You Can Help

“Oh my gosh, what you are doing is sooo great! How can I help?” For the past 15 months I have heard family and friends ask me how they can help, to which I have responded, “Eh, it’s kinda tricky to send things to the D.R., I’ll let you know if something changes.” Well, family and friends, the time has come to step-up to the plate. My community and I need your help!

The library will be on the right-hand side.

Since 2011, my community has been working towards building a community library. I arrived one year ago to help the library become a reality. Construction began last month, and we need your help to close our funding gap. My community has already fund raised $23,728.42 via donations of construction materials, books, labor, land, grants, and cold hard cash. We just need an additional $5,628.09, to help cover our remaining construction costs.

You can donate to our project by going to our project’s webpage on the Peace Corps website. Or you can look up my project on donate.peacecorps.gov. Search via my last name, Stine, or my project code, 14-517-025.

The leaky zinc roof will be replaced by a cement roof.

Many readers are probably thinking, “Why should I donate?” Here are some reasons why:

- The idea to build a library was developed by my community not by an outside group.

- The average family makes less than $125 dollars a month, and yet the community has fund raised 80% of the library costs, $23,728.42.

- None of the three local primary schools has a library. The closest children’s library is located in the capital, an expensive three-hour bus ride away. 

- Classrooms at all grade levels do not have enough textbooks for every student, if they have even have textbooks.

- The library will provide community members with access not only to books but also to computers. Of the 151 houses in my community, only 47% have a book in their home, and less than 10% have a computer.

After 7 months of cutting red tape, the bridge is functional.

- We spent seven months fighting, successfully, to get a permit to build an access bridge from the road to the site of the library. We will stop at nothing to make the library a reality.

- My community and I had to submit a lengthy grant application, which includes: essays, goals, monitoring and evaluation plans, a timeline, and a detailed budget. If you want any of the information we submitted please contact me at scstine@gmail.com.

-Check out our project’s webpage for even more reasons.

Now that you are convinced that my community’s library is a worthy cause, here is some information about the donation program, the Peace Corps Partnership Program:

Reading with a neighbor.

 - Every penny that you donate will directly fund my project. No part of your donation will be used to cover staff or overhead costs of running the Partnership Program, as the office is supported by congressionally appropriated funds to the Peace Corps.

 - All donations are tax deductible! Once the donation has been processed a thank you letter will be sent, which can be used as a tax receipt. The name on the tax receipt will reflect the account owner on the credit card or check.

 - You can donate offline. Although donating on-line is the fastest way for projects to get funded, you may also donate by mail or over the phone:

Community member repairing library walls.

Send a check to:
Peace Corps Headquarters
Office of Gifts and Grants Management
1111 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20526

Please make check payable to Peace Corps Partnership Program
Please also note the project number (14-517-025) in the memo section of the check.
(Please print and mail this donation form with your check, so Peace Corps can contact you with information regarding your donation, if necessary.)

-or-

Call the office and Peace Corps can take your credit card information over the phone at 855.855.1961 x2170.

Many, many thanks to all of you who donate funds. My community has a lot of dreams, especially for their children, and with your help we can begin making them a reality.

The Library Youth Committee meeting (in my house).

Go with the Flow

Ahorita in most Latin American countries means, right now, as in you want something done immediately. In the D.R., however, ahortia can refer to something that will occur or already occurred but it never ever refers to the present. So when you ask someone, “Have you bought cement?” and they respond with “Si, ahorita” it may mean that they have bought the cement, or that they are planning on buying cement in the future. For Dominicans, ahorita is a sufficient response. However, I always end up asking a bunch of follow-up questions because as an American, I need to know an exact time.

Dominicans have picked-up on Americans’ fixation with time. Tiempo americano means “American time” and it is what Dominicans say when they want you to arrive on time to a meeting. Otherwise, it is completely acceptable to arrive whenever you want. An hour or two hours late, it’s totally acceptable. I have even known Dominicans to lie about a meeting start time in an attempt to prevent lateness.

