct flights from Boston.There were few luxury resorts and I didn't see another American the whole trip. In the 1980's, things changed - for the worse for Dominicans and more and more high end tourism developed. In the early 80's, the exchange rate was around $1=1.5 pesos RD. The current rate is $1=47 pesos. I can only imagine how much devastation this amount of devaluation wrecked on people's lives.

I highly recommend this book to educators, readers interested in the reality of life in the Caribbean and developing countries, and those interested in developing deeper understandings of social justice.

[Charlie Wrobbel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only an "Educator' could have such narrow views of the world around them. I was raised in the DR as an expat and his views are naive, I saw a country run by ruthless dictatorship gradually overcome and become one of the freest places on earth. The Dominican Spirit is amazing and by no means downtrodden like this book leaves you feeling. Go there and then read the book and you will get my point. God Bless the Dominican Republic.