On baseball and bananas

Hey there ho there,

As most of you know by now, I am headed to America in t-minus three weeks. I am so excited and overwhelmed by this unique opportunity to represent the DR at the Peace Corps HQ for the Blog It Home adventure. As I prepare for my departure and tell my community members why I will be leaving for two weeks in September, I have started asking them what they think is important for me to share with Americans. I could write a novel (and probably already have) about my personal experience here, but I want to make sure that I share not my opinion of the culture, but what my community here wishes to tell you. In conducting my informal survey, here are the most important things Dominicans want you to know about.

Dominicans want you to know we have bananas on bananas on bananas!

1) Baseball

Baseball isn’t just a game. It’s a religion, the way to pass an afternoon, a creative activity kids invent with sticks and cans, a source of income and the way to make something of yourself. Having a kid that signed to an American team is the biggest honor a family can have. And in general, when Dominican baseball players make it big, they remember where they came from. They send money home to support their family, children, cousins and cousins’ children. Sometimes they construct huge houses for their families to live in, but often times, they are just down to earth Dominican boys who were lucky enough to have been found. In 2010, my host brother, Kevin, moved to Santiago for combined baseball training and high school program and was about to sign with an American minor league team until he got into a fist fight with the coach. Kevin was immediately kicked out of the prestigious program and moved back into our house where he is still unemployed and without a high school diploma. Had he signed, his family would never have had to worry about money and he would have given Manzanillo bragging rights for years to come (we have never signed a player to MLB).  

In the nearby town of Montecristi, they brag about having the first Dominican to sign with the major leagues, Ozzie Virgil, who signed with the MLB in 1956, retired from playing in 1969, coached for 19 seasons and retired back to Montecristi to live a quiet life in 1988. He has a humble house in quiet corner of town and continues to financially support youth baseball leagues and construct baseball fields in the area. You can find him sipping a cold Presidente in front of the local hotel every afternoon. Starlin Castro, Chicago Cubs shortstop, is the most recently signed MLB player from Montecristi and sent money back so his family could be a nice casa down the road from Ozzie. While his house is big and beautiful it is nothing fancy or elegant. Passing by, you wouldn't even do a double take. He send money to support his family and visits as often as he can.

Baseball earns people money in a country where money doesn't appear too easily. It's a way to make instant friends or enemies. It's a conversation starter or an afternoon debate. Baseball is the tie that binds Dominicans. It's one of the best things about this place! 

Heading to a local baseball game. Me bet's on the Pueblo Nuevo Yankees!

2) Knowing your neighbor

It is critically important, explains Lole, that you know how much help neighbors give each other here. Lole, a woman from my Hogares group, moved to Manzanillo from a small campo twenty-five years ago at the heels of a man. Today, they have two awesome kids and a happy marriage. However, Lole doesn’t have other family members here. To fill that hole, she relies on her neighbors. Monina and Fernando always send over juice, Fernandito fixes whatever electrical problem she has, Mama Julia provides her endless afternoons of competitive card playing, Cecilia will accept fiao (credit) at the nearest colmado and Noemi always provides the juicy gossip. When I asked if she ever misses her campo, she said, “No, my family is here now.” As blogged previously, compartir is that precious time when you get to just be with people. Dominicans respect and love their compartir and it has colored my experience here with the most vibrant of hues.

3) La Bandera Dominicana 

Dominicans I surveyed believe it is essential that you know how much rice, beans and chicken we eat. What’s for lunch? La bandera or "the flag." Everyday is the same and we never get sick of it. It is the staple of the Dominican diet - simple, nutritious and delicious. When people ask what I used to eat in America I often forget what it is I subsisted on everyday for the past 23 years. Umm, sandwiches, salads, I guess? But it does seem hard to pinpoint just what I ate for lunch my entire life. It’s easy, however, to sum up the last year of lunches in three words: rice...beans...meat. 

Beans softening on the three-stone fire!