Dominicans are much more laid back about time. Nobody stresses about arriving on time or complain when a meeting begins two hours late. Being a typical time obsessed American I have struggled with accepting this “go with the flow” attitude. However, after the teachers’ training I presented at last week, I realized I have adjusted more than I thought. Not once did I complain or stress-out about the time and/or people’s tardiness. Here’s the run-down of what happened:

8:00am - I arrive on time to the bus stop where 40 teachers and I are supposed to meet so we can travel together to the training. There is one other teacher waiting. I start reading.

8:30am - We learn that no one reserved a bus, even though we hold the training every third Wednesday of the month. No one is too concerned. I keep reading.

Singing School Children

 9:00am - My co-presenters arrive. I say hello, and do not mention that they arrived an hour late. There still is no bus available so some teachers go off to run errands.

9:30am - A bus has been found and we set off for the training.

10:30am - We arrive, and everyone enjoys some snacks, slowly settling into their seats. The school hosting the conference then has several presenters talk about the history of the school and community.

11:30am - 2.5 hours after the planned start time, we begin the teacher presentations. No one mentions possibly shortening presentations or speeding things along.

12:30pm – Lunch!

A Great Presentation, Sadly Cut Short

1:30pm - I am invited to go for a walk with some teachers to a friend’s house. We visit for nearly an hour, but I am not concerned about time as I know that the head trainer is also still out visiting friends too.

2:15pm – We arrive back to find that the presentations have resumed, teachers continue to trickle in after us, including the lead presenter.

3:00pm – The conference ends. Since there was only two hours of presentation time, less than half on the intended material was covered. The other presentations have been pushed to the next month’s conference. I consider the day a win because I was able to present 50% of what I wanted to cover that day.

There were multiple times during the day when I silently laughed thinking of how people back home would have freaked-out about the delays. I’ve learned that worrying about the time won’t make anything happen faster. Instead I bring a book and, more and more often, I also arrive late.

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.

How to do Laundry without Buttons

Doing laundry in the D.R. is not easy feat, it requires strategy and endurance. You can't just press a few buttons, and voila - have clean clothes. Here is my easy 10-step guide to washing your clothes in the D.R.:

So many buckets to fill

1. Consider the power schedule (if it exists). In my case, laundry is always done early in the morning (just in case the power cuts off early) and never on Wednesdays (power plant repair day). 

2. Decide if you have enough water. My community relies mainly on rain water. Water can be bought, but it is expensive, and you will need to wait around for the water truck to pass, and then haul all the water from the street to the house (It's a great work-out!). I tend to do my laundry every two weeks but I sometimes go a month without washing clothes during dry spells.

3. Fill the washing machine, rinse buckets, and softener bucket with water.

4. Throw in some detergent and crank the washing machine dial to 15 minutes.

5. When cycle finishes wring-out all clothes. Wringing-out clothes is a skill, and Dominicans will let you know if you have bad technique. 

Demonstrating proper wringing-technique 

6. Place clothing in rinse bucket number one, then wring-out clothes. Repeat steps for second rinse bucket and softener bucket. As you wring, you will realize that washing clothes is great exercise.

7. When clothes have passed through all the buckets, place them in the "dryer" for five minutes. In the "dryer" clothes are spun around really fast and water is sucked out the sides. After the "dryer" the clothes will still be damp. 

8. Water needs to be periodically added to the washing machine, so make use of the water being sucked out of the "dryer" by having the "dryer" hose fill up the first rinse bucket. Then take water from that bucket to fill the washing machine. Also, as you wash, the water will get darker and darker but don't worry too much - that's why there are two rinse buckets and a softener bucket!

First Load

Last Load

9. Once clothes are out of the "dryer" hand them up in the sun for the afternoon.

10. After a few hours in the Caribbean sun your clothes will be dry and warm - almost as if they came out of a real dryer. 

Total time needed: 4 to 8 hours. Washing: 3 to 5 hours. Drying: 1 to 3 hours.

La Luz

Dominican Political Cartoon

Woman, "Everyone on earth gets excited to see the emblematic (symbolic) buildings shut-off during Earth Hour."
Man, "Whatever is here doesn't get anyone excited because we are accustomed to seeing everything shut-off!"

