I wish I could have been better about blogging, but alas, my time here in Paraguay is up and the last time I wrote anything was halfway into my trip! So I'll try to sum up everything here, bear with me!
This trip to Paraguay has taught me many things. I have learned more about this small country which is often forgotten or pushed aside—not only did I witness what is being considered a political coup, but I heard from people about the 30 year dictatorship that ended less than 25 years ago and whose traces are still found everywhere in the culture. I have also learned what a small, isolated country it is—I am currently in the airport, where there were NO lines anywhere (I didn’t even have to take my computer out of my backpack while going through security), and everyone must go through immigration, because (I guess) there are no flights within Paraguay. Amazing. I must say, despite the tranquility, this country continues to surprise me.
But this trip was of course about data collection too, which I did plenty of! Thanks to this experience, I have certainly gotten much better at qualitative methods, aka, interviewing people and asking them questions in a way that they answer with nice, “rich”, informative answers. The best part about my work is that I was able to talk to both mothers and their children about their relationships and the way they communicate about abstinence and sexual relations. I could tell when a mom and her kid had a great relationship because they would both say practically the same thing in their separate interviews (one son said his mom always knew when he was sad, the mom said the same thing and proceeded to tell a story about how she figured out that he had gotten in a fight and convinced him to talk about it). Just talking to the parents (who all attended the organizations weekly parenting classes), it was obvious that they want the best for their children and are dedicated to making sure they guide their children to make the right decisions in a very rough environment. The sincerity and interest they showed was amazing. Of course, not all the parents are like that, but just talking to these parents I was inspired and encouraged to keep working on this topic.
I did indeed learn some Guaraní, the indigenous language spoken here which is far from any language I’ve tried to learn previously. I basically learned the words that the kids used when talking to me about relationships and sex (so I learned words like “Takula” which is when a guy or girl is horny, and “jakare” which is when someone sneaks into your bedroom through a window). I was always able to entertain my family by telling them the words I had learned that day!
My family was also one of the highlights of my trip. Maybe because this was the 5th host family I’ve lived with, or maybe because they were just so accepting, this was the first time that I felt like I was treated almost exactly like everyone else in the family. I loved listening to my host sisters (21 and 25 years old) complain about how their mom likes their brother best, loved seeing how they loved their kids, and of course enjoyed hearing about my host mom’s work as a health promoter (she has to visit 70 houses each month, visit the pregnant women in her area once a week, and deliver TB medications every day to those who need them).
But at the same time this trip also made me realize how much the Dominican Republic has stuck to me, and this made me miss it even more. I first began to discover this as I tried to speak Spanish in Paraguay. So many words I used regularly in the DR (gua gua, mascota, coger) are either not used in Paraguay, have a different meaning, or even are considered “dirty” words. I was constantly struggling to correct my Spanish before it came out of my mouth. Though I tried not to make too many comparisons, often times I found myself comparing and sometimes wishing I was back in the loud, comical, friendly culture of the DR where people were quick to laugh, tell you what you’re doing wrong, and jump in and do a dinamicarather than this quiet, mellow, though very accepting culture. I found myself feeling like a loud, rude intruder when I said things like “Dame un jugo” or didn’t say thank you, tendencies that I didn’t like in the DR but adapted anyway, and honestly now, I miss. Despite the lack of electricity, water and all those other difficulties we confronted in the DR, after being here I realize how lucky I was to live there for 3 years and work with Peace Corps. We were supported in our work by both administration and peers, had the beach at our disposal if we needed a break, and were able to become outgoing, bachata-dancing, caña-chewing dominicanos (or something like it).
Part of this homesickness and preference for the DR is simply due to the amount of time I spent there, I came to know it much better of course than I know Paraguay. Who knows how I would feel about Paraguay and Peace Corps if I had served here, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it and become more Pargauayan. Paraguay has some great traits: friendly, sincere people, (even at the airport), a great habit of drinking terere (cold tea), and inspiring people who are working really hard to improve their country. But I can say right now that though I am glad I had the chance to learn more about Paraguay, I am forever thankful I was able to serve in the Dominican Republic, and I will constantly be comparing and measuring other international trips against my time in the DR, my gold standard. That is, I suppose, the Peace Corps curse.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
5 weeks and counting
Well I've been here for almost 5 weeks, and have almost 5 weeks before I'll be leaving. I definitely feel like I am in the middle of my time: there has been a lull in my project which I foresee picking up soon, I can get around the city with some ease (at least, I know what to ask to get good directions), and I am getting a little sick of the food but at the same time trying to eat all the good stuff because I know soon enough I won't be able to eat it anymore!
My project, per usual, is not going exactly as planned. It's hard to get people to come to the workshops that I am currently doing because it's the schools' winter vacation, and it's frequently cold and rainy. However I have done two full workshops now (I was planning on doing 3 but will probably do 4 because of low turnout), and the parents who came to them have been very receptive and participated a lot.
I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't have enough data to analyze for my thesis because of the smaller amounts of participants than anticipated, but my advisor assured me that all of my field notes about the workshops will also serve as good data, and once I got to thinking about it, I realized I had heard and documented a lot during the workshops! So that's promising. These next weeks will involve finishing (hopefully) two more workshops and doing focus groups and interviews with the parents who participated, and separately with their kids. I'm excited to interact a little bit more with the youth, because until now most of my work has been directly with the parents. It's also exciting to see how these workshops are working out and the potential for their use in the future. Honestly, it seems like a lot would need to be adapted to use them and attract a larger group of parents, but it's exciting to think of the possibilities.
I am also planning on doing interviews with experts in the fields of adolescent health and youth development. I met with the research team at an organization here which is supported by International Planned Parenthood yesterday and they gave me some great contacts. It was really nice for both Vanessa and I to sit with them, discuss doing research in Paraguay and see some of their publications. They do some really important research on reproductive health here, however a ten year USAID grant that had supported their division and the clinic ended in 2009, and since then it has been a struggle for them to find funding. Our conversation just reminded me how ignored Paraguay is!
In other news, we went out dancing for Vanessa's birthday, which was fun. We danced to reggaeton, a little merengue, cumbia, some Brazilian music and ended the night with some "rock," but I sure missed my bachatica! It's also been incredibly cold here (one night I slept with gloves on), but this weekend cleared up and we went to a cute little town that's on the edge of the lake and sells some nice and some tacky ceramics. It was nice to get out and enjoy the weather and fresh air!
My project, per usual, is not going exactly as planned. It's hard to get people to come to the workshops that I am currently doing because it's the schools' winter vacation, and it's frequently cold and rainy. However I have done two full workshops now (I was planning on doing 3 but will probably do 4 because of low turnout), and the parents who came to them have been very receptive and participated a lot.
I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't have enough data to analyze for my thesis because of the smaller amounts of participants than anticipated, but my advisor assured me that all of my field notes about the workshops will also serve as good data, and once I got to thinking about it, I realized I had heard and documented a lot during the workshops! So that's promising. These next weeks will involve finishing (hopefully) two more workshops and doing focus groups and interviews with the parents who participated, and separately with their kids. I'm excited to interact a little bit more with the youth, because until now most of my work has been directly with the parents. It's also exciting to see how these workshops are working out and the potential for their use in the future. Honestly, it seems like a lot would need to be adapted to use them and attract a larger group of parents, but it's exciting to think of the possibilities.
I am also planning on doing interviews with experts in the fields of adolescent health and youth development. I met with the research team at an organization here which is supported by International Planned Parenthood yesterday and they gave me some great contacts. It was really nice for both Vanessa and I to sit with them, discuss doing research in Paraguay and see some of their publications. They do some really important research on reproductive health here, however a ten year USAID grant that had supported their division and the clinic ended in 2009, and since then it has been a struggle for them to find funding. Our conversation just reminded me how ignored Paraguay is!
In other news, we went out dancing for Vanessa's birthday, which was fun. We danced to reggaeton, a little merengue, cumbia, some Brazilian music and ended the night with some "rock," but I sure missed my bachatica! It's also been incredibly cold here (one night I slept with gloves on), but this weekend cleared up and we went to a cute little town that's on the edge of the lake and sells some nice and some tacky ceramics. It was nice to get out and enjoy the weather and fresh air!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Independence Week
A little delayed, but here's a description of my week of 4th of July:
On a nice, sunny, 80 degree Sunday Vanessa and I headed back to the Banado to help out with the organization’s small festival for their patron saint, San Juan (their fiestas patronales, if you will). The branch of the organization who works with mothers who are going back to school was putting on the festival, which involved selling lots of typical Paraguayan foods (yucca empanadas, a cheesy/yucca floury type thing, arroz con leche, and a couple other fried things) as well as selling kids tickets to play games which might win them a prize, and burning life sized dolls at the end. It was fun to help out at the festival and interact a bit with the mothers and their kids. The week before, the branch of the organization which works with adolescents also held a festival, and we helped out there which was fun; usually at these festivals they make a “disco” for the kids and charge to enter. Watching the little 7th and 8th graders at the disco was hilarious, and reminded us of 6th grade dances where all the boys were on one side, the girls on the other, and a couple daring couples in the middle grinding on each other.
The festival at the mothers’ center was different of course. It was mainly filled with little kids and their mothers hanging out and playing games. Towards the end of the night, as per tradition, the organizers brought out two large stuffed dolls. These dolls were meant to be burned, and are usually representing people that the group isn’t very fond of. Well in this case the two dolls were the new president and a lawyer who was involved in the impeachment trial a couple weeks ago. A few teenagers took care of propping them up together and used some cooking oil to help the fire on them spread. Definitely a thrill watching things burn!
At the end of the night most of the moms and kids went home, but a few mothers and some teenagers stuck around and they tried to open up the disco. Unfortunately, not enough people were interested in dancing to really charge to enter. One of the staff at the organization was trying to get people to dance, and given my time in the DR, I jumped in and danced with a couple little kids. We tried to get other people dance too, but once again I was reminded that we were not in the DR, and we couldn’t get anyone to dance for very long. I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
On Wednesday I celebrated our day of independence by attending an “asado” (basically, a barbeque), for my host sister who was turning 22. Because she had to take a test at her university first, the meat didn’t go onto the grill until 9:00 pm, but I didn’t care; I always love watching people put huge chunks of meat on the grill! As we were waiting we all shared some wine, but in a different way than normally at parties, where everyone has their own glass.
Let me give a little background: in Paraguay it is common to drink “terere” which is a cold version of the tea “mate”. You drink both teas through a straw stuck in a small cup. The leaves are already in the cup, and someone will pour hot or cold water into the cup, drink it up, pour more water in and pass it to the next person to drink. It’s common to share between several people, pouring, drinking, and passing for a while until the water in the thermos is gone. Apparently, the tradition doesn’t stop with tea. I had been warned that in Paraguay wine is often mixed with Coke, but when they began to drink wine I was surprised to see that they drink it in a similar way to mate and terere. My host mom filled up a thermos with wine, coke and ice and would pour some into a huge wine glass, filling it maybe a third of the way. She drank maybe one or two sips, then handed it to me. I wasn’t sure how much I was supposed to drink, but soon saw that basically, we were supposed to drink a bit and pass it to the next person, re filling the glass when necessary. Here’s a picture of my host mom, her sister and I; in the corner you can see the huge thermos (which is filled with wine) and the wine glass.
This continued in several different circles the entire night. I enjoyed this kind of communal drinking, despite the fact that my host mom now has a really awful cold and I’d be surprised if I didn’t get it, considering how many times we passed that glass back and forth!
Dinner, which we had around 10:30, was sausage, pieces of the rib, yucca and a cold rice salad, it was great! We then all slowly started going to bed, since my host sister usually wakes up at 4:00 to go to work and the rest of the family starts rising around 5:00. The following two days made it hard to wake up though because it got colder and started to rain off and on. The Banado has streets made of dirt and stones, so when it rains things get really muddy. On top of the cold, the rain makes it a whole lot less likely that people will leave their houses. This is unfortunate for me since I’m at stage in my project where I’m beginning to teach the workshops I hope to evaluate, but in order to really understand what people think of them, they need to actually attend! Of course, when it’s 55 degrees and raining, I don’t want to go walking around in the streets either. A lot of my week next week will include sitting with my organization’s staff people discussing how we can get parents to come to the workshops, calling them to remind them, and figuring out how to best present the workshops so that the most parents possible are able to attend. This reminds m
On a nice, sunny, 80 degree Sunday Vanessa and I headed back to the Banado to help out with the organization’s small festival for their patron saint, San Juan (their fiestas patronales, if you will). The branch of the organization who works with mothers who are going back to school was putting on the festival, which involved selling lots of typical Paraguayan foods (yucca empanadas, a cheesy/yucca floury type thing, arroz con leche, and a couple other fried things) as well as selling kids tickets to play games which might win them a prize, and burning life sized dolls at the end. It was fun to help out at the festival and interact a bit with the mothers and their kids. The week before, the branch of the organization which works with adolescents also held a festival, and we helped out there which was fun; usually at these festivals they make a “disco” for the kids and charge to enter. Watching the little 7th and 8th graders at the disco was hilarious, and reminded us of 6th grade dances where all the boys were on one side, the girls on the other, and a couple daring couples in the middle grinding on each other.
The festival at the mothers’ center was different of course. It was mainly filled with little kids and their mothers hanging out and playing games. Towards the end of the night, as per tradition, the organizers brought out two large stuffed dolls. These dolls were meant to be burned, and are usually representing people that the group isn’t very fond of. Well in this case the two dolls were the new president and a lawyer who was involved in the impeachment trial a couple weeks ago. A few teenagers took care of propping them up together and used some cooking oil to help the fire on them spread. Definitely a thrill watching things burn!
