She is Simmons: Arias changes lives in the Dominican Republic

A thirteen-year-old girl from the Dominican Republic talks to Simmons senior, Celia Arias, on the phone every weekend. Like Arias, her unofficial big sister, she wants to be a lawyer when she's older. 

"Every day she'd call me and ask, ‘Are you done with school yet? Are you a lawyer yet?'" said Arias. "I'm like, ‘It's not that easy!'"

Arias, a senior sociology major, who met the girl from her study abroad experience in the Dominican Republic last semester, was eager to get out of the classroom and take what she learned and apply it in the real world to help people, specifically in the Dominican Republic, where she was born. She wanted to give back and help children who were forced to live on the street.

"I wanted to learn about my own culture because I was born in the DR but raised in the U.S., so all I knew was the American way of life," said Arias. She had, "just five months to be a Dominican."

Arias said she came across CIEE, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that offers programs "to help people acquire knowledge, and develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world," according to its website, while using Google. 

"I always wanted to do it, so when they accepted me, it was unbelievable," said Arias. 

In the morning, Arias and her classmates would take classes on topics such as community service, Spanish grammar, case studies related to the Dominican Republic, government policies – all to assist with their individual investigation on a specific need in the community. 

In the afternoon, the students would go into the community and do their fieldwork. Some days Arias would work with Haitian children, teaching them how to read and write, and later would help the Dominican children with their homework.

Arias made the most impact, however, by focusing on the lack of registered citizens in the Dominican Republic. Many people living there do not have birth certificates or identification, which prevents them from doing many things Americans take for granted, like opening a bank account, getting a real job, or even going to a hospital.

"Society doesn't recognize them," said Arias. "Here, if you don't have your birth certificate, you're no one. That's what identifies you...who you are, where you were born."

Arias worked with parents and family members whose children weren't registered, educating them on many of the legal aspects, what they were able to do, and how much each of the documents cost.

Although the adults faced many problems because of a lack of identification, Arias was most concerned about the children. In addition to them not being able to go to a doctor or dentist for routine checkups without birth certificates, it was extremely difficult for them to go to school. 

"I worked with a 15-year-old. She was in third grade," said Arias.

While working with the families, Arias witnessed first hand the economic, and sometimes psychological, strain, which prevented parents from obtaining birth certificates for their children. They lived in a devastatingly poor area of the country, with some living under a bridge near a contaminated river.

"Society looks down upon them," said Arias.

She said most women she worked with didn't have jobs and had to depend on their husbands to bring home money every day, which would only be about six dollars, and sometimes they would return empty handed. 

Another population she worked with was Dominicans of Haitian descent. Due to institutional racism, the government often makes it difficult for them to get birth certificates, sometimes asking them to go back to Haiti simply to get paperwork, even if they haven't been there in years. 

Arias was able to help get seven birth certificates in just four months, when it usually takes a year for one.  She said people were impressed with her ability to keep a positive attitude and continue to help every day, even in the severe heat. 

She said the experience taught her how to be patient. Sometimes parents wouldn't show up for a meeting, but she would always tell herself they would show up the next day.

"A lot of foreigners or outsiders that go into the Dominican Republic think that Dominicans are lazy because they see them outside their homes relaxing," said Arias.

But this is far from the truth, she said. Most people don't understand that they aren't able to get jobs. What jobs they do have, they are usually informal, like selling food on the street. Arias admitted she had the same mentality when first arriving over there, but soon realized her misjudgment after spending time in the community and interviewing parents.

"I learned how to go in deeper and analyze things, ask a lot of questions and not just judge from the outside," said Arias.

One of her favorite parts of her experience was connecting with the people, like the 13-year-old girl that she said was like her little sister. She spent a lot of time with her, and even brought her to the park and the movies.

"She makes me work harder because I have her looking up to me," said Arias.

Her internship and thesis led her to be nominated for the CIEE Student Excellence Award, and out of 5,000 students, she made it to the final 12. The award recognizes student achievement and the good work they did in the country while abroad.