Starting Back Up

I have been back for about 3 weeks now, and things seem like they are just beginning to start back up. There has been a seemingly endless amount of holidays this month (last weekend was a 5 day weekend!). It is either a Saint Day or a historical day and then lets just add on some more days just for fun. So hopefully tomorrow we will have a first artisan meeting of the year pero vamos a ver, si dios quiere (We will see if God wishes), which is always the response. Hopefully we will though because we need to talk about the urgent situation, of the artisan building, which may be taken away this month! This is because the artisans have had an impending debt for 5 years, and we have tried many quotas, but no artisans seem to care to pay. I have tried peer pressure, a payment plan, star charts, but to no avail so maybe this will be good for them to finally see the consequences of their lack of action. Anyways since the bank came this week, I am hoping it will force a meeting (fingers crossed).

On brighter news, 2 weeks ago I started my second round of a health/ sex-ed course which focuses on preventing HIV/AIDS and youth pregnancies. The kids whom graduated my last class are now teaching along with my help. The last class was a little unruly, so I had to give them a talking to (Please only come if you want to learn etc.), I told them I was sad with how they were acting because I don’t know the word for disappointed, but I think they got the picture. Some of the little hellions can be seen above, posing sadly (they love staged photos)! If any of you teachers have any good suggestions for controlling students, let me know! I do really enjoy the class, so I have hope they will calm down a little, although the next week is about body parts, so I think the snickers are unavoidable!

So my favorite new project is a women’s exercise/health class, that I started having once a week. Think jazzer-size meets yoga and overweight donas (housewives), jumping around in circles, kind of to a hip hop beat! IT IS HILARIOUS to say the least. I will maybe try to video it one week for your viewing pleasure. The women seem to be loving the class though. I have organized it into a mash-up of weightwatchers and fitness class. I bought a cheap scale, and made them small health booklets where they write down their health goals and keep track of their weight every week. I have been giving them homework every week too. This week is to try to drink 8 glasses of water a day and not to drink soda. Most of the health problems here seem to be closely linked to a lack of knowledge on diet and exercise, so I hope to help educate the woman and thus their families while jumping around to GIRL TALK and other ridiculous hip-hop jams. I knew all those exercise classes and tapes would pay off!

Last but not least… more Haiti updates from the DR. A few friends have been to the southern border working in the clinics in the town Jimani. There are two clinics functioning. One is American run and pretty well organized, and one Dominican clinic, which apparently is considerably less organized. Although originally the borders were more or less open to Haitians whom needed medical care, it seems now that Haitians are being turned away at the border, so some volunteers left early because there wasn’t enough for them to do. It is really a shame. Furthermore, I believe that there has been some negative propoganda on the news stations. Hatian attacks on relief are not often and I think portrayed out of context. Small towns are pulling together to help each other, and are really being helpful letting Aid workers know where the more needy people are. Furthermore, I believe that the roads although not great are passable. From those on the border, it seems that the roads were probably always bad and it is not so much due to the earthquake as it is portrayed.

Right now, there are a few Americans in my town that were solicited to help with getting water filters over to Haiti and to just generally help out. It has been nice to have other Americans in town, and I have felt helpful, translating for them and helping them get acquainted here. They have both passed on my name to other relief efforts. One is to help translate with aid relief. The other is to help logistically coordinate aid with a bunch of different NGOs. I haven’t heard too much yet, but I hope I will be able to get involved in one-way or another.

To come… This upcoming week I am translating for a medical mission of doctors which are coming to my friend’s site to the new hospital she facilitated opening. Sadly, the night before the med mission, I will be heading to the capital to say goodbye to one of my best friends in Peace Corps whom has decided to leave early because of his life at home. Hopefully we will send him off right, typical dancing with live music at ancient ruins might be in the plans, so stay tuned!

Side note: If you are interested in reading about Haiti, two books of interest are Mountains Beyond Mountains (a biography of Paul Farmer), and Farming for Bones which I believe talks about Haitian Dominican relations. They were suggested by me from one of the American volunteers helping with Haiti relief, whom lived in Haiti for 4 years.

Until next time… stay warm and plan your visit here!

More Haiti Relief Info.

Hey guys,

Here are a few other resources for the relief situation in Haiti.

PEACE CORPS

Peace Corps suggests checking out these two websites for making donations. www.charitynavigator.org & www.cnn.com/impact.

WATER FILTERS

As most of you know, my project is to work with ceramic artisans, and my Host Dad makes water filters which are connected to an American company called FilterPure. Right now they are taking donations to buy filters to supply Haiti, below is information.

Only $30 will provide clean water for a family of 6 and can be their lifeline at this time of tragedy. Check out our facebook cause for updates on Filter Pure International or the FilterPure website.

