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!

Just an update

Hi everyone who reads my blog. Thanks for visiting again!

So since the last time I posted, which was right after my IST in La Vega, not a lot has happened, and yet plenty of stuff has happened. Funny how things go like that, right? Well, between the end of my IST and this past Sunday I was having a pretty hard time. Nothing happened, but I was feeling stressed out, overwhelmed and generally anxious. About lots of things. Of course work and projects (or lack there of at this point) is difficult, but through the patience of a few great folks here I think I've decided that the main source of difficulty is that I'm still living with my host family (and all the privacy/personal space/control of environment issues that entails). Now, I want to be very clear that my host family is pretty top-notch--they respect me, my space, my American oddities. They are nice to me, they are nice to each other. They love their kids. Stuff like that. But for me, the very nature of host family life makes me bristle. So, don't think bad thoughts about the host family.

Anyway, yesterday I presented my community diagnostic (this is the thing I also presented for Peace Corps at IST) to my community. It went pretty well but it was lucky that we scheduled it during the weekly meeting of the women's group at Fundelosa (the women who will be working in the cacao processing facility when it opens) because even though I invited 16 community groups/organizations/the school directors, etc. maybe 3 of those groups sent 1-4 people (closer to 1). So there were a total of about 40 people but 30+ of them were already there from their other meeting. Oh well, I actually was happy with how it went (although they were kind of bored) and it was an opportunity for me to be in front of the "community" and show them what I've been doing. I've been trying to find things I can say "yes" to and build up some momentum and confidence. I'm also holding an informational meeting about a short, basic English course on Monday, so we'll see how that goes. I wouldn't be starting classes until April though because the world stops in the DR the week before Easter (Semana Santa).

I also got an opportunity to have a couple good talks with my counterpart to plan some focused activities to help me get directly oriented to the office activities, rather than kindof being there and trying to learn by osmosis. We also got to talk about how we will try to work together and our system for that which was very helpful. We are going to start by meeting weekly away from the confusion and hubub of the office to make sure I know what activities are going on and what we want to accomplish. So I feel good about that for now too.

A couple of fun activities are coming up. Tomorrow I'm meeting with Dan to begin the process of doing a birth certificate campaign (this is work but I'm really excited about it); Friday I'm going to a gardening workshop and on a hike with the youth group; Sunday Dan and I are having a pot luck at "our" house for the volunteers in our area. These will all be fun. I hope!

Anyways, I'll be in touch soon!
Thanks for visiting!
Kira

3-month IST

Hello!

My, it's been a while. Today has a theme.

Since last Wednesday until yesterday afternoon, I have been at my 3 month In-Service Training for my Community Economic Development at Peace Corps. For those of you who are geographically savvy, we were in Guaigui, La Vega. Actually, the facility we were using is the former house of a former DR president, Balaguer (maybe spelled incorrectly, who knows).

In any case, this was a pretty important mark in my service so far. Basically, the first day and a half or so was a work session with the volunteers and our project partners. I was able to bring someone from Fundelosa, my main project, as well as someone from the candle business I'm working with. I have mentioned my diagnostic several times over the months, and this was the culmination of my diagnostic project. Each of us gave a 20 minute presentation summarizing the results of our diagnostic reports (mine ended up 12 pages in Spanish). After that it was working and planning projects and priorities with our partners. I didn't really feel like this part of the event was particularly useful, because the work sessions were mickey mouse and I really didn't come away from it with any better idea of what I'm going to do as a volunteer.

Things improved greatly after the project partners left and we began the training portion of the week. I got some really good ideas for projects and how to go about some ideas I had already come up with. I learned about a free opensource accounting software (which I have been unsuccessful at downloading, grr) and some tips for teaching English (which everyone wants but the idea has been too intimidating for me to seriously consider). We spent some quality time with the other volunteers and got to hear about projects the more experienced volunteers have been working on.

I'm going to be translating my diagnostic into English for archiving purposes in case I might want it for a job later on or something, and I'll be sending one or the other or both to people who seem interested, but if you want to make sure I send it to you, just shoot me an email.

La Vega is (I think) the "best" Carnaval site in the country, and actually attending was a "training activity" for our group. The other sectors had already finished their ISTs, but since ours was still in session they still wanted us to be able to go. You can see lots of pictures on my Picassa site (link to the right). I don't really know much about the history or point of Carnaval other than in most countries it coincides with the beginning of Lent, but not here. Basically it was just a lot of people with the monsters parading by. They have these balloon things filled with wax so they are really hard and if they wail on anyone whose ass is available, especially if you enter the street. There were a bunch of us there, and it was a pretty good time but I don't know what the fuss is about, other than it was a fantastic opportunity to take some really striking photos. I didn't end up getting hit at all, but I was being really careful. Several people in our group have rediculous bruises.

Up until IST, the name of the game at site has been working on the diagnostic, getting a sense of what's going on and getting integrated into the community. Some people have already been doing work and actively participating, but not me so much. Now that IST and diagnostic is over, this is when we are to begin planning and implementing organizational, community and personal projects at our sites. This is overwhelming on a number of levels, and getting started is the hardest part, I think. I have lots of ideas of things I might want to do, but figuring out what order to pursue them and how to go about it is tricky. I am feeling nervous about going back to my site today, but part of that is just that this is the longest time I've been out of site. The nice thing is that I have a meeting on the 29th in the capital, and I'm going to go in a day or two early to use my "free" days for February, so I have about a week in my site and then I'll be out for three days, so it will be good for me to get in and be able to come back out again before too long.

