Cockfights for Christmas

I spent another Christmas here in the Dominican Republic and this year I decided to do something a little different. After "noche buena" which is Christmas Eve (where I ate with my host family, the tradition) came Christmas day. I went with my boyfriend up to see the cockfights at the cockfighting ring. This is a HUGE deal on Christmas day. After the fights there is a huge party and is kind of the social event of the year. I really just wanted to see the cockfights as these parties have a tendency to break out in violence.
The point of cockfighting is to bet on the cocks and make money. As you can see from the first picture, the cock handlers go around and take bets on their rooster and the audience also bets amongst themselves. Then, as the fight is taking place, the betting continues and people try to hedge their first bets if they feel they are loosing or make more money if they're winning. The whole thing is based on a honor system and while there is a good amount of shouting and hand gestures, people know what's going on and there usually isn't a problem.
About 2 minutes after we get in they were still settling bets from the last cockfight and two people were arguing over a bet and started fighting physically. We ran out of there and waited until the fighting stopped to go back in and see the rest. After the cockfights were over, we decided to leave before the party really got going. I heard the next day that a huge fight broke out at that party as well, and there was flying glass (guns and knives aren't allowed into the cockfighting arena) everywhere.
I had a good Christmas and need to thank everyone who sent me cards and packages! My friend Chris from Custer is coming to visit me for New Year's, so I'll have another story to tell then!

Merry Christmas!

First, the GRANT IS UP! Donate online here!
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-340
It's 100% tax deductible and a great gift for Christmas!

As I prepare to spend my second Christmas away from my family and see everyone else in full Christmas mode, I can’t help but reflect on how this season, regardless of your beliefs, makes you contemplate so many things. I’m not trying to say that Christmas is a more valid holiday than any other or that Christianity a more valid religion, but the real message behind the holiday is that the world needs peace.
Why are there so many things wrong with the world when, in general, the majority of the individuals in it are good? I have run into your run of the mill “seedy” individuals here in the DR, but most of the people want nothing more than to help each other. When I did my diagnostic a year ago, the biggest “strength” mentioned was the solidarity among the community. How can we achieve peace on nearly all small scales, but hardly ever on a large one?
Now, I am not a peace worker or even a pacifist, but it seems as though every group of people has its group of people that it hates but every individual in that group can name an individual of that other group that it likes. Imagine what the world would be like if we only pursued that bad individuals and not the whole group that that individual belongs to.
Christmas down here is a big deal. It’s not a big deal like in the US where we all worry about presents and shopping and deals and sales. Most families can’t afford to get presents and it’s not the custom to give them on Christmas (families that can afford it give their children presents on the 6th of January, 3 Kings Day). In my area people are a little better off in general and right now everyone just sold their coffee so they have a little more money. Instead of buying presents they maybe buy new clothes (the only time during the year they have the money to do so) and spend the rest of their “extra” income on food so they can invite their neighbors and friends to eat and share. Don’t get me wrong, I like getting presents and giving them as much as any American, but it does seem nice that the emphasis is on honoring the relationships you have with all people. Now, if we could only get that emphasis to cross boarders and carry beyond Christmas.

I thought I'd give everyone a little update on things. First, the ultrasound grant should be up soon. When it is I'll hopefully have internet and will give you the specific link, but if I don't, you can periodically check this website:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors
Type in my last name (Borg) and if it's up it will show up and you can donate money to get my community this needed machine!

Things with the medical mission are going along, but I did not realize how much teeth pulling I would have to do on the end of things here (with the government and community members.) I understand with the community members, right now is their busiest time (harvest) and they just don't have time to help me, but the government dodges the idea altogether. Little do they know that I am more stubborn than the donkeys the farmers use to transport coffee. I go back in on Wednesday to hopefully finally meet with the director of it all (who is on my side) and get everything taken care of.

Thanksgiving is a great time for PC volunteers in the DR. We all get together, rent out a country club and cook a traditional Thanksgiving feast. It was a lot of fun catching up and eating good American food. I couldn't believe how much I missed my family this year (no offense guys, but last year everything was so new, I didn't miss you that much), but this year I can tell the holidays are going to make me miss home. Claire (the closest volunteer to me) and the new German volunteer in my site will both be here, so we will celebrate by going to a cock fight. Then, a friend from high school, Chris, will be coming to visit for New Years (MY FIRST VISITOR!)

This week is my one year in service training. This is where all the volunteers from my training group get together to talk about what has gone well, what hasn't, give advice, and basically just give moral support. I am very excited to share the amazing progress of my hospital and other projects, as well as get ideas on how to proceed with certain challenges.

There will hopefully be something more interesting to report next time, but until then, thanks for all of your support, be sure to spend your Christmas bonus on my project (feeling guilty yet?) and I hope you're all enjoying the chilly weather in the US!

Ben and Jerry's

So, the coolest thing I've done in a while was this last week. First, I went to the East to help another volunteer with her ecotourism guides. We went to her waterfall and then a couple caves. It was fun and I think the guides learned a lot. Then, on Friday, we went to another volunteers site to help build a playground. This playground was sponsored by Ben and Jerry's ice cream from the US. Ben and Jerry's had a contest around the world for people to create a new flavor using fair trade products. Ben and Jerry's made a fair trade ice cream with chocolate and macadamia and decided to buy their chocolate from this volunteer's chocolate (which is fair trade certified) to use in this ice cream. When they came to visit the chocolate site, they decided it would be great to use for the contest finalists. The finalists (from 15 different countries) came to do community service, and they decided to do a playground. So, a couple volunteers came to help translate (all finalists spoke English) and help build the park. Ben and Jerry's brought ice cream for all of us (AWESOME!) and then at the end Ben and Jerry themselves came to inaugurate the park. It was a lot of fun.

The last couple of weeks I have been working hard on the medical mission. I am jumping through hoops with the government, finding host families, and doing community outreach. I also wrote a grant to get money to buy an ultrasound. The grant will rely on online donations from people like you! The online site isn't up yet, but when it is I will put the link up here so you can help make my project a reality!

Sorry this is short, but I've really got to get going, I'll hopefully get an update next week!

