The beginnings of my Dominican Adventure

Hey all!!
So it is Tuesday and we have just started really getting into what we will be doing for the extent of our stay here in the Dominican. Our first weekend was spent at a center owned and ran by the episcopal church (iglesia). While staying at this center we were introduced to the conditions we would be dealing with. We were educated a bit on the Bateys (poorest areas, generally linked to sugar cane fields). We also were able to see all of the progress that the episcopalian church is trying to make in the building and running of private, decently priced education. We also were able to spend some time among some of the local hangouts and experience some Dominican entertainment on the waterfront where the streets were lined with people.
We have just arrived at the home of Ariadna, the women we will be programming with to help do a small chunk of community improvement. She is the equivalent of a Middle Class person from the United States. As of now I have noticed that she demands a lot of respect from everyone, and everyone respects her for what she has been able to do for the Bateys. As far as what we will be doing to help her out is we are helping the community to construct a wall around their community center for security and privacy reasons.
Notice I said we are helping the community to build the wall. One of Arianda´s goals is not to just provide charity for those staying in the Bateys, but rather to get them motivated to do their own things to improved their community. Today our first day on the job we saw this in full force. As the class started out doing all of the work to start it was shortly that the local community hopped it to almost entirely take over all that was being done.
I can´t see what the rest of our stay will hold for us but I´m still excited to have you all along the way to learn about it with me. And I am learning a little Spanish while I am down here so I will try and maybe share some with you as I learn more. Yep yep yep! Adios!