We have a goal to raise $50,000 to buy 2,000 filters and ship them into the country. We have a FilterPure distributor in Haiti, but all of our filters were destroyed in the earthquake so we must ship them from the Dominican Republic.

OTHER INFO.

Also if you know anyone whom has family or friends in Haiti, networks have been established to help people connect with loved ones lost in the quake:

ü Americans with family in Haiti should contact the U.S. State Department Operations Center at 1-888-407-4747.

ü Red Cross Missing Persons Database: http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/haiti

ü Post your missing loved one on the Haiti missing people board and the EARTHQUAKE HAITI Facebook groups.

In my town, the school has been collecting local donations and the Catholic Church has been donating its collections for the week.

Since, as Peace Corps volunteers we are restricted from going into Haiti, volunteers have been giving a hand with organizations in the capital such as USAID in coordinating relief. I hope to be able to help out in the upcoming in weeks.

Thank you to everyone for all your emails and concerns. It was very touching to hear how much everyone has been thinking of me.

A Dizzying Experience

One of my New Years resolutions this year is to try and write in my blog at least every 2 weeks. This may not seem too hard for those with constant Internet, but here in the country where internet is an hour and a half round trip adventure, and internet time is frantic and precious, sometimes the blog would slip my mind. Thus I must apologize for my less than frequent updates, spanning 2 or 3 months. I realize that my close family and friends are those that give me the strength here and in life, so I will try to follow through with my New Resolution and update often.

So let me wipe the dust off my blog, and I hope to deliver to you guys a better or more frequent update on my happenings in Peace Corps Dominican Republic.

A DIZZYING EXPERIENCE

I returned to the Dominican Republic the first week after New Years, and I am right now just getting back into the swing of things. Yesterday, we had our first library meeting of the New Year, to talk about further construction and programs to be planned for students in the library. A fellow friend and I went after the meeting to go talk to the director of the high school. We asked if he could create a list of 10 of the brightest senior students, and we would offer them the opportunity to do their required service hours in the library. While standing in the school, things suddenly began to move in a circular manner, almost like the school was made of Jell-O. My whole vision was wobbling like something out of Alice and Wonderland, and I thought I was dizzy and going to faint. My first thoughts were “Wow I just got really sick, and I’m going to faint.” And/OR “Wow this school is really made poorly, it’s shaking from all the students.” We all had gone silent, and took a moment to realize that everyone else had felt the same sensation. Then someone addressed the elephant in the school. We just experienced a terremoto, AN EARTHQUAKE.

Being born and raised on the East Coast, I had never experienced an earthquake. That’s why I didn’t realize at first what was happening. I also didn’t realize the impact that this wobbling had created. With no experience with earthquakes, I first assumed that this was an isolated small quake and I did not think much of it. Then the phone calls began to ring. My friend is an emergency coordinator for the Peace Corps and she had to get contact with all volunteers on our region especially those on the coast because of the threat of a typhoon. Then there were the calls from family, and emails from friends, and I began to learn that what I had thought was just a wobble had created devastation just across the border. I initially called my friends whom were near the border, and it appears that everyone is fine and there has not been any destruction that I have heard of in Peace Corps sites. What I gathered from Spanish CNN today was that the worst destruction was in Port-au-Prince and to its South West, i.e. away from the Dominican Republic.

Last I heard, there were an estimated 100,000 deaths in Haiti. Having devastation so close to home, really makes you think, why not here, why not me? I feel like I have always read about monumental earthquakes on the other side of the world, but having one on the other side of the island is frightening. Especially with earthquakes, there is basically no warning or evacuation time. And of all countries, why Haiti? By UN standards, Haiti is the least developed country in the Americas, and it really needs all the help it can get. There is a huge illegal Diaspora of Haitians into the Dominican. They take very low-income labor-intensive jobs and live with out documentation robbing them of rights such as basic education after 5th grade. They are discriminated against and thought to be of a lower class because of where they are from. As may be true for many immigrants, they are constantly broken down and taught to be ashamed of where they are from, and now this? It just doesn’t seem fair. Granted aid is already on the way, but Haiti had enough on its plate before this disastrous destruction!

Haiti came from humble beginnings. It was the only nation who gained independence from a successful slave rebellion. It is also the first post-colonial black- led nation. Haiti has known the hardships of slavery and overcame them. Despite the adversity, I hope Haiti can rise again from this tragedy, but the road seems like a long one. Pray for Haiti and its people. Pray for inspiration for Haiti’s government and all international players that they will arrive to productive solutions.

If you would like to help out, here our two website where you could donate. www.MercyCorps.org or www.google.com/haitiearthquake. You could also try organizing donations in your communities, especially with water, food, and soap.

To conclude, remember to not take things always at face value. A wobble in your life could actually be devastation in another’s. A smile to a stranger, could change a person’s day.