Coffee Harvest

I have now been back in the country for a little over two weeks. What has been accomplished in those two weeks? Not a whole lot.
There are a couple reasons. First, since the due dates for the grants I was working on passed while I was in the US, I now have to wait 4 months to send in for the scholarship grants and the library grant (the library grant is “replacing” the stove grant). Both of these grants need a bit of work (a lot in the case of the library grant), but we have 4 months to do it, so people aren’t feeling too rushed yet. The medical mission in scheduled for February, and while there is a ton of work to do for that, the second, and more prominent reason that nothing has been accomplished keeps getting in the way of my progress. That reason is that right now it’s the coffee harvest. Any of you who are farmers out there can relate a little to this phenomenon of everything coming to a halt except the harvest. Take what you feel as a halt and multiply it by 1000.
Here’s why: coffee is a VERY labor intensive crop. There are no machines to harvest it; it has to be picked by hand. It’s not that these people are just too poor for machines; it’s that coffee is grown under and among other plants on the side of steep mountains, machines just aren’t feasible. EVERYONE picks coffee right now, kids, men, women, and about 7,000 Haitian migrant workers. After it’s picked and de-pulped it’s brought to the warehouse (this is where my association comes in) to be processed. Here is it processed the rest of the way (which includes drying, de-husking, classifying, sorting, bagging and perhaps toasting and grinding.) This process can take anywhere from 1-5 days depending on a variety of factors. Since 80% of the 10,000 residents’ primary income source is coffee and 50% of those utilize my association to process their coffee, the tiny staff has a lot to do during this time, and not a whole lot of time to help me out. Not only that, the people I work with who don’t work in coffee are still working overtime on whatever it is that they sell because now all the coffee farmers have money again.
I know it may seem like that now, after a year, I should be able to do everything on my own. In reality, I can, but there are two factors that stop me from doing that. First, while I know what we’re doing, can speak Spanish, and am actually the one organizing and planning everything, if I execute it by myself without a Dominican with me, people have less trust in the project. Not that they think I don’t know what I’m doing or that they distrust Americans, it’s that they’ve only known me for a year, and in a culture where relationships are the biggest part of your life, a year is nothing. Secondly, I will be gone in a year. The point of my service is sustainability. Clearly these people don’t need to build the library after I’m gone, but they need to know how we organized things and what the goal of the library was, why we did things the way we did.
Since there aren’t a whole lot of people free to do with projects, Claire (the other Peace Corps Volunteer), Theresa (a new volunteer from a German organization) and I have been hanging out a lot. In fact, I think tomorrow I will be going with them (and a Dominican or course) to see the opening cock fight of the season. It will be the first I’ve gone to. I’ll let you know how it went if I go.

Back to the DR!

So, after a frustrating morning running around to get authorization for my CT scan because things got all screwed up, I am officially cleared to return to the DR and will leave tomorrow morning at 8am! I'll be in the office in the capital tomorrow night and all day on Thursday, so if you have any last minute messages, send them quick, because I will probably retreat to my community (ie, no internet) for a good while since I've been gone so long. Thanks to EVERYONE for your messages and support, I appreciate it all. I am so lucky to have everyone supporting me! Thanks!

Still in DC

So, the kidney stone is passing and I got the stent taken out today. Being here waiting in DC has been very tough. I've been too uncomfortable until today to walk around much or be far from a bathroom because of the stent. Because I've been here, two of my projects (the stoves and the scholarships) will have to be put on hold because I will miss the grant deadlines and I've been feeling a little helpless. Luckily I've had the support of all my friends and family and a couple friends here in DC have gone out of their way to see me and keep me entertained.

Yesterday Peace Corps decided they did not want me to return to the DR because I had a kidney stone before and they didn't want me to have another one in the year I have left. My case worker and I got a plan together to fight their decision and we have won on two conditions. First, I go back in on Tuesday (a week from today) to do a scan to see if I have any more stones. If I am stone free, I can go back. If not, I'm out. Second, if I have a stone within the next year, I am automatically out. So, it's great news to know that I should be going back (it's very unlikely I'll have a stone present in this scan on Tuesday). It stinks that I have to wait until Tuesday and that I've been here as long as I have, but, at least things are proceeding.

Being here has shown me a couple things. First, I miss the DR terribly. I already knew I loved my job and belonged there, but this just reiterates it. I decided that even if I was kicked out, I would still return on my own accord and money. I need to finish my work, it's what I was meant to do with this part of my life. It shows me even more that I have found what will fulfill me in my life and that is a great feeling. I also have realized that it will be very hard to me to adjust mentally to the American lifestyle upon returning. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the hot water, private cars, food, TV, and all the other luxuries. But, I can't help but feel guilty. I've always felt guilty and the guilt drives me to do the things that I love, but it's different now that I've lived without all those things and realized how easy it was, how simple it would be to give that up to help other people. The ridiculousness of how much we have here is baffling to me. I read an article this morning about how food banks are having to change their strategies because so many middle class people are now having to use them and they want to be discreet and are far more picky when it comes to the type of food they take home. They drive up in their fancy SUVs with their designer purses to pick up food at the food bank because they "have no money." Here's an idea, sell your purse and your car. I was so outraged by the story and how these people were justifying it I almost peed my pants (of course, this was before the stent was removed, so that feeling has become pretty common ;) Everyone knows other people are starving in other countries, but it's different to know it and to live it. I knew PC would change me for life, but I actually think it will drastically effect every decision I make when I get back.

In DC

I am in Washington DC on a medical evacuation for a kidney stone. The problem started last Sunday (as in a week and a half ago) when I got a high fever and went in to get it checked out on Monday. The hospital found a raging UTI (which I had no symptoms for except for the fever) and then a large kidney stone on the right side (also, no symptoms). I waited a couple days and then went back to my site for the doctors to figure out what to do with me. I returned on Monday for another exam where the doctor told me that the lithotripsy and laser were too dangerous because of where the stone was. The doctors in Washington DC (the ones who make the ultimate decision on my health) decided that wasn't good enough and on Wednesday decided to send me to the States to do treatment there. I left Thursday morning and when I landed immediately met with a urologist here. He said the lithotripsy wasn't dangerous and now I have plans to get that procedure done tomorrow afternoon. Then I will have to wait 1-2 weeks to make sure all of the stone comes out before being able to be released to return to the DR.

Throughout all of this I did not want to leave the DR. Getting medically evacuated puts my service at jeapordy. If I cannot resolve the problem in less than 45 days, the PC is required to end my service. Additionally, they may decide that the problem is too dangerous to send me back. If you're hoping or praying for anything, let it be that I will be able to return to my country and continue my work. Because I will be here waiting, two of my major projects will miss the deadline for grants submission and will fall through for at least 4 months. This is a huge blow to my work, progress, and general mental well being.

Additionally, this whole process has shown just how much I will never really be integrated into my community. As much as I pride myself on the solidarity I share within my community, when it comes down to it, I am not one of them. When this came up, I went to the best private hospital in the country, was immediately seen by the best urologist in the country, and ultimately sent to the US the very next day it was decided that should happen. There is not one other person in my community who could even access the first hospital I went to, let alone the urologist or the trip to the US. I understand my well-being is important for my work, but being a part of the community is the only way I can get work done. So, it is almost as important as me being healthy.

I am glad that I came to the US because I do not need to have invasive surgery here like was recommended in the DR. However, I feel alone (I have great family and friends support, don't get me wrong, but Washington is not my home) and disconnected from the community I've worked so hard to become connected to. My projects are going to suffer greatly and I only hope that this situation does not highlight to my community that when it boils down to it, I will always be the rich American with priveleges they will never have.

In the meantime, if you want to call me, I am staying at the Virginian Hotel, 703-522-9600

1 Year

I have officially been in the Dominican Republic for a year. I can think of no other year that has brought as many changes in my world as this one.

