Dear abandoned blog followers...

I have no excuse for the lapse of over two months in my blog except for the fact that my life here has gained such a pace of normalcy that blogging has taken a backseat to daily life.  Certainly there are still cultural differences that I experience frequently, situations that are trying and successes that are worth noting....but the pace of life has slowed down a bit, and I decided to just live for a bit instead of chronicle.  To make an analogy, it’s sort of like trying to capture a notable experience in pictures.  Sometimes, in focusing on having pictures to capture the moment and share it with others, you lose the authenticity of actually experiencing it. 

Anyway, enough with excuses.  I decided, in honor of my first birthday in the DR, I must return to my blog, because at the end of the day, sharing my experiences is important to me (and hopefully to my readers too!)

In March and April I have been busy putting on events, working and enjoying time with my family here (my biological family, who visited in March and my adopted family in the capital).  Some highlights-

International Women’s Day- March 8^th

I wrote a grant to put on an event in conjunction with my organization that would highlight the life experiences of women in the community who had survived difficult situations and had used their experience in courses at our technical school to start their own small businesses.  We expected 100 women, and 150 showed up, including the Director of my sector and the press.  It was a huge success and a moment in my PC experience that I will remember forever.

My Familia in the DR!

My parents and three sisters spent a week here in the DR.  They visited my site, where we had lunch with the staff from my organization, and also visited my apartment for dinner!  Later we went to a resort in Juan Dolio for a few days of R&R, and ended in the capital touring the Colonial Zone and having a barbeque with my host family at their house.  Overall, we had a blast, but time flew too quickly!

Semana Santa

Semana Santa leading up to Easter is a big deal here.  I traveled to Bavaro (near Punta Cana) out east to the beach with my host family and boyfriend for a four day weekend.  We had a blast (and got really burnt!) cooking, hanging out on the beach and enjoying each other’s company.  With 10 people in a 2 bedroom apartment it was a tight squeeze, but I’ve realized you don’t have to be in luxury to have a good time!

This month is going to be busier than ever with a group visiting from the States for two weeks to do some service projects with us.  I will be the logistical translator throughout, a tiring job but hopefully well worth it given all the projects these groups will be implementing with our staff and beneficiaries.  Before all that begins, I’m headed to the beach this weekend to celebrate my birthday with Peace Corps peeps....my buddy Tina is turning 30 this weekend so we are doing a joint b’day gig.

Miss you all!!!!

February in a nutshell

WOW!!  Where did February go?  I know it's the shortest month and all, but really it flew!!  I spent a week at my three month In-Service training at the beginning of the month defining my role as a volunteer over the next 12 months and it's been non-stop ever since!!!

Life is great in Boca Chica....and extremely busy.

Highlights in February:

Chicas Brillantes Regional Conference-- I took two girls and a co-facilitator to a conference outside of La Vega up on a mountain above the city the second weekend in February (see pic).  "Chicas Brillantes" is an extension of a world-wide Peace Corps gender initiative, "Camp GLOW".  It's purpose is to build self-esteem and an awareness of gender related issues among young women in the DR, and the specific purpose of the conference was to help us get our youth groups started.  The girls (and I) had a blast--listened to some amazing charlas, pushed some personal boundaries and made new friends from around the country.  Our Chicas Brillantes group is now 20 girls strong and two meetings in, so the momentum seemed to work!

First month in my own place-- So while living alone can be a bit daunting for a scaredy -cat like me (especially in the middle of the night [every night] when car alarms are going off in front of my house!), the benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks.  Having my own space to come home to at the end of a hectic day is wonderful and my apartment is cozy and perfect.

Nelle's visit-- My good friend from college came down as part of her Masters research and did a session with my organization on publicity to spark enthusiasm behind the website we (I) are working on getting up and running.  We had a whirlwind week between hanging with the host family in the capital--Bachata concert, family beach day (14 people in 2 cars!) and work in Boca Chica.  It was great catching up and Nelle helped me ease into my new apartment!

Becoming a godmother!--  A cousin of my host family asked me to be godmother to her daughter Nashla (see pic).  This was not an official church baptism (which comes later apparently) but a neighborhood baptism performed by an old respected woman in the community.  I had to hold the baby along with the godfather (me the body, he the feet) while water was sprinkled and prayers were said and ceremonially hand her off to her mother as a new Christian.  The short ceremony was, of course, followed by a rowdy family celebration complete with Sancocho and Presidente.

