Dakoda Lyn

Please join me in welcoming my new, beautiful niece, Dakoda Lyn, to the world. She was born on Wednesday, May 7 and we are all thrilled to have her. Cal loves her like crazy, as you can see here. I knew this would be bittersweet, and it sure is. I wish I was there. Missing her birth has been pretty tough this week, and I'm finally knee-deep in my first real battle with homesickness. But hey, I made it 8 months, that's pretty good. Anyway, here she is. Perfect. Wonderful. I love her already. Congratulations to Heather, TJ and Cal. I love you!

The Latest

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog, sorry for those of you who read regularly. Hopefully I can bring things up to speed without writing a novel!

But before I update on my life in Peace Corps, I want to update on my life at HOME!!!! My sister gave birth to my new niece on Wednesday, May 7^th. Her name is Dakoda Lyn and she was 7 pounds and some ounces and 21 inches long. My mom says she looks like me!!!!! I haven’t seen pictures yet, but they tell me she’s beautiful, healthy, and wonderful. The birth went well and mother and baby are back at home. Cal is in love with his new baby sister, as I am sure TJ and Heather are as well. Congratulations to you guys, I love you!!! It was very sad for me to not be able to be there for the birth and to meet Dakoda, and this was one of my more homesick feeling weeks to date, but you guys were on my mind every minute and I can’t wait to meet Dakoda and see Cal and give you all real hugs!

OK, an update on my work activities.

When the other volunteer in my community leaves I’ll be taking over management of some grants he’s got in progress, so I’ll essentially be the accountant. One is a grant for his Escojo (health promoters) youth group, another is for Escojo expenses for the regional coordinator, who happens to be from my community, and then a few small scholarships for several kids in the community.

I’m also still working on the child declaration project. First thing next week I’ll pick up the paperwork from the office in my pueblo to take up to the provincial capital, and then it will take them a couple of weeks to process the forms. Then I can pick up that paperwork and bring it back to the pueblo and get the birth certificates made up.

We are at the half-way point in my 16-class English course, and things are going pretty well. I feel like they aren’t learning that much, but I’m trying to be realistic. We’re going to finish before all my trips and out-of-site work start in June, and then I’ll figure out what to do once July rolls around. I don’t want to stop if they are still interested in continuing, but we might take a different direction, and maybe just once a week so my evenings aren’t so full.

The cacao processing facility had its inauguration ceremonies a couple of weeks ago, which was great, but now we’ve all realized that business planning was not part of the requirements of their grant, and so they really don’t have any business planning done. They don’t know what their costs or prices are; how or what they are going to pay their workers; they don’t have a marketing or sales plan or packaging or a system in place of taking, communicating and fulfilling orders. Essentially, all the planning that a business plan addresses is absent, so the factory, before ever actually beginning, is already at a standstill. This has been pretty stressful recently, but I’m trying to help them see the topics they need to address and get some decisions made.

Another project within my organization is a bakery which operates like a business just like the chocolate factory, although they are more established and up and running. Their whole system of invoicing and billing is done by hand, for 48 schools every two weeks, and is incredibly tedious and time consuming. So I’ve been trying to help them computerize some of the forms so they can automate and copy-paste a lot of the stuff. This is a little dangerous because they only have one computer and there isn’t always electricity; and because computerizing things means they are going to want me to do it instead of struggle to learn themselves, but hopefully it will be worth it in the long run, both because it will make it necessary to learn to use a computer and because it will save a ton of time. I guess that means I also need to do computer training in my office.

Also coming up is Camp GLOW, the summer camp I am soliciting donations for, for a week in July. And June is the magazine and language training. I sound really super busy, and I feel busy, but in comparison to life in the states, I am so not busy. I mean, essentially 12 hours a day is devoted to sleeping or being in bed, so my window for productivity is quite a bit smaller. Also, lunch is 2 hours long, and I spend at least 30 minutes every morning drinking coffee. J