At the end of the night most of the moms and kids went home, but a few mothers and some teenagers stuck around and they tried to open up the disco. Unfortunately, not enough people were interested in dancing to really charge to enter. One of the staff at the organization was trying to get people to dance, and given my time in the DR, I jumped in and danced with a couple little kids. We tried to get other people dance too, but once again I was reminded that we were not in the DR, and we couldn’t get anyone to dance for very long. I enjoyed myself nonetheless.
On Wednesday I celebrated our day of independence by attending an “asado” (basically, a barbeque), for my host sister who was turning 22. Because she had to take a test at her university first, the meat didn’t go onto the grill until 9:00 pm, but I didn’t care; I always love watching people put huge chunks of meat on the grill! As we were waiting we all shared some wine, but in a different way than normally at parties, where everyone has their own glass.
Let me give a little background: in Paraguay it is common to drink “terere” which is a cold version of the tea “mate”. You drink both teas through a straw stuck in a small cup. The leaves are already in the cup, and someone will pour hot or cold water into the cup, drink it up, pour more water in and pass it to the next person to drink. It’s common to share between several people, pouring, drinking, and passing for a while until the water in the thermos is gone. Apparently, the tradition doesn’t stop with tea. I had been warned that in Paraguay wine is often mixed with Coke, but when they began to drink wine I was surprised to see that they drink it in a similar way to mate and terere. My host mom filled up a thermos with wine, coke and ice and would pour some into a huge wine glass, filling it maybe a third of the way. She drank maybe one or two sips, then handed it to me. I wasn’t sure how much I was supposed to drink, but soon saw that basically, we were supposed to drink a bit and pass it to the next person, re filling the glass when necessary. Here’s a picture of my host mom, her sister and I; in the corner you can see the huge thermos (which is filled with wine) and the wine glass.
This continued in several different circles the entire night. I enjoyed this kind of communal drinking, despite the fact that my host mom now has a really awful cold and I’d be surprised if I didn’t get it, considering how many times we passed that glass back and forth!
Dinner, which we had around 10:30, was sausage, pieces of the rib, yucca and a cold rice salad, it was great! We then all slowly started going to bed, since my host sister usually wakes up at 4:00 to go to work and the rest of the family starts rising around 5:00. The following two days made it hard to wake up though because it got colder and started to rain off and on. The Banado has streets made of dirt and stones, so when it rains things get really muddy. On top of the cold, the rain makes it a whole lot less likely that people will leave their houses. This is unfortunate for me since I’m at stage in my project where I’m beginning to teach the workshops I hope to evaluate, but in order to really understand what people think of them, they need to actually attend! Of course, when it’s 55 degrees and raining, I don’t want to go walking around in the streets either. A lot of my week next week will include sitting with my organization’s staff people discussing how we can get parents to come to the workshops, calling them to remind them, and figuring out how to best present the workshops so that the most parents possible are able to attend. This reminds m
Monday, July 2, 2012
An attempt at Tourism
Vanessa and I had been warned before coming that there was not a whole lot to do in Paraguay, that it was really the people that made those who had come enjoy the country. Even though we were prepared for that coming in, by this past weekend after a long week of data collection (if you’re really interested in it, you can see the “boring post” below), we were itching to do something, see SOMETHING cool! I don’t think it helps that every time we get on Facebook one of our peers from school is posting a picture of them in a gorgeous spot, or with a giraffe, or mentioning monkeys in their status updates. Thus far we have seen urban, and urban slums basically. We’ve seen plenty of mice, dogs and cats, but no wild animals.
So Saturday we decided to head to a town that is known for its silver jewelry. We had seen some of the artesanal jewelry in two craft markets in Asunción, and had been told that this town had tons of little jewelry stores lining the streets. A lady at the Instituto Nacional de Salud told us how to get there, telling us it should really only take about 20 minutes. When we got on the bus, we asked the driver to tell us when we were in the center of town. After an hour, and passing through what looked like it might be a downtown, the bus driver looked at us and said, “oh yeah, you passed it”. So we got off, hopped on another bus 10 minutes back to the downtown, and started looking for the jewelry stores. We wandered around a bit through the streets, which were filled with little stores selling everything from baskets to flip-flops to party decorations. We asked around for the jewelry stores, and were directed to another street. The jewelry stores were interspersed with other small stores, had pretty standard chains, trinkets and earrings that you could probably find anywhere. I guess they were real silver, which made them a good deal, but let’s be serious, I couldn’t tell the difference between real and fake silver anyways, so we weren't that impressed with the stores.
After being a bit disappointed, we decided to go to the cementary across the street. Cemetaries are always interesting, and a good fallback if you can’t find anything else interesting to see. We saw some family mausoleums, the little lockers where they store coffins, and plenty of coffins themselves. We felt a little better after that.
That night we decided to go downtown to a famous Paraguayan restaurant and then try to meet up with a Peace Corps Volunteer we had met the week before. The restaurant was nice, decent food and right across from a historic building, however the downtown itself seemed pretty dead. I kept wondering where the music was and why it was so quiet. We headed to an expat bar and did meet a few volunteers, but there was STILL no music, and no dancing to be seen. After our underwhelming day, we decided to call it a night and try again next weekend. On the one hand, I feel better knowing I’m not really missing much; instead I can focus on my work and really understanding the Banado and culture of Paraguay, and enjoy the people, who have been incredibly nice and helpfu. But we’re still going to try and get out and see some things—Lonely Planet promises a few cute towns and nice views around Asuncion. In the meantime, it’s back to the Banado!
Though I said I wasn’t going to compare the DR and Paraguay, I can’t help it so I figure I’ll just embrace it.
Here’s my list thus far:
Things from the DR I wish Paraguay had:
Motoconchos
Rice and beans
Bachata and merengue
No verguenza (embarrassment) about dancing
The tendency to greet everyone as you get on a bus
What Paraguay has that I wish the DR had (in my opinion):
Dulce de leche
Good beef
People saying “Gracias”
No use of the word “Dame” (give me)--Haven't heard it once!
Fewer piropos (catcalls) (I haven’t even received a marriage proposal yet!!)
My real work (warning, this is the "boring" post)
So I guess if I want people to follow what I'm doing here in Paraguay I should actually explain the details of my project; I'm not just following Paraguayan politics and trying to understand the weather here!
As mentioned previously, I am here to pilot a pregnancy prevention program that focuses on the mothers of adolescents, giving them techniques on how to talk to their children and convince them to delay sexual relations, and if they have sex, to use protection. The program itself consists of 3 sessions with mothers, but in order to evaluate whether this program, which has been proven effective in the US, works in Paraguay, I will be doing pre and post tests with both mothers and adolescents, as well as focus groups and interviews with participants and "key informants" who are professionals and experts in the field of adolescent health in in Paraguay.
Whew. So yeah, I began with doing focus groups with adolescent mothers, who gave me some insight into what they thought of parent-teen communication and how parents and schools should teach kids about sexual education. Doing the focus groups was challenging and I learned a lot (that's why I'm doing this, right?). We have been warned consistently that Paraguayans are pretty timid, and indeed trying to get a group of girls who barely knew me to open up about their opinions of communication with parents was not easy. However I did get a lot of interesting information and will be able to use their experiences as some examples for the parents when I work with them.
This week I began doing pre-surveys with parents. If I thought the focus groups were challenging, the surveys were far more challenging. I worked very diligently on formulating the survey so that we were asking the right questions, and spent several hours with a woman at Mil Solidarios going over every single question. I also had my research assistant go over it with me, which I thought would be sufficient to ensure that the survey was ready for the parents who would be attending the workshop. But by the end of the week I still wished I had had more time to work on the surveys, as there were still some questions that were difficult for the mothers to answer.
I was able to survey 35 mothers and some of their sons and daughters this past week. I had originally hoped that most of them could fill the surveys out by themselves, however people in the US are far more used to taking surveys than people are here, so generally we sit with those who are taking the survey and read it question by question, while they fill out their own form. This way they can ask questions and we can further explain if they need help. It's of course more time consuming than I originally thought it would be, but I was happy with my progress!
This week has taught me a lot about data collection, which I guess is one of the "competencies" we're supposed to be learning this summer. But I'm really looking forward to actually beginning to give the workshops and interact in a little bit more relaxed environment with the mothers.
As mentioned previously, I am here to pilot a pregnancy prevention program that focuses on the mothers of adolescents, giving them techniques on how to talk to their children and convince them to delay sexual relations, and if they have sex, to use protection. The program itself consists of 3 sessions with mothers, but in order to evaluate whether this program, which has been proven effective in the US, works in Paraguay, I will be doing pre and post tests with both mothers and adolescents, as well as focus groups and interviews with participants and "key informants" who are professionals and experts in the field of adolescent health in in Paraguay.
Whew. So yeah, I began with doing focus groups with adolescent mothers, who gave me some insight into what they thought of parent-teen communication and how parents and schools should teach kids about sexual education. Doing the focus groups was challenging and I learned a lot (that's why I'm doing this, right?). We have been warned consistently that Paraguayans are pretty timid, and indeed trying to get a group of girls who barely knew me to open up about their opinions of communication with parents was not easy. However I did get a lot of interesting information and will be able to use their experiences as some examples for the parents when I work with them.
This week I began doing pre-surveys with parents. If I thought the focus groups were challenging, the surveys were far more challenging. I worked very diligently on formulating the survey so that we were asking the right questions, and spent several hours with a woman at Mil Solidarios going over every single question. I also had my research assistant go over it with me, which I thought would be sufficient to ensure that the survey was ready for the parents who would be attending the workshop. But by the end of the week I still wished I had had more time to work on the surveys, as there were still some questions that were difficult for the mothers to answer.
I was able to survey 35 mothers and some of their sons and daughters this past week. I had originally hoped that most of them could fill the surveys out by themselves, however people in the US are far more used to taking surveys than people are here, so generally we sit with those who are taking the survey and read it question by question, while they fill out their own form. This way they can ask questions and we can further explain if they need help. It's of course more time consuming than I originally thought it would be, but I was happy with my progress!
This week has taught me a lot about data collection, which I guess is one of the "competencies" we're supposed to be learning this summer. But I'm really looking forward to actually beginning to give the workshops and interact in a little bit more relaxed environment with the mothers.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Politics in Paraguay
All this week I was composing this blog in my head. I was going to describe my living situation, the “Banado” where we are working, list a couple more differences between Paraguay and the DR. But that all changed on Thursday when people began to discuss the impeachment of Paraguay’s president, Fernando Lugo. I’ll preface this explanation by saying that everything I know has been transmitted to me by word of mouth or the Paraguayan press, but there are still a lot of things I’m confused about. Here’s my best attempt to explain the situation:
Lugo has been controversial during his presidency, to say the least. He is an ex-priest, pro liberation theology, while in office admitted to having two illegitimate children, but at the same time brought some beneficial social programs to Paraguay. Given what I knew, and the way people talked about him, I didn’t expect him to be kicked out of office.
On the other hand, politics in Paraguay have not been hunky-dory as of late. Lugo, who belongs to a third party, had to form a coalition with the “Liberal” party to control the government against the “Colorados” when he came into office. That coalition has slowly been weakening to the point of breaking. Last Friday, I was working at the organization I am at in the Banado when we started watching a news story about conflicts over land rights between campesinos and police in a town in the interior of Paraguay. Seventeen people, campesinos and policemen, had been killed. I didn’t realize the severity of the issue; I had heard of previous conflicts over land in that part of the country before, and assumed this was an escalated version of that. But people in the Banado and at the Instituto Nacional de Salud were surprised and frightened by it, and everybody seemed to tell us that this incident implicated something larger for the country. Paraguay is a very pacific country and things of this sort, especially between police and well-armed campesinos (no one knows where they got the weapons from) is rare.
People were still talking about it when we returned to the Banado on Monday, but as far as we knew, it was an isolated incident. Thursday all of the sudden we heard that the “Camera de Diputados” (similar to our house of representatives) had voted to impeach Lugo with only one “Diputado” dissenting. Their reason: mishandeling of the conflict the previous Friday. Lugo would have to prepare his defense and was allowed two hours to present it on Friday. The decision would be made by the Senate by Friday afternoon. Basically, within 36 hours Paraguay could have a new president. People, including many from the Banado and the leader of the community organization we are working with who is a very well known political figure in Paraguay, started flooding the plaza around the government buildings to protest what appeared to them as an undemocratic and unjust process. Thursday night I watched the news with my host family, trying to understand exactly what was happening, why, and how this could unfold and affect the country. Not knowing what the security situation would be like once the decision was made, Vanessa and I decided to travel back to the Instituto Nacional de Salud after lunch on Friday and hunker down there during the proceedings that afternoon.
As we made our way back on the bus, I was surprised that things seemed fairly normal. Our host families were not worried about us riding public transportation. Many buses of people (including our two host moms) had traveled to the plaza that morning to join in the protests, which were largely peaceful. The bus we were on passed about four blocks from the plaza, and though the crowd was not huge (we’ll never know really how many people were there, I heard estimates between 3,000 and 30,000), you could certainly see the entire square filled from where we were watching. We arrived at the INS and tried to get more information and opinions from the staff there. Many of them seemed not to care about politics; they don’t trust politicians and believe they should all be thrown out. Others still said they didn’t care for Lugo but this process seemed completely unjust and undemocratic.