Carnaval!!!- The Dominican Republic is apparently second only to Brazil in its Carnaval celebrations.  I went to La Vega on Sunday, the the city with the largest and most cultural celebration.  The revelry was, for me, a mix between Mardi Gras and what I understand to be traditional carnaval.  Paraders wore colorful suits likened to the "Mardi Gras Indians" of New Orleans but had devilish scary masks covering their faces.  Each "tribe" had their designated devils with giant rubber balls (filled with something heavy...felt like rocks!) on a string that would wind them up and hit anyone in shooting range on the backside.  Whenever that group came through periodically the crowd desperately inched away.  I thought I had escaped my lashing, but near the end one snuck up behind me.  Even with a few beers in me, it still ached for almost an hour!  Aside from that smarting tradition, the celebration was colorful and magical.

My family comes in less than two weeks.  I can't wait to see them!

Phrase of the week (I guess I should change this to month;) )--
"Dime a ver"
Literally translates into "Tell me, Lets see" but this is a phrase of greeting used by many Dominicans similar to "What's up" or "What's goin on", especially when answering the telephone.  No "hola como estas" but lets get down to business!  For those of you from the Full House generation, it reminds me of Uncle Jesse's infamous telephone greeting "Taaaalk to me".

Some thoughts on development...

I should be sleeping right now because tomorrow morning I have to finish organizing my new place and pack to head into the capital for a few days to meet Nelle, a long time friend and fellow traveler (we met sharing a host family in Mexico during a summer abroad program when I was 18 and she was 20) who is coming to the DR for a week to visit and do research for her Masters project.  A few things from the day and the week have left me thinking though, and I thought it might to time for a good’ol blog posting.

Yesterday there was a nationwide news-like program (think 20/20) that ran a special on child prostitution and trafficking in Boca Chica.  Some of the kids that we work with regularly showed up in the video in a misconstrued light and, as a result, we had their families in our office today to figure out if the press was involved in misrepresenting their stories.  In the process of this meeting it was brought to our attention that there is an American down here who is sexually exploiting young Haitian girls.  This is, unfortunately, not the first case I’ve heard of in the last three months of Americans being mixed up in, or more specifically creating the demand for, commercial sexual exploitation of children in my community.  (For those of you who, like me until very recently, are wondering the difference between “commercial sexual exploitation” and prostitution, the former involves minors and coercion while the latter assumes independent adult decision-making to sell ones body for money.) 

This image of the “gringo” is quite common in Boca Chica. and, being a tourist town, is coupled with an even more rampant portrayal of the gringo as a person with deep pockets who gifts money.  Neither of these images is positive and both have created challenges for me in my work.  Unfortunately, the latter is reinforced by the well-intentioned but not always well-informed church groups that come down to play the role of benevolent benefactor from the rich soils of the good old US of A.  I’ll explain my issues with this kind of charity.  While it might make us feel good, it does very little good for those we (and I say we, because, by nature of being from the US, I am grouped in with this population) are pretending to help.  It creates a sense of entitlement, stunting community organizing (instead of “how can we come together as a community with our skills and resources to build a house for a needy neighbor”, it’s “when are the gringos coming again to build those houses like they did last year”).  It is also unsustainable, and creates dependency instead of capacity (a dollar not earned is a dollar often spent with little thought or planning).  So as to keep this sentiment focused and not sound like I’m ranting, I invite all of my friends and families to consider where they are putting their charity dollars and whether the projects they support are in fact sustainable and building capacity in the populations they reach.    I hope to provide the opportunity in the near future to donate to some of Caminante’s projects that support personal growth, creativity and income generation.  Some examples are our technical school, which is open to the community at a minimal cost to learn a variety of vocations (beauty, massage, bartending, IT, graphic design, jewelry making, and gourmet baking to name a few) or our microfinance group which includes 15 women who have opened their own businesses using valuable artisan skills with small loans from our institution.

My appreciation for my own host organization, the Peace Corps, has grown as I come to better recognize the authenticity with which they carry out development work.  Peace Corps is not an organization that gives money directly to developing countries but rather provides knowledge and skills through the intermediary of its volunteers.  Last week, as I presented my diagnostic investigation to Caminante, I worked with my colleages to define my role in the organization.  Because I am, by nature, a capacity builder, I stressed that no initiative that I carry out during my service should be independent but rather collaborative.  As a result, I will be both trainer and mentor.  I will be supervising Caminante’s five educators—helping to sistematize and evaluate their community work with youth.  I will also be helping with monitoring and evaluation on a larger scale by training staff in methodologies and best practices.  Finally, I will help Caminante to expand and at the same time focus their reach through curriculum development for the number of populations we work with.  So while there have been challenges in these past few months, I am excited to have a clear idea of what my first year of service will look like. 

