What kind of travel experiences did you have prior to joining BLUE Missions?
Prior to joining BLUE Missions, I had already participated on two international service trips with another organization that did similar work. Ever since I was young, my family made it a point to travel the world with my siblings and I. I had visited many countries throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and several cities around the United States before going to college.
With my fellow co workers and interns as we celebrate the arrival of water in the community of La Jagua, Dominican Republic.
How would you say travel and the service trips you have attended have impacted your life?
Through participation on service trips and traveling, I was able to see how different cultures and regions lived their day to day lives in comparison to mine. When I was 16 and on my first service trip in the Dominican Republic, I had no idea that millions of people worldwide do not have access to a clean water source. Living in a rural community and working alongside of the locals, made me understand that we are all the same but for the majority of the world, their living conditions didn’t meet even the most basic of requirements. Although they had no access to clean water, electricity, or proper bathrooms, they lived life to the fullest. These experiences early on in my life helped pave the path for a career in the nonprofit sector.
Volunteers carrying pvc pipe through the mountains of the Dominican Republic on their way to the fresh water source.
What led you to join you the BLUE Missions team?
The end of my sophomore and junior year of high school, I went on a service trip with my dad and close family members. The following year, some of my best friends started a new organization and were planning to build a water project in a community of the Dominican Republic. After a few weeks of convincing, my parents finally let me join them on the trip. That trip strengthened my love and passion for serving others and I wanted to do more. When we returned back home, all of my spare time was spent volunteering for BLUE Missions. I volunteered and eventually interned from 2011 to the beginning of 2015. Once I graduated from the University of Miami in the spring of 2015, I became the first full time employee for BLUE Missions.
What does a typical day of work look like for you?
This definitely depends on what time of the year it is. From March through August, a typical day is waking up in a rural community of the Dominican Republic before sunrise, and waking up a group who is participating on a service trip. After breakfast and meditation, work begins. Work consists of building latrines, mixing cement, carrying and gluing pvc pipes, working on the construction of a water holding tank, etc. Sit down with the group at noon for lunch, take a hour long siesta (which could involve a nap, hiking, house visits, or playing dominos). Work for a few more hours in the afternoon. Shower, eat dinner, and relax before doing it all again the next day.
From September through February, I am back in our Miami headquarters planning, organizing, and preparing for our service trips. A lot of office work, phone calls, emails, meetings with local high schools and universities that would like us to plan custom service trips for them. Communicating with our staff back in the Dominican Republic and seeing how the scouting of new projects and communities is going. Meeting with future volunteers and their parents to prepare them adequately for their service trip.
Filling up an empty 5-gallon jug of clean, safe drinking water minutes after water arrives in the community for the first time.
How do you support students before, throughout, and prior to their time with BLUE Missions?
Every year we take hundreds of students on service trips. Prior to departing, we hold three preparation meetings where we discuss the work, the project, community details, safety, and culture. There is also some icebreaker and group bonding activities so that the group can get to know each other before beginning the service trip.
Throughout the trip, all of our leaders, staff, and chaperones are constantly watching all of the volunteers. We have group meetings and reunions where we hear everyone’s first impression on day 2 and on the last night we hear everyone’s lasting impression. If anyone at any point in the trip needs assistance with health or how they are feeling, they can reach out to any of the leaders or staff.
Post trip, we have a reacclimation meeting with the group of volunteers to ease them back into life at home. Some of our volunteers experience a reverse-culture shock where they got so used to living simply that back at home with social media, electricity, television, computers they go into a sensory overload and don’t know how to react.
Juan, standing outside of his finished Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine in the community of Carrasco, Dominican Republic
Why do you enjoy working with high school and university students?
My favorite part of working with high school and university students is watching them experience our service trip for the first time. It reminds me a lot of my first life changing experience on a service trip in high school. Whether it’s teaching them how to make a trench with a pickaxe and shovel or hammering together a bathroom, I’m watching our participants transform into global citizens and it’s my favorite part of my job.
When students return home, what do you hope they have learned and gained?
For many participants, our trips are somewhat of a life changing and shaping experience. We always challenge our participants to ask questions about themselves, the community, and the water & sanitation crisis. Living in a rural community for 8 days, you can learn about their culture, way of life, day to day activities, etc. At the end of the trip, I hope that all of our participants learn that these individuals are not poor. They are wealthy in so many ways, they were just born into a situation that did not have access to the basic human needs of water and sanitation. Now that they are not blind to the needs that exists, what are they going to do when they get back home? How are they going to continue to make a difference in the world? At BLUE, we are working on cultivating global citizens who are aware of the many problems in our world and who aren’t afraid to learn, research, and tackle these problems head on.
On the first day of every trip we always challenge our participants to “find their why”. Why were they on this trip, in this community, with this group of individuals? What were they supposed to learn and gain from the experience? They may not find the answer within that week, they may not find the answer until a month post trip. One day they will realize why they were on that service trip and we want them to always pay it forward.
Working alongside of our volunteers as I show them how to dig a trench with pickaxes and shovels.
What do you love most about your job?
Working at BLUE Missions, has given me the opportunity to meet incredible individuals and families throughout the years. I have worked in over 30 rural communities to construct water and sanitation projects with over 700 participants. I absolutely love meeting and creating relationships with participants and community members.
Where do you hope to see BLUE Missions in five years?
In five years, I hope to see BLUE Missions partner with more high schools and universities across the United States to provide their students with an opportunity to participate on a service trip. We are working on expanding to more countries across Latin America as well.
