Is it More Important to be Interested or Interesting?

Day 2 - Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Our trip to Constanza was an adventure. The flight from Charlotte to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic passed without mishap. The second flight was three and half hours long, but after the flight to China and back, it felt like nothing.

At the airport we were greeted by our hosts. We were quickly wisked onto waiting buses to travel from Santo Domingo on the coast up into the mountains. The bus ride took almost four hours. The road was narrow and wound back and forth. Halfway through the journey it started raining making it even harder for the driver to see. The bus seemed to struggle to make it up the grade from time to time. Our driver was determined to make goos time. At one point he was dismayed by how slowly another bus was traveling so he passed the other bus on a two lane road, going uphill, in the dark, in the rain, and in the middle of a blind curve. His American passengers all breathed in sharply and held their breath for some time.

After finally arriving at our quarters, we had a great meal and met for our first evening reflection. As this was our first time together, we didi little reflecting and spent quite a bit of time getting to know one another. The group is primarily made up of principals and Superintendents as well as employees of Lifetouch, the corporate sponsor of the trip.

The morning brought breakfast and an Orientation session. We learned that the town has 90,000 people. The current school serves just over 1,100 students in a 10 room building. It runs double shifts with some children attending during the day while others attend during the evening. Classroom built for 25 students routinely hold 50-60 children.

We were encouraged t spend time developing relationships with the Dominican workers on the project as well as the community members who might be nearby and reminded that while the work is important, the relationships are much more important. It is important that we show that we care.

During the orientation, Jan, a team member, posed the question, "Is it more important to be interested or interesting?" This was such a great question! As I reflect on it, I keep asking myself in life (not just on a mission trip in another country,) isn't it more important to be interested in other people than it is to be interesting to other people? If we were all genuinely interested in others, what would the world look and feel like?

Following the Orientation we boarded the buses to head to the job site. The school's construction was well underway by Dominican workers. Our task this week will be to build the block walls, tile the floors, and possibly paint. They hope to have children in the school in two weeks. It seems like such a daunting task, but how can we build a place that will offer hope if we don't show the power of hope in our actions. After a jobsite orientation by the Engineer, we were assigned our first tasks. I was placed on a mason team. We were charged with building the block walls in the last classroom. We were taught how to level the block, use the mud, tie rebar, and alternate the seams.

By the end of the day, we knew that we would sleep well that night. Dinner was followed by our evening reflection time.  Group members shared how great it felt to be here and shared their concern that they do a great job for the children. The group members are awesome! They are dedicated and passionate and it shows. Clearly, as interesting as they are, they are more interested in those they labor for.