Orlando teachers help mission school, receive blessings

Fifteen diocesan educators recently completed a mission trip to the Diocese of Orlando’s sister diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic.

JENNIFER O’BRIEN | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Posted: 06.19.09

Faculty members from St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando — guidance counselor Jennifer O’Brien, top left, and fifth–grade teacher Capresse Smith, top center — pose for a photo with students in the Domincan Republic during a spring mission trip to Orlando’s sister diocese of San Juan de la Maguana.
Courtesy Photo

ORLANDO | Off we went on a short two-hour flight to a world far different from the one we were used to here at home. After a brief stop in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, we began a five-hour journey into the mountains en route to the village of La Cucarita. Thirteen other teachers from the Diocese of Orlando joined us. The purpose of our mission was to help the Catholic school teachers in the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana.

The 15 of us split into groups of three. Our group stayed in La Cucarita and traveled to our respective schools each day. Capresse Smith and I visited the mission school in the village of Los Guayayos. Each group spent time observing and providing feedback at its assigned school. Some observations were in relation to ways the teachers could improve their instruction, but other observations were about their compassionate nature and their work ethic.

On the final day in the mountains, all of the educators from the Diocese of Orlando got together with all of the Dominican teachers and we held a workshop based upon long-term goals for the teachers and our observations during our visits.

We came to the Dominican Republic with excitement about all we could teach the people there, but we quickly realized that this mission was about much more than the passing along of information. The peace and beauty of the landscape as we rode a donkey or hiked to school, the smiles of the beautiful children playing in the dirt, and the sense of community we experienced as we visited the neighbors made us keenly aware of the presence of God in everyday life. We departed the Dominican Republic thankful for the opportunity to share that which we have been blessed to learn, but also appreciative of the opportunity to embrace the simple things in life that we so often take for granted.

Jennifer O’Brien is the guidance counselor at St. Andrew Catholic School.

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