We spent the rest of the evening watching the proceedings in the dorm on TV with several other nurses and doctors who were staying at the dorms as well. The senate voted 34-4 to impeach Lugo. In the meantime, representatives from South American countries had traveled to Paraguay to try to negotiate with the government and prevent the impeachment, as many of those countries saw it as a coup d’etat given the short trial and lack of evidence. Once the verdict was announced, there were several tussles with police in the plaza, and we did see footage of tear gas and hoses sprayed. People dispersed and came back peacefully, things were calmer than I expected. Vanessa and I went out to eat dinner and if it weren’t for the televisions broadcasting the news, you would have never known that an impeachment/coup d’etat just happened. Lugo gave a speech on his way out, calling for non-violence, and the vice president from the Liberal party was sworn in as president. Needless to say, his supporters were thrilled (it’s worth mentioning that his wife is a diputada and also voted for impeachment).
Yesterday things were calm and Vanessa and I kept checking the news to make sure there wasn’t any violence. Thus far, there have been some protests but things have been peaceful. We even went to the mall, where people were going about their daily business, and only heard several people mention Lugo or Franco (the new president). The news has been covering other countries’ reactions to the impeachment/coup: many Latin American countries are refusing to recognize the new president because of the manner in which he came to power. Argentina has officially removed their ambassador and Brasil and Uruguay have called their ambassadors back to their respective countries. The union of South American countries will be meeting this week to decide what further measures to take against Paraguay. What could happen is not yet clear, but if measures are taken it could mean some hard times for the country, since they rely on the other countries for trade and energy.
Vanessa and I have been following everything with a certain fascination. We were at first horrified that a “democratic” government would do such a thing. Given that the dictatorship is only a thing of the recent past, this incident for us suggests that Paraguay is not completely a democracy yet. The Senate and “Camera de Diputados” are not directly elected, rather they are chosen by the party depending on the amount of votes each party gets in an election. The president, on the other hand is directly elected. For the legislature to be able to oust a democratically elected president in such a short time seens unjust.
Another remnant of the dictatorship was seen in the plaza. Over ten years ago there was another protest in the plaza, and things got violent. Snipers that had been placed on the roofs of the buildings shot into the crowd and killed 8 people. This was the government killing its own people. No one had forgotten that incident when the most recent protests began, and people were quick to point out that there were once again snipers on the roofs. It’s hard to tell really why people were so peaceful; was it because they really are a peaceful country (I’ve seen plenty of evidence of this)? Or because they really don’t believe enough in the politics and politicians of their country to fight for them? Or because they were afraid that they might be shot on if they tried to show their feelings in any other way? (I must admit that I’ve been reading the Hunger Games this past week, and perhaps that’s influenced my paranoia a bit, I can’t really say :) ) It's hard to understand what the majority of the population think about this situation, given that I don’t understand everything that has gone on and have only spent several weeks here thus far. I will say this, it’s been a lesson in democracy for me, and I imagine this event, which happened so quickly, could affect Paraguay in a very big way for quite some time.
In case you’re wondering, Vanessa and I are completely safe. Emory/Rollins have been checking up on us constantly since they found out about the impeachment (we appreciate it, however find it a bit comical that the Deans of our school are being copied on all the emails, making it seem urgent, when we went to the mall the other day, are completely safe in our dorms, and see no real threat). We have been checking up on the Embassy website (they have not even issued any warnings after the impeachment Friday) and I have been in contact with a couple of Peace Corps people who have said they are not worried about their volunteers either. So in sum, we’re safe. I’ll keep you all updated and hope to be able to write more about the Banado and my actual work soon.
For a better, comprehensive overview of the situation, here's an article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/world/americas/in-paraguay-democracys-all-too-speedy-trial.html?_r=1&ref=world
Lugo has been controversial during his presidency, to say the least. He is an ex-priest, pro liberation theology, while in office admitted to having two illegitimate children, but at the same time brought some beneficial social programs to Paraguay. Given what I knew, and the way people talked about him, I didn’t expect him to be kicked out of office.
On the other hand, politics in Paraguay have not been hunky-dory as of late. Lugo, who belongs to a third party, had to form a coalition with the “Liberal” party to control the government against the “Colorados” when he came into office. That coalition has slowly been weakening to the point of breaking. Last Friday, I was working at the organization I am at in the Banado when we started watching a news story about conflicts over land rights between campesinos and police in a town in the interior of Paraguay. Seventeen people, campesinos and policemen, had been killed. I didn’t realize the severity of the issue; I had heard of previous conflicts over land in that part of the country before, and assumed this was an escalated version of that. But people in the Banado and at the Instituto Nacional de Salud were surprised and frightened by it, and everybody seemed to tell us that this incident implicated something larger for the country. Paraguay is a very pacific country and things of this sort, especially between police and well-armed campesinos (no one knows where they got the weapons from) is rare.
People were still talking about it when we returned to the Banado on Monday, but as far as we knew, it was an isolated incident. Thursday all of the sudden we heard that the “Camera de Diputados” (similar to our house of representatives) had voted to impeach Lugo with only one “Diputado” dissenting. Their reason: mishandeling of the conflict the previous Friday. Lugo would have to prepare his defense and was allowed two hours to present it on Friday. The decision would be made by the Senate by Friday afternoon. Basically, within 36 hours Paraguay could have a new president. People, including many from the Banado and the leader of the community organization we are working with who is a very well known political figure in Paraguay, started flooding the plaza around the government buildings to protest what appeared to them as an undemocratic and unjust process. Thursday night I watched the news with my host family, trying to understand exactly what was happening, why, and how this could unfold and affect the country. Not knowing what the security situation would be like once the decision was made, Vanessa and I decided to travel back to the Instituto Nacional de Salud after lunch on Friday and hunker down there during the proceedings that afternoon.
As we made our way back on the bus, I was surprised that things seemed fairly normal. Our host families were not worried about us riding public transportation. Many buses of people (including our two host moms) had traveled to the plaza that morning to join in the protests, which were largely peaceful. The bus we were on passed about four blocks from the plaza, and though the crowd was not huge (we’ll never know really how many people were there, I heard estimates between 3,000 and 30,000), you could certainly see the entire square filled from where we were watching. We arrived at the INS and tried to get more information and opinions from the staff there. Many of them seemed not to care about politics; they don’t trust politicians and believe they should all be thrown out. Others still said they didn’t care for Lugo but this process seemed completely unjust and undemocratic.
We spent the rest of the evening watching the proceedings in the dorm on TV with several other nurses and doctors who were staying at the dorms as well. The senate voted 34-4 to impeach Lugo. In the meantime, representatives from South American countries had traveled to Paraguay to try to negotiate with the government and prevent the impeachment, as many of those countries saw it as a coup d’etat given the short trial and lack of evidence. Once the verdict was announced, there were several tussles with police in the plaza, and we did see footage of tear gas and hoses sprayed. People dispersed and came back peacefully, things were calmer than I expected. Vanessa and I went out to eat dinner and if it weren’t for the televisions broadcasting the news, you would have never known that an impeachment/coup d’etat just happened. Lugo gave a speech on his way out, calling for non-violence, and the vice president from the Liberal party was sworn in as president. Needless to say, his supporters were thrilled (it’s worth mentioning that his wife is a diputada and also voted for impeachment).
Yesterday things were calm and Vanessa and I kept checking the news to make sure there wasn’t any violence. Thus far, there have been some protests but things have been peaceful. We even went to the mall, where people were going about their daily business, and only heard several people mention Lugo or Franco (the new president). The news has been covering other countries’ reactions to the impeachment/coup: many Latin American countries are refusing to recognize the new president because of the manner in which he came to power. Argentina has officially removed their ambassador and Brasil and Uruguay have called their ambassadors back to their respective countries. The union of South American countries will be meeting this week to decide what further measures to take against Paraguay. What could happen is not yet clear, but if measures are taken it could mean some hard times for the country, since they rely on the other countries for trade and energy.
Vanessa and I have been following everything with a certain fascination. We were at first horrified that a “democratic” government would do such a thing. Given that the dictatorship is only a thing of the recent past, this incident for us suggests that Paraguay is not completely a democracy yet. The Senate and “Camera de Diputados” are not directly elected, rather they are chosen by the party depending on the amount of votes each party gets in an election. The president, on the other hand is directly elected. For the legislature to be able to oust a democratically elected president in such a short time seens unjust.
Another remnant of the dictatorship was seen in the plaza. Over ten years ago there was another protest in the plaza, and things got violent. Snipers that had been placed on the roofs of the buildings shot into the crowd and killed 8 people. This was the government killing its own people. No one had forgotten that incident when the most recent protests began, and people were quick to point out that there were once again snipers on the roofs. It’s hard to tell really why people were so peaceful; was it because they really are a peaceful country (I’ve seen plenty of evidence of this)? Or because they really don’t believe enough in the politics and politicians of their country to fight for them? Or because they were afraid that they might be shot on if they tried to show their feelings in any other way? (I must admit that I’ve been reading the Hunger Games this past week, and perhaps that’s influenced my paranoia a bit, I can’t really say :) ) It's hard to understand what the majority of the population think about this situation, given that I don’t understand everything that has gone on and have only spent several weeks here thus far. I will say this, it’s been a lesson in democracy for me, and I imagine this event, which happened so quickly, could affect Paraguay in a very big way for quite some time.
In case you’re wondering, Vanessa and I are completely safe. Emory/Rollins have been checking up on us constantly since they found out about the impeachment (we appreciate it, however find it a bit comical that the Deans of our school are being copied on all the emails, making it seem urgent, when we went to the mall the other day, are completely safe in our dorms, and see no real threat). We have been checking up on the Embassy website (they have not even issued any warnings after the impeachment Friday) and I have been in contact with a couple of Peace Corps people who have said they are not worried about their volunteers either. So in sum, we’re safe. I’ll keep you all updated and hope to be able to write more about the Banado and my actual work soon.
For a better, comprehensive overview of the situation, here's an article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/world/americas/in-paraguay-democracys-all-too-speedy-trial.html?_r=1&ref=world
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Those details I should have known earlier
The month before coming to Paraguay I had many people ask me about the basics of the country: population, elevation, temperature, etc... I didn't really have any answers for them, partially because I hadn't done much research on the country itself (though I can tell you all about the adolescent pregnancy rate in PY), and partially because Paraguay isn't necessarily a tourist destination, which means there is not a whole lot of travel literature out there about the country. So here's what I've learned and know this far:
Population: 6.5 million, of which almost 2 million live in and near Asuncion
Elevation/Climate: I'm still not really sure about the elevation, but for some reason I thought it was going to be dry, which it isn't. Even though we're here in winter, it still feels a bit tropical with lots of fruit trees and greenery.
Temperature: Because we're in the Southern hemisphere, it's technically the winter here right now. The past week that I've been here it's actually been between 75 and 85 degrees the whole time, but it's supposed to get colder this week, down to the 60s which doesn't seem that bad until you realize none of the houses are well insulated or have heating. In the summers, temperatures can reach over 100 for days on end, so the houses are designed keep cool in the summers and keep just a little bit of the cold out in the winters. I brought wool socks and a sleeping bag.
To do: Well, everyone has told me there's not a lot to do in Paraguay except see the Iguazu Falls, which I have already seen. The day after I arrived Vanessa and I went to the presidential palace and downtown area where we also saw the legislative palace and walked through a short little market for tourists. We felt a bit like tourists, but this outing was the extent of my tourism here thus far. There are a couple other small towns that we might visit in the future that are also somewhat touristy. It's actually kind of refreshing to be somewhere that isn't teeming with Americans and Europeans snapping pictures.
So that's still about all I know. Where we are staying in Asuncion is actually a somewhat suburban neighborhood, so we are not in the heart of the city, where I imagine we might see more. I imagine we will find some other things to do and see while we are here as time goes on.
Population: 6.5 million, of which almost 2 million live in and near Asuncion
Elevation/Climate: I'm still not really sure about the elevation, but for some reason I thought it was going to be dry, which it isn't. Even though we're here in winter, it still feels a bit tropical with lots of fruit trees and greenery.
Temperature: Because we're in the Southern hemisphere, it's technically the winter here right now. The past week that I've been here it's actually been between 75 and 85 degrees the whole time, but it's supposed to get colder this week, down to the 60s which doesn't seem that bad until you realize none of the houses are well insulated or have heating. In the summers, temperatures can reach over 100 for days on end, so the houses are designed keep cool in the summers and keep just a little bit of the cold out in the winters. I brought wool socks and a sleeping bag.
To do: Well, everyone has told me there's not a lot to do in Paraguay except see the Iguazu Falls, which I have already seen. The day after I arrived Vanessa and I went to the presidential palace and downtown area where we also saw the legislative palace and walked through a short little market for tourists. We felt a bit like tourists, but this outing was the extent of my tourism here thus far. There are a couple other small towns that we might visit in the future that are also somewhat touristy. It's actually kind of refreshing to be somewhere that isn't teeming with Americans and Europeans snapping pictures.
So that's still about all I know. Where we are staying in Asuncion is actually a somewhat suburban neighborhood, so we are not in the heart of the city, where I imagine we might see more. I imagine we will find some other things to do and see while we are here as time goes on.
