How Jarabacoa Impacted Me
Lessons and personal takeaways from my time in the Dominican Republic that I brought back with me to the United States
Professional Takeaways
- Asset based development is the key to enacting longterm positive change
- Technical photography skills: shooting in Raw and automatic settings
- Interview techniques: how to use interviews to tell a story
- Media and Creativity is a powerful force for enabling change
The purpose of my work as a creator is to capture the light: Its the job of reporters and journalists to report the dark realities to motivate action, but its my job as a humanitarian storyteller to empower those being serverd and highlight the light as a catalyst for positive and uplifting change
Personal Takeaways
- The Details Matter: there was a language barrier, but I have beginner experience with Spanish so I could talk about things like, names, favorite colors, and favorite animals. In the culture I am used to, these are "minor details," but to the kids I was talking to, the details made all the difference. Even if I spoke funny, messed up words, and could not understand everything they said, when I remembered their name or favorite color their faces lit up with excitement.
- Finding Common Humanity is Beautiful and Not as Hard as People Think: Culture shock and cultural differences are real and important to acknowledge, but so are the similarities. Children in the Dominican Republic interacted with each other and played in the same ways my younger cousins do. Middle school boys on the baseball team joked and made fun of each other and my friends in the same ways little boys treat each other in the United States. The middle and highschoolers had the same attitudes and quirks that my little sisters have.
