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How my trip with Fathom in the Dominican Republic impacted me

March 27, 2016 By Nedra McDaniel 9 Comments

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How my trip with Fathom in the Dominican Republic impacted me

There is so much to reflect on from my incredible impact travel experience with Fathom in the Dominican Republic. The people that I met on our team, along with the locals that we interacted with and worked beside, truly left an impression on my heart. I have soooooo many stories to share with you!

I participated on the last pilot trip with Fathom that provided feedback to help shape what impact travel will look like for future tours that launch in the upcoming months.

We experienced opportunities that allowed us to actively engage and partner with locals who normally do not encounter tourists, by working along side them on projects that will have long lasting value to their communities.

Fathom – Impact Travel will be offering a unique 7 day cruise experience to the Dominican Republic and also to Cuba that allows travelers to experience travel in a new way.

Impact travel with Fathom provides the opportunity to build community with like-minded travelers, become immersed in another culture, and work alongside its people to create enduring social impact.

They had me at social impact. Every time that I’ve visited the Caribbean, I’ve loved meeting the people and I’m always left with a desire to help make their lives better however I can.

Our group experienced incredible interactions with locals and each other. That’s always such a big part of travel anyway, right? We go on trips to see places and explore but a lot of times it’s the people who leave imprints on our hearts. Our pilot trip gave our team the opportunity to experience three different impact activities. There will be more options to choose from for future cruises.

Day 1 Reforestation and Nursery

Reforestion with Fathom Travel 5

While my goal for any vacation near the sun is to come back with a tan, many Dominican locals don’t feel the same way, which is why our first impact activity was to assist with planting trees along the beach to help provide more shade.

Reforestion with Fathom Travel 13

Our smaller teams allowed us to really learn from each other beyond planting trees. A few of our Dominican leaders were growing in their English skills and we attempted our Spanish. We also talked about everything from travel, to music, to family.

Reforestion with Fathom Travel 25

Reforestion with Fathom Travel 24

Reforestion with Fathom Travel 22

Reforestion with Fathom Travel 17

Reforestion with Fathom Travel 14

In addition to planting 407 trees, we also collected 25 bags of garbage from the beach, and harvested 200 seedlings to use for future projects.

Reforestion with Fathom Travel 7

Day 2 Schools -Student English Conversation and Learning

little girl at school in the Dominican Republic

I knew that our impact activity at a rural school was going to be one of my favorites. We were told that some of the students travel up to 3 hours to get to school by 8am. That’s perspective. Our team was welcomed into a 4th grade classroom.

school at Dominican Republic

We danced to Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk” and were given our instructions about what we would be doing that day. I think the adults and the kids were both equally excited about spending time together that day.

We partnered up with a student and each traced our hand on paper. The travelers each taught the students how to say their names in English. I also got to practice a few other Spanish phrases that dated back to my high schools years. Our names tags did have a little cheat sheet with a few popular phrases on them to help start conversations.

groups at school

I really enjoyed talking to my student and observing his progress in such a short time. This was the first time that this class had travelers visit.

school in Dominican Republic

We moved on to a craft using recycled materials. Our groups worked together and created a soccer ball using tape, newspaper,and one balloon.

school in Dominican Republic 5

After our craft was complete, we joined the students for a game of soccer. I’m still amazed that the ball never popped!

playing at a Domincan school

I think all of us were sad that our time seemed to go by way too fast that day.

group school pic Dominican Republic

Day 3 Assisting at Re Papel

The sweetest little boy welcomed us to his neighborhood on our way to Re Papel. His smile made our day. His smile was just the beginning of smiles that we would encounter that day with the women who would leave imprints on our hearts.

Dominican Republic

Our impact activity at Re Papel allowed our group to experience the entire paper recycling process with Dominican women from impoverished areas.  These women generate an income from the sales of their recycled paper products.

Upon arrival, we got to hear a little from each employee, thanks to a translator before we started.

Re Papel intros

Re Papel sorting process

Our team was part of the full recycling process which gave us a greater appreciation for how incredible this business opportunity is for these women.

Re Papel

The woman from Re Papel were such a JOY! They made work fun and they were so sweet. We shared stories, we sang, we danced, and we worked. Our large group was broken in to smaller groups to allow us help the process and get to know the women better. A few hours of work with our team equaled three full days labor.

At the end of our time together, there were stories of connection that brought all of us to tears.

Re Papel lives changed

Another great part of the Impact Activity experience was the local food served on site for lunch. We enjoyed INCREDIBLE Dominican food that also created jobs for locals.

lunch Dominican Republic

lunch

lunch space

The Impact activities provided by Fathom left an imprint on our hearts that no language barrier could separate.

My experience with the Fathom team really was wonderful! The impact experiences with the Dominican locals were well organized and created incredible moments of interaction. Be prepared to leave a piece of your heart in the Dominican. I can’t wait to go back!

impact travel

You can find out more about about upcoming Fathom cruises from their website.

 

 

A special thanks to Fathom for invited me to attend this life changing adventure!

 

 

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Filed Under: Adventures, Adventures of the Heart, Featured, Give Back, Travel Tagged With: Dominican Republic, Fathom, Fathom Travel, give back, impact travel, Re papel

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nedra McDaniel

    April 18, 2016 at 8:44 am

    I went on the pilot trip before the cruise launched so we stayed at a resort on the island.

  2. Janet Engel

    April 15, 2016 at 7:27 am

    What a beautiful recap of your adventure with fathom. Wonderful to read as I am traveling to the DR with them in June ! I can’t wait and your beautiful descriptive narrative gets me even more excited!

  3. Christina

    April 14, 2016 at 11:14 pm

    Great recap of this trip! I was hoping to take a Fathom cruise in June but they didn’t have space. The volunteering part of the trip sounds like a life changer. How was the ship itself? Curious about the experiences on board.

  4. Charles McCool

    March 29, 2016 at 2:44 pm

    Love the inside look at Fathom cruise. I plan to go on a Fathom cruise in June. Fun and soil impact.

  5. MariaAbroad

    March 25, 2016 at 9:27 am

    I’m going on a DR Cruise with Fathom in May. Very excited and looking forward to this adventure. Thanks for sharing your trip. It is great to see what to expect. Now I am even more excited 🙂

  6. Lies

    March 25, 2016 at 1:12 am

    Thank you for sharing this amazing experience! I’m joining a Fathom cruise to the Dominican Republic in June. I can’t wait!

  7. Dan @ Points With a Crew

    March 24, 2016 at 9:52 pm

    Great trip report! I did a 2 year mission for my church in the DR about 20 years ago so a lot of that looked a little familiar! Especially the food (la bandera they call it – arroz, habichuelas y carne – rice, beans and meat)

Trackbacks

  1. How a Fathom Cruise Wrecked My Family in a Good Way - Adventure Mom says:
    July 6, 2016 at 10:55 am

    […] where a family adventure on a Fathom cruise came in. I was invited by Fathom to be on the final pilot trip to the Dominican Republic in the spring before Fathom launched their new cruise line focusing on impact […]

  2. Why this year's butterfly theme at the Krohn might be my favorite - Adventure Mom says:
    March 26, 2016 at 2:11 pm

    […] I just got back from the Dominican Republic a few weeks ago and the Caribbean has a special place in my heart so of course I’m loving the Caribbean […]

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