Happy New Year!

The holidays came and went like the breeze.  I celebrated a Dominican Christmas and New Year, one with my host family in Boca Chica and the other with my host family in the capital.  Both involved lots of food, drinking and very little sleep.  To be honest it didn’t really feel like the holidays because I didn’t carry out any of the traditions that I normally do with my own family, but I definitely had a good time despite being far from home. 

As we always do I've made a few resolutions. In the New Year, I hope to be more generous with myself and my time while still maintaining time to myself to be reflective.  I am on the brink of moving into my very own apartment, a first for me, so alone time shouldn’t be as hard to come by as in these last five months.  I was lucky and found a little one bedroom directly across the street from my host family.  While its not as cheap as I had hoped, I’ll be the first tenant living there, and most importantly it's close to my host family and other people who know me.  It has running water (at least when the tinaco, the water storage unit on the roof, is full), tile floors, and mahogany colored doors and cabinets.  By Peace Corps standards, it’s a gem.  Today I spent 4 hours sweeping, mopping and scrubbing splattered cement and paint off the floor and kitchen counter.  In the process, I came across  another cultural difference when asking my host mom if I could borrow her mop.  In our culture we consider it common courtesy to ask someone politely to borrow something or to accompany us in doing something.  However in response to my polite request, my host mother came right out and said “Why do “you all” do that?  If you can see that I’m not mopping, which clearly I’m not, just say, I’m taking the mop!”  A similar situation surpassed with a friend, when I asked if he would come to the grocery story with me.  He responds” why would you ask me if I want to come to the grocery store with you?  That’s offensive…just say come on, we are going to the grocery store."  I suppose since hospitality is such an important part of the culture here, it is already assumed that someone would be willing to lend you their things or accompany you somewhere, so why on earth would you ask them about it?  For me, it’s not been an easy habit to break, but I’m trying to be more forward and tell instead of ask.

Yesterday was “Reyes”, a national celebration of the three kings arriving to visit the baby Jesus.  In this country, Reyes is an even  bigger deal for kids than Christmas, because most of their presents come on this holiday.  The whole country goes into to a frenzy for a few days beforehand with toys being sold by the millions, and culminates in a day of children running around like mad playing with all of their new toys.  At my organization we celebrated Reyes as our belated staff Christmas party (originally cancelled due to a death in the family of one of my co-workers) by spending the day poolside at a country club with free food and drinks.  My boss is very much a proponent of the philosophy “care for the caretakers” and periodically plans events for us to relax, which, I do believe helps tremendously given the stress of the job (especially by Dominican standards).  However, I still am reminded on these types of occasions how a-typical my experience in Peace Corps is when compared to most.  Soon I will have two cell phones, a “flota” (group account) for each of my jobs-- one for work (unlimited minutes with co-workers) and one for Peace Corps (unlimited minutes with PC staff and corps members).  Who would have though that Peace Corps would be my first time to have a “work” phone?

I am down to the wire on my organizational diagnostic, since next week is the time set aside for yearly evaluation and planning at Caminante.  It will be the perfect opportunity to present the findings of my investigation and propose my role within the organization.  I’m looking forward to the opportunity, but it sure did arrive quickly!  I’m sure most people feel that way about 2011 in general.  I know that I have much to be thankful for in the New Year, and much to look forward to.  I hope everyone at home welcomed the new year with happiness and good health.  

Final note--I got a new kitten!  I've never been a big cat person, but she's pretty cute and hopefully she'll keep the rats away.  Her name is Lola (see pic below).  

Navidad and Gripe

I’ve been sick the last few weeks with gripe--a cough and most recently an ear infeccion, but have managed to continue working throughout for the most part. I seem to have the same susceptibility to upper-respiratory issues here, but am thankful for the absence of digestive-related problems thus far. 

The holidays are in full swing here in Boca Chica. Work has consisted primarily in attending and putting on holiday events.  In the office we’ve decorated a tree with the typical lights and balls and the not so typical limpiabotas painted yellow by the muchachos in honor of the sweeping campaign for raising educational spending (see photo below).  We’ve already done 5+ events for families and youth that my organization works with.  These generally consist of demasiado gente, loosely controlled chaos, a drum circle with Dominican Christmas carols, a few words of Christmas thanks and reflection and serving food assembly line style to all of the invitees (and then some).  In Dominican culture, “crashing parties” as we would call it in the US is a frequent occurrence so by not implementing a strict guest list there will always be extra people that show up.  I also had the opportunity to accompany 25 boys who are either living or working on the street to the National Palace for a Christmas dinner put on by the First Lady.  It was an exhausting afternoon/evening, busing them to the capital and then keeping track of them among the other 500 boys and girls as they got popcorn, treats, and dinner, but overall a great experience.