Asuncion y Mas Alla
It's hard for me not to compare Paraguay to the Dominican Republic or Argentina, where I have spent a majority of my time abroad. My first impression of Paraguay was that it was a run-down version of a small town in Argentina, maybe Cordoba. As I have walked through the streets of the Banado (the neighborhood where I will be working), I have lamented the absence of some things that I really enjoyed in the DR (motoconchos, jugos naturales, loud bachata and merengue playing and people laughing) while also commenting on the things that are different and would have made life infinitely different for me if I had them in the DR (24 hour water and electricity, a community based organization that is dedicated and truly interested in my work, dulce de leche).
But it's not fair for me to compare this experience to my others. It is a different country, with it's own culture and history. I will also be here a short time with a very specific purpose: to conduct research, which is an experience I did not have in Argentina or the DR and will probably influence my perspective on PY. For those of you interested, I am in Paraguay because a professor of mine has worked here for the past 5 years helping to develop an MPH program (the first in the country). She has an amazing amount of contacts and at one point met a priest who runs a youth development organization in a marginalized neighborhood on the outskirts of town. The previous two years Emory students have gone down to that neighborhood to do research, and this year another public health student, Vanessa, and I have come down to do our own research. I will be implementing and evaluating a pregnancy prevention program which targets mothers of teenagers and gives them skills so they can talk to their children about sex and pregnancy prevention. The program itself is short, and most of my time will be spent administering surveys and conducting focus groups regarding the program and the idea of parent-teen communication.
Vanessa and I will be living in the neighborhood (the Banado) during the week and spending our weekends in Asuncion in dorms that are on the property of the Paraguayan National Institute of Health. This will give us a break from the Banado and allow us to reflect on our experience and work on our projects. Last week, we went out the the Banado and stayed for three days. I had gone out preparing to just visit people, chat, and wander arond (in PCVDR talk, "compartir"). I was not prepared for what actually happened: the day we arrived the administration at Mil Solidarios (the youth development organization) was already asking us for our timelines, research summaries, and when we would begin. That was my first clue that I was not in the DR as a Peace Corps Volunteer any more! So we got to work, meeting with different employees of the organization who are in charge of the after school programs, explaining our research and getting feedback on the best way to go about it. After a hectic six weeks in Atlanta, I had expected to come to Paraguay and slowly work my way back into academic thinking and preparation for my project. Those first three days were a bit overwhelming because I realized that I had a lot to do and not a lot of time. But with the support of the Mil Solidarios team, I think I will be able to have a successful project and hopefully be able to contribute to their work.
More to come later on the Banado...
But it's not fair for me to compare this experience to my others. It is a different country, with it's own culture and history. I will also be here a short time with a very specific purpose: to conduct research, which is an experience I did not have in Argentina or the DR and will probably influence my perspective on PY. For those of you interested, I am in Paraguay because a professor of mine has worked here for the past 5 years helping to develop an MPH program (the first in the country). She has an amazing amount of contacts and at one point met a priest who runs a youth development organization in a marginalized neighborhood on the outskirts of town. The previous two years Emory students have gone down to that neighborhood to do research, and this year another public health student, Vanessa, and I have come down to do our own research. I will be implementing and evaluating a pregnancy prevention program which targets mothers of teenagers and gives them skills so they can talk to their children about sex and pregnancy prevention. The program itself is short, and most of my time will be spent administering surveys and conducting focus groups regarding the program and the idea of parent-teen communication.
Vanessa and I will be living in the neighborhood (the Banado) during the week and spending our weekends in Asuncion in dorms that are on the property of the Paraguayan National Institute of Health. This will give us a break from the Banado and allow us to reflect on our experience and work on our projects. Last week, we went out the the Banado and stayed for three days. I had gone out preparing to just visit people, chat, and wander arond (in PCVDR talk, "compartir"). I was not prepared for what actually happened: the day we arrived the administration at Mil Solidarios (the youth development organization) was already asking us for our timelines, research summaries, and when we would begin. That was my first clue that I was not in the DR as a Peace Corps Volunteer any more! So we got to work, meeting with different employees of the organization who are in charge of the after school programs, explaining our research and getting feedback on the best way to go about it. After a hectic six weeks in Atlanta, I had expected to come to Paraguay and slowly work my way back into academic thinking and preparation for my project. Those first three days were a bit overwhelming because I realized that I had a lot to do and not a lot of time. But with the support of the Mil Solidarios team, I think I will be able to have a successful project and hopefully be able to contribute to their work.
More to come later on the Banado...
Sunday, April 4, 2010
March, 2010: This month's activities--Trips!
Well March has been a month of traveling and splitting my time between Peace Corps activities and activities in my community. I had two especially fun trips this month that were very different but definitely both highlights of my time here so far:
1. Medical Mission!
In the beginning of March I went to work as a translator for a medical mission that came to a hospital near me to do plastic surgeries (the reconstructive kind, no implants or face lifts!) Peace Corps gets requests from various groups who come down here to do different surgeries for volunteers to serve as translators. The medical mission lasted six days; the first day we did intakes and the doctors assessed all the people who came, scheduling them if they were good candidates for surgery. Lots of the surgeries were scheduled for children who had cleft lips and palates, and most of the rest of the surgeries were for people who had bad scars from things such as fires and acid fights. Acid fights? Yup, we saw a lot of women who had gotten in fights and had acid thrown on them. These burns were especially deforming and many of the women who came in with them said they could not get jobs because nobody would hire someone who was deformed like that.
The rest of the week we were translating for the doctors as they were getting patients ready for surgery, coming out of surgery, and translating for family members and patients as they left the hospital. We also did quite a lot of translating between the doctors and the administration of the hospital we were working at. It was neat to be able to watch the surgeries and watch the entire process and also connect with patients and their families.
I also had a personally fulfilling experience that was kind of a follow up to when I worked in the hospital in Jimani after the earthquake. The day of consultations the doctors told me that a Haitian woman who had been an earthquake victim had been brought in. Since I speak a little Kreyol, they asked me to try to translate for this lady. We learned she had been brought in from another hospital across the country because she needed a skin graft on her leg and they couldn’t do it at the other hospital. We also learned she had been at that hospital ever since a couple days after the earthquake—almost two months! The doctors agreed to do her surgery the next day. So the next day I helped prepare her for surgery and explain what the doctors were going to do. She was very scared about the surgery, but everything went fine and she was allowed to stay in the hospital for as long as she needed to recoup. Given the conditions of a public hospital here in the DR and the fact that the women was alone, the doctors that I was working with were very concerned for her health (family members must stay with patients the whole time because the hospital does not provide caretakers to give them their food, take them to the bathroom, etc…) The doctors asked me if I could find someone to take care of this women while she was in the hospital, so I made a couple calls and a girl from my town and a Catholic missionary who lives in my town and used to live in Haiti came down to help. The girl ended up staying with the women almost the entire time she was in the hospital near us (two weeks), and the missionaries began to make preparations to take the woman back to Haiti.
This past weekend, the woman was brought back to Haiti by the missionaries, where I am told she had a tearful reunion with her family, who thought she was dead. After being in Jimani and having very little time to help patients individually and provide them some kind of social services, I was glad to have the opportunity during this medical mission to really help an individual who was affected by the earthquake.
2. Volleyball trip!
Of course, every time I go on a trip with my kids we have a great time. Two weeks ago, I arranged to take my volleyball team to a pueblo where another volunteer lives to have a mini tournament and stay overnight. I brought six girls, ages 12-15, and another team of six also came. We woke up early to take motorcycles out of my site. When we arrived to the bridge that we usually cross, it was being worked on, so we all had to load into a small rowboat and be rowed across the river to the other side where another motorcycle took us to the bus stop. As we were traveling on the bus, my girls were glued to the windows, peering out. One girl asked what every single town along the way was called. I realized that most of the girls had never been up this far north and had never seen these towns and cities. We arrived and played volleyball, ate, went to the river, and played more volleyball.
That night the girls ate together and then each one went with a girl from the pueblo to sleep in her house. The other girls on the other teams were mostly older than my girls, and at first I was worried that they wouldn’t integrate well. But by the end of the night when they were being sent off to their houses for the, they were all very comfortable, and I was not worried that they would be uncomfortable sleeping in a strange house.
The next morning my girls were the first players up and over at my friends’ house ready for breakfast. Three of them had been put in the same house and said they were treated so well: “The mother prepared our bathing water for us, gave us the biggest bed, and they even had a mosquito net!” It’s so easy to please these girls! All of the girls had positive experiences, and what they really loved was getting to know the neighborhood.
By the time the tournament was over, my girls had beat one team twice and lost to another team twice, but they certainly fought, considering they were the youngest ones there! I realized though that the most valuable experience for them was seeing a new town, seeing how people lived and worked there, and realizing that they too can get out of their town and progress.
We treated the girls to ice cream on the way home (some girls had never eaten at the chain that we went to) and then took another road back so we wouldn’t have to cross the river in the boat again. The girls arrived happy and incredibly tired, and of course all they have been asking me since is when we will go on another trip!
1. Medical Mission!
In the beginning of March I went to work as a translator for a medical mission that came to a hospital near me to do plastic surgeries (the reconstructive kind, no implants or face lifts!) Peace Corps gets requests from various groups who come down here to do different surgeries for volunteers to serve as translators. The medical mission lasted six days; the first day we did intakes and the doctors assessed all the people who came, scheduling them if they were good candidates for surgery. Lots of the surgeries were scheduled for children who had cleft lips and palates, and most of the rest of the surgeries were for people who had bad scars from things such as fires and acid fights. Acid fights? Yup, we saw a lot of women who had gotten in fights and had acid thrown on them. These burns were especially deforming and many of the women who came in with them said they could not get jobs because nobody would hire someone who was deformed like that.
The rest of the week we were translating for the doctors as they were getting patients ready for surgery, coming out of surgery, and translating for family members and patients as they left the hospital. We also did quite a lot of translating between the doctors and the administration of the hospital we were working at. It was neat to be able to watch the surgeries and watch the entire process and also connect with patients and their families.
I also had a personally fulfilling experience that was kind of a follow up to when I worked in the hospital in Jimani after the earthquake. The day of consultations the doctors told me that a Haitian woman who had been an earthquake victim had been brought in. Since I speak a little Kreyol, they asked me to try to translate for this lady. We learned she had been brought in from another hospital across the country because she needed a skin graft on her leg and they couldn’t do it at the other hospital. We also learned she had been at that hospital ever since a couple days after the earthquake—almost two months! The doctors agreed to do her surgery the next day. So the next day I helped prepare her for surgery and explain what the doctors were going to do. She was very scared about the surgery, but everything went fine and she was allowed to stay in the hospital for as long as she needed to recoup. Given the conditions of a public hospital here in the DR and the fact that the women was alone, the doctors that I was working with were very concerned for her health (family members must stay with patients the whole time because the hospital does not provide caretakers to give them their food, take them to the bathroom, etc…) The doctors asked me if I could find someone to take care of this women while she was in the hospital, so I made a couple calls and a girl from my town and a Catholic missionary who lives in my town and used to live in Haiti came down to help. The girl ended up staying with the women almost the entire time she was in the hospital near us (two weeks), and the missionaries began to make preparations to take the woman back to Haiti.
This past weekend, the woman was brought back to Haiti by the missionaries, where I am told she had a tearful reunion with her family, who thought she was dead. After being in Jimani and having very little time to help patients individually and provide them some kind of social services, I was glad to have the opportunity during this medical mission to really help an individual who was affected by the earthquake.
2. Volleyball trip!
Of course, every time I go on a trip with my kids we have a great time. Two weeks ago, I arranged to take my volleyball team to a pueblo where another volunteer lives to have a mini tournament and stay overnight. I brought six girls, ages 12-15, and another team of six also came. We woke up early to take motorcycles out of my site. When we arrived to the bridge that we usually cross, it was being worked on, so we all had to load into a small rowboat and be rowed across the river to the other side where another motorcycle took us to the bus stop. As we were traveling on the bus, my girls were glued to the windows, peering out. One girl asked what every single town along the way was called. I realized that most of the girls had never been up this far north and had never seen these towns and cities. We arrived and played volleyball, ate, went to the river, and played more volleyball.
That night the girls ate together and then each one went with a girl from the pueblo to sleep in her house. The other girls on the other teams were mostly older than my girls, and at first I was worried that they wouldn’t integrate well. But by the end of the night when they were being sent off to their houses for the, they were all very comfortable, and I was not worried that they would be uncomfortable sleeping in a strange house.
The next morning my girls were the first players up and over at my friends’ house ready for breakfast. Three of them had been put in the same house and said they were treated so well: “The mother prepared our bathing water for us, gave us the biggest bed, and they even had a mosquito net!” It’s so easy to please these girls! All of the girls had positive experiences, and what they really loved was getting to know the neighborhood.
By the time the tournament was over, my girls had beat one team twice and lost to another team twice, but they certainly fought, considering they were the youngest ones there! I realized though that the most valuable experience for them was seeing a new town, seeing how people lived and worked there, and realizing that they too can get out of their town and progress.
We treated the girls to ice cream on the way home (some girls had never eaten at the chain that we went to) and then took another road back so we wouldn’t have to cross the river in the boat again. The girls arrived happy and incredibly tired, and of course all they have been asking me since is when we will go on another trip!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
February 2nd, 2010: Just a little insight....
Hey Everyone,
I was asked to write a little something about my experience for Peace Corps, and this is what came of it; even if youre not a PCV, my real point is that there are opportunities for everyone to volunteer and work on the relief effort, if they find a reliable, responsible organization to do it through.
