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.

Living through an Epidemic

Imagine a mysterious disease is sweeping through your community. In the span of a few weeks almost all your neighbors, family, and friends have fallen ill. Your government says the disease is a virus from Africa and Asia transmitted via mosquitoes. Would you trust the government's word?  If you live in the U.S. your answer is probably, "Sure, I trust the government and the Center for Disease Control to tell me the truth." Dominicans are not so trusting.

CDC Warning for Vacationers

Right now the Dominican Republic is dealing with an outbreak of the Chikungunya virus (pronunciation: \chik-en-gun-ye). Symptoms include high fever, myalgia, skin rash, and joint pain. Most symptoms go away after three days. Except for joint pain, which can last up to four months. Thankfully Chikungunya is not fatal. Since the virus arrived in the Caribbean in December 2013 it has been spreading like wildfire. Almost everyone I know in my community has had the virus. Some have even claimed to have had Chikungunya twice, although according to medical professionals once infected, a person should be immune for the rest of their life. But Dominicans do not believe this is true.

Dominicans do not believe most of what the government and medical professionals are saying about Chikungunya. Most Dominicans say that the virus has spread too rapidly for it to be transmitted by mosquitoes. Dominicans are accustomed to dengue, another the mosquito transmitted virus. Dengue has similar symptoms to Chikungunya except you can get it up to 5 times, and it can be deadly. Dengue has been present in the D.R. for a long time, so the transmission rate is not as high as it is for the newly introduced Chikungunya.

When asked how Chikungunya is spread, Dominicans will say by the air. The reason why it is spread via the air, however, varies by community. Other volunteers have told me rumors of government experiments gone wrong, a strong wind from Africa, and a chemical spill. In Samaná, the region where I live, the theory is that the cause of the virus stems from toxic trash that was dumped along the southern coast of the peninsula. Apparently when the trash was dumped, over 12 years ago, the people in the surrounding communities began to get sick. The government then buried the trash in a different part of the region, and people there began to get sick too, so the government dug a bigger hole. According to my neighbors Chikungunya is just another chapter in the saga of the toxic trash.

All the rumors have made me wonder, "Why don't Dominicans trust the word of their government?" My neighbors say it is because the government is always lying to them. Unlike Americans, Dominicans have not grown up for generations in a country known for democracy and freedom of the press. Many Dominicans still remember what it was like to live under the harsh rule of the dictator Trujillo. Many of Tujillo's successors were not much better. As a result, Dominicans today are suspicious of politicians and the government, and they worry about backsliding into their autocratic past. Chikungunya is a foreign word, it sounds made-up to Dominicans. In a country where previous governments have covered up assassinations and embezzlement, it isn't too far a stretch to think that the government just made-up Chikungunya to hide another problem.

It also doesn't help that even politicians don't believe that Chikungunya is spread by mosquitoes. When Senator Prim Pujals came to visit my community last month he announced that the government was sending workers out to the rural areas to spray insecticide to kill mosquitoes. He then said, "Not that it matters much, because Chikungunya is in the air."

One thing everyone can agree on is that Chikungunya is not done its rampage just yet. It is expected that by the end of the summer 50 percent of the population on the island will have become infected. I have yet to become ill, but my time may be out shortly. I will soon be spending five nights at a summer camp with over 100 other girls from around the country. It should be a fun, if exhausting, time. The camp is at an eco-lodge so we will be outside all day long, and it just so happens that the mosquito that carries the virus is a day eater (or so medical professionals would have us believe). A good number of volunteers and kids were struck-down during the boys camp a few weeks ago. I am bringing two girls from my community who luckily have already been infected so they are safe. However, I am not. Wish me the best of luck!

So as not to end on a ominous note, here are some awesome things that happened this week:

A portion of my neighbors' generosity

• It rained a lot so now all my tanks are filled and I got to wash my laundry.
• Kids came to class in the rain!
• I have teenagers helping out with my literacy classes.
• My neighbors gave me 6 mangos, 4 bananas, 6 plantains, 20 passion fruits, and too many limoncillos to count!
• I made 5.2 liters of passion fruit juice. I gave half of what I made to my neighbors (different neighbors than the ones who originally gave me the fruit).
• Power was out in my community for 42 hours, that is a new record since I have been here. The awesome part is that it came back on!
• Romeo played with another dog - Romeo has "issues" and doesn't really like to hang out with other dogs. He isn't aggressive, he just doesn't like to interact with other dogs.
• Kelly and I played Monopoly with my 9 and 14 year-old neighbors. Kelly and I where called tramposas (cheaters) - it was a blast. More to come about competitive cross-cultural differences next week.

  

  Monopoly Negotiations