The Dominican Republic has a huge energy problem, black-outs are a regular occurrence. Most people are used to daily black-outs, even in the capital. I was once in an IKEA store (in a ritzy area of the capital), and when the power went out no one screamed or even complained. We all just waited around for a few minutes until the generator turned on. That's when people shouted, "¡La luz llegó!" Literally, the power has arrived. It is the standard reaction when the power comes back on. The fact that there is a catch-phrase for the end of a power-outage shows just how routine blackouts are here.

Access to electricity varies in every community. Cities tend to have more electricity, but if you live in a poor neighborhood you could have no power schedule at all, and be at the will of the power company. But that is probably because you aren't paying for your electricity. 30% of all the electricity used in the D.R. is stolen. That is the highest rate in the world.

In my community we have power from 6am to noon, and again from 6pm to midnight. I think it is a pretty sweet schedule. Other volunteers have to deal with rotating schedules: one day on followed by one day off, or one week power in the morning and the next week at night. One volunteer's power depends on how much power the local sugar cane factory is using. The factory controls the power so she gets more power during harvest season. I like the consistency of my schedule. However, I still have to deal with down cables, exploding transformers, etc. that can lead to out of schedule outages sometimes lasting over 24 hours. The current infrastructure can't handle the current usage demands which causes things to break often and be poorly repaired, thus continuing the cycle.

Some of my neighbors are happy with our power schedule. They say that if we had power 24 hours a day they wouldn't be able to pay their electricity bill. Power is very expensive in the D.R. because all the oil has to be imported, at a high cost, which is passed along to consumers. Which is why many people steal their power, which causes the price to be even higher for everyone else. Politics and corruption also play their role in the cost of electricity, but are too complicated to go into here.

The World Bank estimates that if the power issue was resolved the GDP would grow an additional 2% a year, and it's already growing at 5% (which means the economy is growing at a steady pace). Which is why everyone from the World Bank to Richard Branson are trying to help the D.R. and other Caribbean countries solve their energy problems. This will take time, so when you visit me remember to bring your flashlight!

Other things of interest:

• Library construction has begun! We finally got permission and built the bridge, and work on support columns for the new roof has begun. 
• We also are holding a raffle to raise funds to purchase new chairs for the community center. First prize is a washing machine, 2nd is a 50lb sack of rice, and 3rd is a gallon of vegetable oil. Tickets are $100 pesos each or $2.50 dollars. You know you wanna buy at least four for $10.
• The water here is purified. The problem is that the tubes that bring the water to homes have too many contamination points to make the water safe to drink when it reaches the faucet.
• On Friday Pato (my cat) showed off his hunting prowess by bringing a dead rat into the house! I shrieked when I saw it, and my neighbor did the same thing when she saw it. Then we looked at each other and laughed, but when we looked at the rat we began shrieking again. I tossed the rat outside, but that was enough excitement for my neighbor who promptly left. That night I noticed that Pato had a blood stain on his front paw, definitely earning his keep.
• During church on Palm Sunday, palms were handed out. But these palms were fresh, someone brought in a big branch from a tree in their yard. They were nothing like the dry palms I got at my church in the States. Yet another win for life in the D.R., although the U.S. does have electricity all the time.

This Week

There is no such thing as a ho-hum routine week for me in the D.R. In the past week the following has happened:

Dominican Wives Only an Email Away!

• I went kayaking in the ocean at a friend's site - my life here is sooo tough.
• I saw a 10 year-old students run naked in front of his house - not the first time I have seen him do this.
• A Dominican friend asked for my opinion on a job offer she received to become a mail order bride in Europe. I told her that the type of men who need to buy a wife are typically not the kind you want to marry.
• My power went out, outside of its normal schedule, leaving me in the dark for a few days. I also got to see sparks fly out of the transformer in front of my house, and learn new vocabulary: candela - spark, prestando - flickering, as in the lights are flickering.
• A teacher painted my fingernails...during class.
• A boy climbed up a coconut tree and shared the coconuts he knocked down with me, other volunteers, and a security guard who left his rifle lying in the sand while he ate with us.

