Introduction: "Hey Eli, what's this blog about?"

Gee, purely hypothetical reader, I'm sure glad you asked that question! "Eli Does The Dominican" is about a trip I will be taking to the Dominican Republic, from June 29th to July 9th. The purpose of this blog is two-fold: first, to let those of you who I've told about this trip know what's going on while I'm there; and secondly, to save me the time of having to e-mail or write each of you individually (although, don't worry Dad and Ruth--you'll still get the post-cards you asked for, and maybe even a spoon and a mug!). Because, let's be honest, I love you all, but when the beach is calling my name, well, sitting inside and slamming away on a keyboard just so Mom knows that I had one too many Presidentes last night just isn't going to be too high on my to-do list.

For those of you who haven't heard the exact details of this trip (or for those of you who have heard but just weren't listening that closely), the following is a brief summary/refresher. The San Diego State Sports MBA program (in which I am currently enrolled) was founded as a partnership between the San Diego Padres and the SDSU Business School. In April of 2008, the Padres officially opened their brand-spankin' new Latin American baseball academy in Najayo, DR. Since corporate philanthropy is kind of in right now and almost-former owner John Moores is, by all accounts, a pretty decent guy, the Padres have been trying to do some good work in the Dominican in general and in the Najayo community specifically: a number of contractors chosen to construct the facility were local Dominican businesses (which I'm sure had the added benefit for the Padres of not only letting them feel good about helping the local economy but also being cheaper); included in the curriculum at the academy is not just baseball drillin' but also a solid curriculum in the English language and American culture, personal finance, and health; a partnership with the US Military brought a ship full of doctors down to the DR to provide medical education, facilities, and services to hundreds of underserved local citizens; and the Padres have even adopted a local school, renovating its facilities and donating tons of supplies.

So my 37 Sports MBA classmates, our international business professor, our program director, and a student from last year's SMBA class who has been doing an internship in community outreach at the Padres' facility in Najayo are heading down to the DR to hopefully expand upon this good work. The goal of our trip is to open up the Najayo region for micro-credit operations for two organizations already partnered with Major League Baseball and working in the Dominican: the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and an NGO, Esperanza International. Through a series of fund-raisers we've collected several thousand dollars which we have donated to these organizations with an earmark for use in the Najayo region.

Okay, so that's the company line, and it all sounds well and good. I think there are at least some really good intentions behind this trip. However, a large part of me wonders whether this isn't just some sort of PR stunt for all parties involved (namely the Padres, SDSU, and the Sports MBA program); in theory we're going to be putting together business plans that will then be put into place for the betterment and economic growth of the region. Whether a bunch of students with only six months of MBA courses under their belt and just eight days in the country can actually do that and do that well remains to be seen. Going into it, I'm more than slightly worried that we might end up playing Russian roulette with people's lives and livelihoods (and, yes, I did just link to a video from The Deer Hunter--not for the faint of heart). However, I also suspect that I may be overly concerned and despite the grandiose claims of those at the helm of this trip we aren't actually going to have that much impact--basically, other, smarter people will limit the damage we can do. Still, though, it feels like this trip and its itinerary weren't approached with an appropriate level of . . . something (caution?).

So, ultimately, there is some small chance we do some very good work while we're there; some perhaps equally small chance that we do some very bad work while we're there; and, lastly and most likely, a good chance that we end up just getting a pretty decent vacation out of it on SDSU's dime. So I guess this isn't all bad . . .