Motorcycle Crashes

Motorcycles are ubiquitous in the Dominican Republic. In my rural community, and much of the developing world, the motorcycle is the family vehicle (There are only two families out of 150 in my community that have cars). It is not uncommon to see a family of four packed together on one motorcycle. And when walking, Dominicans are constantly on the lookout for a friend on a motorcycle to take them the rest of the way (nobody wants to walk under the hot Caribbean sun). Despite all the motorcycles, few laws are enforced regarding their usage. It is not uncommon for me to see twelve year-old kids driving motorcycles, and drivers sometimes will have an open beer or rum bottle in one hand. Thankfully, I have yet to see a twelve year-old drinking alcohol and driving a motorcycle at the same time. The only time I have seen the law requiring drivers to wear helmets was during the week of Easter, which traditionally is a week of partying and therefore lots of drunk driving. And even then the police accepted the following types of headgear: baseball helmets, bicycle helmets, and construction hard-hats.

The lax enforcement of these laws have allowed for thousands of Dominicans to needless die each year. Motorcycle accidents are the leading cause of death for young men in the country (for girls it is AIDs - but that is a whole different can of worms). For the most part I have been able to ignore the dangerous role motorcycles play in Dominican society. I mitigate my own risk by wearing my helmet and riding motorcycles as little as possible. However, since a careless motorcyclist broke my host sister’s leg, my acceptance of Dominican vehicle culture has been rapidly deteriorating. It is getting to the point that I might start lecturing everyone I know about the importance of wearing a helmet and the dangers of drunk driving.

Luis Angel showing off his school work

Two weeks ago, two boys from my community riding a motorized scooter crashed into a guardrail. The driver, a 14 year-old boy named Nezo, was sliced open by the guardrail and died on impact. In some ways that was a blessing because as neighbors took the boy to the hospital a truck struck their motorcycle. Thankfully the two other passengers on the motorcycle only received scrapes from the hit-and-run. The second boy on the scooter, Luis Angel, a student of mine, hit his head on the pavement hard. He was sent to the capital for treatment and is now recuperating with family in another part of the country. The rumor is that he has permanent brain damage. Luis Angel is 10 years old.

Only a few days after the accident in my community, a Dominican baseball star, Oscar Taveras of the St. Louis Cardinals, killed himself and his girlfriend in a drunk driving accident while vacationing in the D.R. In both cases, the crashes were talked about for a few days and masses of people attended the funerals. But there was no rally cry to change the status-quo. Instead people chalked up the deaths as terrible accidents and went back to their daily lives.

On Monday I witnessed another motorcycle crash in town. I was in the back of a pick-up truck headed to my community when two motorcycles crashed into one another. One of the motorcycles went skidding by the truck on its side. The semi-conscious driver was then picked-up by another motorist who rushed off to the hospital. The second motorcycle also skidded on its side but was stopped by the back tire of the pick-up truck, where I was seated. The driver was able to get up on his own and, with only a slight gash on his forehead, wedged his motorcycle out from underneath the pick-up and then continued on his way out of town. The whole event occurred in less than 3 minutes, afterwards you would have no idea there had been an accident. And for me that's a problem.

No one stops to think after an accident occurs - how can another crash like this be prevented. Time and time again deadly accidents occur, yet little is changing (There is currently an ad campaign with Dominican baseball players saying they don't ride without helmets.). Part of the problem is that the police are not enforcing laws that would improve rider safety and security, but society is also to blame. Dominicans like to say that teenage boys fooling around, not obeying their elders causes all the accidents. But they forget that even when teenagers are to blame their are often innocent victims in crashes, like my host sister, Luis Angel, and countless others. As roads improve and Dominicans become wealthier, more vehicles will be on the road being driven at faster speeds. It is critical that Dominican society start to take road safety seriously. Parents need to be more cautious about allowing their kids to drive motorcycles and ride with other teens. The government needs to better enforce the laws on the books and also make helmets more available and affordable.  If change does not happen, then the D.R. will continue to loose the future leaders of the country to tragic and preventable accidents.

Health Care in the D.R.