Alright, moving on… Until this week I have encountered very few instances of inappropriate behavior directed toward me that caused me to feel genuinely upset, offended or violated. This week, however, one of the men who works in my organization and is often on the verge of being inappropriate (innuendo-laden comments, telling me once I’d look nice sunbathing naked, general commentary on my clothes and body) crossed the line. He started caressing my back and tugging on my bra like he was going to unsnap it and asked me why I use it… Dominican women don’t… wink wink. I was really upset and offended and spoke with one of the women in the office about it and I’ll also be talking to my counterpart. I’m lucky because my encounters with harassment and discrimination in my life have been minor and infrequent, but this was a reality check. This is a good time to mention that cultural norms are different here, and the degree of physical contact and commentary of a physical or sexual nature that is generally acceptable here in the DR would be considered extremely inappropriate in the US. Keeping this in mind, I generally remind people who speak to me in ways I don’t like that I am American, not Dominican, and for me this or that is offensive, while not letting myself get too upset by it. However, I know the difference between feeling annoyed and feeling threatened, and when I feel threatened I have no problem speaking up and putting the other person at risk of looking bad (which is very serious here) in front of their community. And anyways, the couple of women I’ve told about this in the community agreed with me that this was out of line even by Dominican standards. And they gave me some good lines for telling off the skeezy dudes who go too far.

My moving date is getting so close I can taste it and I am so, so looking forward to it. I met with Dan and the co-owners of the house yesterday to do the rental contract, but we hit a snag which, although it should work out fine, has me in a bit of a tizzy. It’s the LUZ! Electricity in this country is such a pain in the ass. Basically, right now Dan has the house connected to his neighbor, and he chips in for her bill. But she doesn’t want this to continue because of lots of reasons that make perfect sense. So we either have to find a different neighbor who will let me connect, or run wire all the way down to the nearest transformer and connect “legitimately” and set up a contract with the electrical company. Either way I am going to have to invest money up front to buy the electrical wire to make the connection, and then reduce my rent payment to recuperate the investment. The problem with the first scenario is that the houses up there are pretty far apart; also, if we do it this way I might not be able to have a refrigerator because of the amount of current they draw. The problem with the second scenario is that the transformer where you make a “real” connection is really far away and the wire to do it would be a huge expense up front (although we agreed on a limit for the investment I’m willing to make—and they’ll have to cover what remains); also, connecting directly would require a contract, and I am not allowed to have contracts and the two guys who own the house already have reached the limit of contracts they can have in their name. Also, with the second option, it’s possible that the whole thing could drag out if the owners have to come up with any significant quantity of money to connect the house, which could mean that I either have to wait longer to move in or live there without electricity until it gets resolved. Aside from the fact that I find this generally annoying and worrisome, it is compounded because I’m going to be out of site (and thus not around to nag people about getting stuff done) almost all of June! I really want to get moved it, set up and settled BEFORE I’m gone for the better part of a month. Dan and I are both pretty adamant that the whole thing needs to be resolved and taken care of in its entirety before he leaves the community on like, May 22, so hopefully we’ll be able to make that happen.

So, I guess that’s it for now. I think I touched on all the more exciting things that are going on. I promise to take pictures of the house just as soon as I get moved in, and I’ll get them online as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone for keeping in touch! Keep the great e-mails coming!!!! Tuesday, May 18 is my 8-month anniversary in-country!!!! Go me!

Love,

Kira

Children's Books

Hey Everyone! I'm trying to collect some spanish-language children's books to read to kids in my community. I found a bunch along the lines at Chronicle Books, so I made a wishlist. They're pretty cheap! I'm so shameless! Any kinds of short children's stories in spanish would be great, not just the ones on the list. Go to this website to see my wishlist.



Thanks! I'll blog soon!
Kira

April 9, 2008

I can’t believe it—I’m days away from the “quarter-mile mark” of my Peace Corps experience. April 13 will be my 7-month anniversary in the Dominican Republic. I can’t believe so much time has already gone by, or that three-quarters of my time remains. It’s not as though I am counting the days until I go; I am pretty content and generally pleased with my experience so far (I qualify “pleased” and “content” because of the daily, weekly, monthly ups and downs—every day completed is another battle won) and I can feel myself learning, growing and changing. Sometimes it’s empowering, sometimes it’s painful, always it’s powerful.

