Mil Gracias

THANK-YOU ALL SO MUCH!

These kids all have brighter futures thanks to you!

You all made my day today. Today I found out that my Peace Corps grant has been fully funded thanks to you. As we say in the D.R., mil gracias, a thousand thank-yous. The $5,628.09 that you all donated will go towards finishing construction of the library. We may even be able to use some funding to buy more books for the library as last week we received a donation of construction materials from the Governor of Samaná. Everything seems to be lining up perfectly. If we are able to get enough volunteer laborers, we will be able to finish construction by the start of the new school year in September! We would not have been able to reach this milestone with out your help.

Onto other news:

Loading everything on the truck

Fates aligned last Monday. After dropping my sister off at the airport, I went shopping for furniture for the library with the president of my Library Committee. We were able to find chairs, fans, and tables all within our price range. But we then had to figure out how to get everything back to our community three hours away. After some calls we learned that some of our neighbors had finished selling their harvest of yams at the market and were headed back to our community with an empty flatbed. They kindly agreed to take all of our items back with them - what luck!

Learning about Menstruation

 I spent the rest of my week an eco-lodge with 70 Dominican teenage girls from around the country. The girls are all members of Peace Corps D.R. girl's empowerment program, Chicas Brillantes, Shining Girls.  The Chicas camp was a lot of fun. There were games which explored inequality, a panel of professional Dominican women from poor backgrounds, a condom demonstration party, Zumba, healthy snacks, presentations on healthy relationships, identity, internet safety, AIDs, hair, violence, and many more. The best part for me was during the closing ceremony several of the girls spoke about how their self-esteem grew while at camp.

I presented twice and both times the girls enjoyed themselves and learned a few things. My first talk was about professionalism. We had a mock interview during our presentation, and I was the bad interviewer. I dressed very inappropriately, wore garish make-up, used Domincan slang, and spoke on my cell-phone. I even wore a tubi, basically a hairnet, Dominican wear them to keep their hair straight while they run errands or work around the house. Then when it is time to go our for the night they take off the tubi to show off their salon perfected locks. The funny part was before the presentation some of the Chicas were complementing me on my outfit and a volunteer admitted that for a second she thought I was one of the Chicas.

Demonstrating Inappropriate Work Attire

 The second presentation I gave was on 1st aid. We taught the girls how to treat lacerations, burns, and animal bites, talked about Emergency Action Steps and the new 911 system (Bill Gates donated money to set it up). We also explained why mosquitoes are the true transmitters of Chikungunya. I think we had at least 60% of the girls convinced by the end of our discussion. Prior to our talk only one girl believed mosquitoes transmitted the virus. 

As we left camp one of my girls saw a mango tree and said, "Look at the mangoes Susi! I can't wait to go home and eat some! Thank you for bringing me, I had a great time." She then hugged me and started to cry. It was one of the funniest and sweetest things I have experienced during my time here. I would have started to cry too if it wasn't for the part about the mangoes. The idea of getting homesick at the sight of mangoes is something I had never considered until then. But I know when I leave I too will miss the mangoes.