In any case, it's strange. There is so much to say about what I'm doing here but it's pretty impossible to describe. Someone described PC to me as like developing a photograph, and that the image won't become clear until sometime after the whole experience has concluded. She was exactly right when she said that. I really want to have some way to record my evolution and experiences over this time, and I guess this blog is the way to do it. It will be interesting to look back a year or so after I return to the states and remember how I was feeling and all the things I went through. As much as there's so much that can't possibly be included, I hope I am at least getting the general idea across. Let's just say whatever one thinks PC will be, it will be different. Better, worse and just generally different.

Okay, that's all for now. Keep the emails coming, and thanks for all the support!

More later!

Realtime

Hey folks,

It's not very often that I get to write on the blog and post it right away, so even though I already put up four or something posts plus pictures today, I thought it would be nice to add one now, especially since I actually have some interesting things to report.

I'm in the capital again, although not for as long this time (I'm leaving tomorrow morning). The purpose of this visit is Committee Weekend, which is basically every four months there's a weekend devoted to all kinds of committees, so that volunteers can go to the various meetings they need to be at in one trip. Committees are things like the Volunteer Advisory Committee (gives input to PCDR Administration), Website Committee, Gringo Grita (the Onion-esque publication I'll be working on the next cycle, I hope), and various conference committees to plan and put on activities to do with self esteem, diversity, gender empowerment and so on.

So even though the specifics of my in-site, project related work are still unclear (more on that later), I have now signed up to participate in Gringo Grita, probably doing the majority of the layout/design stuff; I am on the fund-raising committee for Camp GLOW, a week-long summer camp that volunteers put on and we each bring a couple girls to participate in activities related to self-esteem and empowerment, health, rights etc.; and I'm also going to participate in a different conference called Celebrando Cibao, a regional diversity conference that lasts 2 or 3 days and we bring in speakers and workshop leaders to talk and lead activities on ethnic, gender, racial, religious and whatever else kind of diversity we can think of. Especially the fund-raising for Camp GLOW will be really good for my resume because it's a pretty big deal as far as price tags go, I think they said the operating budget is something like US$10,000, which in Peace Corps money is quite a lot. Plus, both events sound like a lot of fun.

Yesterday I went to a meeting for Brigada Verde, which is the youth group initiative for the Environmental Education group, and although I'm not sure exactly what form it will take, I think I'm going to use some of their materials in my primary project. What happens is my counterpart organization, Fundelosa, has numerous projects including a youth group. One of the underlying themes of all the projects Fundelosa manages is environmental education and conservation, and they want me to participate pretty actively in the youth group. So I don't know if I will migrate the youth group to be Fundelosa/Brigada Verde per se, but I've gotten pretty good feedback from the PC and Fundelosa folks about at least using some of their charlas and activities and such as something I can contribute.

It's interesting because I am finding at least as many opportunities for interesting projects outside of my official CED project plan and assignment as within in. I found 30+ kids while doing my surveys who don't have their Acta de Nacimiento (birth certificates, very important!) so I think I want to do an initiative to help get their documents sorted out. I also really like the idea of working with the environmental stuff. Some of the health/gender/environment activities and secondary projects seem more applicable and adoptable than some of the CED stuff. My community, even though it's pretty developed, is still a bit of a reach to have relevance for some of the key aspects of the CED stuff.

Anyhow, I finally finished my community surveys (thank goodness) and when I get back to my site tomorrow afternoon I will be spending the next week fairly devoted to compiling my data, writing my community & organizational diagnostic report and building my presentation for my In-Service Training which is Feb. 13-18. I have a few commitments fit in there as well to work with Camino De Luz (the candle business) and a meeting or two, but it will work out. I'm really looking forward to the whole diagnostic process being over. For one, it was kind of a pain in the ass, and for two, it really hasn't resulted in a whole lot of particularly valuable information for me, either on a social level or on a programmatic level. Also, at the IST I'll be able to finally outline my project/work goals for my first year of service so that when I get back to my site I can work on planning and thinking about starting my own projects. I'm very, very much looking forward to having my own life/schedule/work/projects and things so that I feel more in charge of my life. Communication is frustratingly indirect here, so I am forever not knowing about meetings and activities until the very last minute or sometimes even after the fact. It will be nice to have my own activities and work to do.

So here are a few things on my brainstorming list of ideas for my work projects:
- Youth group for Business Plan Competition (12-week business skills course, the writing of a basic business plan, and a 3-day conference)
- Computerize the data for the micro-credit and solar panel projects at Fundelosa
- Brigada Verde (environmental education) stuff with the youth group at Fundelosa
- Income generation projects and workshops (home-made household products) with the women's group at Fundelosa
- Get computers donated to Fundelosa, get the office computerized and the data transfered
- Do computer skills training with office staff
- Do organizational, project and performance evaluations for Fundelosa and staff
- Improve data keeping and administration of Camino de Luz
- Work on marketing/promoting and developing new sales opportunities for Camino de Luz products
- Get Fundelosa online
- Help develop and launch a website for Fundelosa
- Work on Actas de Nacimiento (birth certificates)
- Camp GLOW, Celebrando Cibao

This is getting pretty long, but hopefully this helps give a more concrete idea of the kinds of things I might be doing here in the upcoming months and years. Life is pretty good, no major complaints. Although I am still very much looking forward to moving out on my own, I am adjusting to life in the host family's house, although not completely. I just have to remember that everyone's site and experience is different, everyone's trials and tribulations are different, and do the best I can with what I've got to work with internally and externally at my site. Especially when I come to the capital and actually have a chance to talk to other volunteers. We are all doing well though. Hanging in there. Finding our way. Looking forward to feeling sure, confident and under control. I know I'll get there though.

Anyhow, take care! Thanks for reading!!!! Oh, and if your looking at my Facebook, I'm holding a newborn pig. View all about it at the pictures link. :)