Thanks to American students
A group of 12 students from College of Saint Benedict College and Saint John’s University (CSB/SJU) built a playground and small basketball court on the grounds of the Las Guazaras public school in Las Terrenas.
The students came to Las Terrenas for 12 days, hosted by the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation (FMG) and in addition to the work at that school they also painted the basketball court built by a similar group last March at La Granja public school.
The playground in Las Guazaras was built at the request of the local neighborhood association in coordination with Robinson Espino, president of the Union of Neighborhood Associations of Las Terrenas.
The university students also helped install the swings needed to complete the playground in La Barbaco/El Portillo, built by FMG with the work and donations of a similar group that came in 2012, and a group from Lycoming College that came in early May of this year and helped repair the basketball court.The community of La Barbacoa (Portillo) now has a playground for the enjoyment of children, youth and adults consisting of seven swings, five teeter-totters and several hopscotchs.The playground was also built at the request of the local neighborhood association chaired by teacher Yesenia, in coordination with Robinson Espino.
The CSB/SJU group was the eleventh community service trip organized by the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation.The service trips bring college and university students to Las Terrenas who work painting homes, building playgrounds, doing environmental clean ups and helping out at the Anacaona Library with classification and cataloguing of books, enrichment activities for kids, painting and repairs.In addition to college students, FMG hosted for two years a group of 50 students participants in Class Afloat, a sailboat-based academic year that goes around the world.Since 2006 the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation has brought more than 250 volunteers from 35 countries to work with the local community members and to improve their quality of life.