I have: moved to a developing country, learned Spanish (more or less), forgotten a good bit of English, had a dead rat in my wall, had cockroaches in my bed, taught the English I am rapidly forgetting, learned Dominican culture and politics (both are equally important if you want to work here), opened a working clinic, ridden in the back of a truck 3 hours each way on July 4^th to swim in a beautiful bay while singing patriotic songs the whole way with 20 people I didn’t know a year ago, jumped of 27 waterfalls, got a foot infection from those 27 waterfalls, gotten a dog to whom I am now apparently allergic, witnessed my only sister get married, had my mom move to somewhere about as remote (and harder to get to) than me, started an exercise group for the women in my community, laid down the foundations to start a library, computer center, and better cook stoves project, started a scholarship program for unemployed adults, helped secure an ambulance for the area, ridden out 4 hurricanes and countless road destroying rain storms, ridden out 5 transportation strikes, had the Michael Jackson skin disease (vitiligo), had about 10 hot showers (not including Cassie’s wedding where I took more than my fair share), encountered 5 working toilets, had about 4 days of full electricity, learned just how long certain foods last without refrigeration, killed a scorpion trapped in my friends mosquito net, received a TON of love and support (and phone calls, packages and letters!) from my friends and family back home and discovered that this really is the place I should be and what I should be doing. This was reiterated by one of my project partners when he asked me if recently I really had to go in a year and couldn’t I stay for at least two more years? (don’t worry, that’s not going to happen.)

There are more things than that, but those were the “biggies”. I know this next year will be more successful (at least that’s the case with most volunteers, after the first year of adjustments and gaining community knowledge; the second year is easier to work). Projects I have planned for next year and two months (training is not a part of service, so while I’ve been in country one year, I have a year and two months of service left) are the library, computer center, stove project, compost project, possible coffee pulp fuel project, medical mission (Feb 2-4) and continued hospital work, and expanding the scholarship program to help ambitious unemployed youth gain capital (through grants or small, low-interest loans) to start businesses with my guidance. I will continue to give English and exercise classes, and when tourist season starts up, work on the eco-tourism project to see if we can’t actually make some money on it this year.

I am, of course, always open to: visitors, packages, letters, phone calls, text messages, e-mails, and smoke signals. And, being as the internet and mail services aren’t that great here, smoke signals might be your best bet; I’ll be looking out for them.

Sadie's Pics

The New Sadie

I got a dog. A family from the embassy was leaving the country and didn’t want to bring their three year old Shar Pei, unfortunately named Sadie (unfortunate because my dog from the States that died while I was here was named Sadie and unfortunate because Dominicans have a hard time pronouncing Sadie even though both the “Sa” and the “die” sounds occur frequently in Spanish). I decided to take her because she was already spayed and had her shots and came with all the stuff ready to go. One of the reasons I was hesitant to get a dog was because those things are incredibly inconvenient if you live where I do and very expensive (remember, I’m a volunteer, and while I have enough money for myself, it doesn’t extend to cover an operation for a dog.) I also don’t have time to train a hyper puppy, so an already trained, calm dog was perfect. The family decided they could bring to dog to San Cristóbal as there isn’t a viable transportation option for dogs between there and the capital. I picked up the dog in San Cristóbal along with all her toys, necessities, and a 50 lb. bag of dog food. He had never been to San Cristóbal before so I wasn’t about to have him take that stuff to the bus stop (traffic nightmare), so I had my friend, Chulin, help me carry the things from the park to the bus stop (and when I say “help me” he carried it all and I walked the dog).

We get to the bus stop and I decide it would be a disaster to try and take her inside one of the crammed buses and better to wait for one of the trucks and ride with her in the back of the truck (this would be a 6 hour wait). Chulin (knowing he is my best friend here) decided he would wait with me. Thank God he did. Apparently, Dominicans are terrified of dogs. She has a wrinkly face and so they automatically think she is a Pitbull. Chulin would explain to everyone who chose to walk on the street instead of the sidewalk where we were standing that she wouldn’t bite them and she’s on a leash, but it didn’t matter. The funny thing is, I have never met a calmer dog. She doesn’t bark, bite, howl, whine, and she hardly even sniffs people or animals. She’s perfect for here because people don’t know how to act around pet dogs that aren’t aggressive (most people have dogs her size for dog fights or to protect their house from thieves), so I’m having to train everyone that they shouldn’t throw rocks at her or hit her. All of the kids near my house love to come because they can pet her, and for a lot of them that’s the first time they’ve been able to pet a dog. This dog will never want for attention and as I’m writing this she’s on her third walk of the day (none of which were by me.) While having her will be more work, I think changing some people’s opinions of how dogs can be if they are raised correctly will be worth it.

The reason I haven’t taken her for a walk yet is because I got an infection in a cut on my foot from the 27 Waterfalls. It’s a LOT better than it was but I still cannot wear tennis shoes and walking in flip flops here just fills the cut with dirt and sand. I think it should be completely fixed in a week or so and then I will start trying to burn off the 15 lbs. I’ve gained since coming here.

As for projects, things are in the planning stage right now, which means a lot of waiting and not a lot of doing. The hospital’s ambulance is an actual real ambulance, which is good, but it’s having trouble driving around on the streets because it’s so big and doesn’t have enough power to get up some of the horrible mountain roads. We’ll see what ends up happening. They might just switch it to a hollowed out mini-van, which was the plan in the first place before the senator got involved (we don’t really need sirens as it is not Dominican custom to yield to them anyway). The good news is that the idea of having better health care is catching on and the public health committee in my town is seeing how harassing the government relentlessly is starting to get stuff done. Now that we have more equipment (again, I cannot thank Mom and Grandma enough), the stuff left to be done is fine-tuning (you know, like having a sufficient supply of gloves), so now this committee feels more empowered to complain to the government and get what they deserve. It’s a different kind of sustainability, but sustainability none the less. I hope they can keep it up when I’m gone.

I found different stoves that cost about half as much, so I’m much more excited about this project. I now have to find a time to go up north where the stoves are being built to see how they are and what the building plans look like. Then, I can talk to people and get the list narrowed down (which, even though I can now help twice as many people, will still be a huge pain) and submit a grant request.

The scholarship program for unemployed adults is going well, but it kind of seems like some of the women don’t understand that the purpose of technical training is to then get work and make money. A couple of them live so far away from anything and have so much work to do in the house, that work outside of the house is basically impossible. I feel like this project will greatly benefit about 4 of the 6 that are receiving scholarships, but it sucks that it might be wasted on 2 of them.

The municipal government and I are going to start a library project. The old library was destroyed in Hurricane Noel, and while the building was partially restored, it is now being used as a house for a family whose house was destroyed by the same storm. The mayor built a HUGE new building for their offices (as their building was destroyed as well) and the third floor will be used as a multi-purpose room/library. My job will be getting books (in Spanish) or money to buy books to stock the library. There are a couple resources that Peace Corps has for library projects, but a lot of them are for the construction of the building, less for the buying of books, so if any of you know of organizations that donate used books (in Spanish) or work with childhood education, things of that nature, let me know. The ultimate goal, after the library is open, is to have a homework room and reading program. I would really like to have a program such as “Book-It” in America (clearly the prize will not be Pizza Hut gift certificates), but a similar idea, so we are putting together a “culture committee” with representatives from the Teacher’s Union, Mayor’s Office, and University Students Group to assist with these ideas. I am really excited about this project. It will help everyone in the community and hopefully help some of these students catch up to their peers in other parts of the country and world.