This month I’ve had the pleasure of attending some events put on by international organizations here in the DR.   One of these was Plan International’s Christmas party, which was much like an office Christmas event in the states…..eggnog, hors d'oeuvres and sweets, and soft music playing in the background of polite chitter chatter.  Last week, I represented my organization at a conference on smuggling and trafficking put on by the International Office of Migration.  The head of the mission in the DR described the current time as a “golden age” of responding to child trafficking issues in the DR, since post-earthquake in Haiti it has become impossible for the Dominican government to ignore the growing problem. Finally, last weekend I celebrated Christmas wtih the Peace Corps.  The Peace Corps director had an annual holiday party complete with Chinese food, rum punch and 25 different pies and cakes at his ritzy apartment building near the Embassy.  What a blast!

The usual buzz of the holidays has been joined by the energy behind the grassroots campaign to raise educational spending.  Everywhere you go, people are wearing yellow shirts with “4%” written across the front.  The last 3 Mondays in a row there have been hundreds of people camped out in front of the national congress (including most of the people from my organization) protesting.  Dominican law states that 4% of the budget is designated for educational spending but in reality this number has never surpassed 2%, making the Dominican Republic the country with the lowest investment in education in Latin America.  The movement has really taken hold in the pueblo and leads one to hope that the legislation may actually pass in Congress to raise the budget.  My hope is that with the increased spending the Ministry of Education will invest the money wisely in school infrastructure so that each school can meet the demand the number of children attending and doesn’t have to have 3 different school days of 3 hours each.

While I have enjoyed observing cultural elements of Christmas in this country I, of course, have been feeling pangs of longing for home….cold weather, hot chocolate, Christmas carols and time spent with family and friends.  Know that this holiday season, though I’m far away, I’ll be thinking about all of you! 

Merry Christmas!  

Translations:

Navidad- Christmas!

Gripe—the term most close to “cold” in the US, used to refer to any kind of sickenss that involves the upper-respiratory tract including cold, cough, sinus, etc.

Limpiabotas--  in this case refers to the boxes that the boys who clean shoes carry around, but the term also refers to the boys themselves.
muchachos-- boys
demasiado gente- too many people

One month in...

I’ve been in my site for about a month now.  There have been ups and downs, but overall I’m looking forward to my two years of service here.  Working with boys living on the street is not easy.  When they’ve reached that point, there becomes very little that you can do for them.  I accompanied a colleague one day to the capital to take a street boy, age 10, to his family in the capital.  He slept the whole way because he had not slept the night before. We arrived at his grandmother’s house 2 hours later after 4 different public transportation transfers, we found a family full of excuses—everyone trying to lay the blame on someone else for why this child was living on the street in another city, even on the child himself!  I doubt he lasted more than 3 days with them…it was clear he was unwanted there, and when living with his father, he was abused.  The whole situation was discouraging and made me understand why Caminante has decided to focus so heavily on prevention and scale down on interventions.  In public health, prevention is a mantra, so we definitely speak the same language. 

There have also been many bright spots over the last month:

1)   Working with the limpiabotas.  These boys have resilient spirits and a desire to learn despite their education system that has failed them and their economic situations that have forced them to work in the street at a young age.

 

2)   Focus groups with youth—It is amazing how poignant young people can be when you give them the forum to express themselves.  In this country, unfortunately, those opportunities are few and far between.  In school, the teacher is the law, there is only one correct answer, and the right for children to have an opinion and be heard (an actual part of law 136-03, which protects children) is largely ignored. 

3)   Thanksgiving with Peace Corps friends—While nothing can replace spending Thanksgiving among family, this day came a close second.  In a large club in Santo Domingo all 200 of us shared a traditional family-style Thanksgiving lunch accompanied by sports, swimming, a talent show and general merriment. 

4)   Weekend with host family in the capital—My original host family that I lived with during training continues to be one of my favorite parts of my life here.  After Thanskgiving Day, I went and stayed the weekend with them.  They made all the traditional dishes that are cooked in celebration here—asopao (my favorite) and sancocho.  I helped my host sister shop for items for her new cafeteria she is opening on the corner, next door to my other host sister’s colmado and my host mom’s knick knack store (they are a very entrepreneurial family).  To top off the weekend, I went to a baseball game and a 35^th wedding anniversary in the family where they roasted an entire pig on a spit! 