4) Rum and Presidente beer

Dominicans want you to know that they drink and party. Brugal rum. Every Monday, you’ll find the streets littered from weekend festivities with clear bottles and blue labels of Brugal rum and the distinct green 40oz. bottles of Presidente pilsner. A delicious duo of alcohol that Dominicans are extremely proud of. 

5) Catholicism

We are a Catholic country. Religion is an important piece of every Dominican’s life. Every town, even the smallest ones, have a Patron saint and for a week each year, they celebrate and honor said patron in a series of church events, community activities and other celebratory shindigs (lot’s include drinking copious amounts of Brugal rum). We have plenty of Evangelical churches here, but the majority of Dominicans are Catholic and will let you know it. In my town, plenty of people never go to church, but when you bring up God, they’ll let you know what they think. They will start by saying, “I’m a good Catholic and visit God's house when I can.” 

Religion permeates every facet of life. Instead of saying “probably not” it’s always “Si Dios quiere, If God wants it.” There are prayers before every important meeting, government run and otherwise. Each time a group of people take a trip on a bus, there is a blessing said to carry the passengers to safety in the hands of God. You must say “Dios la/lo bendiga or God bless her/him” to every newborn or the mother curses you under her breath. It’s normal to prosletitize on public buses. I regularly step into buses and hear “Dios bendice a todos or God bless everyone” followed by a big ol’ “Amen!” Religion keeps people going and gives people in a country with so little (lights, water, money, jobs, education) so much to look forward to. God is all around us.

A candle ceremony for our patronales back in June.

6) Bananas

Have you seen the amount of bananas we can produce? You better believe that we can export two massive ships a week. In 2011, the DR exported 33 million bunches of bananas (300,000 tons) to Europe, generating over $200 million. Banana production generates more than 25,000 direct jobs and indirectly supports 300,000 workers in the Northwest (including Manzanillo). Banana cooperatives support rural community health clinics, women's centers, youth groups, community activities and construction projects. Unfortunately, Dominican banana production is much less sophisticated than similar productions in Colombia, Costa Rica or Peru, but the DR is still a major competitor globally because of our tendency to product high quality, fair trade bunches. Bananas support regular Dominicans, Joe the Plumber types, so chew on that the next time you buy a bunch. 

7) Have you seen our beaches?

Dominicans are intent on my sharing how awesome our beaches are with you. Manzanielleras are obsessed with our own little strip of beach because it’s clean and beautiful, and while it’s awesome, it’s definitely not the best we have to offer. El Moro beach in Montecristi, Playa Ensenada in Punta Rucia, Playa Bayahibe, Playa Dorado in Puerto Plata...ah I could go on. There is so much coast to explore on this tiny little island and damn, is it beautiful. I am so lucky to live here and will make sure y’all know it! 

Manzanillo beach - full of kids...and algae.

8) Best country in the world.

This bullet point comes specifically from the Dominican my around my age. Young, happy and energetic Dominicans love/are obsessed with the country where they were fortunate enough to grow up. Of course some want to leave and go to Nueva Yol, but the majority of them are content to be exactly where they are (for better or for worse). When I questioned why we live in the “best country in the world,” they cited knowing how to dance, party, celebrate, "have the best time ever", sing and relax. I pointed out that perhaps we should spend a little more time working and studying but they hushed me and said, “Bea, estás en el mejor país en el mundo, cómo puedes pedir más?” or “Bea, you’re in the best country in the world, how could you ask for more?” It’s true, I love it here.

Dawin explaining that the DR is the best country in the world! (And trying on Luisa's reading glasses). 

With this information from the horses mouth, I now feel ready to accept my challenge as an ambassador for the Dominican Republic. In the same vein, I ask myself whether I’ve become more an ambassador for the US here or for the Dominican Republic to you all there. Well, of course that got me thinking. What if I go back to DC and I don’t fit in? How have I changed and what will that look like in America? Am I going to be one of those obnoxious people who comment on the trivialness of people’s problems in America? Are things really that different? Am I going to like America? I guess I won’t be able to answer these questions until I land in DC, but the good news is, as my mom always reminds me, I was born in America and that culture is ingrained in me. A year away can’t have made that much difference. 