27 Charcos

So my birthday went well. Unfortunately there are no pictures of the 27 charcos because we left our cameras at the insistance of the guides so they wouldn't get ruined or wet and they told us we could buy a disposable water proof one at the visiter center. We got there and they were out of cameras, so we have no pictures. But, it was a BLAST. If any of you come down here and are into hiking, beauty, and a little adventure, this is what you should do. http://www.27charcos.com/index.php

I got to see two more volunteer's places, so that was nice. It's always nice to see how you live compared to other volunteers.

Apparently our ambulance made it to my site on Saturday while I was here, so at least now we have one. The sad news is that it is supposedly covered with pictures of our Senator who took all the credit for the project.

I am now sticking it out in the capital because there is a transportation strike between here and my site, so I am just hanging out here until it clears up tomorrow. What a pain.

Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. If you sent me any packages, the mail is backed up so I am not getting anything right now. Hopefully in a couple weeks!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It seems to be official that we are never going to get internet again in my site, so blogs and e-mail answers will be relegated to when I am in the capital.

I am passing through the capital today to go to the 27 charcos (a “charco” is the small pool at the bottom of a waterfall). It is a national park that Peace Corps helped developed and there is currently a volunteer working there. You go and you can get a guide to take you up and jump off the waterfalls. It’s really one stream with a 27 different drop offs in succession. I plan on doing all of them on the 27^th, my birthday! I have some other volunteer friends coming up there and we are staying at the houses of a couple volunteers that live near there.

When I get back to my site my friend, Chulino, told me he was going to show me a Dominican birthday tradition. I asked around and found out what he was planning. The tradition is to through water, eggs, and flour on the person for their birthday. So, on the 28^th, I will be covered in water, eggs, and flour in celebration of me turning 23. Chulino’s birthday is on August 5^th, so I will at least be able to get him back in a couple weeks.

Last week I went to the hospital to set up the cardiac monitor which wasn’t set up because we didn’t have a table to put it on. When I got there and went into the room where it was being stored I realized there were boxes of needles and other supplies that they need and claim they don’t have. They were supplies Mom sent down, so they were “saving” them for when they really needed them. Then, I realized that the doctor I gave the much needed fetal Doppler to had not informed the other doctors that they had it, so between those things, the work at the hospital is still a priority even though we’ve had a huge amount of progress. The ambulance should be arriving on August 2^nd and we worked it out with another government organization (that has nothing to do with health) to pay for the gas and driver when we needed to use it.

A couple of my projects (the computer center and the homework center) were put on hold until next month because the mayor’s office (the people helping me with these projects) decided to wait to start them until they’ve finished their new building. I think this is a good thing, the new building is huge (and quite frankly a waste of money), but at least I get to put it to good use. We are also going to put a library in the building, so I will start searching for places to donate money or books. The community used to have a library but it was washed out in Hurricane Noel. The building was fixed up but donated to a family who lost their home. They managed to salvage some of the books, but not very many, certainly not enough to have a library.

The stove project is coming along. I’ve finally got my project partners to realize there is a finite amount of money and I can’t just give everyone of a free stove. Now, breaking that news to the people will be a pain and a lot of people will probably think I’m just a horrible person, but in I can deal with that as long as I know I’m doing the right thing. It still amazes me how some people understand completely when I tell them about how I can’t give them a free stove and might not be able to help them at all because there are so many people and others yell at me for being a greedy, rich American who doesn’t realize how poor he or she really is (I mean, do they think I’m keeping the money for myself?). A man here has decided he wants to make the making of these stoves a business so Claire and I are setting him on the right path. I’m not sure he’ll have enough clients to make a lot of money (the stoves are expensive, that’s why volunteers do them, they can find money to lower the costs), but he assured us he does. This might actually make my job easier because if he knows how to do the stoves well before I get the money to do the project, I can just hire him and save money training a new person.

There was a big rain storm that came through this last week. In one night it turned the stream behind my house into a raging river. The repairs to my tin roof didn’t hold and I woke up to dream where I was swimming in a river and freezing, in reality my bed was soaked and my floor was a lake. I had to move everything out of my bedroom and my mattress is still not dry. My house is positioned so I will never have major structural damage from the rain, but on the other side of the stream from my house there were some people who went to sleep with a backyard and woke up without one. The basketball court that the mayor started rebuilding was completely washed away as well. I’m now working rapidly to fix my roof before we get a real hurricane and I have to turn my bed into a boat.

Video Link

Hopefully this works for everyone!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=617837297580&ref=mf

If it doesn't, and you don't have facebook (you can find it on my profile if you do), then find someone who does!

Poop Stories

The back of the truck going 3 hours on a bad road to the Bay. There are 20 of us!
Another volunteer, Jesse, and I looking out over the ocean. This is the view from our hostel.
One view of the bay.
Second view of the bay.

In Peace Corps, poop is a big deal. Whether you are pooping too much or not enough, it's usually an issue being discussed. After the 4th of July, which was AMAZING, I went to Batey 6. Batey's were created to house the Haitian migrants working in the sugar cane harvest. Now, they are permanent residents for the Haitians that work on the sugar cane harvest and then don't leave because, well, Haiti doesn't have any opportunities either. Needless to say, this place is POOR. Hardly anyone has a bathroom or latrine. They bathe in the river, which is gross, and use the sugar cane fields to go the bathroom. My volunteer friend that lives there uses the NGO office she works with to go to the bathroom and bathes on her cement floor. This morning, however, before I left to go home, I had to use the bathroom. It was 6AM and the office wasn't open and most people were sleeping. The bus was 4 hours, so I decided to have the Batey experience and use the sugar cane fields. It was...interesting. You never realize how incredibly good you have it until you have to use a field to go to the bathroom, and that's just normal for the people that live there.

The other bad thing about the Bateys is they are dry and deforested. That means, there are dust storms really bad. In the states it wouldn't matter so much because your houses can easily be shut, but here that is not possible. You get dust EVERYWHERE. In your teeth, in your cup of water while you're drinking it, everywhere. It was such a change from my mostly wet community where we have dust, just not to the point where it could be considered a health hazard.

Back up to my site today, no internet until I come down for my birthday on the 26th. Hope you're all doing well!

My Video Didn't Work.

I made a little video on the hospital. It was taking too long to load so I left it for now. What we really need are: Nurses, medicines, and replacements for the disposable items like gloves. The problem is that our liaison between here and the regional office sucks. So, I am going to do an analysis of the hospital’s daily needs and record how much it can’t meet them because we don’t have the correct medicines or supplies (because the regional office sends us the wrong stuff) and then bring it to the regional office myself because, seriously, who ever heard of a hospital without gloves? We did get a ambulance that should be arriving on the 2nd of August and we got a different government agency (a coffee and agriculture association, not a health association) to agree to pay for the gas and driver when someone needs to be taken in. That will be an amazing thing to have because right now people have to wait up to an hour to be taken to a hospital with the equipment to help a serious emergency (think blood transfusions, head injuries), and then it will cost the patient about 2,000 pesos (the average family makes about 5,000/month), so it's clearly not affordable.

