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.