My Experience:
Over the course of the nine days I worked at the Buen Samaritano Hospital (Good Samaritan Hospital) which was providing medical care for Haitian earthquake victims, the other PCVs and I that were sent were assigned or took on a wide variety of jobs. Throughout the day any one of us could be found translating, registering volunteers, handing out food, organizing a patient tracking system, reporting to Public Health officials, finding the appropriate medical staff for the day, providing social services to families, and advocating for the patients. There were between two and six PCVs at the hospital every day and we all had more than enough work (most of us were working 18-20 hour days).
We were told by several administrators at the hospital that they couldn’t have done their job without the support of Peace Corps; we seemed to become the go-tos for patients, doctors and administrators when they had a question and didn’t know where to go. In the end, the PCVs became the link between volunteers and patients; Americans and Haitians; doctors and administration. I believe that being a Peace Corps volunteer in this country prepared us especially for this kind of work, and has made us valuable to the organizations that came into the country to provide relief.
Though many of us volunteers are used to the slow pace of Dominican country life, we were all prepared to work long hours at the hospital. Perhaps this is simply a characteristic of Peace Corps volunteers in general who are always willing to help, especially when their help is so solicited and necessary. Living in the Dominican countryside or pueblo has taught us the importance of being flexible and how to deal with the frustrating stops and gos of the Dominican administrative system at all levels. In a disaster relief area, this flexibility is necessary; no one knows what will happen the next day, who might show up, what patient might take a turn for the worse, or what organization might decide to help or not help. In the end, you must be ready for everything and change your plans and job description from one minute to the next; something that PCVs are accustomed to doing.
PCVs also come into situations like this with the flexibility in living standards that we have found necessary in our day to day lives here in country. While the lack of reliable water or comfortable beds may have discouraged some volunteers from working at the hospital, us volunteers were willing to sleep anywhere (frequently on couches) and were thrilled if there was water coming out of the shower spout! The daily meal of rice and beans didn’t phase us, and we never once thought about the money we were losing because we were giving up precious time to volunteer (we’ve committed to two years of no earnings!)
The last and most important reason that PCVs are so integral to relief efforts in their own countries or neighboring countries is their vast knowledge and experience of local culture and customs. The people at Buen Samaritano Hospital were working very hard to provide quality patient care, treat the volunteer doctors and nurses well, and make sure the hospital was running smoothly. At the same time, they were still accountable to Dominican officials and had to interact frequently with Dominicans. Unfortunately, there were very few administrators who spoke Spanish, and fewer who had lived in the country for as long as we volunteers had. For this reason, we volunteers often became the go-betweens between the American administration and the Dominicans who were working with us. We helped negotiate the meals being provided by the Dominican Civil Defense, as well as talk to and translate for public health officials and communicate with the military guards that the government was providing for us. Understanding the Dominican culture and language helped us communicate with the host country in a way that most of the administration could not.
Living on the same island as Haitians and interacting frequently with migrants in the DR also gave us valuable insight into the Haitian culture and allowed us to communicate and empathize with the patients. While there were few volunteers who spoke Dominican Spanish, there were even fewer who spoke Kreyol. With that in mind, even the little knowledge of Kreyol that we volunteers had helped us communicate with the patients and their families. It was Peace Corps volunteers and a few translators who were often the first volunteers in the hospital to learn of problems amongst the patients and families and help them look for solutions, trying to fill the void where social services should have existed in a normal hospital.
I am in no way saying that the work of one volunteer at the hospital was more or less valuable than another; no PCV who was at the hospital could perform surgery, serve as an ICU nurse, or had extensive knowledge of hospital administration. What is important to recognize is that in a disaster such as the Haitian earthquake, different kinds of knowledge and experience (especially cultural) is needed to help the relief effort. I believe that at the Buen Samaritano Hospital and in the various relief efforts across the island, Peace Corps volunteers fit a certain integral niche.
I was asked to write a little something about my experience for Peace Corps, and this is what came of it; even if youre not a PCV, my real point is that there are opportunities for everyone to volunteer and work on the relief effort, if they find a reliable, responsible organization to do it through.
My Experience:
Over the course of the nine days I worked at the Buen Samaritano Hospital (Good Samaritan Hospital) which was providing medical care for Haitian earthquake victims, the other PCVs and I that were sent were assigned or took on a wide variety of jobs. Throughout the day any one of us could be found translating, registering volunteers, handing out food, organizing a patient tracking system, reporting to Public Health officials, finding the appropriate medical staff for the day, providing social services to families, and advocating for the patients. There were between two and six PCVs at the hospital every day and we all had more than enough work (most of us were working 18-20 hour days).
We were told by several administrators at the hospital that they couldn’t have done their job without the support of Peace Corps; we seemed to become the go-tos for patients, doctors and administrators when they had a question and didn’t know where to go. In the end, the PCVs became the link between volunteers and patients; Americans and Haitians; doctors and administration. I believe that being a Peace Corps volunteer in this country prepared us especially for this kind of work, and has made us valuable to the organizations that came into the country to provide relief.
Though many of us volunteers are used to the slow pace of Dominican country life, we were all prepared to work long hours at the hospital. Perhaps this is simply a characteristic of Peace Corps volunteers in general who are always willing to help, especially when their help is so solicited and necessary. Living in the Dominican countryside or pueblo has taught us the importance of being flexible and how to deal with the frustrating stops and gos of the Dominican administrative system at all levels. In a disaster relief area, this flexibility is necessary; no one knows what will happen the next day, who might show up, what patient might take a turn for the worse, or what organization might decide to help or not help. In the end, you must be ready for everything and change your plans and job description from one minute to the next; something that PCVs are accustomed to doing.
PCVs also come into situations like this with the flexibility in living standards that we have found necessary in our day to day lives here in country. While the lack of reliable water or comfortable beds may have discouraged some volunteers from working at the hospital, us volunteers were willing to sleep anywhere (frequently on couches) and were thrilled if there was water coming out of the shower spout! The daily meal of rice and beans didn’t phase us, and we never once thought about the money we were losing because we were giving up precious time to volunteer (we’ve committed to two years of no earnings!)
The last and most important reason that PCVs are so integral to relief efforts in their own countries or neighboring countries is their vast knowledge and experience of local culture and customs. The people at Buen Samaritano Hospital were working very hard to provide quality patient care, treat the volunteer doctors and nurses well, and make sure the hospital was running smoothly. At the same time, they were still accountable to Dominican officials and had to interact frequently with Dominicans. Unfortunately, there were very few administrators who spoke Spanish, and fewer who had lived in the country for as long as we volunteers had. For this reason, we volunteers often became the go-betweens between the American administration and the Dominicans who were working with us. We helped negotiate the meals being provided by the Dominican Civil Defense, as well as talk to and translate for public health officials and communicate with the military guards that the government was providing for us. Understanding the Dominican culture and language helped us communicate with the host country in a way that most of the administration could not.
Living on the same island as Haitians and interacting frequently with migrants in the DR also gave us valuable insight into the Haitian culture and allowed us to communicate and empathize with the patients. While there were few volunteers who spoke Dominican Spanish, there were even fewer who spoke Kreyol. With that in mind, even the little knowledge of Kreyol that we volunteers had helped us communicate with the patients and their families. It was Peace Corps volunteers and a few translators who were often the first volunteers in the hospital to learn of problems amongst the patients and families and help them look for solutions, trying to fill the void where social services should have existed in a normal hospital.
I am in no way saying that the work of one volunteer at the hospital was more or less valuable than another; no PCV who was at the hospital could perform surgery, serve as an ICU nurse, or had extensive knowledge of hospital administration. What is important to recognize is that in a disaster such as the Haitian earthquake, different kinds of knowledge and experience (especially cultural) is needed to help the relief effort. I believe that at the Buen Samaritano Hospital and in the various relief efforts across the island, Peace Corps volunteers fit a certain integral niche.
January 27th, 2010: Jimani Hospital
Beginning a week after the earthquake in Haiti, Peace Corps DR sent a team of Peace Corps volunteers who had nursing skills or spoke Kreyol to a hospital in Jimani. This hospital was not originally a large hospital, however due to the large amount of Haitians who were coming over the border seeking medical care, it was opened to treat them. The first team stayed for a week, helping out where they could in the wards and trying to organize all the volunteers who were coming from the States to help.
The volunteers worked long hours for a week and Peace Corps then asked another group to go out there to take over them. On Monday I arrived here in Jimani and began to help with two other volunteers. We are filling in for the volunteers who had been working on the administrative/volunteer part of the hospital. After hearing stories from them, it seems as if we came in as things were finally beginning to get organized, because at the beginning things were absolute chaos; partly because entire families were coming over the border with their loved ones and had to set up camp at the hospital, and partly because there were no records or organization of the volunteers who were coming in and out to help and how long they could stay.
Starting today things have begun to get really organized; a logistical team has been brought in to organize the entire hospital better, and we’re expected to help them in whatever way we can.
Let’s start at the beginning: I found out on Friday night that Peace Corps was looking for a team to go out to the border, and I immediately contacted my boss to let her know I was interested. I rushed around finishing things in my site, and on Monday morning I got on a bus from the capital going to Jimani. Almost the entire bus (Except for the driver, two Dominicans, and three Americans) were Haitians headed across the border. We squeezed in 5 per row (no aisle) and set off on the five and a half hour drive. Even though most people were headed back to Haiti to assess the damage of the earthquake on their hometowns and houses, they were a very chipper bunch, chatting away in Kreyol amongst each other almost the entire time (I tried to keep up but couldn’t do it). We made one bathroom stop about an hour into the trip, and then an hour before the end of the trip we stopped. I thought it was going to be a bathroom break, and it was, except it was completely out in the open. All the men jumped out and immediately began peeing outside the bus, and several women did the same thing. I was tempted, but couldn’t bring myself to do it! After we got on the bus, one woman began feeling sick. Several men started fanning her and trying to feed her, and in the process she decided she was too hot, so she simply took off her shirt and sat there for a good half an hour until she felt better! Nobody seemed uncomfortable with it in any way shape or form, which made me not worry about it either!
We arrived in Jimani and met up with the volunteers who had been there the previous week. They showed us a little around the town and then we went up the hospital to get a little orientation. The town itself seemed a little sleepy, but once we got to the hospital it was bustling with people. The hospital itself is two large buildings, one of which is really a hospital, and the other or which was set up originally as an orphanage but is currently four different wards to treat the patients. In addition, patients are in being treated in a chapel and under a large circus tent. Many of the patients that are supposed to be located in the orphanage decided to set up tents outside because they were afraid of another earthquake (there continue to be tremors).
That night around 6 I headed up to the hospital with the Peace Corps volunteer I was to be replacing to shadow her and figure out everything that was going on in the hospital. We did a lot of just running around, coordinating between the main office and the wards, some translation, and lots of registration of incoming volunteers. The patients here have been very grateful for the care they are getting, but there are some very injured people. There have been up to 300 patients in the hospital (although the numbers are becoming smaller as they get transferred to other hospitals or released) and many of those patients have bone fractures, or have had limbs amputated (250). I haven’t had much time to talk to patients because we’ve been running around doing admin stuff or pulled away for translation, however the tragedy can be seen everywhere; people fled Port-au-Prince for medical care, but now they are in the hospital with nothing, often because all their personal items were buried in the rubble, and they have no where to go back to. People have been very generous in donating money to the Red Cross and other medical organizations, which is an immediate need, however the cold facts are that this is a tragedy with lasting effects, and Haitians are going to need support in reconstructing their city, their schools, and finding homes for the displaced families.
The volunteers worked long hours for a week and Peace Corps then asked another group to go out there to take over them. On Monday I arrived here in Jimani and began to help with two other volunteers. We are filling in for the volunteers who had been working on the administrative/volunteer part of the hospital. After hearing stories from them, it seems as if we came in as things were finally beginning to get organized, because at the beginning things were absolute chaos; partly because entire families were coming over the border with their loved ones and had to set up camp at the hospital, and partly because there were no records or organization of the volunteers who were coming in and out to help and how long they could stay.
Starting today things have begun to get really organized; a logistical team has been brought in to organize the entire hospital better, and we’re expected to help them in whatever way we can.
Let’s start at the beginning: I found out on Friday night that Peace Corps was looking for a team to go out to the border, and I immediately contacted my boss to let her know I was interested. I rushed around finishing things in my site, and on Monday morning I got on a bus from the capital going to Jimani. Almost the entire bus (Except for the driver, two Dominicans, and three Americans) were Haitians headed across the border. We squeezed in 5 per row (no aisle) and set off on the five and a half hour drive. Even though most people were headed back to Haiti to assess the damage of the earthquake on their hometowns and houses, they were a very chipper bunch, chatting away in Kreyol amongst each other almost the entire time (I tried to keep up but couldn’t do it). We made one bathroom stop about an hour into the trip, and then an hour before the end of the trip we stopped. I thought it was going to be a bathroom break, and it was, except it was completely out in the open. All the men jumped out and immediately began peeing outside the bus, and several women did the same thing. I was tempted, but couldn’t bring myself to do it! After we got on the bus, one woman began feeling sick. Several men started fanning her and trying to feed her, and in the process she decided she was too hot, so she simply took off her shirt and sat there for a good half an hour until she felt better! Nobody seemed uncomfortable with it in any way shape or form, which made me not worry about it either!