I am still searching for where I fit within my counterpart organization and trying to resolve my desire to help them on an organizational level with my instinct that the bureaucracy between our “branch” office and the main office in Santo Domingo will prevent me from doing so. Also, although they are certainly “Dominican” about it, these guys are educated (as in at a university, generally, across the organization) and competent. In many ways, positive ways, I am not sure they even need a volunteer. Although with more applied skills and with the youth group, I feel more useful. I have not decided yet whether I want to be focused more in the organization or in the community using the organization as a home base and source of support, but clearly I’m leaning toward the latter. It’s Peace Corps’ “work in your project sector” mantra that keeps me from choosing confidently (or, more accurately, confidently embracing my choice) because of my deeply engrained compulsion to follow rules and do what I am “supposed to do.”

But, I’m doing pretty well, and a few projects are getting up and going (although, again, not within my actual project, but like a friend said, we are “cross-sectoral queens” and getting a little momentum is good for confidence). My English class has started and I have 10 students; things are going pretty well so far. Progress is being made with the child declaration project. The youth group at my organization successfully produced Mistoline—a very profitable income generation project—and is selling it in the community. The youth candle business has hosted a couple of candle-making workshops with some girls to generate interest and hopefully help in the business, and we are working on developing a partnership with another community group to help us sell the products. Planning for the girls’ summer camp is moving along; I am working on a handout for community-based fundraising ideas that volunteers will use to come up with the community contribution required to attend the camp. I’ve got a couple of trips coming up, and hopefully the Gringa Grita, plus my week-long language workshop so there’s quite a bit going on inside and outside of site.

But like I said, other than a couple of very basic brochures, my involvement and contribution in the projects managed by my organization have been limited to attending the activities and meetings. They keep mentioning ideas for more consultative projects but not finding (or making) the time to develop the idea with me and plan goals and expectations. I am to blame for this also because I have not been applying strong enough or consistent enough pressure to force something to come out of the wash, but I’ve got to be honest—that struggle isn’t especially appealing to me!

Personally I’m doing well, but some days are definitely happier, more content, easier, and so on than others. Moving into my own house is still at the top of my list and front of my thoughts. Once I get that taken care of, I’ll probably have more thoughtful things to say about my state of mind and well-being than I’m antsy to get moved out. Stay tuned!

Interesting things happen here

On Easter, our gas stove ran out of gas so for dinner we ate cold leftovers from lunch. Then, we went to the gallera (cock fight). Before any of this, though, someone drowned in the river. I’m still unclear on what happened, but there were other people in the river at the time. I found it upsetting that it appeared nobody tried to help him. News travels fast and before there was time for the medico to show up and remove the body, probably a good hundred-plus people had gathered on the riverbank to gawk. I’m not proud to say I was one of them, but to my credit I didn’t actually figure out what they were going on about until I got there and saw for myself.

I discovered a new unsavory creature recently. Apparently the Dominican Republic has scorpions (or small, scorpion-like creatures). Where did I discover it? On my bare foot, preparing to sink its pincers into me. What did the Dominicans tell me? Cuidate, esa pica duro! (Loosely translated: Careful, that hurts like hell if it bites you!). Thanks, guys.

Plumbing in my community is still fairly unsophisticated. What I mean is that although we have running water from an aqueduct, everything is on a septic system as far as waste water goes. Well, the septic tank for our kitchen sink filled up, oh, two weeks ago, so it doesn’t drain anymore. The solution is build a new septic tank (not drain the existing one), and two weeks later there has been no sign of this work beginning. So, we use the sink and scoop the water out and dump it outside. Super fun. Yesterday, Susa found a little frog playing in the sink. Dominicans aren’t scared of cockroaches, rats, HUGE spiders, but they hate, hate, hate frogs. Hero Kira to the rescue, I scooped the frog and chucked it outside. You would have thought I had saved the house from near destruction, but I was glad to feel useful.

My community has a relatively bustling economy. It is definitely a campo—not a pueblo and definitely not a city—in size, scale, complexity and services, but it is growing in population, quality of life available products and services. They are building constantly. During Semana Santa (week before Easter) a new business opened up, which can most closely be described as a bar—we have colmados and cafeterias here already, but this has more seating, covered seating, a sound system, etc. Also, I learned yesterday that my counterpart (who is already incredibly busy and overworked) is having the guy who owns, well, kindof everything here, build a little shop she can rent and have a little tienda de ropa, or clothing store. This is starkly contrasted to one of my neighbor volunteers who lives a 45 minute walk away (maybe 3 miles) farther into the campo and has one colmado (bodega) and one banca (where you play the lottery) in his whole community.