The stove project is going along but I did put my foot down about what kind of people I would find funding for. I thought it was a little selfish that the people with gas stoves and the money to buy one of these other stoves (which, they probably won’t even use) still want me to find money for them. I get so sick of hearing how “poor” someone is. I understand they are poor, but that is such a relative word and compared to their neighbors, these people are rich. I explained to my project partners that there was a finite amount of funding and I wasn’t going to take it from someone else who really needed it to give it to someone who doesn’t. They didn’t seem too pleased, but frankly I don’t care. It’s not that I don’t want to help these people; it’s just that there are other people that need more help. I can tell that this project is going to make me some enemies and be a huge pain; I just hope it really helps someone and it’s worth it.

For the 4^th of July I am going to the very southern part of the country toward the Haitian border. Some friends and I are going to Bahía de las Aguilas (Bay of Eagles) to enjoy a gorgeous, undeveloped, protected beach. It also happens to be sea turtle birthing season, so hopefully I get to see some of those little guys hatch and swim to sea. Happy Independence Day!

Still No Internet

This will probably be a long post, I still have no internet, so here's an update on the last few weeks.

Wedding:  I finally got to see a Dominican Wedding.  There are two ways to get married here.  The first is to leave the house where you live with your father (if your a girl) and go spend the night at your boyfriends house.  You stay there for 7 days and then you're married and there's a big party.  Obviously, it's just common law marriage, but that's what the majority of people in the rural areas are.  This wedding was the other way to get married, in the church, with papers.  It was basically an American wedding, there is a "Maid of Honor" and a "Best Man", and the dad walks the Bride down the isle.  This one was fancy and there was a GORGEOUS cake and pictures.  There were two big differences.  One, as the wedding party is walking down the isle, the "MC" is announcing what is going on, kind of like a beauty pageant:  "Here comes the bride's sister, her maid of honor, isn't she precious ladies and gentlemen, oh and here is the ring bearer, Carlos, son of Manuel and Julia, how adorable."  Then, while there is an "official" photographer, he just has a regular digital camera, so everyone else is running up and down the aisle and getting close and taking pictures.  For the first kiss, the entire audience had their camera phones out and walked up to take pictures, it was crazy.

Hospital:  We have FOUR doctors now.  Each doctor has an assigned health promotor and they should be going to the mountain communities once a week to see the people who can't get to the hospital easily.  We are still working on getting patients to be able to stay overnight, but we are at least making progress.

Business Classes:  My business classes are actually going OK.  I have about 10 people showing up.  I know a lot of it is going over their heads, but just taking the initiative to come is good.  The harder stuff (accounting, costing/pricing) is coming up, and I've told them I'd be available to go over things individually if they want.  That is where the most change will come, hopefully.

Stoves:  The volunteer next to me, Claire, is doing a stove project.  All of the women in her community cook on an open fire, these stoves are wood burning stoves that use less wood and have a chimnea to keep the fire out of their faces.  They're very good for those who have to cook outside on an open fire.  Now, my community wants them as well.  Most of the people in my community have an indoor kitchen and a gas stove.  Gas is expensive, so they want these stoves. I'm not too thrilled about doing this for people that don't need them, but there are some people in my community that really do need them.  So, I will start working on this project, but I have a feeling it will be a huge headache, wish me luck.

I am in a Spanish training session until next week, so I should have internet pretty much every day!  Use this time to talk to me because who knows when the internet will be back in my site!

I am most likely getting a cat now because a mouse crawled on my mosquito net while I was in it and I'm not putting up with that.  I found a woman who has a pregnant cat and told her I wanted one of the kittens, she thinks she'll give birth in a month, we'll see if I actually get one once the kittens are born, but I hope so, I can't live with mice IN my house...

Open for Business

If you’ve ever seen a Rube-Goldberg machine, you know that there is usually one part that happens really slowly, such as the burning of a string, but as soon as it’s done, everything else falls into place rather quickly.  Everything up until that point happens quickly, and everything after that point happens quickly, but there’s that point where it all slows down.  We were at that point with the hospital project.  We got the people organized and behind the project rather fast, we got the equipment (again, thanks Mom!) quickly, we had appointments with the government in quick succession.  Then, we were just at a standstill, waiting for the government to come repair the hospital building and allow us to move in.  In my last blog I was ecstatic that they were finally working on the hospital, but imagined it would take quite a while for them to finish.  In two days, they finished the hospital and we moved in!  Then, three days later, they sent a commission with two more doctors (that are married to each other, so they won’t feel so lonely here), some reception area furniture, and the promise that they will send more stuff and even picked a date to meet about the progress!  It’s all finally fallen into place and we are the first rural hospital in our province and the municipality has 24/7 medical care for the first time EVER!  It is such a great accomplishment, I am so happy, and I was really overwhelmed when the people and the government representatives suggested naming the hospital after me!  I don’t deserve the recognition (ok, maybe my blonde hair deserves recognition as it motivated the government), but I am so happy to know that the people in my community are as excited about this as I am.

I start giving business classes tomorrow, hopefully people show up.  I set it up in a way that gives people the option of coming to any or all of the classes.  We will start and finish each topic in on class, so if they are interested in costing and pricing but not marketing, they don’t need to attend that class.  I also decided to make them all free.  When I passed out the information about the classes, people seemed disinterested (even though when I asked them before if they’d be interested they all said ‘yes’).  We’ll see if anyone shows up.

The technology center should be open this week and I should start giving classes (I have 53 students for a total of 4 classes, twice a week!) the next week.  I’ll start out with very basic computer classes and then we will start with more advanced things.  My project partner’s daughter, Lina, got a full scholarship to college and thinks she wants to study systems engineering.  She is worried about not being able to find a job so I’m hoping with this class and the technology volunteer I’m bringing in she can learn if she wants to study that or not.  All in all, things are going well here, even though we are still suffering from the effects of all the rain (still no internet and the roads are really washed out), and I’m very content at the moment.

May showers destroy April’s flowers.

That should be the saying here in the DR.  I just got back from vacation, which was fabulous, and started my journey home with more luggage than I could carry.  Normally, this would be a problem, but Dominicans are so accustomed to making exceptions for weird things, it really wasn’t.  After my bus from Santo Domingo to San Cristobal, I hauled by luggage out the window (easier than the door) and paid two boys 25 pesos (about 75 cents) each to carry my luggage with me to my bus stop for Los Cacaos.  When I get there the truck that was ready to leave was full except for room in the back, which I offered to take, but was told that was a very bad idea, it’s May, therefore, it’s raining.  Mind you, it wasn’t raining in San Cristobal, it didn’t even look like it was going to rain.  I relented and waited the 3.5 hours it was for the next bus to leave.  When this bus got there (a mini-van, really) we realized that with all of my crap, I would have to pay for an extra seat to keep it all inside, which wasn’t really a big deal to me, or I could not pay and strap it on top…if it was waterproof.  I considered this, since, again, it wasn’t raining, and I figured there wasn’t anything too important in my suitcase, but changed my mind and paid the extra fair.

