Join Una Vida for an unforgettable cultural immersion
experience in the Dominican Republic!
Una Vida's cultural immersion experiences in the Dominican Republic focus on community-development, compassion, connection and solidarity. Our trips are a unique opportunity to challenge yourself and expand your heart and mind as you step outside your comfort zone and fully immerse yourself in a new language, cultural and environment.
While we organize custom trips on request, most trips focus on supporting construction or education-based projects like building latrines and cement floors or painting educational murals at local schools.
Over the course of the week through guided discussions, journal prompts and new experiences, you’ll challenge assumptions you may have had about wealth and poverty. About yourself. About privilege. And about what it means to actively participate in your local and global community.
Una Vida staff will facilitate your learning journey and will guide you every step of the way. You’ll discover how you handle new situations, where you find strength when gently pushed outside of your comfort zone, and how you push past limiting beliefs to make the most out of every experience life offers you.
Our goal is for Una Vida participants to leave the DR with a new depth of character, a broader appreciation of different cultures and a deeper sense of gratitude for the resources they do have, no matter their current circumstance. If you leave the DR with a new vision of how to better love your neighbor, participate in community and use your life for good, then we've accomplished our goal.
Transformative Travel in the Dominican Republic
UNA VIDA'S PROGRAM AREAS IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Art & Education
In the Dominican Republic, Una Vida partners with local schools, the community library and a local children's home to provide the supplies students need for academic success. We create enrichment opportunities by providing bats and balls for the local little league, hosting arts and crafts workshops, and encouraging literacy. Activities that most of us take for granted are brought to life through cross-cultural exchange.
Construction
Una Vida believes that every human deserves a basic standard of living that includes a dignified home. Our construction projects seek to improve that standard of living, laying a smooth floor over dirt and rock, installing a latrine for basic sanitation, and in some cases building new homes from scratch. Our participants work in conjunction with Dominican and Haitian workers on these projects, creating jobs for–and buy in from–the community.
Dental & Eye Care
We believe our role is to support and strengthen local health professionals and the impact they have within their communities, while providing an experience of cultural immersion for students with an interest in health. Volunteers who participate in our programs return home feeling humbled, empowered, and with their eyes open to the inequalities inherent in today's world.
We partner with Haitian dentists Dr. Elie Joseph and Dr. Lesly Joseph, who pioneer a mobile clinic model, equalizing access to dental care in the Haitian community. In partnership with student groups from UC Irvine, we offer dental clinics and dental health education.