On planting trees

Planting 30 trees seems like an easy task and in America it probably would be. You’d find a spot, dig the holes, plant the trees, give them water and be done with it. But not here. It's not mathematically precise, but if I had to guess, projects here are about five times harder, more complicated and more time consuming than an equivalent project would be in America. I knew this, so I started three weeks ago and for three weeks straight, I marched on into the mayor's office and ask that he help me plan the project down to the nitty gritty details. As I had predicted it would, the project turned into an ordeal! Here are all the variables we had to take care of:

Trees: which kind, who buys them, where do we find them, how do we transport them?

Soil: who has fresh soil to use, what do we put it in, how do we transport it?

Water: who will bring the water for the trees, will we continue to water the trees for days, weeks, months?

Labor: who will measure the space between the trees, when will we dig the holes and who will be in charge, who will help us plant, when should we meet and how often, who is responsible for brining the shovel, stakes, and other tools?

Goats: how do we prevent them from eating the trees? (this turned out to be the most important variable of the entire project!)

Fence: where do we find the wood to make fences to protect the trees from goats, who will make the fences, how do we transport the wood, who will provide said wood?

Other: what about food and water for us, who will provide tools, will the youth help, who takes pictures?

Our little Robles ready to be planted!

My green thumb at work

Bing, the casi mayor getting dirty!

Helper from the Ministry of Agriculture

Down they go!

My tree ready for her new home!

Men using machetes to make the fences to protect our babies from goats. 

The fences are in the works

No goats getting through this fence!

Mi matita!

Done! And it feels so good!

Finally, we had the holes dug and evenly spaced. Saturday rolled around and we still didn't have the wood we needed to make the fences and stop the goats from eating the trees. I had to call the mayor and tell him sternly I thought it was irresponsible of us to plant trees when our work would be destroyed by roaming goats. He assured me he had a plan. Additionally, only one of the fifteen youth I invited to the event showed up. Thankfully, we had some men from the Department of the Environment helping us and they were a huge help! 

It took us about 30 minutes to plant the trees once we loaded them from the vivero and dropped them in their holes but the rest of the day (8 hours) was spent creating wooden fence-like protection against the goats. Suddenly, my job turned from tree-planter to goat-herder. Already, within fifteen minutes of planting, two of the trees were completely destroyed. In the 200 meters we had planted trees, more than fifty goats began wandering in and out of the area eating our trees without a care in the world to the hard work we’d just put in. The men and I got to work protecting the trees and around 2pm, I had to excuse myself to head to my women’s meeting. I left them with water and snacks and they assured me there were going to finish the fences before they left for the day.

I left the area feeling proud, happy and content! This was the first project I could measure and see with my own two eyes. There was a tangible goal, a physical product, and a start and an end. I had done something. I was in Peace Corps euphoria!

However, apparently when I mentioned to the mayor it would be irresponsible of us to plant the trees without protection, he didn't seem to mind as long as he got his photo op of them going in. The men only had enough wood to make 16 fences for the trees, so that left the other 16 completely eaten within a day. I went back to check the work on Sunday and there was no evidence that we had even planted the other 16. It was extremely frustrating to see our work destroyed, but I suppose that only means we'll have to do another tree-planting day!

On books and kale

¡Olé!

Last week was the most relaxing and a much needed tranquil break! Everyone had the week off for Semana Santa (Holy Week) and I stayed in Manzanillo and was cogiendolo suave (taking it easy). I slept in, cleaned, organized, ate sweet bean dish at all my favorite doñas houses, took a beach day, painted my nails, worked out, went to a merengue show with my grandma and extremely fashionable aunt and read three books.

One of the books I finished this week was Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It’s quite popular in America (so I hear) and I wanted to see what the fad was all about. Glad I did because it was a great read! Quick synopsis: Wild is a true story of one woman's journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from California to Oregon back in the 1990s. In documenting her travels, she simultaneously explains real-life problems like divorce, her mother dying, and a crumbling family life. Even though her life situation was/is completely different from mine, it was amazing to read how relatable her trail life is to my life here in the Peace Corps. PCT life is just like PCV life I suppose! A few quotes in particular have really hit home for me. Here’s my list of relatable quotes and a lil commentary on each one.

