DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - MY EXPERIENCE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: I return quite moved by a week’s project in the Dominican Republic. I accompanied Brother Daniel Morin and the charming Suzanne Major along with a group simply bursting with energy of fifty young people and teachers from the Jean-Eudes College in Montreal.

The project, supported by many Lasallians and other persons of good will, enabled us to see the other side of the coin. In fact, our way of living in the ‘first world’ of abundance and comfort is based unfortunately on the exploitation and marginalization of the greater part of the world. The “Dominican experience” project, founded by Mr. Robert Laurin, allowed us to open a window on this reality obstructed by our economic system.

In fact, thanks to the support and unconditional welcome of the Dominican people, the young Canadians were able to share the daily life of poor families, cross the slums and experience a sugar-cane plantation where Haitians and Dominicans work flat out. They were able as well to become aware of the fair-minded business of the cocoa producers , share the difficulties but also the hopes of the students in La Salle College of San Domingo and especially, allow themselves to be changed by the warmth of the Dominican people.

Upon their return, they could no longer allow themselves to be led blindly by the “high speed train” of modern life. The faith of the Dominicans led us to allow ourselves to be challenged by another dimension. Their welcome and human warmth echoed the friendship and brotherhood which links us all, while their poverty and unjust situation, still prevalent in 2007, challenges us to roll up our sleeves and to work continually in an ethical fashion for the coming of a world based on Love. 

And so, we will no longer leave anyone in darkness and the other side of the picture will shine with its thousand fires.

I invite you to visit the website www.tiersmonde.net in order to shed some light on all the possibilities offered by the Dominican experience and to contribute to it in your turn….
^{(Yanick Chamberland-Richer, Lasallian Associate )}

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