Strumming a guitar and singing while a family receives keys to the home he built for them is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that Koh Okazaki cherishes.
Last month, the Jasper resident returned to the Dominican Republic as a Hero Holiday intern through Live Different, an organization that empowers youth to make a positive difference in the world. Hero Holiday provides the opportunity to volunteer in humanitarian relief projects around the world.
Being an intern was different than last year’s experience as a volunteer, said Okazaki.
“I was down there for a longer period of time and I worked more with the staff.” He helped organize activities and led debrief discussions at the end of the day about self-reflection, poverty and materialism.
Okazaki jumped at the chance to return to the Dominican.
“I love the community there, everyone gets along. They don’t have as much as we do, what they cherish is spending time together instead of spending time on Facebook,” he said.
Volunteers stayed at a nearby resort and worked from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Hero’s Holiday focused on working in two communities near Puerto Plata. During his time in the Dominican, Okazaki worked with two different groups of volunteers to build five houses and one medical clinic.
“They have no machines down there so you had to do everything by hand.” Contractors built the foundation, volunteers laid bricks, and then the contractors finished the roof.
An emotional moment for Okazaki was when he played guitar and sang “Home” by Phillip Phillips during a house dedication, where residents received keys to their new home. “One of them wasn’t aware that they were receiving a house, it was a big surprise.”
Before the second group of volunteers arrived in the country, Okazaki and the other interns bonded further during “intern week” by going on “day in the life” excursions.
“I went with another intern and we lived in a family’s house for the majority of the day and experienced what they do on a daily basis,” he said. The way they cook and prepare food is different than what Canadians are used to.
One mother they spent time with only had a Grade 6 education and she touched lettuce leaves right after she touched raw chicken.
She then rinsed the lettuce with bleach. Okazaki and the other intern didn’t eat that lettuce, but did eat lettuce washed with bleach when they spent time with another family. “It was good food, just the thought of eating bleach was weird.”
Garbage bags serve as pot covers and “they have done it for years,” he adds.
Aside from a fresh perspective on life and a volunteering holiday abroad, Okazaki received a new haircut, courtesy of a late assignment that interns were asked to hand in before the trip.
As a consequence, an “embarrassing moment” was planned for him—“my friends shaved the sides of my head with a beard trimmer.” He likened his new look to the Jersey Shore character Pauly D.
A “cool, but scary moment” occurred when a class one hurricane hit the area where Okazaki and the other volunteers worked. They boarded a bus back to their hotel for safety, and not a moment too soon. In five minutes the streets were covered with water.
“I’ve never seen a flash flood like that in my life.”
Even though he had to raise almost $4,000 to go to the Dominican again this year, the experience was worth it, he said. “I recommend this to anyone to do it once in their lifetime. You get a different perspective about poverty. It affects you in a way that you wouldn’t want to take what you have for granted.”
Okazaki said that he is immensely grateful to the numerous Jasperites and Jasper businesses that helped him fundraise for his unforgettable trip.
Sarah Makowsky
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