I saw a frog get tortured and murdered tonight while I was eating dinner. My “host nephew” was having a birthday so his mom did a sopado (a tasty chicken and rice soup with tons of salt and preservatives cooked over, essentially, a campfire in a HUGE pot). You know, cook outside, eat outside. It’s the Dominican equivalent of a backyard bbq. Well, so some kid found a frog and somehow trapped it for a while so he could dig a hole in the ground in which to torture it. Then he puts this frog in the hole, takes a branch out of the fire and pokes the hell out of the poor frog with the red hot end of the stick. When the frog finally escaped and leaped away (and I, sitting innocently nearby almost got clobbered by a mob of Dominican women and their children who have some absurd fear of frogs) they chased it down and clubbed it until it literally exploded its guts all over. This is literally while I’m sitting there with my bowl balanced on my knees eating dinner. Granted, it was a rather large frog, perhaps even a rather large toad, and I wouldn’t have wanted to sit too close to it but it was rather disturbing watching it be tortured and beaten into oblivion.

I had a very, very busy last week and a half or so. The rundown: last weekend I was in Jarabacoa. I got back on Monday and had to help my counterpart with a presentation. Tuesday I had office stuff, and in the afternoon a workshop in the candle fabrica, and then a 2-3 hour impromptu meeting with Dan. Wednesday I had office stuff and then my first English class. Thursday office in the morning. Workshop in the fabrica again. Meeting/dinner/anniversary party in the evening up at Dan’s house for the candle business. Friday in the morning office and a meeting with Dan. In the afternoon birth certificate meeting. In the evening youth group meeting. Saturday in the morning plan English class. In the afternoon/evening produce Mistoline. Sunday am 27 Charcos again and in the afternoon English class. WOW, right?

Photos

Should be some new ones uploaded today!

Dominican onions are tasty!

Oh my gosh I can’t believe I said that. And I meant it! Wow, what’s happening to me? It’s true though, especially if you sauté them until their kind of brown and crispy—they’re just delicious. Oh, I know Michele, I’m abandoning you in our carte blanche distaste for onions, but I can’t help it. Please forgive me. Who knows if this palatial evolution is permanent, American onions might very well still offend me. Only time will tell.

In other news, we are in Semana Santa now (Holy Week) and although this doesn’t affect me, it is ironic that the beaches on the north coast are closed this week, one of the peak vacation times in the Dominican Republic. Bummer for the tourist industry, and major bummer for the tourists who paid top-dollar to come here and won’t be able to visit the beach.

Holidays here are interesting and seriously over-hyped. Now having been here for Christmas, New Year and Semana Santa, the reality does not live up to the hype. Unintuitively, this has not been especially disappointing for me, but just interesting to observe. The only thing that really happens to scale is the influx of people who come back to the campo from the city to visit their families. Generally not being a fan of large family gatherings for extended periods of time, this is the aspect of holidays in the DR that makes me cringe. Suddenly there are lots of new people, everywhere, for several days. Some seem not to notice my presence, most seem not to particularly care. Regardless, I feel obliged to meet them and compelled to retreat and find a safe place. Only, there’s nowhere to go. Extended family is everywhere. I guess I’m getting used to the constant presence of the people in my community who are constantly present, but all these new people make it like starting over.

However, in the spirit of community integration and cultural exploration, I went to the Thursday-before-Easter Catholic church services yesterday in the chapel in my community. In fact, not only did I go to the service, I got tapped to read one of the scriptures. Aside from the fact that the whole Bible, apparently uses future and vosotros verb forms (which are practically never used in spoken Spanish here, and thus still foreign to my tongue), I’d say it went well. I have a sneaking suspicion I’m getting llevar-ed to the Evangelical service in the loma today on a mule with my “host grandpa,” who is the minister or something.