I am nervous about leaving my community for two weeks and going back "home" because Manzanillo has now become my comfort zone, my happy place, my home. I deeply care about these people and I truly respect and admire the people I have come to love. People here will gladly support me when I need it most. They’ll turn around on the highway to give me a ride even if they forget my name. People are in "it" together. We share in all the struggles, successes, happiness, distress, celebrations, deaths, poverty, hunger and joys together. We all acknowledge that life here is worth living because we get to share it with so many people.

The good news is, I won’t have much time between now and DC to even think about it. Construction for my improved cookstoves project has finally started and we are moving full speed ahead. We have elected the beneficiary families and will be finishing the first one in two weeks. Then we will wait a week for the stove to set and dry and then it’s asapoa time, a celebratory stew we will make to inaugurate the project and test the first improved cookstove. Si Dios quiere, we will build thirty stoves, helping women by removing smoke from the kitchen and saving the environment by using less firewood and completely eliminating the need for coal. ¡Pa'lante - Forward we go! 

Signing of for now,

Bronwen

On toilet paper and roaches

Hello comrades!

You’ll never believe it, but I won!!!! I won the 2^nd annual Peace Corps’ Blog It Home competition! Chickachicka yeah baby! The cool news is that I will be heading to Washington, DC from September 14-19 to represent my little island in a (publicity) tour of the city. I hope to stay a few days longer and see my besties and momma (!!!) over the weekend. I am dying to drink some good wine, eat some good food (kale), throw my toilet paper in the toilet after I poop and drink water straight from the tap. I know, I’m a lush. So thank you for voting and thank you for being the best friends a Peace Corps Volunteer could ask for. We did it!

Now, this is also crazy – I’ve been here for a year. WHAT?! And, in that year, I have learned some extremely valuable lessons. Here’s the top ten:

1) Always bring your own TP.

This is serious. I bring my own TP with me everywhere, anywhere and always. I’ve had emergency situations on a Caribe Tours bus with the nasty tiny latrine type thing in back, but that’s too obvious, of course I’d bring your own toilet paper, I’d have to be a rookie volunteer not to. Not so obvious situations in which you should bring your own TP include when walking to the neighbor’s house just for a cup of coffee and it starts raining so hard you can’t leave and the doña keeps offering you tostones and fried cheese. All the sudden all the fried stuff starts to settle really poorly in your tummy and you can’t leave because that would be rude (and remember, it’s raining really hard). So what do you do? You need to ask politely to use their potty, but obviously they have no water for bucket flushing and the TP is nowhere to be found. SO – you whip out the TP you stored in your tatas and wipe clean. Then you skeedadle without flushing, it’s gross I know, but worse things have happened and at least you got to wipe!

2) Best friends come in all shapes and sizes.

If you conjure up an image of my best friend, it would be a cool girl, around my age, sassy and smart. Well, I cannot count the number of best friends I have who are female and my age on even one finger. They don’t exist. Which was depressing at first until I realized that they’re all working the domestic shift inside the homes; taking care of their babies and cooking food. So who are my best friends? Five-year old girls and sixty-year old ladies. And they’re the best friends a girl could ask for. Letting go of expectations about what should be will let you truly find what can be. What I have found are the most amazing people who love me unconditionally and will play with my hair, tell me ridiculous stories, teach me cook and help me paint my nails. Who wouldn’t want a best friend like that?

3) I can eat (almost) anything.

Literally almost anything goes in and stays in. Everything except mondongo, cow intestines, liver and other squishy insides. I just cannot do it. But hand me a bowl chicken feet in a delicious stew, fried fish with eyes still intact, salad that probably wasn't chlorinated, some hard as rock looking bread, you give it, I’ll eat it. Mmmm. ¡Buen provecho!

4) I am really good at laughing at myself.