  

  Climbing for Coconuts

• I saw an ostrich while at a teacher training conference at a one room school house. The ostrich is a pet. It is the second pet ostrich I have seen in as many months. You can also buy peacocks from a guy in town.
• My girls youth group has decided that they want to go to the national book fair in the capital. So far this week they have held a raffle for a gallon of oil, and sold habichuelas con dulce (sweet beans) on the side of the road, just like kids in the States sell lemonade.
• It didn't happen this week but, while I was traveling the outside of my house was painted!

  

  Romeo Guarding Our Newly Painted Home

Walking

The word andar in Spanish typically means to walk, but here in the D.R. it is mostly used to indicate someone has been traveling. You can imagine my confusion then, when I first arrived, and thought that certain people in my community were avid walkers, but I never saw them exercising. Recently, I have been andando mucho here are the highlights:

Surprise Birthday Party!

For my birthday I went whale-watching with friends; the whales were not too active but it didn't matter because I spent a day on the beach with friends, my community threw me a surprise party, and a bunch of friends sent me cards from America. Thanks for all the love guys!

Following my birthday I spent a few days in the capital discussing volunteer concerns with Peace Corps staff. I arrived back to my site in time for Carnival (the D.R.'s independence day celebrations).

Typical Carnival Costume

The next day I left with three members of my girls youth group to participate in a three-day conference. There were sessions on healthy foods, good relationships, AIDS, as well as, a talent show, and condom party. I was in charge of crafts, so we made friendship bracelets (Thanks, again, Kelly!).

Representing Samaná with Flow (Style)

After the conference I had a break for a few days and then I headed down to Paraíso (Paradise) located the southern part of the country. I didn't travel alone, with me was my friend Courtney, her cat Luna, and her dog Nelly. I had been pet sitting for Courtney for three months while she changed communities (she had security issues at her initial site). The journey took us 15 hours!  We left my home at 3:30 am but only after running around with flashlights looking for Luna after she escaped her pet carrier. The two of us plus Luna squeezed onto a motorcycle with a neighbor who drove us into town where we picked up Nelly and waited for the bus. Once on the bus Luna began to cry just like a baby. Only a cat is worse than a baby because most people, especially Dominicans on a bus at 4:30am, do not have any sympathy - I could feel the loathing of the other passengers. We were charged an extra ticket because of how annoying Luna acted.

We arrived in the capital at 8am and expected to be getting on another bus to the south at 10am. However, the driver of said bus decided not to make the trip that day and we ended up waiting until 2:30pm to continue our journey. Luna, apparently defeated, was quiet for the second leg of the trip. The silence made the views much more enjoyable. We arrived in Paraíso as the sun set, and went to in bed at 8:30pm.

A Tough Place to Live - Paraíso

The next day, Courtney and I walked 10 minutes to the beach that gives the town its name. Later we went to a different beach, San Rafael, where we met up with another volunteer from the region, Sara. I then traveled with Sara to her site, El Palmar. Like me, Sara lives in a campo (farming or countryside) community, but it couldn't be anymore different from my own. Where I have rolling hills covered in palm trees she has flat arid land covered with sugar cane. I live on a highway, Sara lives in a neighborhood with tree-lined sidewalks. My neighbors raise pigs, hers raise sheep. I am bitten up by black flies, while she has so many mosquitoes you can hear them buzzing around in packs (the blood-suckers gave Sara dengue fever - not fun). One thing that was the same between our two communities was the friendliness of the people. Everyone said hello, many gave me hugs and kisses, one man even gave me a beer.

Mountains on the Horizon

The journey back to my site was much less painful without the animals, and it only took nine hours. I was back in my site just long enough to chat with neighbors, hold some meetings, and wash laundry before I set off again. This week I am in the capital working on the volunteer magazine the Gringo Grita (Shouting American). Since I am in the capital, I will have internet and skyping capabilities all week. So, chat me up!