Hi Sid and Lois. I am in the DR with Matt. Today we are near the capital at an all-inclusive resort (room and board) with other Peace Corps volunteers who started with Matt. They are coming together this holiday to celebrate their one year anniversary of PC service. We are here till tomorrow. There is an Internet cafe here. It is a good break for me b/c his work site is hard for this gringo mother- regarding lifestyle. I have spent three nights there so far and will stay two more. It is a simple wooden structure with a tin roof, concrete floor, a latrine out back and a hose for showering. Matt made a table and bench and he has three plastic chairs and a double bed (covered with mosquito netting). Electricity for part of each day. But everywhere is great poverty. There is dirt and garbage all over his community- broken up streets and the smell of burning garbage.
But the people are nice- they love Matt and several women have told me that they look on him as a son. Everywhere we go young and old call out to him. That encourages me- that he is well cared for. I can see that the kids especially look up to him and he has done a lot to help them.
I watched (and helped) in an English class that he and a Dominican are teaching and I saw a soccer game between two groups of kids.
Another thing...There is always music blaring all day long here -everywhere. Streets, public buses, early in the morning and late at night. Also the chickens and roosters make a huge noise. Matt has a next door neighbor with a backyard full of these and they make a racket every morning at about 5 or 6 and periodically during the day. I am using my earplugs at night. Sometimes a truck with loudspeakers on back will go by blasting advertisements. The houses are crammed together and some are even smaller and less hospitable than Matt's. I have also seen some that are better- usually with family or connections in the states.
Oh, my it has been quite a trip! Yesterday we crammed eighteen people plus picnic food and water into a regular sized van. We went to a lovely beach and had a lovely day, but the trip there and back was unlike anything that I have ever experienced! The hour and a half van ride was incredibly crowded, the road in long spots like a washboard interspersed with crater- like holes. No one follows standard driving rules and they honk their horns constantly. Saw lovely views through the mountains though. That was nice. But dirt poor all over.
Matt says that nothing gets done here partly b/c of corrupt officials. I can see that. Also he suggests that the weather has made development extremely difficult. It is sooo hot here that people have no energy to do anything except sit. And basically that is what many do all day. Others live by subsistence farming.
Well, I don't mean to be totally negative. I admire all the young people (150) who are here in the PC with Matt. They are working with youth like Matt does, or working to build aqueducts, or to bring technology to the island, or to help farmers make more crops. or work with kids in the schools, or with communities in public health. I have met a lot of his PC friends b/c of two meetings I have been to with him. I am thankful for the friends he has made- good kids who support each other and really connect. I guess that is how they survive. Lots of PC support also.
Even without the amenities, i prefer the countryside to the cities. The cities are way too crowded, noisy, and polluted for me.
A picture of our one year in country aniversery. A little "who done it?" game on crazy things that we have done or have been done to us up till now.
I should say I kind of take offense to my mom calling my house a structure. It's not a structure any more then your house is a structure, Mom! It's my house and even though I may not cut the grass like I should or mop every day like Dominicans do I take great pride in having my own pink and blue palace. You could have called my latrine a structure and I would have been fine with that.
My mom talks about the poverty she saw. And for me at this point, being here a year now, I don't see it so much unless I try to. And that's good for me because when you think of people as poor you treat them differently. It's also bad because sometimes I think and feel that these people are doing fine and are living happy lives (which they are) and whats the use in going about trying to change that. But at another thought I am here to work with the offshoots of poverty like lack of opportunities, education, knowledge and am not susposed to be erasing poverty. At least directly I guess. And when I get bogged down with the immensity of the whole picture I think of some good advice my uncle sent me in an email a little while back. Having been in similar situations in this same country he said I am only responsible for living in honest solidarity with my community. And saying that to myself has helped me a lot. I don't even think I could have defined the term solidarity before I came here, although that was a main personal reason for me to come, but after being here for a year I not only understand it but feel it day to day. And it's one of the easiest things to do here for me.
eso es todo. voy a descansar.
nos vemos
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