You have to be, really. It’s the name of the game here in the Peace Corps. It helps so much not to take yourself too seriously or fixate on what the community members will say about you (such as: she must be a lesbian because she's still single, have you seen how fat she's gotten, where was she the other week I totally invited her to my "staring at the wall in a plastic chair party" and she didn't come, etc) Having a good sense of humor is the best thing skill I’ve practiced here. And laughing is perfect stress relief or an icebreaker in an awkward cultural exchange. 

5) Cross-cultural communication is more than just the language barriers.

The words I say and things I do are constantly lost in translation, not because I don’t speak well, but because intonations, sarcasm, tone of voice, stress, happiness and other emotions don’t come across well when the white American girl with the funny accent tries her hand in the conversation. Culture runs deep and that, too, makes communicating difficult. When I say I think it’s horrible that a husband and wife split up because of infidelity, they’ll agree with me with a nod of the head and say, “Gosh, she really should have cooked better for him.” 

6) Some of the smartest people don’t have university degrees.

I’m particularly thinking of Mama Julia, this sassy old woman with more insider knowledge than Martha Stewart. She knows how to cure any ailment, fix any problem, help anyone anywhere and cook every ingredient in the kitchen. She can’t read. And then there’s the president of my women’s group, Francia, who without a college degree has started a women’s center, hosted plays and poetry sessions and traveled the island acting. Yes, formal education is important, but so, too, is being street smart. Here in the campo, cooking a great rice and beans lunch will get your farther than showing off a hefty university ring.

7) I can find happiness anywhere.

I just went to visit my best friend, Grayson, in her rural site called La Lima. She lives in the cutest and smallest town I’ve ever seen and it was absolutely wonderful. The more volunteer sites I see and places I visit and blogs I read, I realize I could probably live just about anywhere and be happy. But I am also happy when I’m alone in Manzanillo, reading or taking a “me” day to re-charge. I am learning and becoming very good at finding happiness and contentedness within myself, and that is a skill I can take anywhere.

8) I must constantly change my instrument for measuring success. 

When I first arrived, I was upset that I only had ten women in my group. They were all bright and engaged, but I was mad that there weren’t more. I was angry with my community and the people who didn’t want to participate. It took me months to realize that I was seeing the situation all wrong. This wasn’t a problem, it was a success. Those ten women are more motivated and committed to Hogares Saludables then I ever could have asked for and are now, the sixteen I ended up graduating are the best health promoters in town. They are actively and eagerly conducting their house-to-house campaign and are always willing to help me with extra projects. Just because something isn’t my own definition of success (which comes from the deeply ingrained American vision of success), doesn’t mean it didn’t work, or won’t work. The DR is a different place with different systems for conducting business and completing projects. Once I changed the yardstick I used to measure my success, I felt infinitely more powerful and motivated in my community. 

9) Sometimes you just have to pray.

I am not religious, but everyone DR is. So what does one do when the women want to start and end our weekly meetings with prayers? You do it. And what happens when they want you to pray? You do it...in English. And when someone dies and there’s an all night vigil? You go to their house and pray with them. And when you go to Catholic mass? You cross yourself and thank the holy trinity and such. And when you go to Evangelical services? You sing and dance and praise Jesus just like the rest of them. Because that’s the right thing to do. And while it may not be the way you see the world, you look into your heart of hearts and understand that religion brings community and community is what you seek. And then you go home and do yoga, run really far and really fast, write in a journal and think that whether there is something up there or not, we are all gonna be just fine, because humans are truly wonderful.

10) Cockroaches aren’t all that bad.

I love finding cockroaches. Some days, it’s the most action I get up in my little room. I’ve even name them (I've had a Cookie, a Juan, a Roachie and a Victor). I just flip off a flip-flop and smash ‘em up and sweep ‘em out of my room and wah-la, they’re gone! Sometimes when I’m visiting friends, we play the game, “Sweep the Cock” and the person who kills and sweeps out the most amount of roaches wins. I always win.

Well folks, there’s the top ten list of the week/year! More to come soon.

Sending you happy thoughts to start the school year and mark my first week as a real teacher in the high school (more on that later!).

