When 17-year-old Royce Colon stepped off the plane after landing in the Dominican Republic, the first things he noticed was the hot, humid air hitting his skin and the warm welcome he received from the locals.
A group of 22 volunteers, including Indigenous youth from northern Manitoba and community leaders, are in Puerto Plata this week to help build a house for a local family.
Royce, who lives in Oxford House, said the furthest away he’d previously been from home was Winnipeg. So, when someone from LiveDifferent, a Canadian charity that does youth outreach, contacted him about traveling to the Dominican Republic, it was “mind blowing.”
He admits he wasn’t sure about the opportunity at first.
“I couldn’t leave my family or my hometown because I was afraid something might happen,” Royce said.
The trip has been in the works since 2018, with Sheila North, board member for LiveDifferent, pushing to have an Indigenous-led group of students make the journey. This is this first trip of its kind for Indigenous youth, North said.
The volunteer team and their communities worked together to raise money for plane tickets and construction materials for the house. Volunteers had to raise around $3,000 each and the house costs approximately $15,000 to build.
The team works together with local contractors and the family to raise walls, pour concrete and build roofs.
North said trips like this are important for youth because they can see what the world outside of their community looks like.
“Because of the level of poverty we see in our communities, it’s not always easy to get to places like Winnipeg, or other urban centres nearby, like Thompson, let alone going to a different country,” she said.
North said it’s a special opportunity for youth to experience different cultures from their own. She believes they have a lot to contribute to communities in places like the Dominican Republic because of the societal similarities in housing and road conditions.
Royce, who is eyeing a career in the army, said he’s learned lessons in the Dominican Republic he hopes to bring home.
“(They) just help each other, learn from each other, and not fight each other,” he said.
Despite the crises surrounding housing in Indigenous communities, North said the act of building a home for someone else in need allows young people to be better global citizens.
She added it’s the federal government’s responsibility to build homes in Indigenous communities.
“While we’re building a house here, we’re also building a future for back home.”
North hopes to see more trips like this in the future and to send teams to Indigenous communities in Manitoba, as well.
LiveDifferent has built 328 homes in the Dominican Republic since 2006. The charity has been working with Indigenous communities in Manitoba since 2016.
The volunteer team is expected to return home Saturday.
matthew.frank@freepress.mb.ca
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