Presentation at a rural clinic on dental care

An essential part of serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer is living with and like the locals. This means cooking with local foods (Examples: yucca, plantains,and auyama), taking part in community events (Examples: church celebrations, dominoes, and chair sitting), and getting used to not having certain amenities (Examples: running water, 24/7 electricity, and Krispy Creme). However, there are other aspects of life which Peace Corps Volunteers will never be able to truly integrate, such as how we take care of our health.

The disparity in the quality of health care I receive versus my neighbors has made me uncomfortable a times. As a volunteer I have access to three doctors, one of whom is always on-call, as well as free medicine and treatment. I never have to worry about the cost of a procedure, if I need it Peace Corps will pay. I probably have the best health care plan of my life right now. My neighbors are at the other end of the spectrum.

Preventive health care is essentially non-existant in my rural community. I do not know of anyone who goes to the doctor and dentist for yearly check-ups. There are no school nurses or yearly eye exams for students. It all costs too much. Aside from brushing ones teeth and eating a balanced diet not much else is done until someone gets sick (And many people do not brush their teeth and eat healthy).

When someone gets sick the first thing people do is wait to see if it gets worse. Have a toothache? Wait until you can't eat. It costs three times as much to get a filling as it does to get a tooth pulled (A cleaning can cost even more). Vision problems? Stand close to the chalkboard. I don't know of any kids of the 300+ I have worked with who wear glasses. When the Chikungunya virus was spreading around the country like crazy, no one went to see the doctor until the pain from their joints made it difficult for them to walk, and even then most of my neighbors didn't see a doctor. Again, seeing a doctor is expensive. Just going to and from town can be expensive for many Dominicans.

Probably in part because of the inaccessibility of doctors, most medicine can be bought without a doctor's prescription (including Prosaic and Viagra - the latter I have seen handed out to men at a bar in the capital). However, rural Dominicans often prefer local plant remedies. Tea made from the leaves of a cotton tree are said to be great for anemics. Alcohol is often also used as a substitute for pain medicine. It is not uncommon for teenage girls with menstrual cramps to take a couple swigs of Mama Juana, a rum-wine-plant root beverage.

When an illness or injury does become very serious Dominicans will go to the hospital, but the results are not always the best. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, sometimes the doctor needed will not be at the hospital and patients end up waiting hours to receive treatment. Once a patient has been admitted to the hospital they typically have to share a room with six to eight other individuals. There are no special wards for different types of injuries just one for men and another for women and children. There are better hospitals located in the capital - you know someone is really sick when they are sent to the capital.

Side note about babies: Due to the unavailability of doctors when it is time to give birth Dominicans with some money prefer to schedule caesarians instead of giving birth naturally, to ensure the doctor will be present for the entire birth. Also, many women go home with their babies the same day they are born, via motorcycles. There are not enough beds for women to stay more than one day, and there are no laws here saying you need a car-seat before you can leave the hospital. Would it even be possible to make one for a motorcycle?)

A lot of improvements are needed in the Dominican health care system. Thankfully, things are slowly headed in the right direction. All medical centers offer free HIV/AIDs testing, and many offer free birth control. This year many hospitals, including the two major hospitals on the Samaná peninsula, are being expanded and remodeled to provide more services and treat more patients. Also this year a national 9-1-1 system was launched. As its next step I would like to see the government begin to provide more health care services at schools. Ensuring kids know how to take care of their personal health from a young age will go a long way to ensuring healthy generations to come.

***

Library Update: The library now has a cement floor! We plan to install the floor tiles and paint over the next two weeks. Tentative inauguration date for the end of November. - It is time to start planning the celebration party!

Now it's time to make it look pretty!

Library Construction

This week a new sound has been added to the cacophony of motorcycles, bachata music, donkeys, and screaming neighbors that make up the background noise in my community. The noise is construction work (See the video to hear the noise I love to hear). Finally, construction of the library has begun in earnest. All this week from dawn to dusk the men of my community have been preparing the library for today, the day we pour the cement roof.

Things have gone pretty smoothly this week. Except last night when a truck delivering supplies hit a power line and left my community without electricity. Whoops. Luckily we only had to wait three hours for the power line to be repaired.

Construction is the D.R. is different in many ways from construction in the States. First, almost all of the men helping to build the library are volunteers whose construction experience has been gained by building their own homes. Also, different materials are used. Scaffolds and supports are made of wood, not steel. And instead of wood and shingles for roofs, Dominicans prefer cement.