Xoxox,

Bronwen

On being creative and resourceful

Living here, in a culture where nothing runs on time, stores are always out of the food I need for a recipe, people don’t respond to urgent phone calls or text messages or any other stressful (by American standards) problems, has made me so much more creative and resourceful. Everyday gives me the opportunity to think on my feet, as I never know what will go wrong in a 24-hour time period. It’s inevitable that something will! But it has also made me more relaxed, taking things as they come and not stressing about things and situations that I cannot control.

At first (and sometimes even still) it was very difficult for me to adapt to a culture in which no one is stressed ever and things never run “smoothly” by my old standards.  I am a planner. This is a country without plans. Fortunately, I am also very resourceful and have become more so in the Peace Corps. As I’ve mentioned, adapting to cultural differences has been infinitely harder than getting used to bucket showers and unreliable electricity. But it helps when I can make these unreliable things slightly more reliable. If you’re ever thinking about a partner for your Amazing Race application, or if you’re friends with the producer of the show Survivor, just remember me, street smart, resourceful Bea down here in the Dominican Republic.

Here are common problems in the DR and my resourceful solutions:

1) The lights go out and the nearest colmado just ran out of candles.

Negra runs a colmado that is sparsely stocked. Fine for her but bad for her clientele. She is frequently without mosquito candles and plain white candles for when the lights go out. So? I invent my own candles. I take a few pieces of paper that were used to wrap up slabs of freshly killed cow bought at the local carnicería and dip it in old nasty cooking oil. Then I twirl up the piece of paper to look like a tiny pyramid (or wick) and light the baby. It’s the best free candle in the world and lasts for hours (must be all the fat and oil!).

2) I don’t poop.

I’m either constipated or have diarrhea in this country. I can’t remember the last time I had a great poop – until I got creative. First, I tried switching my diet to include more bananas/fiber. Didn’t help. Then I got these special prune extract pills. Nothing. Then I started taking a multi-vitamin. No luck. Finally, a friend recommended linaza, flax seed, and I made a trip to the nearest town especially to find me some flax. Now, I sprinkle a little flax on my corn flei in the morning, add it to the peanut butter my best friends sent down, put it on cookies, add it to natural juices and top off my broccoli with the stuff. And since I’ve started putting flax on whatever I can find, I’ve been doing just great with the pooping situation.  

3) I need copies for my groups but the local printer just ran out of ink.

This is a weekly problem. Each time I go to the free printing center, the printer “just ran out of ink” or “there’s no paper” or “we can’t find the cord” or my favorite, “I don’t know how to turn it on.” So I head down to the customs agency where I’ve made friends with the printer lady and what do you know – they are out of paper, too, and there's no electricity. In a final attempt, I head to the grocery store and it’s closed for an afternoon siesta. After a few last ditch efforts to print materials for my group, I get resourceful. I end up sending the materials via email (when we have electricity) to my friend Dante who lives in the closest city, Santiago, two and a half hours away. He goes his local printer man and asks for 500 copies of my worksheets. Then, when he goes to a conference, he will intercept a near-by volunteer, Julie and the transfer takes place. Julie then takes the copies and brings them to Andy, who lives in Montecristi, the nearest town to my site. From there Andy keeps them safe and sound until I can finally make it to town by the motorcycle and guagua. Phew! It takes a lot of forward-thinking but this kind of resourcefulness also works for getting medicines delivered via the volunteer chain, printing graduation certificates in a small campo with a great and cheap print shop, sending stoves parts from a workshop in the middle of the country to my town in the northwest corner, getting mail delivered, or any other seemingly small and petty task. We Peace Corps volunteers have created a genius chain of delivery by using a lot of cell phone minutes and some serious creativity.