***

The latest issue of the Gringo Grita came out last week, and in it were the Close-of-Service surveys for the group of volunteers that will be leaving in May. Reading these caused me to reflect on what my COS survey might look like when the time comes; reading them caused me to consider the ways I think I might change, the things I might learn.

A few hypotheses…

- I think I will learn how to truly embrace and accept my introverted side.

- I think I will be more comfortable being uncomfortable (both physically and emotionally).

- I will be even more willing to take a risk if I think the possible outcome is worth the trouble.

- I will make significant progress through my “Mid-Twenties Renaissance,” an experience coined by my friend Claudette.

- I will have had a meaningful opportunity to explore my values and beliefs and think about who I want to be and how I want to live my life.

- I will be more comfortable knowing what I want to do or what will make me happy and doing it without concern for how others perceive it; if they have a problem, they don’t accept me anyways.

- I will be more understanding and accepting of my family.

- I will be more used to and comfortable with kids.

Also, a strange observation on the activities of my mind when allowed to wander: Although I am generally happy and content here I find that I spend a surprising amount of time calculating what remains of my 27-month service and imagining what my life might look like and what directions I might go upon its completion. Is my inability to live exclusively in the present, without looking ahead to what may or may not happen in the future, an intrinsic flaw? I must work on this. I hereby commit (to try) to not plan the next official stage of my life until I am physically in the United States. (However, I permit myself to make plans for a transition period between arriving and beginning the next “official” stage.)

***

Housing update: Still waiting to move into Dan’s house in mid-late May. Feeling eager. Feeling anxious. Hanging in there. Told him he was prohibited from extending again. Was reassured this will not be a problem. Accepted said reassurance with warning that if it should change, he will be forced to co-habitate with me because I’m moving in May. J

***

Wishlist update:

- I’m trying to take up yoga/pilates. If anyone has instructional DVDs laying around that aren’t getting used, I’d love to take them off your hands. (Don’t go buying stuff, though).

- What’s new in the music world? Burned CDs I can import into iTunes on my computer would rock my world.

- Movies (DVDs), magazines (Health and Self are my favorites)

- Chocolate! Luna/Pria/Mojo Bars!

- Off Deep Woods spray mosquito repellent with DEET (a couple people sent me this before and it works great… it’s in a green bottle).

- Soft & Dri deodorant (DermaStripe or PowerStripe).

- Printed pictures of whatever you all have been up to!

***

Activity update:

I’m in the beginning or planning stages of: income generation project (making/selling floor disinfectant) with the youth group; English classes; a campaign to get kids declared who don’t have birth certificates (and thus are not recognized as existing by the government and all the implications and limitations “not existing” entails). Camino de Luz is meeting regularly. We had been out of production for a while because of a materials/cash flow problem, but we finally got the paraffin and are back in production, thank goodness. Planning for Camp GLOW is coming along nicely, as part of the fundraising committee, I have been working on writing a grant to get funding and creating an ideas sheet for community-based fundraising (each community that sends girls has to make a financial contribution).

I’ve made it my goal in the next few months to spend my transportation budget more on traveling than on trips to the Capital (actually this will be a sacrifice because it means less access to good internet and mail), but I really want to make sure I see the country while I’m here and make a point to visit other volunteers. So, next weekend I’m going to visit Ben and Claudette in Jarabacoa (I’ve already been there once, but it was a really quick visit). In mid-April I’m going to visit Robyn in Sabana de la Mar. In May I have to go to the Capital for a GLOW meeting but I have to go for a doctor appointment anyways so I should be able to get reimbursed. Also in late May or early June is the next production cycle of Gringo Grita, of which I will be participating, which is about a week in the Capital. In June I’m planning to go to Bahia de las Aguilas near Pedernales for two nights of camping on what is, from what I understand, one of the most beautiful and pristine beaches in the country. Also in June I have to go to the Capital for my 6-month language workshop and a sector meeting. In July is Camp GLOW, in August is Celebrando Cibao and a camping trip with the youth group at Fundelosa. The spring and summer are shaping up to be busy and full of interesting excursions.

Okay, so that seems like a pretty thorough rundown on what’s new with me. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next installment. Miss you, love you, talk to you later!!!!

Kira

PS. New pictures should be online!