Sister Island Project

Current Projects

Bienvenidos al Centro Educativo Luz Maria!

Welcome to the Luz Maria Learning Center!

The Vision

Named in honor of a beloved woman from Cruz Verde who passed away twenty-five years ago, the Luz Maria Learning Center is a 10-minute walk from the center of Cruz Verde. The grand opening was held in July 2006, and as of Spring 2008 it is being used for classes, microenterprise projects, tutoring, arts groups, trainings and leadership development. The center can also serve as a hurricane shelter, and is home to Cruz Verde's first library.

We seek to develop a learning center that will meet diverse needs: general education, vocational training for adults and young people, literacy, ESL, health care education, business skills, arts and music, care of the body and mind. We envision a place that is dynamic, practical, and uplifting. Vocational training is especially urgent because of the region's poverty. With Dominican teachers and long-term and short-term international volunteers, a great variety of classes can be offered.

Visión

El centro educativo lleva su nombre en tributo a una mujer apreciada por la comunidad, quien falleció hace 25 años. El Centro Educativo Luz María esta localizado aproximadamente a 2 kilómetros del centro de Cruz Verde.

Estamos trabajando en la creación de un centro educativo que se propone satisfacer diversas necesidades: educación académica general, entrenamiento vocacional para adultos y adolescentes, programas de alfabetización, cursos de ingles, talleres de salud y asistencia médica primaria, clases de música y artes, orientación para el cuidado del cuerpo y la mente. El entrenamiento vocacional es imperativo debido a la pobreza de la región, por lo tanto, y el desarrollo del entrenamiento micro empresarial. Con maestros dominicanos y la participación de voluntarios extranjeros a largo y corto plazo, una gran variedad de cursos pueden ser ofrecidos.

Background

In 2000, Sister Island Project met with Yabacao community members and officers of the Fundacion Cruz Verde, the Yabacao community association, to identify the region’s most urgent needs. These local leaders ranked education as the highest priority. In response, Sister Island Project committed itself to helping to create this learning center. With the support of many donors and volunteers from the U.S., Dominican Republic and other countries, we have been able to bring the center into existence. The center has been built mainly of soil bricks. Red Dominican soil was sifted,mixed with sand and cement, and squeezed into brick-form in a manual press.

Since June 2003, when construction began, a steady stream of volunteers has traveled to Cruz Verde to work with local builders to create the school. Under a hot Dominican sun, the walls went up.

Antecedentes

En el año 2000 el proyecto Isla Hermana organizó una reunión con habitantes de la región de Yabacao y oficiales de la Fundación Cruz Verde (asociación comunitaria) con el fin de identificar las necesidades más urgentes de la zona. Estos líderes locales expresaron que la educación figura como la más alta prioridad. En respuesta, el Proyecto Isla Hermana se comprometió a ayudar en la creación del centro. Así, en los últimos años, hemos recaudado fondos, supervisado la construcción e invitado a voluntarios internacionales a colaborar en la realización de esta meta.

La construcción del centro se inició en Junio del año 2003. La estructura está constituida fundamentalmente por ladrillos. Tierra roja dominicana fue cribada, mezclada con arena y cemento, y luego moldeada mediante prensas manuales. Desde Junio del año 2003,un flujo constante de voluntarios ha viajado a Cruz Verde para trabajar con obreros locales en la construcción de la escuela y,bajo el caliente sol dominicano, los muros se han ido elevando.

Learning Center Projects

The learning center is at the heart of our work. Here are some of our center-based projects. Check out our Fall 2007 newsletter for more details.

Sewing Microenterprise - In 2008, we are working with community women to develop a sewing microenterprise based at the learning center. This work builds on a previous candle-making microenterprise effort led by a close organizational partner, Five Stones Project.

The Library - The learning center's borrowing library is open to the public, the first such library in the community's history, and has a steadily growing stock of diverse children's and adult books in Spanish, as well as English books. Spanish book donations are always welcome.

Classes, Trainings and Performances - The youth theater group El Pulso (The Pulse), founded by Jamie Izlar, a long-term Sister Island volunteer, has rehearsed and performed on the stage at the Learning Center. A wide variety of classes, including English, teacher trainings for local public school teachers, arts classes, youth meetings, and youth development trainings have been held at the learning center.

Other Activities

The Emerick Scholarship Fund - The Emerick Fund entered its fourth year in December 2007. The 2008 grant cycle provides support for 14 university students. Started by Barbara Emerick and her family, volunteers from Michigan who felt inspired to provide support for local students, this fund has provided vital support for over 80 students so far, who have used scholarships to attend university and take individual courses in computers, English, and other subjects.

Community Assistance and Home Repair - Sister Island Project has committed to providing financial and volunteer resources to help meet urgent community needs, including donations of medicines and other supplies, repair of shared community structures such as the well, and repair/rebuild of several houses identified by community members as in a state of extreme disrepair. A first home was partially rebuilt in Spring 2007, and a second home was rebuilt in December 2007.

Cultural Exchange

Martin Luther King spoke of the “single garment of destiny” in which we all are bound.Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of “interbeing.” We see the inevitable connections on our planet.

Since its creation, Sister Island Project has organized its work around the idea that cultural exchange is more than just the context for service - it is of great value in itself, though sometimes harder to see because it is more about "being" and less about "doing." When Dominicans get together with volunteers from the U.S. and elsewhere, each group can share its own cultural riches while expanding its sense of the possible through contact with the other.

It happens during dental exams...

Painting lessons.....

and it definitely happens after learning two very important Spanish words, “Quisiera bailar?" (Would you like to dance?)