• “My new existence was beyond analogy, I realized on that second day on the trail. I was in entirely new terrain. What a mountain was and what a desert was were not the only things I hadn't expected. I hadn't expected the flesh on my tailbone and hips and the fronts of my shoulders to bleed. I hadn't expected to average a bit less than a mile an hour...” 

Within my first month as a volunteer, I realized that my Peace Corps life is beyond analogy. What a culture is and what a volunteer does were not the only things I had my own expectations for. I hadn't expected to be living in a food desert, living teasingly close to comforts of America, never being alone, and constantly being constipated. I hadn't expected that my community projects wouldn't always work out as planned. And trying compare it “all” (my town, my job, my emotions, my challenges, the culture, the food, etc) to anything else in the world is impossible.

• “I staggered north toward Kennedy Meadows, furious with myself for having come up with this inane idea. Elsewhere, people were having barbeques and days of ease, lounging by lakes and taking naps. They had access to ice cubes and lemonade and rooms whose temperature was 70 degrees. I knew those people. I loved those people. I hated them too, for how far away they were from me, near death on a trail few had ever heard of.”

What gets me is that not even 2,000 miles away, people are having barbeques, doing hot yoga, drinking good beer, eating kale, easily streaming Netflix, eating hot cheetos, having wifi everywhere, and experiencing climate controlled rooms. But then again, those same people don’t get coffee 24/7, rice and beans everyday, merengue/bachata music all hours of the day, to walk to work, Caribas platano chips, tostones, or the thrill of riding a motorcycle around town!

• “I stopped in my tracks when that thought came into my mind, that hiking the PCT was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Immediately I amended the thought...Hiking the PCT was hard in a different way. In a way that made the other hardest things the tiniest bit less hard. It was strange but true.”

I wish someone had told me before I started how mentally difficult this job would be. It takes serious mental strength to get from day to day sometimes. And in the process, I’ve become my own biggest advocate, critic and motivator. It’s been the best exercise in finding power within myself. It’s a different kind of hard than I’ve ever known, but I suppose it can only make things I hope to do in the future that much easier.

• “By the end of that second week, I realized that since I’d begun my hike, I hadn’t shed a single tear.”

I still haven’t cried hard and good here and it’s been over 8 months! I guess that means it’s going well?

• As I walked, I didn’t think of those snowy peaks. Instead, I thought of what I would do once I arrived at the Kennedy Meadows General Store that afternoon, imagining in fantastic details all the things I would purchase to eat and drink...I pictured the moment when I would lay hands on my first resupply box, which felt to me like a monumental milestone, the palpable proof that I’d made it at least this far.”

 This quote resonates mostly because I spend time picturing the moment when I will lay hands on my next care package, which feels to me like a beautiful godsend, especially when it contains some combination of almond butter, Orbit gum, chocolate, Samoa Girl Scout cookies, dried mangos, chapstick, Reach mint waxed floss, new shirts, granola, nuts, fresh underwear and love notes.

• “I spent hours in a half-ecstatic, half-tortured reverie, fantasizing about cake and cheeseburgers, chocolate and bananas, apples and mixed-green salads, and more than anything, about Snapple lemonade. This did not make sense. I’d had only a few Snapple lemonades in my pre-PCT life and liked them well enough, but they hadn’t stood out in any particular way. It had not been my drink. But now it haunted me. Pink or yellow, it didn’t matter. Not a day passed that I didn’t imagine in vivid detail what it would be like to hold one in my hand and bring it to my mouth. Some days I forbade myself to think about it, lest I go entirely insane.

For me, it’s not Snapple lemonade, but more a combination of the things I can’t have. Kale enters my mind a lot, as does spinach. And iced tea and iced coffee. And as she remarks, some days I forbid myself from even thinking about American pleasures, lest I go insane. It’s the worst when I’m talking on the phone to my momma and she’s munching away on something so I go ahead and ask, “what’s that you’re eating over there?” and she’ll reply “oh, sorry honey, it’s a caramel from Trader Joes” or “it’s just a kale salad dad’s making.” It’s torture! And the snapchats yall send of delicious meals...rude! 

• “As difficult and maddening as the trail could be, there was hardly a day that passed that didn’t offer up some form of what was called trail magic in the PCT vernacular – the unexpected and sweet happenings that stand out in stark relief to the challenges of the trail.”