4. I can’t communicate.

As my Spanish continues to improve, I generally feel pretty good about my communication skills. However, there are those horrible days that make me feel like I just want to hide in my room and binge on Speculous cookie butter and episodes of Scandal all because no one can understand me. They look at me like I have three heads and proceed to raise their shoulders and scrunch their nose to say “what?” or give up and just walk away. Well, in my quest for having one-hundred days with no communication errors, I have become kick-ass at charades. I don’t know how to explain a story? My hands do it for me. I can’t remember the name of that one animal? I make exact replica noises to mimic it. I get frazzled and forget how to speak Spanish during a meeting? I just stare at the women for a second, think on my feet and hand out coffee mints and wait until I gain my composure again. Works every time! So, if you’re looking for a charades partner when I return in a mere 15 months, call me up.

Of course, it was hard to adapt here with my super-planner personality, but I appreciate the patience and kindness of Dominicans who have shown me how to relax, chill out and be tranquila when things don't go my way. And I think I’ve found the perfect balance of Dominican/American stress. I still expect a lot from my project partners, youth and women, but I am not offended if they cancel a meeting for rain. When I get too overwhelmed, I like to remember a motto my friend Julie uses with her project partner, Domingo and means essentially, such is life and it will all be okay. ¡Asi es la vida y todo va a salir bien! 

Perhaps this is a solid lesson for those of you working the grind in America. Just remember my motto the next time you're worried about your m-dash and n-dashes not lining up in a conference agenda or when your boss makes you return a 27-inch Mac computer because it doesn't fit and he wants the 21-inch. Just get a little creative, take a deep breath and remember that todo va a salir bien! 

On wonderful women

This Wednesday marked the end of the first phase of my women's health promoter course Hogares Saludables. For the first four months, we worked together to understand health concepts from proper hand-washing techniques to different breast-feeding positions to cooking with healthy green vegetables. After the course, each woman took a final exam to become certified as a community health promoter, a hefty and important title that merits an official ID badge and certificate!

And next week, after they receive their official health promoter badge, phase two begins. The women will be trained on how to conduct house visits and educate their peers on important health topics like childhood health, chronic illnesses and HIV/AIDS. In six months, si dios quiere, we will be certifying the houses as "Healthy Homes" in a cool celebration full of stickers and cake! My women will then be in charge of educating a new group of health promoters and I will act as a supervisor for the second year of service.

Meet some of Copey's newest health promoters - hardworking ladies making a difference in our community. I'm so proud!

Franca is our oldest health promoter and will do an amazing job on the home visits as she is spunky and vivacious, just look at that grin!

Alida is my only student to have finished the course with a 100% attendance rate!

Ana, a community health promoter who cannot read, scored a 95% on her final exam and has been the group's biggest motivator.

Local colmado owner Bernadina is one of the brightest students and will be an amazing health worker, despite not knowing how to read.

Shiomara is an outspoken and motivated student, scoring 100% on her final exam!

Carmen, a sassy doña, is always the first to volunteer for my games, reviews and dinamicas. 

Solmerys' mother and brother passed away in the same week about a month ago. Two weeks later, she came to me and told me that she was still determined to finish the course. I spent weeks reviewing with her even though she was still mourning her loss. She was determined to finish and told me it was to make her mother proud. 

Carmen joined the group late but attended every single make-up session to ensure she earned her health promoter badge with the others!

Keki has been beyond helpful during the course, working patiently with the four illiterate women in our group. 

Malde told me on the first day that she didn't think she was smart enough to finish the course. Four months later, she was one of my highest scoring health promoters!

Noelia has been a lifesaver throughout the course. She takes attendance, reminds me to get back on track and keeps me organized.

Yesenia is the president of our Centro de Madre and my project partner. I consider her another one of my Dominican mothers and have grown very close to her during my year here. Together, we graduated sixteen women as health promoters, started our floor cleaner project, made batches and batches of mabi de palo (kombucha type juice made of sticks) and formed the Women's Center of Copey. I have no doubt that Yesenia will continue this work long after I leave.

This is Genesis, Yesenia's daughter. She's our honorary health promoter as she's only 13. She is the president of our youth group, Escojo Mi Vida, and has already approached me to start her own group in her church.

And here I am: Bea the Jefa (Boss).

Thanks for checking in!