The Scavenger Hunt

Lily, the Peace Corps volunteer in La Capilla (about 30 minutes north of Baoba) has an Escojo group in her site as well. Lily came to the Dominican Republic the August before I arrived so her group has already graduated and they are now giving lectures to the community. My Escojo group went to her site to help with a parade and a presentation on March 8 for International Women’s Day, and this past Saturday her group came to Baoba to repay the visit. Her group gave an hour long presentation to my kids about discrimination and diversity, which helped me out because it’s one less theme that I need to teach my kids before they graduate. After the lecture and the snacks (crackers, salami, cheese and soda), we had a scavenger hunt, which was a huge success.

Let me explain about the scavenger hunt. We divided all of the kids (36 total) into 2 groups: one group went with me and the other with Lily. Each team had a list of things they either had to search for or actions that they had to do, and we had to take pictures of each activity. Each activity completed earned the group a specific amount of points, and the team with the most points won. Here are the activities:

• Find the oldest person in Baoba and take his/her picture. -The team earns 1 point for each decade the person has lived.
• Hold a doña in your arms. Her feet cannot touch the ground. - 3 points
• Form a pyramid with beer bottles – 1 point for each level of the pyramid
• Put on your school uniforms – 2 points for each person in the photo wearing his/her uniform
• Find the stray dogs of Baoba – 3 points for each stray dog in the photo
• Fill bags with trash from the ground – 2 points for each full bag. If the bag is filled with leaves, it doesn’t count.
• One person has to hold live chickens – 4 points for each chicken held at the same time
• Fly a kite. – 10 points for each flight flying in the photo.
• One Peace Corps volunteer has to ride a horse – 5 points
• Climb a tree. Feet cannot touch the ground – 3 points for each member of the group who is in the tree.
• Put rollers in the hair of a man. – 3 points for each roller.
• One Peace Corps volunteer has to ride a pig. – 8 points
• Gather the most family members together at one time and take their picture – 2 points for each person.

My team lost by 5 points. We didn’t fly a kite because we didn’t have time to make one, and for the school uniforms, they only put on their shirts, not their complete uniform therefore we didn’t get any points for those questions. But the kids loved the activity, mainly because they got to see me ride a pig. And I liked the activity because they collected trash from the ground (and then burned it), learned to work as a team, and it gave me the opportunity to play with the kids. Sometimes I feel like all I’m doing is acting like their teacher or their mom, so it’s nice to be able to goof around and relax with them.

The group from La Capilla only stayed in Baoba for a couple of hours (2 – 5 p.m.), but afternoons like these are great for the kids here. They get to visit old friends and meet new ones, and it really breaks up the monotony of the campo life. Their days normally consist of school, work, and chores. And so this gave them an excuse to simply play and act their own age for the day.