We arrived in Jimani and met up with the volunteers who had been there the previous week. They showed us a little around the town and then we went up the hospital to get a little orientation. The town itself seemed a little sleepy, but once we got to the hospital it was bustling with people. The hospital itself is two large buildings, one of which is really a hospital, and the other or which was set up originally as an orphanage but is currently four different wards to treat the patients. In addition, patients are in being treated in a chapel and under a large circus tent. Many of the patients that are supposed to be located in the orphanage decided to set up tents outside because they were afraid of another earthquake (there continue to be tremors).
That night around 6 I headed up to the hospital with the Peace Corps volunteer I was to be replacing to shadow her and figure out everything that was going on in the hospital. We did a lot of just running around, coordinating between the main office and the wards, some translation, and lots of registration of incoming volunteers. The patients here have been very grateful for the care they are getting, but there are some very injured people. There have been up to 300 patients in the hospital (although the numbers are becoming smaller as they get transferred to other hospitals or released) and many of those patients have bone fractures, or have had limbs amputated (250). I haven’t had much time to talk to patients because we’ve been running around doing admin stuff or pulled away for translation, however the tragedy can be seen everywhere; people fled Port-au-Prince for medical care, but now they are in the hospital with nothing, often because all their personal items were buried in the rubble, and they have no where to go back to. People have been very generous in donating money to the Red Cross and other medical organizations, which is an immediate need, however the cold facts are that this is a tragedy with lasting effects, and Haitians are going to need support in reconstructing their city, their schools, and finding homes for the displaced families.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Feb 3, 2010
Just an fyi friends, I have just gotten back from spending ten days in Jimani, where a hospital was set up to treat earthquake victims. It was the craziest, most exhausting, sad, interesting, eye-opening experience I've probably ever had. Haiti needs so much help, and will need help for quite some time. I promise I will update soon with some descriptions and stories, so keep checking in!
January 26th, 2010: DR Response to the Haitian Earthquake
The Haitian Earthquake.
It’s been two weeks now since the earthquake in Haiti, and though it is not in the headlines anymore, people here in the DR are still thinking about it. In my community, as soon as the earthquake happened everybody was glued to the television. Most people are second and third generation Dominican-Haitians, so though they know they have family in Haiti, they have lost contact with them. However everyone in my community was deeply saddened and concerned about the Haitian population. There are several people in my town that do have known family in Haiti, and they have still not been able to contact them to see if they are alright.
I expected the people in my community to feel solidarity with the Haitians affected by the earthquake due to their roots, but what most surprised me was the reaction of the Dominican population. It is not a secret that Dominicans frequently discriminate against Haitians that live here and live in Haiti. The president of this country has often talked about cracking down on Haitian immigrants, and frequently when I tell a Dominican that I live in a batey, they warn me of the dangers of living there because of the “Haitians that could rob and hurt you” or the just say “Ay mama” and shake their heads.
But ever since the earthquake happened I have noted a change in Dominican attitudes towards Haitians. First of all, due to the short distance between our capital and the Haitian capital, Dominicans were some of the first search and rescue and relief teams that arrived in Port-au-Prince. People from all over the country have also arranged donation drives to send materials and money through the Red Cross to Haiti. Three small villages (including my own) made an effort to collect money and goods to send to the border, and the DR did a “tele marathon fundraiser” a week before the one in the States was broadcast. I have also just noticed Dominicans being friendlier to Haitians in general. This is a tragedy that hit a country that has already been through so much pain and suffering, and I think the Dominicans here have recognized that and have changed their mindsets to help their “brethren” (which is what they are now being called).
It’s been two weeks now since the earthquake in Haiti, and though it is not in the headlines anymore, people here in the DR are still thinking about it. In my community, as soon as the earthquake happened everybody was glued to the television. Most people are second and third generation Dominican-Haitians, so though they know they have family in Haiti, they have lost contact with them. However everyone in my community was deeply saddened and concerned about the Haitian population. There are several people in my town that do have known family in Haiti, and they have still not been able to contact them to see if they are alright.
I expected the people in my community to feel solidarity with the Haitians affected by the earthquake due to their roots, but what most surprised me was the reaction of the Dominican population. It is not a secret that Dominicans frequently discriminate against Haitians that live here and live in Haiti. The president of this country has often talked about cracking down on Haitian immigrants, and frequently when I tell a Dominican that I live in a batey, they warn me of the dangers of living there because of the “Haitians that could rob and hurt you” or the just say “Ay mama” and shake their heads.
But ever since the earthquake happened I have noted a change in Dominican attitudes towards Haitians. First of all, due to the short distance between our capital and the Haitian capital, Dominicans were some of the first search and rescue and relief teams that arrived in Port-au-Prince. People from all over the country have also arranged donation drives to send materials and money through the Red Cross to Haiti. Three small villages (including my own) made an effort to collect money and goods to send to the border, and the DR did a “tele marathon fundraiser” a week before the one in the States was broadcast. I have also just noticed Dominicans being friendlier to Haitians in general. This is a tragedy that hit a country that has already been through so much pain and suffering, and I think the Dominicans here have recognized that and have changed their mindsets to help their “brethren” (which is what they are now being called).
December, 2009: Birth Certificates
Hello everyone, here is an article I wrote for our local Peace Corps DR publication. I think I’ve mentioned that getting birth certificates can be difficult for people of Haitian descent, here’s one example:
Our Future, And Theirs….
I first got to know Eliza when we (a Canadian nun and I) tried to convince her to join our young mother’s group. We were pointed to her house while interviewing all the young mothers in the batey. She was sitting on the porch with her baby; her three year old running around naked. I knew she also had a seven year old because he came to my house often to dance reggaeton and gaga to my neighbor’s radio. We posed the usual questions, asking her how many kids she had (3), their ages (1 year, 3 years, 7 years), whether they had their documents (no), whether she had her documents (no), and what her birthday was (she was born in 1986). Whoa, what? 1986? I was born that year.
She was my age, already had three children and had blazed through two “husbands”. Despite our age, we have no similarities in life. We thanked her for the information, invited her to come to our meetings, and went to the next house. She didn’t show up to the meetings for the first couple months; I only got little tidbits of information about her from her son, who spent his days at my house when his mother “se fue,” whatever that meant.
When the young mother’s group was finally able to organize an 8th grade adult class to be offered in our town, more women began to show up for our meetings at the prospect of something new and exciting. Eliza began to come, and proved to be responsible, respectful and animated about the class we were going to offer. She participated during the meetings, listened to others, and seemed excited for the class. The only problem is she doesn’t have her acta de nacimiento (birth certificate), since her mother is from Haiti and does not have documents. I encouraged her to enroll in the class anyway and promised we’d work on getting the documents before the end of the year so that she could take the mandatory national exam. She has been a much more reliable student than most; she goes to class every week, attends the weekly meetings I hold for the women, and shows up on time every Thursday when we all come together and work on homework. She’s smart, and her oldest boy is also one of the smartest ones in his class. When I see her participating, it is obvious she wants the best for herself and her children; she hasn’t given up like some other mothers her age that I see around.
Eliza was born in the Dominican Republic, barely speaks Kreyol, and has never been to Haiti. A couple weeks ago I invited a migration lawyer to come talk to the group about documentation and the new laws that the Dominican congress had recently passed. He discussed the new law that is soon to be enacted which allows those who can prove they have lived in this country more than ten years to become residents.
“But of course” he stipulates “that means you have to accept the fact that the government first and foremost recognizes you as Haitian”
“But I’m not Haitian, I was born here, I am not going to accept being Haitian.”
Eliza’s reasons for not accepting Haitian citizenship are not clear; maybe she simply feels Dominican, possibly she fears being labeled as Haitian, or perhaps she herself has negative feelings toward Haitians. Whatever it is, she told the lawyer clearly that she would not accept that proposal, and went on to ask him what he thought about trying to get someone else other than her parents to declare her. He strongly discourages it because of the problems with documentation it can bring later on in life. Even though many people have done it here in my town, everybody knows that currently the fiscalias are making it harder and harder for anyone who appears Haitian or has a last name that is not “Dominican” to get their documents.
After the lawyer explained the choice she had: acknowledge that the government labeled her as Haitian and get proper documents, or fight the label but stay sin documentos, Eliza looked as if she was going to cry. She left for a while and came back later with her backpack, ready to do her homework after the meeting. The lawyer kept talking, but she was not listening any more. It seemed as if any hope was lost.
I like to think that we as volunteers all still feel very young. We still have hopes and dreams and we know that we have possibilities ahead of us: jobs, grad school, marriage, adventures. For Eliza, who is my age, without documents she is already old. She has very few opportunities to change the trajectory of her life if she cannot study, work a legal job, or send her children to high school. Her life will involve surviving in this batey raising her children, with the odd job in a “casa de familia” or in Bávaro taking her away from the community for a while. But she will always return, because it is here where she can survive best without documents, with the support of her family and friends. Her only hope is that she might be able to find someone else to declare her children, or that the Dominican laws may someday change.
Dominican laws about documentation are changing slowly, but many do not trust that they will stick, and still others doubt that any of these changes will be implemented. As Peace Corps volunteers we can work on documentation projects, bring people to the fiscal, encourage them to find their documents, etc… But there are some people, like Eliza, whose cases are currently hopeless. When the new Peace Corps director came to visit a fellow volunteer asked him what kind of opportunities are available to RPCVs to stay involved and help the country they served from home. Here is an opportunity. The Dominican government is not going to listen to our pleas for fair residency laws from here, not to mention that we are not supposed to get involved in in-country politics. Nor does the political system here embrace advocacy, letter writing and canvassing nearly as much (if at all) as it does in the United States. But once we return, we have the potential to lobby our politicians and international organizations to pressure the Dominican government into changing the citizenship laws that so blatantly discriminate against Haitian descendents. It is one way to continue helping Eliza and the countless others who we have met here and are struggling due to these discriminatory laws.
For more information on efforts to change the laws, please refer to:
www.mudha.org
Our Future, And Theirs….
I first got to know Eliza when we (a Canadian nun and I) tried to convince her to join our young mother’s group. We were pointed to her house while interviewing all the young mothers in the batey. She was sitting on the porch with her baby; her three year old running around naked. I knew she also had a seven year old because he came to my house often to dance reggaeton and gaga to my neighbor’s radio. We posed the usual questions, asking her how many kids she had (3), their ages (1 year, 3 years, 7 years), whether they had their documents (no), whether she had her documents (no), and what her birthday was (she was born in 1986). Whoa, what? 1986? I was born that year.
She was my age, already had three children and had blazed through two “husbands”. Despite our age, we have no similarities in life. We thanked her for the information, invited her to come to our meetings, and went to the next house. She didn’t show up to the meetings for the first couple months; I only got little tidbits of information about her from her son, who spent his days at my house when his mother “se fue,” whatever that meant.
When the young mother’s group was finally able to organize an 8th grade adult class to be offered in our town, more women began to show up for our meetings at the prospect of something new and exciting. Eliza began to come, and proved to be responsible, respectful and animated about the class we were going to offer. She participated during the meetings, listened to others, and seemed excited for the class. The only problem is she doesn’t have her acta de nacimiento (birth certificate), since her mother is from Haiti and does not have documents. I encouraged her to enroll in the class anyway and promised we’d work on getting the documents before the end of the year so that she could take the mandatory national exam. She has been a much more reliable student than most; she goes to class every week, attends the weekly meetings I hold for the women, and shows up on time every Thursday when we all come together and work on homework. She’s smart, and her oldest boy is also one of the smartest ones in his class. When I see her participating, it is obvious she wants the best for herself and her children; she hasn’t given up like some other mothers her age that I see around.
Eliza was born in the Dominican Republic, barely speaks Kreyol, and has never been to Haiti. A couple weeks ago I invited a migration lawyer to come talk to the group about documentation and the new laws that the Dominican congress had recently passed. He discussed the new law that is soon to be enacted which allows those who can prove they have lived in this country more than ten years to become residents.
“But of course” he stipulates “that means you have to accept the fact that the government first and foremost recognizes you as Haitian”
“But I’m not Haitian, I was born here, I am not going to accept being Haitian.”
Eliza’s reasons for not accepting Haitian citizenship are not clear; maybe she simply feels Dominican, possibly she fears being labeled as Haitian, or perhaps she herself has negative feelings toward Haitians. Whatever it is, she told the lawyer clearly that she would not accept that proposal, and went on to ask him what he thought about trying to get someone else other than her parents to declare her. He strongly discourages it because of the problems with documentation it can bring later on in life. Even though many people have done it here in my town, everybody knows that currently the fiscalias are making it harder and harder for anyone who appears Haitian or has a last name that is not “Dominican” to get their documents.
After the lawyer explained the choice she had: acknowledge that the government labeled her as Haitian and get proper documents, or fight the label but stay sin documentos, Eliza looked as if she was going to cry. She left for a while and came back later with her backpack, ready to do her homework after the meeting. The lawyer kept talking, but she was not listening any more. It seemed as if any hope was lost.
I like to think that we as volunteers all still feel very young. We still have hopes and dreams and we know that we have possibilities ahead of us: jobs, grad school, marriage, adventures. For Eliza, who is my age, without documents she is already old. She has very few opportunities to change the trajectory of her life if she cannot study, work a legal job, or send her children to high school. Her life will involve surviving in this batey raising her children, with the odd job in a “casa de familia” or in Bávaro taking her away from the community for a while. But she will always return, because it is here where she can survive best without documents, with the support of her family and friends. Her only hope is that she might be able to find someone else to declare her children, or that the Dominican laws may someday change.
