Every year, Rotaract club organizes an alternative spring break trip for members and other Ohio State students to give back to the international community. See examples of our past projects below and information for our upcoming trip!

2018

Trip recap coming soon!

 

2016

For Spring Break 2016, five girls traveled to Muñoz, Dominican Republic to work with Project Esperanza. The organization was originally founded by a group of students from Virginia Tech that started volunteering at an orphanage in Esperanza, Dominican Republic.

After the orphanage shut down, Project Esperanza began establishing group homes for Haitian teenagers and K-6 schools. While in Muñoz, we stayed in a volunteer house in the town and enjoyed many delicious Dominican meals cooked by one of the locals. One of our main volunteer projects was building a clay oven; we started by making a rock foundation and then mixed our own adobe (clay, sand, and water) to make a dome on top. We also spent a lot of our time making a sea glass mural in one of the schools. Perhaps one of the most fun activities we did was teach the kids after school one afternoon about health and fitness, leading them through a food pyramid game and some stretches. In our time off, we jumped down the 27 waterfalls, relaxed on the beach, saw a Carnaval parade, and went horseback riding! We even saw a few Rotary International signs along the way. On our trip, we learned a lot about the relationship between the Dominicans and the Haitians as well as the remarkable differences between the rural communities and nearby tourist resorts. Overall, it was a great experience!

 

 

2015

We ventured to Parismina, Costa Rica, a small town of approximately 400 people to volunteer with the organization Asociacion Salvemos las Tortugas de Parismina (ASTOP). Over the week, we learned about the two native species of turtles and their endangerment due to poaching. To protect the turtles, we joined ASTOP on nightly patrols to deter poachers from stealing turtle eggs and to transfer laid eggs to new, safer locations so that poachers would not find them.  We also helped create an incubation area for these moved turtled eggs to help the eggs reach full adulthood. Moreover, we participated in beach cleanups and had the opportunity to learn about the amazing Costa Rican culture and what life is like living in rural Costa Rica.