Thank God.

After about 45 minutes, it starts sprinkling.  The farther we get up the mountain, the harder it is raining.  Then, we slow down and I wonder why.  I look down and realize that we are driving through a river that is meandering across the road.  Normally I am very trusting of these drivers, they do this multiple times a day, but there is a river going across the road.  Now, I see what they mean when it rains in May.  I was told it’s been raining since the 10^th non-stop, it’s now the 19th.  We pass a bridge over a river-bed that I’ve never actually seen water run through before and notice that you could probably get a boat on it now.  As we pass through more rivers running across the road and it continues to pour, we finally reach my community.  Just as we do, the lights go out.  Great.  It’s dark, raining, and there is no electricity.  I get into my house just as one of my project partner’s sons is passing, so he helps me carry my stuff in and I notice a few water patches on my floor, but thankfully nothing is ruined.  My bed feels damp, but I can’t figure out if there’s a new roof leak or if it’s just that humid (I realized that it was just that humid), so I fall into my wet bed, exhausted, a weird mix of hot (from the humidity) and cold (from being pelted with rain), and fall asleep at 8pm.

Now, there are many problems that come with this sort of rain.  First, pretty much everything stops.  There are no meetings, school, and lots of businesses are shut down.  Then, the electricity, which normally has a sort of pattern as to when it will work, goes off a lot more and for a greater amount of time.  When we do have electricity, the internet is down, so I can’t do the things I like to do, like post this blog (in fact, I’m wasting precious laptop battery writing this).  The cell phone signal is also going in and out, so communication out of my community is limited to land-lines (which a whopping two places in my community have) and driving out.  The pretty flowers that bloomed this spring got their petals ripped off by the rain and am I now lulled to sleep by the stream behind my house that has turned into a raging river. (Don’t worry, it’d have to rise about 10 feet to be of any threat to me)

Getting back has given me a renewed faith in my community.  First, the technology center is about open.  In about a month it should be up and going and I will be teaching classes and figuring out how to fix the wide range of problems that arise on public use computers.  Second, the government finally listened to our cries and sent the engineer to look at our hospital and they’ve actually been making progress on getting it open.  They tell me the end of June, I’m hoping for the end of October.

It was a GREAT vacation and I was so happy to see my friends and family.  It real life was like vacation, I probably wouldn’t have came back, but since it’s not, I’m back in my community, toughing out the rain, and hoping that this progress doesn’t slow down.  Oh, and on another positive note, the normally quiet, docile 8 month old baby, Carlos, that is my neighbor, is sick and therefore quite unhappy most of the time.  For how much I love children already, I’m now in heaven…

What I Want

Food I Miss (notice the lack of chocolate/candy on the list, that’s because my family and friends are amazing and have been sending me some!): 

pie, cake, ice cream, scallops, asparagus, lobster, crab, cereal, steak, mushrooms, bacon, Reese’s peanut butter cups, cinnamon rolls, goat cheese, muffins, sausage, creamy soups, cheese, toaster strudels, pizza, ranch dressing, nuts, donuts, milkshakes, beef jerky, sub-sandwich, chips & dip, root beer, cream soda, wine, fajitas, gyros, BW3’s boneless honey barbeque wings, Hostess cupcakes

 

Things I Miss (besides my family and friends!):

vending machines, hot showers, air conditioning/heaters, carpet, flushing toilets, running water, electricity (that works and is always there), restaurants, TV, private cars/taxis, English, pets, mini-golf, seatbelts, diapers on kids, windows, mufflers, microwaves, Wal-Mart, washing machines, refrigerators 

First Rats, Now Cockroaches

On Tuesday we went to the Secretary of Public Health to try and pick a date to fix and open the hospital.  We went with a bunch of people who are leaders in the community, but don’t really know anything about the project.  They, of course, didn’t call ahead like I suggested, so the person they wanted to see wasn’t there.  So, we met with this other person, who, being a politician, dodged most of our questions.  He did finally point out to these people that the hospital that was built it WAY too big for our area, and maybe they’ll stop thinking that we’ll have operating rooms and 15 beds.  When we got to the point that the white girl (me) got some equipment donated and it’s just sitting there, we then started to get some progress made.  Not much, but enough that I think we might actually get the engineer down here to fix the building.  It was damaged in Hurricane Noel and it’s still not been fixed. 

The big hurry in fixing the hospital is that May is the rainy month here and they don’t want it to get even more damaged.  I didn’t figure it could be THAT rainy, until last night, when it POURED all night.  Usually, I like the sound of the rain of my tin roof, but tonight it was so loud, even with ear plugs, it sounded like a thousand guns were shooting nonstop.  Apparently, cockroaches don’t like the rain and they all decided to invade my house last night.  Normally, I see about one a month, but last night, I woke to one crawling on my leg.  I jumped up and turned on the light (because of course, we have electricity at 1AM when everyone needs it) and saw the one inside my mosquito net and 4 other ones on the walls.  I killed the one in my mosquito net and tucked that sucker in a lot tighter.  Then, I killed 2 others before and the other two scurried off.

Yesterday was a good day in that we finally did our cost and price analysis of the ecotourism project.  It was difficult to explain what we needed to do and keep people on course, but after two hours we finally got the first section done and realized why they are losing money.  Then, I showed them a pricing scheme that would make them make money, while still pleasing their tour operator.  They didn’t understand it at first, so I went to the internet to show them that’s how other tour operators price things all the time and it really wasn’t complicated.  Then, they were telling me that it was too expensive, which, while it is expensive, is the price needed to cover their costs.  I think they’re starting to realize that this tour isn’t such a great idea after all.  I did confirm in this meeting that it is the two women in the office who actually know and understand everything that is going on, even though they would never be elected to a position to make decisions, this time they basically wrote out what the man needed to say when he called the tour operator because he still didn’t understand what was going on.

It is ONE WEEK until I leave!

Video Blog

This was gross...

Warning:  Not for those with a weak stomach or who are eating.  Consider yourself warned.

Oh. My. God.  An area of my house smelled for a day, the area I work at.  It smelled kind of like diapers and kitty litter.  It was near a window, so I thought maybe it was coming from outside.  That window doesn’t open, so I just figured it would go away.  Then, the next morning, it smelled like what it was, a dead animal.  I figured it was a dead rat in one of the holes in my concrete wall or on top of the wall in the space before the roof starts.  I looked where I could, but I couldn’t find it, so I figured it was outside.  I brought my Dona over to tell me if my gas tank was still full (I don’t know how much it weighs empty, so I can never tell if it’s close to being empty).  I tell her about the smell.  Then, we see it.  On the floor.  A dead rat.  A big one.  It was partly eaten by maggots, and since it wasn’t there before, I can only assume the maggots moved it out of the nearby hole onto the floor.  It was disgusting.  Thank GOD my Dona was there so she could clean it up for me, I probably would have puked.  Just as I was feeling like the dirtiest human being ever for having a dead, half-eaten, maggot filled rat on the floor, she starts telling me of all the times a dead rat in her house as stumped her as to where it was hidden.  One was in the stove part of her oven (she only uses the stove top), one was on the space between the wall and the roof.  She described the hunt, the find, and the removal and disinfecting.  Just a normal part of life, right?