Dominican laws about documentation are changing slowly, but many do not trust that they will stick, and still others doubt that any of these changes will be implemented. As Peace Corps volunteers we can work on documentation projects, bring people to the fiscal, encourage them to find their documents, etc… But there are some people, like Eliza, whose cases are currently hopeless. When the new Peace Corps director came to visit a fellow volunteer asked him what kind of opportunities are available to RPCVs to stay involved and help the country they served from home. Here is an opportunity. The Dominican government is not going to listen to our pleas for fair residency laws from here, not to mention that we are not supposed to get involved in in-country politics. Nor does the political system here embrace advocacy, letter writing and canvassing nearly as much (if at all) as it does in the United States. But once we return, we have the potential to lobby our politicians and international organizations to pressure the Dominican government into changing the citizenship laws that so blatantly discriminate against Haitian descendents. It is one way to continue helping Eliza and the countless others who we have met here and are struggling due to these discriminatory laws.
For more information on efforts to change the laws, please refer to:
www.mudha.org
Thursday, November 12, 2009
November 7th, 2009: I think I might be insane---Another trip!
As you will remember if you have been reading my blog, about a month ago we hosted a group of Escojo health promotors in our community to have an over night event. Well this weekend, it was our turn to go visit them in their community! Since we have limited funding for these events, the kids each had to come up with 150 pesos (about four dollars) to be able to come on the trip. I didn’t think a lot of kids would be able to find that much money, and by the time the deadline (Monday) rolled around, only about ten kids out of 19 had turned in their money. However, after that several other kids came and gave me the money for the trip. I couldn’t say no because I knew they had worked hard to come up with that money, but the problem was that by Thursday night, the night before the trip, I had a group of 16 kids—yes that’s right, sixteen teenagers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen—that were ready to get up at 545 in the morning to travel. Now let me just say that usually when we do trips or camps there is a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of volunteers to kids—at this event it was going to be about 1:15. Needless to say, I was a little bit nervous about how the kids would behave and whether they would take advantage of the lack of adult supervision!
Because transportation is so expensive here, I began looking for ways to reduce the travel costs of a group that large, and luckily a friend of mine was able to help us out a bit. At 545 in the morning all seventeen of us piled in the back of a pickup truck and slowly made our bumpy way to the nearest town. There, I left five kids to pile in the car of a friend of my friend who works in the capital and offered to take the kids to the capital and drop them off at the bus stop of the next bus that we would be taking. Then I put another five kids in the back of a group of nuns' truck that was also on its way to the capital (I had to have a discussion with my kids before they got in about respecting nuns), and the other seven of us got on a public bus. Amazingly, we all ended up in the same spot and from there took another bus to a stop where the volunteer of the other group was waiting for us with another pick up truck to haul us all up the mountain to her community.
We arrived at the conference center where we were going to stay and were greeted by the other Escojo group. We had lunch, did some ice breakers, and headed to the beach. My kids, if they’re lucky, usually get to go to the beach once a year with the Canadians who bring them during one of their trips, so for them going to the beach was a huge treat! After that we got back and, to my surprise, the kids still wanted to swim in the pool. They swam and then bathed and set up the tents that they were going to sleep in (also the first time they had ever slept in tents)
That night we did workshops on leadership and discrimination, and then spent the rest of the night playing music and dominoes and just sitting around doing the typical Dominican “Compartir” (sharing). The kids were so excited to be somewhere other than their houses for the night that they couldn’t fall asleep early, despite the fact that they had been up since four and five am. It had begun to rain, and some of us had moved our mattresses into an outdoor meeting space that was more waterproof than the tents. All of my girls decided that they wanted to sleep there, and so I slept outside with my girls, which was great because it gave us a chance to have a mini sleepover and plenty of girl talk. Before going to sleep, however, I had to do several checks of the tents and other sleeping areas to make sure there was no “boy-girl” mixing. As far as I could tell, the kids were pretty respectful of the rules (I had to explain to my boys earlier that no, they could not just give a couple girls they had met kisses because we all knew that kisses led to other things that could have negative consequences).
We all woke up around 6 am with the sun; I personally woke up to the voices of my kids talking, and one even beating a drum (I promptly went over there and told him to be quiet, since others were still trying to sleep). The kids hosting the event did a great job; they had to cook and wash the dishes and clean the entire center that had been lent to them for the event—I was so impressed that they were being so responsible. I was especially impressed when they got up earlier than their volunteer to prepare breakfast for all thirty of us!
Before departing, my kids presented a great drama on the consequences of alcohol—I had not seen them rehearse it, but they got up there and performed wonderfully and gave out a great message! We then did an activity to practice making presentation materials, and then reflected on the last twenty-four hours. As my kids loaded into the pickup truck to go back down the mountain, they took out their instruments and began playing the merengues they have composed about Escojo. They played all the way down to the highway, and as soon as we got on the next bus they began to play again, getting a little more wild (our harmonica player and dancer claimed he was too hot, and before I knew it he was dancing around on the bus without his shirt!) While we were on that bus, one of the men who worked on the bus began hitting on me, calling me “mami” and harassing me a bit, which is pretty normal in this country. But to my surprise, my kids began to protest, saying that we were all going to get off the bus if he continued being disrespectful. I was touched that they were protecting me like that, I guess they have learned that I hate that kind of behavior and felt like it was their job to put a stop to it!
We arrived in the capital and all piled onto another bus that would take us to our nearest town. When we arrived, it was raining, and we had to wait quite some time until the pick-up that was supposed to come and get us showed up. We finally piled into that vehicle (which I was afraid would break every time we went over any big bump) and began to make our way back to Las Pajas. It rained on us the entire way there, and we were all getting very damp in the back of the pickup. Despite the fact that Dominicans hate getting wet and claim that if you get wet you will get a cold afterwards, the kids didn’t seem to mind the rain at all; all they could do was talk about what had happened at the “intercambio”(exchange) and who was “enamorado” (in love) with who. All throughout the trip, my kids hardly complained at all about whatever little problem arose (be it having to wait for a bus, walking to the beach because the truck broke down, or being hungry because they had left too early to eat breakfast, and on the last day we left late and didn’t eat lunch). They were troopers, and it was obvious that they were just happy to be traveling and knowing other places.
After being in my community for a year, it was fun to do this event because I saw some changes in myself and my kids. For example, I am now able to control a group of 16 teenagers on a five hour trip involving four different vehicles! During the drama and the workshops my kids were able to make significant contributions to the conversation thanks to the topics we have discussed in the classes I teach them. They also took me seriously when I asked them not to hook up with any other kids during the two days we were doing the event. I hope that this also reflects the fact that my kids have learned to be respectful and follow rules when need be. I think I have grown just as much as they have during this year; I have learned a lot from them and hopefully gained their respect, which is important when working in communities
It was also fun to see the group that hosted us working; they have been a group for longer than we have (the volunteer in that site is about to leave country) and they were able to lead a lot of activities and do a lot of tasks without the help of the volunteer, which is something I aspire to for my group. Despite the fact that being in charge of such a large group of youth was a bit stressful, and I arrived at my home exhausted, it was a great experience for both me and my youth, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if the opportunity arose.
Because transportation is so expensive here, I began looking for ways to reduce the travel costs of a group that large, and luckily a friend of mine was able to help us out a bit. At 545 in the morning all seventeen of us piled in the back of a pickup truck and slowly made our bumpy way to the nearest town. There, I left five kids to pile in the car of a friend of my friend who works in the capital and offered to take the kids to the capital and drop them off at the bus stop of the next bus that we would be taking. Then I put another five kids in the back of a group of nuns' truck that was also on its way to the capital (I had to have a discussion with my kids before they got in about respecting nuns), and the other seven of us got on a public bus. Amazingly, we all ended up in the same spot and from there took another bus to a stop where the volunteer of the other group was waiting for us with another pick up truck to haul us all up the mountain to her community.
We arrived at the conference center where we were going to stay and were greeted by the other Escojo group. We had lunch, did some ice breakers, and headed to the beach. My kids, if they’re lucky, usually get to go to the beach once a year with the Canadians who bring them during one of their trips, so for them going to the beach was a huge treat! After that we got back and, to my surprise, the kids still wanted to swim in the pool. They swam and then bathed and set up the tents that they were going to sleep in (also the first time they had ever slept in tents)
That night we did workshops on leadership and discrimination, and then spent the rest of the night playing music and dominoes and just sitting around doing the typical Dominican “Compartir” (sharing). The kids were so excited to be somewhere other than their houses for the night that they couldn’t fall asleep early, despite the fact that they had been up since four and five am. It had begun to rain, and some of us had moved our mattresses into an outdoor meeting space that was more waterproof than the tents. All of my girls decided that they wanted to sleep there, and so I slept outside with my girls, which was great because it gave us a chance to have a mini sleepover and plenty of girl talk. Before going to sleep, however, I had to do several checks of the tents and other sleeping areas to make sure there was no “boy-girl” mixing. As far as I could tell, the kids were pretty respectful of the rules (I had to explain to my boys earlier that no, they could not just give a couple girls they had met kisses because we all knew that kisses led to other things that could have negative consequences).
We all woke up around 6 am with the sun; I personally woke up to the voices of my kids talking, and one even beating a drum (I promptly went over there and told him to be quiet, since others were still trying to sleep). The kids hosting the event did a great job; they had to cook and wash the dishes and clean the entire center that had been lent to them for the event—I was so impressed that they were being so responsible. I was especially impressed when they got up earlier than their volunteer to prepare breakfast for all thirty of us!
Before departing, my kids presented a great drama on the consequences of alcohol—I had not seen them rehearse it, but they got up there and performed wonderfully and gave out a great message! We then did an activity to practice making presentation materials, and then reflected on the last twenty-four hours. As my kids loaded into the pickup truck to go back down the mountain, they took out their instruments and began playing the merengues they have composed about Escojo. They played all the way down to the highway, and as soon as we got on the next bus they began to play again, getting a little more wild (our harmonica player and dancer claimed he was too hot, and before I knew it he was dancing around on the bus without his shirt!) While we were on that bus, one of the men who worked on the bus began hitting on me, calling me “mami” and harassing me a bit, which is pretty normal in this country. But to my surprise, my kids began to protest, saying that we were all going to get off the bus if he continued being disrespectful. I was touched that they were protecting me like that, I guess they have learned that I hate that kind of behavior and felt like it was their job to put a stop to it!
We arrived in the capital and all piled onto another bus that would take us to our nearest town. When we arrived, it was raining, and we had to wait quite some time until the pick-up that was supposed to come and get us showed up. We finally piled into that vehicle (which I was afraid would break every time we went over any big bump) and began to make our way back to Las Pajas. It rained on us the entire way there, and we were all getting very damp in the back of the pickup. Despite the fact that Dominicans hate getting wet and claim that if you get wet you will get a cold afterwards, the kids didn’t seem to mind the rain at all; all they could do was talk about what had happened at the “intercambio”(exchange) and who was “enamorado” (in love) with who. All throughout the trip, my kids hardly complained at all about whatever little problem arose (be it having to wait for a bus, walking to the beach because the truck broke down, or being hungry because they had left too early to eat breakfast, and on the last day we left late and didn’t eat lunch). They were troopers, and it was obvious that they were just happy to be traveling and knowing other places.
After being in my community for a year, it was fun to do this event because I saw some changes in myself and my kids. For example, I am now able to control a group of 16 teenagers on a five hour trip involving four different vehicles! During the drama and the workshops my kids were able to make significant contributions to the conversation thanks to the topics we have discussed in the classes I teach them. They also took me seriously when I asked them not to hook up with any other kids during the two days we were doing the event. I hope that this also reflects the fact that my kids have learned to be respectful and follow rules when need be. I think I have grown just as much as they have during this year; I have learned a lot from them and hopefully gained their respect, which is important when working in communities
It was also fun to see the group that hosted us working; they have been a group for longer than we have (the volunteer in that site is about to leave country) and they were able to lead a lot of activities and do a lot of tasks without the help of the volunteer, which is something I aspire to for my group. Despite the fact that being in charge of such a large group of youth was a bit stressful, and I arrived at my home exhausted, it was a great experience for both me and my youth, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if the opportunity arose.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sirve Con Fuerza! (Serve with Force)
Well it seems anywhere I go I am able to involve myself in something that has to do with volleyball. Here, as I have mentioned before, I have a team that I coach in my site, and I have also been working on organizing several volleyball tournaments for teams that volunteers have been coaching.
This past weekend we had an overnight tournament near my site that went great. My girls were so excited to travel (even though it wasn't very far) and to spend the night somewhere else. The schedule went like this: We arrived, ate, introduced ourselves and talked about the rules of the tournament and good sportsmanship, then headed to a nearby school that had a court and played a round robin between all four teams. The teams were not exactly equal in size or skill (my team, for example had mainly 13 and 14 year olds, whereas another team had a twenty-year old), and several teams got absolutely creamed, but thanks to all our chats about good sportsmanship, the teams all supported each other and cheered each other on.
The first day my girls ended up winning two games and losing one (to the team that had the twenty-year old on it) and were happy when we left the court and went back to the center where we were staying. After shower time all the girls came down to the main room and one team gave a presentation on the consequences of teen pregnancy. After dinner and cake the girls did some activities to get to know each other better, and then they were supposed to go to bed. My girls at 9 pm had told me they were exhausted and wanted to go to bed, but at midnight they were still up giggling and running around.
Despite the late night, the girls woke up before 6 am to begin to get ready for the tournament. After breakfast we did several activities to get the girls thinking about self-esteem and how they affect their teammates' self-esteem, and then I taught them some volleyball cheers that we had in the States--they all loved the Ace cheers!
