Surfs up in Boca Chica

Adventure and exploring the great outdoors are some of the best parts of growing up. For the children from low-income households of the Boca Chica community in Dominican Republic it’s no different; where surfing at the La Boya beach, near the DP World Caucedo port is a passionate past time for some. Situated just minutes away from the beach, the Ocean Soul Surf Club provides children with free surf training- the only requirement? They have to attend school regularly.

Follow-ups are carried out with school officials to ensure that children are demonstrating the same level of commitment and support to their education as they do to surfing the waves.

We believe in promoting education and empowering young minds, so they contribute to a better future. We also believe in investing into the communities where we operate.

Surfing activities like the one organised by the Ocean Soul Surf Club, work to better the community but with success of such programmes, pressure is on to keep up with demand. In 2019, our team in Caucedo partnered with the surf club to repurpose and donate a shipping container as an extension of the facilities. Made of 60% reused resources, the young surfers can use it for showering, changing clothes and storing their surf boards.

An event was organised to deliver the container to the leaders of Ocean Soul in the presence of Rhadamés Castro, former mayor of Boca Chica, representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Boca Chica as well as collaborators from our Caucedo team. This contribution also ties in with our sustainability approach to convert containers into sustainable structures that positively impact the environment in which it is located.

“We are very happy to be able to support this cause alongside Ocean Soul, where more than twenty children of Boca Chica are trained to be surfers and who have as their sole requirement to participate in the program, attend school, strengthening our commitment to the education and well-being of our society” -Morten Johansen, Executive Director, DP World Caucedo.