La Semana Santa

This week was “la Semana Santa” which means, as you all know, Holy Week.  Here, they celebrate all week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.  That means, no work, no school, no nothing.  It was rather boring for me, because I don’t have a bunch of friends here, but for everyone else it was a big party.  People swam in the river and drink and a bunch of people not from here come up here to swim in the river too.  With all these visitors I’ve realized how much more integrated into my community I am.  I don’t get so many cat-calls and people questioning who I am anymore, but since people have arrived for the week, I’ve been getting a lot of it.  It’s very annoying, but good to know that I am fitting into my community well enough that that stuff is going away some.

On Friday, my host mom called me and said, “I’m calling to tell you not to cook today, you’re going to come eat here.”  OK.  Eating there was nothing special, but then they made habichuelas con dulce.  Literally, sweet beans.  I tried them once, they were gross.  But, my host mom is a good cook and the ones she made weren’t that bad.  It’s liquefied red beans stewed in sugar, milk, and spices.  It’s definitely not for everyone.  She also made these fried yam balls which were then soaked in this juice of spices, and there were FANTASTIC, I’m definitely getting the recipe. 

I tried getting my “video diary” up on the internet, but the internet is too slow here to make it work before my blog times out.  I will do another one and post it for next week as I will be in the capital for a couple days and can use faster internet.  I hopefully will be getting a yoga mat (to work on my flab), a cooking dutch oven, and a bunch of other little things to make life better.  I am also hoping some packages that you guys have sent me are on their way and will be there when I get there!

I also realized I will have to do a lot of campaigning for this doctor and clinic and hospital to get people to use it.  A couple nights ago there was a car accident.  This is quite rare here.  The people found transportation and went to San Cristobal to the hospital because they knew the clinic here couldn’t do much for them.  But, here’s the rub, San Cristobal is an hour drive.  They waited an hour to be seen by any doctor just because this doctor couldn’t “do much.”  It took a lot to convince them that while he could not have “done much” he could have stopped the bleeding with clean bandages instead of shirts and checked for any signs of things that needed to be done immediately to prevent a lot of serious problems or death.  They really didn’t understand that taking them to this doctor for a 5 or 10 minute assessment could save the people’s life and wouldn’t exactly tack on too much to the hour drive they were going to make.  If it were that severe, I’m sure the doctor would have even gone with them to try and stabilize the patients in the car.  Getting people to see things that way will be a challenge.

new wall

As promised, pictures of my flower wall, covered in a map and your cards.  Every card I've received is up there, I want to fill it by November 2010, so keep them coming!

Espejos and English

So, I gave my English class a test.  They failed.  All of them by US standards.  And these are people who are teaching in the high school.  So, I decided to pass 6 of them to level 2.  The thing is, the test was easy, it's just that they are so used to being passed without learning anything, none of them even tried.  It was very frustrating, and I'm almost ready to just give up on them.

Espejo=mirror.

It seems as though mirrors are the one thing no volunteer has in their house.  Why?  They're not that expensive.  But, here's the rub, let's say you go into town to buy a mirror (it's not like you can buy them at your site), then you have to get it home.  The busses and not exactly conducive to transporting a mirror safely.  By some miracle, you get it home safely, you then have to find a way to hang it in your house.  Most likely you have cement walls, so you have to find someone to come put a nail in for you, since you don't have power tools.  It's just a hassle.  So, when we do come to places that have mirrors, you may be seeing yourself for the first time in a long time and you completely forgot that you even use a mirror.  You see yourself and think, "woah, hey there...who's that?  Haven't changed much, that's good"  Then you forget why you used to stand in front of a mirror and used one every day.  Until you see the mirror a few times a day for a few days in a row, and then you want one again.  I think I'm going to buy a mirror.

The video is a tour of my house.  You have to turn your volume up really loud to hear my voice.  In case you can’t hear, I’ll write what you’re seeing.  First, is the dining room/work area.  There’s my table and the ugly flower wall that is going to be covered up soon.  The window in that room would go to the house next to me, but it’s covered up on the other side.  Next is the kitchen.  You can see my stove and my blue tank that holds water that I bring in from the outside faucet.  The red bowls you see are what I wash my dishes in, the big one is for washing and the little one is for rinsing.  When I’m done, I throw the water out the back door.  Then you go into my bedroom and see my bed and then I open the back door and show you the “bathroom”.  The toilet doesn’t flush, so you have to through water down it.  To shower, I stand in that room and dump water on myself and just let it fall out between the tin wall and the floor and the dirt soaks up the water.

Hospital

Current Clinic
New Hospital
Doctor

I've been asked to upload some pictures of the hospital, clinic, and doctor.  The doctor is about done with his year of practice (kind of like a residency) and then will probably leave the area.  We are looking for a doctor that is used to the rural area and would want to live here, but that's hard to find.  We had a woman doctor for about two weeks and she didn't like it.  The government can't find doctors for here, so they send people here for their one year residency.  As a result, we get inexperienced doctors that have no committment to the area and will leave in a year.  This will be hard to break, but we at least need to get more than one of these residents for the time being.  The other thing is nurses.  We have a couple trained nurses in the town, but the government hasn't ordered them to work in Los Cacaos, they travel to Cambita or San Cristobal to work, even though there is a need for them to work here.

The hospital is what I am trying to equip.  The clinic is what they use now.  It's run down and not adequate.  The municipal police will take over this building shortly as they tore down the old building to build the new high school.  The hospital building was built by a foreign NGO about 7 years ago and has yet to be used.  With this equipment we can get into the hospital and better serve our people.  The last piece of the equipment puzzle is an inversor, so hopefully I can meet with the public health people next week.

I spoke to the new group of trainees yesterday, it's good not to be the "newbies" anymore.  On Thursday-Sunday my neighbor, Claire, will have one of these volunteers staying with her to see how she lives, so that will be fun as well.  

Mi Casita!

