DOVE- Bringing People Together

The following was written by Nikki Cochrane, after spending 2 months in the Dominican Republic working with DOVE Missions. She writes about the impact the experience has on volunteers.

I have now been home from the DR well over a month, after spending 2 months in Puerto Plata, working mostly with Dove Missions. I still think of my time there daily, and look forward to returning for 2 weeks this Christmas, and again in May where I will be staying long term. This summer was my forth humanitarian trip (third to the DR, and one to Ethiopia) and one of the most important things I have learned is how this work can bring people together.
I think it is clear that DOVE is doing amazing work. I have had mothers kiss my cheek, with tears streaming down their own, so grateful and relieved for the help they are receiving. I have watched as bonds are formed, as kids are fed, as medicine is handed out, and as education is provided. I have spent time with the kids, laughing so hard that my eyes welled up with tears; in part from my own happiness and in part from seeing the joy in the kids' eyes. As I got off the plane this May and was greeted by Liz at the airport, I knew that the next 2 months would be amazing. I knew that I would take a part in lives being transformed, and I knew that one of those lives would be my own.
Three years ago, when I was just finishing high school, I went on a short 10 day humanitarian trip to the DR. It was my first glimpse of poverty, and I fell in love with the country. Among the people on my team was a family- parents, and their 5 and 7 year old kids. I watched them interact; watched as the kids jumped rope with the kids in a Haitian batey, watched as the family interacted with families just like their own, but born into different conditions. This family was special... they knew things and had experienced things that most families in our country do not. I knew that one day I wanted my family to experience this with me as well. In May, I was sitting on the couch with Liz and we were talking about the impact that seeing poverty has on people. She was talking about sharing the experience with her son, and watching other families experience it together. That night I emailed my parents and asked them, yet again, to come visit me. My Dad had lost his job earlier this year, and I knew it wasn't likely due to finances, but my Mom surprised me and agreed to come, along with my 2 sisters (Kristin and Meghan, 18 and 15 years old). For one week my Mom and sisters tagged along with me- to the Boys Club, to the Girls Club, to the houses of the kids I have gotten to know so well. They even dared to experience their first motoconcho ride as we drove out into the country to meet my friends, who have become like a second family to me, over the past several years. Every day, my family was able to see more of the work that Dove does. They learned how it felt to have five kids hanging off your hands, and another two clinging to each leg. They experienced sitting on a chair in the stifling heat of a small Dominican home, and they walked alongside me, over the garbage covered beach with kids playing in the filthy water, as we visited the people who will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Dove Missions is not only transforming lives of Dominican people- it is transforming the lives of volunteers. As Liz told me, it is one thing to experience poverty on your own, but to experience it with your own family is another. I will never forget talking to the kids the day before my family was to arrive, as they asked me every possible question they could think of (What are their names? How old are they? When are their birthdays?) I still remember the exact moment I first brought my family to the Club, and watching the kids run over to greet them, these people that they have never met before in their lives, with huge hugs and smiles. For just one week, my family was able to experience the thing in my life that I am most passionate about. In the past, I have only been able to explain it to them through words and pictures, but now they know- they have watched a little boy, hungry and lethargic, lean his head on my shoulder with hardly enough energy even to smile. They have fallen in love with the kids, just as I have (it is impossible not to!) and for that I am forever grateful. DOVE Missions is unique because while its main purpose is to help the people of the Dominican Republic, it also has a mission to connect volunteers with Dominicans and create friendships and experiences that will be remembered for lifetimes.