By Jessica Marshall '01

One of the most frustrating moments of being a teacher in the public school in Cabarete was when I realized, just as I was getting into the rhythm of things, that it was my time to go. The thing about the Cabarete program that is so amazing is that after only two years in existence the program has had a positive impact on the school.

The program is special, both for Dartmouth students and for the people of Cabarete, in that it is not just a one-time event, it is not just a three-week tourist visit, it is not just a monetary donation. The thing that makes the Cabarete program special is that it has become an institution in the local school. Unlike other tourists to the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, volunteers have a much greater impact than we think. Kids look forward to the new Tucker fellows and line up to get into the library and meet the new volunteers. They take pride in the library and offer to paint it and draw pictures to decorate the wall; they even offer to stay late and come in on Saturdays.

Individually, Dartmouth students don't teach much; in fact we end up learning more than we teach. We learn about Dominican politics from their parents who take us into their homes and stuff us with tostones, arroz, and chinola juice. Their aunts and uncles take us on tours of caves in the national park nearby, their cousins come to the beach with us to play baseball, their brothers and sisters take us on tours discovering all kinds of wild, tropical fruit, and their grandmothers sit us down and teach us how to make habichuelas dulces . What we do manage to give, or at least encourage, is an even stronger interest in learning. The kids are excited by our presence and in their eagerness to interact with us they become avid readers, drawers, painters, and writers.

Tucker fellows in Cabarete are not the saviors of these Dominican children, we do however, play an important role in invigorating their learning experience and making school a fun place to learn. It is for this reason that the success of the Cabarete program is dependent on the steady stream of volunteers who offer an off-term to work in the library. To keep the program going we need more volunteers with fresh ideas, new approaches, and a commitment to the education of the children of Cabarete.