NC State University

by Tim Jones, director of Web Communication

Above the constant gasoline roar of the cement mixer, a group of about 20 NC State students shouted in broken Spanish and desperate English trying to communicate with the Dominican laborers working with them on a Habitat for Humanity build site in Nagua, Dominican Republic.

When spoken language failed, as it tends to on the first day of international and local teams working together, most communication turned to excited hand gestures, exaggerated arm flailing and a good bit of laughter. The combination was almost always effective.

“It’s hot, it’s labor, but at the same time, instead of there being a disconnect there, culturally speaking, it was like we were all working together to accomplish the same goal, and you really forgot about those barriers,” said junior Douglas ‘D.J.’ Godette, jr. “There were things that I didn’t quite know that they were trying to tell me to do—they would rephrase them, they would show me exactly what they were talking about, and the same with me.”

Students and laborers managed to work well together, easily partnering to prepare and mix the ingredients needed for concrete they used to poor the home’s roof. Some lugged near 100-lb bags of cement to the mixer, while some shoveled wet concrete from the ground to a platform halfway to the roof. Others then shoveled that to the soon-to-be roof, where another group placed and smoothed the concrete.

“I’d never worked on a roof,” said junior Katie Skinner. “Today I used muscles I did not know I had.”

According to site foreman and Habitat for Humanity beneficiary, Crucito Ortega, the students did in fact work very hard. But labor was only part of the benefit.

“I feel very happy to work with them, because I know they learn from me, but I also learn from them,” he said.

To maintain the energy and motivation needed to make it through the long day of working, students had plenty of local children to play with and pass the time. Language provided hardly any obstacles since most games—tag, football, jump rope, baseball, hand slapping—are universal. The children’s warmth and willingness to engage the volunteers served as further testament to a common sentiment shared by students, that the Dominican people are uncommonly friendly.

“The people here have been amazingly receptive. I know that in the States when you see somebody from another culture and you know you don’t speak their language, you sort of have a hierarchical relationship to them, like, ‘Hey, I need to help you, this is where you need to go, this is what you need to do.’ But here, it’s part of the culture that everybody exchanges [on] common ground,” Godette said.

On just the first workday of their Alternative Service Break trip, NC State students were already beginning to comprehend some of the instructive differences in American culture and Dominican culture—differences they needed to see to understand.

“The people seem to not even notice what they’re missing—what we think they’re missing. They are completely content with the materials they have. They are happier than most people I see on day-to-day basis in North Carolina, and it’s refreshing to see people so happy, and just content with what they have and not asking for more,” Skinner said.

See more images from the first day of the Habitat for Humanity build in Nagua