Laying out rebar on top of the roof.

The cement roof, while rare in the U.S., is becoming the standard roof in the D.R. A zinc roof is cheaper and is still the most common type of roof in the D.R. However, it is prone to leaks and can be torn off a house during a hurricane. Therefore, as Dominican families become wealthier they are choosing to build their new homes out of cement from top to bottom. Until this week I had never seen a cement roof being built. I now understand why they are not common in the States.

Cement is heavy, so any building that is going to have a cement roof is going to need support columns. You also need to set up an elaborate system of wood and rebar to allow the cement to set and dry properly. Setting everything up to pour cement took  10 men four 12-hour days to complete. The word cement roof is also a little misleading. Mixed in with the cement is also sand, gravel, and lots of water. You then have to get the mixture to the roof. Today we have twenty men working on mixing and pouring the cement. We also are using a big cement mixer and lifter that a neighbor is letting us borrow.

Temporary Roof Supports

Despite the free equipment, labor, and other donated materials we have spent, just this week, $123,300 pesos or $3,082.50 dollars on the roof. But every penny is worth it to ensure the safe-keeping of the library's books and the longevity of the community center. Now that construction is underway my neighbors have already begun to talk about how they would like to build a second level where they can hold big meetings with the entire community. My neighbors never stop dreaming, and I love them for it.

The library now has a website: http://bibliotecadelcoyote.blogspot.com/
You can find more information about the library and see more pictures there

Other non-library things that happened this week:

I have a new club. We meet once a week to watch a novela (Spanish soap-opera) made by the Peace Corps with a cast of entirely Dominican youths. Each week the characters are faced with an important issue like teen pregnancy, AIDS, violence in the family etc. My students couldn't get enough of it!

When I returned from camp, I discovered that my cat had disappeared. I thought that he had either run off with another cat or he had been eaten by a Dominican. It is not unheard of for Dominicans to eat cats. Some people think their meat can cure diseases and others think it will make them stronger. Luckily, my cat did return but he was injured. He tore up his leg so bad that the veterinarian cursed, in English, when he saw it. In his first year of life my cat has already lost three of his nine lives (he has also been attacked by a chicken and he once ate poisoned food).

While cataloging books I realized that I took a picture with a statue of a character from a comic book we have in the library when I was in Argentina in 2010. I had no idea at the time who/what the statue was made in honor, hence my desire for a photo.

Me and Malfada in 2010

Sunday was Father's Day here in the D.R. and to celebrate we held a movie night. The film for the night was Sanky Panky, which is about Dominican men on the hunt for rich white gringas to seduce. It was a hilarious movie and I now want to watch the sequel.

On Thursday morning I was woken up by the screams of a pig being slaughtered...not the first time this has happened. At least there was also the sound of men building the library.

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.

Let's Talk About Sex

Making Condom Balloons

It has been said that you are not a true Peace Corps Volunteer until you have shown your neighbors how to properly use a condom. When I heard that I thought, “Psh, I am going to be working with small children, no way will I end up doing a condom demonstration.” Then last week I held a Fiesta de Cóndones (Condom Party) at my house with over 30 kids screaming, “I want a condom!” Kids as young as 10 made condom balloons, played games to learn about the risks posed by HIV/AIDS, reviewed how to use a condom, and, of course, practiced putting on condoms with the help of some plantains, a carrot, and a wooden phallus I was given by Peace Corps for just such an occasion.

Interviewing President Condom

Many readers back home are probably shocked at the notion of 10 year-olds practicing putting a condom on a vegetable, but I have received no complaints from parents about the event. Why? Because parents here know how important it is for their kids to receive good sex education. Sadly, the D.R. has the highest rate of pre-teen pregnancy (kids 12 years-old and under). News stories about pregnant 9 year-olds are not uncommon. HIV/AIDS is also a big problem in the country. HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of women age 15 to 24 years old.

I don’t want to see any of my young neighbors become pregnant when they themselves are still children. Nor do I want to attend any of their funerals. I will never know how my sex talk impacted all of my students. But I hope it will help them to resist peer pressure, and instead make informed decisions about their sexual lives.