Yes, the Peace Corps is challenging and frustrating a lot of the time, but it’s also so much fun and so beautiful that I get to experience a new culture, live here, make friends here, hang out on porches, work with youth and mothers, and just be here. Every day, month, project, and experience is a net positive even if the accumulation of its parts comes with negatives.

• “The PCT had gotten easier for me, but that was different from it getting easy.”

I’ve taken to writing in a journal and when I reflect back on entries from months ago, I can see how far I’ve come and grown and that’s been inspiring to me and truly powerful. And looking forward I see how much there is left to do, and think to myself than in one month, two months, six months, I’ll be looking back on today thinking how much more satisfying it will become. In 8 months here, certain things have gotten easier. Like the food, and the bugs, and the lack of water and electricity. But it is far from easy – a word I would never use to describe being a PCV. It’s been a combination of challenging, rewarding, satisfying, infuriating, miserable, amazing, inspiring and tough – but never easy.

• “Thank you, I thought over and over again. Thank you. Not just for the long walk, but for everything I could feel finally gathered up inside of me; for everything the trail had taught me and everything I couldn’t yet know, though I felt it somehow already contained within me.”

I suppose it’s too soon to know what this experience has taught me, but I do know that everyday, being here teaches me something. I’ve been keeping a journal (thanks to Carolyn and Roy, who sent me down here with plenty of Moleskins!) and will hopefully be able to reflect in time on the experience and the lessons learned. But I do not that there is something here invaluable that I will take away in the end. Too hard to put a finger on it just yet, or maybe I never will, but it’s here with me!

¡Nos checkeamos!

B

On politics, palaces and McDonalds

¡Buenos días!

I love politics. From knocking on doors in support of a candidate I love to reading about the laws passed in my home state of Idaho and in the capital DC, I eat up what most people scorn, mock and complain about. That part of me hasn't gone away, but I haven't had the opportunities to get my fingers wet in the pool of Dominican politics just yet. Until now! 

Last week I got a confusing phone call from the mayor of my town and some political bigwig from the capital inviting me to a meeting about promoting volunteerism in our town. I went to the meeting with my mayor and a few other youth and suddenly I had signed myself up to be the "consultant" for a trip to the capital for a national youth leadership conference with 75 youth from towns along the Haitian/Dominican border. 

he conference was organized by the Director of the Border, a politician from my town of Manzanillo and the idea was to train young leaders and unify a national organization of volunteers who will strengthen the border with talent and community service. Why? The seven provinces along the border are the poorest and least invested in area in the country. Additionally, there is a large migration of youth away from the border, and those who are left behind are largely uneducated, illiterate, and poor. Supposedly this conference will be part of the solution to keep smart and engaged youth in their hometown. 

In three days, we visited the Supreme Court, DR Congress, attended panels with Senators and other elected officials, and toured the National Palace. For some youth, these were the first three days they had ever spent in the capital, and for some the first time they had left their small campo. They were snapping pics left and right and doe-eyed with all the "important" things we saw. It was really moving to experience this "big deal" with Dominican youth who rarely (if ever) have opportunities like this. I was impressed. But for a conference run by the government, it was surprisingly unorganized. There was no agenda, things just started when they started and ended when we got through the guest presentations. There was a camera man following us around all week and the director of the conference explained it was to show "the wonderful work of our government" (aka propaganda materials). We also prayed a lot and although I understand there is no separation of church and state here like in the US, it was incredible to see how much religion infiltrates and affects government. By far the best/randomest part of the trip was the free McDonalds they gave us at the end of our tour of the National Palace that some kids exclaimed "only the government could afford to give us McDonalds!" 

But now, how do we take back all the information we learned over three days? Engaging youth in Manzanillo and trying to promote "volunteerism" isn't something that's very cool or popular or even heard of. In a developing country where the majority of youth are married with children by age 20, it's hard to promote and excite them about helping their communities. What's in it for them? 