After that we headed to the court for the semi-finals and finals. My girls won their semi finals game easily, and then it was time for the finals, against the team with the 20 year old and several girls who actually knew how to jump and hit a ball really hard. My girls got super pumped up at first, but were a little scared in the first game and lost. The second game they came back from 3-10 to win 16-14 thanks to some good defense from my said and infighting on the other side. Unfortunately, the girls couldn't pull through and win the third game, but they fought hard and were proud of themselves for getting second in the tournament, and of course winning a trophy!
We finished the tournament by handing out trophies to the two first place teams, and volleyballs to the teams with best sportsmanship and the team who raised the most money for the tournament. The girls all had a great time and were excited to go back to their towns and keep practicing for the next tournament!
As you'll see in these photos, my team was "sponsored" by the Macalester volleyball team, who sent us uniforms, a net and balls, which came in handy for the tournament, thanks Mac!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
October 4th, 2009: Compartir! (Literally translated--sharing!)
One of the reasons I think many kids join the activities I do in my community is so that they can participate in the trips that go along with the activities. For the “Escojo Mi Vida” program (the group of youth health promotors in my site) every couple of months Peace Corps puts on a conference where two youth from each group are allowed to go. We also arrange what we call “intercambios” (quite literally, “exchanges”) where groups from different communities meet up for a day or two to focus on a new topic that they haven’t learned about, or review the information that they already learned. This past weekend, we had a group of seven youth and their volunteer come and visit our community for two days and one night, and I am pleased to say that it was a success!
The volunteer who came to visit wanted her group to see what a batey was—none of them had ever seen a batey, and many of them live a somewhat cushier life than the kids here live. The plan was to have them arrive at lunchtime, eat, do different icebreakers with the group here, give a presentation about gender inequality, and in the evening do team building activities and have some time to hang out with the youth. The next morning we would do a short workshop on public speaking, and then some closing activities. I was very stressed in the days following up to the event because we had to arrange for someone to make all the food, figure out the sleeping arrangements, prepare the center, etc, etc… And, as we all know, it’s usually hard to get teenagers to do everything you ask them to do, so I felt as if a lot of the preparation burden was on me.
The day of the event, despite the fact that one of the motorcycles that was carrying two of the visitors broke down, everyone arrived safe and sound and was very happy with their food. During the icebreakers it was obvious that both groups were still feeling very timid, and there was little chatting in between the two, which got me nervous. As the day went on, however, the kids warmed up to each other, and by the time we sent them off that night to sleep in my kids’ houses, I was pretty convinced that there wouldn’t be any problems. My favorite activity of the day was a scavenger hunt that the kids had to do together in the batey; they had to ask around and find out how to say several “Escojo” themed words in Kreyol, as well as find some random items (including an animal--see photo!)
In the evening the visiting group gave a presentation on the concept of gender inequality, which I hadn’t talked about with my kids in so many words. My youth loved thinking about gender roles in our community and the girls especially liked the idea that their brothers should help them do chores around the house!
That night we had arranged for several team building exercises; we did one but then realized that what the kids really wanted to do was sing and dance, so we let them! My group played the merengue songs they composed about Escojo, the other group danced to the songs, and then they continued on well into the night singing and telling jokes (we tried to make sure they weren’t too inappropriate, however sometimes us gringas still don’t understand everything that’s said, and I’m pretty sure some jokes went over our heads!). It was fun to look around the room and watch all of them enjoying themselves and getting along.
The next morning we did a short presentation on public speaking and had them practice tongue twisters, then let them sit around and ask each other questions about one anothers' communities. They asked each other some really interesting questions and were able to learn a little bit more about how the others lived. Everyone was sad that the event was ending, but the kids were all planning the date when our group could go down south to visit the other group!
I was especially happy with the way the event ended because, after constantly nagging the kids to help me with everything the first day, as we were finishing we assigned responsibilities for the clean up, and EVERYONE did what they were supposed to! That was maybe the most successful thing I’ve done all year—a 100% success rate!
Monday, September 28, 2009
September 21st, 2009: Bachelorette in the DR!
A Peace Corps friend of mine here is getting married next week, so to celebrate, sixteen of us went to the southern part of the country to hang out on the beaches and relax. We rested on a beautiful beach, used the pool at a nice hotel (of course, we couldn’t afford to stay there!) and did fun bachelorette party activities. Sounds pretty similar to a bachelorette weekend in the states, right? Well, some of it was very similar, but there were a couple things that reminded us that we were Peace Corps volunteers in the Dominican Republic, instead of people with jobs in the Unites States. Here are some examples:
--On the bus ride up to the hotel, we argued with a bus driver who was trying to charge us 75 cents more than normal for a bus ride. This included calling him a thief, him calling us thieves, and us paying him what we believed he deserved and then hurrying away. We consulted several locals later, who told us that the driver was indeed trying to scam us.
--One of the girls that was supposed to come to the party couldn’t because a snake had entered her house and eaten her kittens. She had to sleep in another house and missed the bus that she needed to take to get to us.
--Our plans to go out on the town the first night were foiled because the mayor’s daughter was having a “Quincenera” and all the local bars and discos had closed down for the event.
--when we went out dancing, we were dancing almost exclusively to bachata, merengue and reggaeton, not the typical disco music in the States!
Overall I had a great time, Dominicanness included! I was able to see a part of the country I had never seen before, and enjoy the company of my friends, many of whom I see very little!
--On the bus ride up to the hotel, we argued with a bus driver who was trying to charge us 75 cents more than normal for a bus ride. This included calling him a thief, him calling us thieves, and us paying him what we believed he deserved and then hurrying away. We consulted several locals later, who told us that the driver was indeed trying to scam us.
--One of the girls that was supposed to come to the party couldn’t because a snake had entered her house and eaten her kittens. She had to sleep in another house and missed the bus that she needed to take to get to us.
--Our plans to go out on the town the first night were foiled because the mayor’s daughter was having a “Quincenera” and all the local bars and discos had closed down for the event.
--when we went out dancing, we were dancing almost exclusively to bachata, merengue and reggaeton, not the typical disco music in the States!
Overall I had a great time, Dominicanness included! I was able to see a part of the country I had never seen before, and enjoy the company of my friends, many of whom I see very little!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
August 28th, 2009--Sports Camp!!
August 28th-30th: Sports Camp!
So to inaugurate the new school year I took two of the kids to my community to a sports camp that a group of volunteers and I organized. There were about twenty-two kids and eleven volunteers, which was a nice, manageable amount of people. I brought one boy and one girl from my community, neither of which had ever traveled as far as we did the first day to get to camp (it was about a four hour trip, probably about eighty miles, but it took so much longer because of public transportation).
The first day there we did some activities to promote good sportsmanship, then a group of volunteers taught the kids how to play kickball and we organized several games. After that the kids went to the pool for swim lessons and games, and then had time to shower and rest before dinner. After dinner we did team building activities and had “reflection” time where we broke into groups and talked about our day.
The second day we woke up in the morning at about 6 am—none of the kids could stay quite till the designated 7am wake up call-- and did yoga with all the kids (they definitely thought it was funny at first, but calmed down and seemed to enjoy it by the end). They then jumped in the pool and afterwards we coaxed them out for breakfast. After breakfast a group of volunteers went over the rules to play soccer, and then the kids played till they got tired out. After a snack, another volunteer and I did a presentation on good nutrition and had them play games to learn about the different food groups. After that, we ate lunch and came back to play volleyball. I did a short session on the rules and techniques for volleyball and we went and played. We ended that session with two games of volunteers vs. kids, and I am sad to say that my team lost :(.
After more shower time, we had divided the boys and girls and had a “taking care of your body session” which lead to many interesting questions (on the girls’ side at least). Then it was dinner time, and we had planned a bonfire, but it began to rain and we had to make a makeshift bonfire out of construction paper inside the gazebo and eat our smores uncooked. It didn’t matter though, the kids were happy anyways, and just played dominoes and sand and danced around the rest of the night.
The next day, after another yoga session and breakfast, we reviewed what we had learned and handed out certificates and medals. The kids were definitely sad to leave! On the way back, we passed through Santo Domingo and I gave my kids a tour of the Peace Corps office. They loved it and wanted to stay there for longer than we could. They came back tired but happy!
So to inaugurate the new school year I took two of the kids to my community to a sports camp that a group of volunteers and I organized. There were about twenty-two kids and eleven volunteers, which was a nice, manageable amount of people. I brought one boy and one girl from my community, neither of which had ever traveled as far as we did the first day to get to camp (it was about a four hour trip, probably about eighty miles, but it took so much longer because of public transportation).
The first day there we did some activities to promote good sportsmanship, then a group of volunteers taught the kids how to play kickball and we organized several games. After that the kids went to the pool for swim lessons and games, and then had time to shower and rest before dinner. After dinner we did team building activities and had “reflection” time where we broke into groups and talked about our day.
The second day we woke up in the morning at about 6 am—none of the kids could stay quite till the designated 7am wake up call-- and did yoga with all the kids (they definitely thought it was funny at first, but calmed down and seemed to enjoy it by the end). They then jumped in the pool and afterwards we coaxed them out for breakfast. After breakfast a group of volunteers went over the rules to play soccer, and then the kids played till they got tired out. After a snack, another volunteer and I did a presentation on good nutrition and had them play games to learn about the different food groups. After that, we ate lunch and came back to play volleyball. I did a short session on the rules and techniques for volleyball and we went and played. We ended that session with two games of volunteers vs. kids, and I am sad to say that my team lost :(.
After more shower time, we had divided the boys and girls and had a “taking care of your body session” which lead to many interesting questions (on the girls’ side at least). Then it was dinner time, and we had planned a bonfire, but it began to rain and we had to make a makeshift bonfire out of construction paper inside the gazebo and eat our smores uncooked. It didn’t matter though, the kids were happy anyways, and just played dominoes and sand and danced around the rest of the night.
The next day, after another yoga session and breakfast, we reviewed what we had learned and handed out certificates and medals. The kids were definitely sad to leave! On the way back, we passed through Santo Domingo and I gave my kids a tour of the Peace Corps office. They loved it and wanted to stay there for longer than we could. They came back tired but happy!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Please Help!
I’m writing today to ask you for your help with a camp that a group of Peace Corps volunteers are going to put on this fall. The camp, called “Celebrando el Este” will be a three day camp involving forty kids from all over the Eastern region of the country. At this camp the kids will learn about different countries and cultures and learn to identify and combat racism, gender discrimination and stereotyping through interactive workshops and activities. When they are finished with the conference they will be asked to return to their communities to coordinate activities and presentations related to the themes that are addressed over the course of the conference.
While the East has areas that are economically developed, the majority of the youth attending the conference hail from humble families where they have many hardships and few opportunities. Many times gender discrimination and racism are factors that contribute to these hardships. Here in the DR there is a complicated relationship between Dominicans, Haitians and their descendants. This includes blatant discrimination against Haitians and anyone that might have Haitian blood. This camp is an important opportunity for youth (of both Dominican and Haitian descent) to dialogue about current issues that they encounter in their communities. By doing so the camp's goal is to work towards the elimination of discrimination and promote understanding amongst youth and their communities. We hope that these youth will learn about other cultures and examine their own identities, and in doing so, begin to think beyond their neighborhoods and current lives and aspire towards a better future for themselves and their communities.
The campers themselves are required to raise funds to participate, however in this case we also rely heavily on individual donors such as yourselves to help cover the costs of food, lodging and transportation. If you’re able, please consider sponsoring a camper by donating money at the Peace Corps-sponsored link below. We are asking you for a small contribution to our cause in order to help fund this conference. Any amount would help us put on this very important camp. In order to donate, please go to the link https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-315 .
Sometimes the website may be down, so if it doesn’t work the first time, please try, try again! We would love to send donors Thank-You cards in appreciation of your generosity. If you would like to receive one, please be sure to fill out all the contact information on the donation web form.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Brianna, future Celebrando el Este campers and all the Eastern DR Peace Corps Volunteers
While the East has areas that are economically developed, the majority of the youth attending the conference hail from humble families where they have many hardships and few opportunities. Many times gender discrimination and racism are factors that contribute to these hardships. Here in the DR there is a complicated relationship between Dominicans, Haitians and their descendants. This includes blatant discrimination against Haitians and anyone that might have Haitian blood. This camp is an important opportunity for youth (of both Dominican and Haitian descent) to dialogue about current issues that they encounter in their communities. By doing so the camp's goal is to work towards the elimination of discrimination and promote understanding amongst youth and their communities. We hope that these youth will learn about other cultures and examine their own identities, and in doing so, begin to think beyond their neighborhoods and current lives and aspire towards a better future for themselves and their communities.
The campers themselves are required to raise funds to participate, however in this case we also rely heavily on individual donors such as yourselves to help cover the costs of food, lodging and transportation. If you’re able, please consider sponsoring a camper by donating money at the Peace Corps-sponsored link below. We are asking you for a small contribution to our cause in order to help fund this conference. Any amount would help us put on this very important camp. In order to donate, please go to the link https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-315 .
Sometimes the website may be down, so if it doesn’t work the first time, please try, try again! We would love to send donors Thank-You cards in appreciation of your generosity. If you would like to receive one, please be sure to fill out all the contact information on the donation web form.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Brianna, future Celebrando el Este campers and all the Eastern DR Peace Corps Volunteers
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