5)   Trip to the National Palace for the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women—Because my organization manages a project funded by the First Lady’s initiative, we were invited to her commemorational event.  All dressed up, we sat in a ballroom and listened to speeches and testimonials from professors, priests and other distinguished guests from the DR, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, and the US.  The whole event had a very religious undertone, complete with a guest performance by a famous evangelical singer.   None of my colleagues understood my eyebrow raising of course, because here it is completely normal to hear religious discourse in a state building—there is absolutely no separation of church and state. 

This month will be full of celebrations.  Caminante plans a holiday event with every community and population that they work with.  While in my mind that is a lot of money put towards feel-good events, they justify the cost based on the fact that many people that we work with cannot afford their own Christmas celebrations.

Translations

limpiabotas- boys that clean your shoes on the street

asopao- traditional Domincan soup with rice and meat

sancocho- traditional Dominican stew with plantains, yuca, boiled bananas, and a variety of meats (among other things)

colmado- corner store/grocery

Dominican term of the week-- "Ya tu sabes"  This phrase literally translates into "You already know", but a better translation for our usage of it would be, "oooh you know how it is".  This phrased is used very frequently, and often in situations where someone is referring to a pattern of behavior (often one they aren't privy to).  But its usage is can be even more generalized.  It is a way of expressing, thats just the way it is!

First week on the job

After a week's delay in the capital, during which I was holed up in a hotel waiting out Hurricane Tomas (I'm not complaining....cable television, 3 buffet meals a day and hot showers were quite a treat) I've finally settled in at my job in Boca Chica.  I'm working with Caminante, an NGO that works to protect the rights of children and adolescents focusing specifially on child labor and commercial sexual exploitation, as I explained in an earlier post.  My first three months will be spent putting together an organizational diagnostic as well as community diagnostics of the areas in which Caminante works in order to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of my organization and to determine exactly what role I will be undertaking here.  

What exactly does a diagnostic entail?  A not exhaustive list includes- shadowing my colleagues, formal interviews with staff, informal conversations with staff and community members, and focus groups with youth and families served by Caminante.  While this doesn't sound like much work for three months I'm already scrambling and hoping to get everything done.  Firstly, because I've been told that its difficult to do much of anything during the month of December (think Christmas extended); secondly, because Caminante is involved with so many projects in so many communities; and finally, because at the end of this month the national census will be taking place and ALL of my colleagues will be working on it, ie indisposed!

Apart from the diagnostic, I've also started to work alongside two of the young educators (one of whom is my host brother) with a group of trabajadores  (boys that shine shoes or sell food on the street).  We are in the process of administering a literacy diagnostic to determine reading levels so that we can separate the boys into smaller groups.  My first small mini-project while I'm completing my diagnostic will be to "alphabetize" (some reverse translation--literacy in Spanish is alfabetazacion) those boys that are still pre-literate.  (Shout out to my Harbor Heights clan...I know you appreciate the lingo;) )  

In terms of my home life with my host family, I'm learning lots of new things and discovering new things about myself.  I'm learning how to cook, how to break down my "American" concept of personal space and alone time, and how to eat rice twice a day!  I've discovered that I like cats more than I thought (we have a kitten...Chumi, and I plan on getting one when I get my own place) because they serve a purpose here--to keep the rats away!  I'll be living with my host family until the end of January, at which point I have to find my own place.  I'm a little nervous to live on my own for the first time, especially in a neighborhood that is considered "caliente", but I know that it will be a chance for personal growth.  

Dominican phrase(s) of the week:  "A buen tiempo"  and "buen provecho"

These two interchangeable phrases stumped me in my first weeks in country.  They are used in conjunction as formalities and courtesies during mealtime.  An example:  Someone walks into a room where people are eating, and the people eating will almost always say "a buen tiempo" which means they are offering food to the person (this is a very sharing culture and everything that one has one shares).  The courteous reply by this person is "buen provecho" which literally means "enjoy your food" but also signifies that they person is negating the offer and doesn't want any food.  Sometimes these phrases are interchanged and I honestly still don't understand all of the subtleties, but these phrases are a great example of the formal aspect of Dominican culture.   

Translations

trabajadores- workers

alfabetizacion- literacy

caliente- literally this translates into "hot", but in this case it is used to refer to a lot of movement and an element of danger