I've been reflecting a lot on where the drive to serve comes from. How did I get it? Why don't others have it? By no means have a conducted thorough research in this area, but I do know volunteering isn't entirely selfless. I started volunteering when I was 13, first for political campaigns and soup kitchens and then for youth projects and community cleanups. I don't know why I first thought to get involved (I think because my now mentor/close friend/ex-State Rep. Wendy Jaquet asked me) but part of me continued because people told me it would help me in the future. What kind of future, I didn't know, but I knew that I had some kind of future to get to. I can't lie and tell you a part of me didn't keep doing community service for the recognition it seemed to bring in the form of compliments, awards and prestige and the promise of "getting into college." But why did I keep doing it in college and to start my career which I suspect will include many more years of service? 

I still don't quite know, but I do know that if I've never finished high school, have two kids, will most likely never go to college, live with my mom, look for money from older men, and have low self-esteem, of course I would rather be drinking on a Friday night than planting a tree for some vision of a healthier planet I can barely grasp. And if I'm a high school student from a poor family without resources to send me to college and my parents are largely absent in raising me or call me stupid often, where will I find the motivation to do anything but escape my misery in socializing with my peers on Facebook? The answer is you wouldn't. But does encouraging and empowering youth make the difference, does telling them enough times that they have a future and can go to university, start a career, and go big places help? I hope so, cause inspiring and empowering seems to be 50% of my job! 

So volunteering doesn't happen much here, but where do the people who do help get their passion for service? In my town of 9000, I certainly don't know everyone, but I pretty much know everyone who attends community meetings, organizes parades for Independence Day, solicits donations to provide backpacks and toothbrushes to school children, motivates others to help plant trees or clean the beach and serves Manzanillo in various ways. Sadly, the people who participate can be counted on two hands. 

I don't have enough evidence to say if this situation in my town is unique because many other volunteers have been very successful with their projects and have communities where everyone participates. But I'm stuck. With attendance in my groups seriously dropping, youth making excuses for not participating, women unengaged to become health promoters, and my past two project partners shirking on their responsibilities, there is little I can do as a single person to motivate an entire population. So that's why I was so excited for this conference in the capital. I believe that with new tools and help from youth who attended, we will be able to work together to strengthen the network of volunteers that already exist and use them to help me motivate and organize a project or two in my own community. I just hope that somewhere and somehow I can find where the drive to serve ones community comes from and inject a healthy dose of it into Manzanillo.

Thanks to all of you who've encouraged me to keep serving others, I wouldn't be on this path, wherever it leads, without your support!

Xoxox, 

B

On a fancy capital tour

This week I was offered a spot on a Dominican youth tour of the capital. I went as an advisor and was able to experience first hand how the government works here. It was enlightening and inspiring to be here with youth who have so much potential and will be the future of this country. We had a blast!

Me at the desk of the Director of the Border with a nice pic of President Danilo Medina behind me

1 of 3 trail courts in the Supreme Court, notice there are only 5 seats

Inside the Supreme Court

Presenting a flower arrangement at the monument of the three fathers of the DR

Wouldn't be a government-sponsored conference without staying in a Catholic retreat center

Free McDonalds after a tour of the National Palace 

DR National Palace

Me with famous bachata singer, Raulin Rodriquez. Why the dark glasses at 11pm?

President Bronwen about to take a snooze in her royal chair

The Voluntariado Juvenil in the National Palace in one of the main salons

On writing a stoves grant

For those curious and interested in the Peace Corps' grant writing process, I'll upload my World Connect Project Plan here. Hopefully it will explain the language used in World Connect's grants and the project I plan to implement soon enough! 

Bronwen Raff

World Connect Improved Cookstoves in Copey

Project Plan

April 4, 2014

Goals:

1)    To provide high quality improved clay cookstoves for 40 women to use in their homes for 90% of their regular cooking needs while improving health outcomes for women and children by removing smoke from cooking areas and protecting the environment by reducing the amount of fuel consumed.

2)    Low-income women will adopt healthy behaviors and practices that contribute to improved family health outcomes. 

Activities:

This project has two main components. The first component is the educational and organizational part while the second component is the actual building of the improved cookstoves. In the beginning stages of the project, I will work with my key community partner to create a cookstoves committee with women heads of households who are current members of the women’s center in Copey. These will be women whose homes I have visited to confirm that they are in need of an improved cookstove as they are currently using coal burning and environmentally harmful stoves for the majority of their cooking. They are also women who serve as community health promoters and have a vested interest in bettering their community and the environment. This committee will meet every two weeks and we will discuss details of the cookstoves project, including: requirements for obtaining a cookstove, expectations during construction process, responsibilities of beneficiary families, lectures on the importance, usage and maintenance of cookstoves, as well as possible fundraising initiatives.