When you first walk into my house, you see this.
The two neighbor girls, Milkely and Hilary, they helped me move.
my kitchen, behind the flower wall in the first picture.
The backdoor, leading out from my bedroom.
My bed and mosquito net.
The people who "helped" me clean my house...in actuality, they did everything and I stood there.  They are Mirta (Milkely's mom), Luz (my host mom), and Chulino (one of my project partner's sons)

I have finally moved into my little house.  It's actually a part of another house with a wall down the middle.  It took forever to move because I had to install electricty and fix a bunch of stuff, windows, locks, and the bathroom door.  I share an outside bathroom with the neighbors, which isn't a problem, it was a problem though when the door wouldn't shut, I didn't like the idea of my neighbors walking in on me showering.  All is fixed now and I have moved all my stuff (although its not all put away) and I will sleep there for the first time tonight!  My neighbors are all great people, I live in the teacher/professionals neighborhood.  My immediate neighbors (the ones on the other side of the wall) are both university graduates and one is a teacher, the mom stays at home and takes care of their 8 month old son.  They have internet which will be good in case I need to do something quick and don't want to walk to my host family's house.  I am definitely spoiled.  On the other side is a colmado (which is like a convenience store, kind of) so I barely have to open my door to get food (I really don't even have to open my door because my window opens to the back of their store, so I could just tell them from the window what I want).

I was just about done with the ecotourism grant proposal when I went in to see one of our advisors about the budget.  She looks and the budget and says, "This looks very familiar, I think I'm doing the same thing you are."  Turns out we were both filling out the SAME grant and didn't know it!  It was both a good and bad thing.  Good because we put ours together and got the best of both, bad because we both would have saved time had we been working on it together.  At least now we can turn it in and have a good shot at actually getting the money.

I am going to the capital the 12th and 13th to get my green card, which is a stupid process and I'm mad I even have to go (I have to go to sign the paper, that's it) but I can check my mail and hopefully some of the medical supplies will be there.  I have had such great support with that project from my mom and that has really put me in the good graces of the community.  The next step is to continue working with the government to get full time doctors and nurses (they found us another doctor, but I guess she doesn't like it and wants to leave.  The other issue is that there are trained nurses that LIVE in our community but have to travel every day to the city to work, it would be great if the government would pay them to work here, we don't have one single nurse).  The other step is finding someone to get us an inversor.  That is a type of power generator and we need that because the power here is only on about 50% of the time.  

Progress

After meeting the Sec. of Public Health twice and a trip to Santo Domingo, so progress is being made.  

 

First, hospital project.  I've met with the Public Health Secretary for my province twice and at first she was very confusing and her ideas were very far fetched, but the second time she seemed much more open to starting with opening our hospital in the Los Cacaos center first before trying to bring NINE doctors (while we currently don't even have one) to the area.  It also sounds like she is very optimistic about being able to find two part time doctors (one for the week and one for the weekend) and at least two part time nurses.  My job is still to bring in the equipment and the trip to Santo Domingo proved fruitful as my boss gave me permission to use his a special mail-box to bring down the supplies=lots of $ savings for mom!  Hopefully the stuff will be here fairly shortly and I can start getting the hospital open for business.  At first they didn't want to use the equipment without a permanent doctor until I explained we should at least let this doctor do the best job he can for the time he's here.  

 

Ecotourism project:  Me not being here for 4 days because I was working in Santo Domingo gave my ecotourism counterparts time to get some thinking and work done.  I got about half of what I wanted, but that's half more than I expected and I should get the rest in a couple days.  Then it's on to the bigger project, in Spanish, and much more in depth, the 2nd pass of the grant writing project.  Even if we don't get the grant, we'll at least be on this organization's radar and can apply again next year and use this year to get up to speed.  I also found out our tour is being advertised online!  http://www.tequiaexperiences.com/  Go to full-day tours and pick the coffee experience, that's a picture of a street in my town!  We are only the part of the coffee picking, processing, and tasting, the meal is at a restaurant on the way to town that I can't afford to eat at...and it's also a German restaurant...talk about your Dominican Experience.

 

House:  It's official, I've found one!  It's tiny compared to what other volunteers can afford for the same price, but I'll take what I can get considering the housing in my area.  It's three "rooms", a living room, bedroom, and a room I will turn into a kitchen.  It doesn't have water inside, so I have to carry it in from the outside, but it's not that bad.  I have to share my outside toilet and shower area with my neighbors, but that won't be that bad either.  I am paying to get lights installed and the locks changed and then I will move in, hopefully next week sometime!  When they are finished cleaning it and I'm moving in, I will take and post pictures.

Ups and Downs

On Monday of last week one of my project partner's sons and I (see last post) went to a training for Peace Corps.  We presented my diagnostic, which went suprisingly well, and then did two days of planning for my first year-ish of service.  This went really well and I was glad that I ended up taking this guy instead of my real project partner, and all the other volunteers wished they had someone has smart and interested as my partner.  We decided that my two main projects would be the hospital and the ecotourism project.

The Hospital:  We have this huge hosptial building that is not being used.  We don't have a permanent doctor, but we are a zone of 10,000 people.  The plan is to equip the hospital building by in-kind donations (thanks Mom!  if you've got some medical equipment or supplies lying around, give me a shout...) and using an organization called Infante Sano (Healthy Baby).  While the government has $ (or so I've been told) to equip this hospital, they have yet to do so.  We are going to talk to the Office of Public Health in our province and try to get her to sign a contract that if we equip the hospital they will finally fullfill their obligation to staff it with a permanent medical staff.  The best part about this was when I suggested this to my project partners they were super excited and said, "If she doesn't say yes, we'll go straight to the capital office".  It's good to know they are 100% behind me on this and really want to make it work.  Long term vision:  medical mission in our now open hospital with my mom, step-mom, sister, and others in March 2010.

Ecotourism Project:  There is a brand new USAID project in the DR to help local, community based ecotourism projects.  These projects are great because they provide the most money directly to the community (ie, not huge, foreign owned hotels) and sustain the environment and share the culture.  Developing my site's ecotourism project is the reason my site wanted me.  I was a little skeptical because they have somewhat unrealistic expectations for this project.  Thankfully, with this new project, someone in authority will tell them how it is and they will realize what I've been telling them all along.  It's a great idea, but you're not going to get enough tourists to warrant 20 full-time guides.  In reality, we don't WANT enough tourists to warrant 20 full-time guides, for how small our area is, that would take away from the essence of ecotourism, and I think they are starting to see that.  Hopefully this USAID project will help with that and we could get $50,000 to develop our site (I have yet to tell them that, as money tends to blur people's visions.)

So, that was the ups.  Now for the downs:

Sadie died.  I did get to see her the day she died over SKYPE, but it's not the same.  It sucks to go through that here because they don't have pets like we do and no one really understood why I was crying.  When I explained that it was my dog, my Dona asked me if it was really something else, like being homesick, and that she really didn't want me to go home (they know we can, technically, leave whenever we want and not stay two years).  So, mourning my beautiful princess was kind of a loss.

Then, my project partner told me they found me a house for RD$1500!  Perfect price.  Plus, it was right next to the association, great location, and it was in really good shape with a bathroom inside!  They were going to change the blinds and I'd be set.  This was yesterday.  Today, he tells me that the person who's renting it has family that wants it now and I can't move in there and we're back at square one.  I'm not a happy camper about this.  

It's been raining straight in the entire country and we are all on flood and landslide watch.  Telling people you enjoy watching the rain here is like telling someone in the US you like watching their house burn down.  With all the damage rain and hurricanes bring, they don't see the beauty in it, understandably, anymore.