            The second component of the project will include the actual construction of the cookstoves. I will be responsible for making sure all of the details are prepared for the process, including: soliciting transportation to pick up ceramic stove pieces, purchasing cement and other materials from the hardware store, coordinating a schedule with the mason and project partner, confirming the schedule with the beneficiary families and general troubleshooting that may come along in the construction process. Once all these details have been finalized, we will begin construction, ideally 3-5 stoves a week. In this process, the beneficiary families will be responsible for providing one helper during construction, a bag of sand, a bag of ash, and food for the workers. After construction is complete, there will be a final portion of the project in which I will teach the women how to cook on their improved cookstoves. After the women have been using their stoves for a few weeks, I will make sure to follow up with them by conducting a home visit and a water boiling test on the stove itself.

            This project will positively impact the community by bringing 40 improved cookstoves to the town of Copey. Most women are currently cooking on stoves that do not have chimneys, harm the lungs of children and women, and burn coal. Additionally, 40 women and their families will be educated on proper usage of these improved cookstoves, as well as the importance of clearing smoke from cooking areas, using less resources for cooking, and how to prevent chronic illnesses.

Time Frame:

1)    Create stove committee: April-May, 2014

2)    Begin preparation of materials, solicit transport, coordinate schedules with mason: May-June, 2014

3)    Begin and complete lectures with 40 beneficiary women on benefits, usage and maintenance of improved cookstoves: May-July, 2014

4)    Pick up materials from workshop in Moca, Dominican Republic: July, 2014

5)    Begin construction of 40 improved cookstoves: August, 2014

6)    Finish construction of 40 improved cookstoves: October, 2014

7)    Test cookstoves and ensure proper maintenance and upkeep: October-December, 2014.

Total Expected Beneficiaries:

The total number of beneficiaries reached will be 40 women 24 and older who use will these stoves daily. Additionally, the families of these women will benefit from the improved cookstove project. This includes approximately 20 women 24 and younger, 20 men 24 and older, 20 men 24 and younger, 20 girls between ages 0 and 5, 20 boys between ages 0 and 5, 20 girls between 5 and 18, and 20 boys between 5 and 18.

Indicators:

1)    To provide high quality improved clay cookstoves for 40 women to use in their homes for 90% of their regular cooking needs while improving health outcomes for women and children by removing smoke from cooking areas and protecting the environment by reducing the amount of fuel consumed.

a.     Increase in exclusive cooking on firewood burning improved cookstoves among 40 low-income families.

b.     Increase in access to safer cooking practices for 40 low-income women.

2)    Low-income women will adopt healthy behaviors and practices that contribute to improved family health outcomes. 

a.     Increase in knowledge related to environmental benefits of improved cookstoves among 40 low-income women and their families.

b.     Increase of knowledge and awareness of health consequences of smoke inhalation for 40 low-income women and their families.

Data Collection Method & Person Responsible:

Data will be collected through a series of water-boiling tests conducted on the old cookstoves and then again on the new cookstove model to ensure that the cookstoves are highly efficient and beneficial for the environment. Additionally, to test education and knowledge of the benefits of the cookstoves, the PCV will conduct a pre and post test for the 40 beneficiary women. Finally, the PCV and project partner will be responsible for conducting home visits three months after construction is completed to ensure the beneficiary families are using the cookstoves properly. The PCV will be responsible for data collection and the community organization’s members will provide help.

On how to build an improved cookstove

This week, I attended a training in Moca, Santiago and we made an improved cookstove! Along with my mason, Lin, we kicked butt plastering walls together, helping a doña learn to care for her new stove and test it out. I will be writing a grant and receive funding to build 40 of my own in the neighboring town of Copey. I can't wait to take on this huge construction project! 

Group shot with the finished product!

Phase 1: The cement walls

Phase 2: Putting the puzzle pieces together with clay

Phase 3: Completing the puzzle and sticking it in good!

Phase 4: Coming soon!

Final product: Beya and the stove