On making money and mangaring visas

How do people make money here? I often have no idea. In my campo, there are the main industries like the two banana packing factories, the sea port, and the government’s banana farm project. There are colmados (corner stores), three barber shops, a few home delivered nail services, two salons, three bars and four restaurants. Other than that, I literally have no idea how people make money. There are volunteers who live in towns where the economy revolves solely around one cassabe factory, one yogurt and cheese making business, or sparse tobacco farms which are all highly dependent on rainwater for growing crops, feeding cows and seeding new varieties. So how do people feed themselves when their is no rain, it's not cassabe season, or the tobacco doesn't grow? I set out to investigate.

I found that almost 10% of the DR’s economy ($3.9 billion) is remittances, or money sent here from abroad, most commonly through Western Union, Caribe Express or other wire transfers. This is quite a high percentage, but for comparisons sake, in Haiti, remittances account for an estimated half of the national income. An online article I found explains remittances as "keeping the homeland afloat."

Another way people survive is through the a welfare type debit card called the “Tarjeta de Solidaridad.” This card comes stocked every month with 800 pesos for food, two gallons of propane, money for the electricity bill and extra money for each child a family has in the school system. I estimate that 50% of my campo is on the card, and have heard estimates of up to 90% in other volunteers’ sites. To receive this card, beneficiaries must comply with education and health component, cardholders must go for monthly checkups at the local clinic and attend educational presentations on topics ranging from family values to the importance of reading to the prevention of domestic violence. I give this part a big thumbs up. The problem with the card? Many people sell their card benefits to others for profit. This is not new or novel for governments who have welfare program (we have similar issues in the US), but it's difficult to police. 

What do these two major sources of income (remittances and the tarjeta) mean for the DR and it’s people? It creates a lot of problems. Add in the long history of foreign aid coming into campos and (mostly) white people “giving” stoves, medicines, schools, paint etc and you’ve got a pervasive attitude of “getting." The ways this mentality (of getting) manifests itself are complicated and I can in no way explain it adequately without writing also writing an anthropology, history and sociology textbook to accompany it. However, from my small sliver of experience here, I will make a few observations. 

I see a great deal of is young women who spend their days searching Facebook or other social media sites looking for a boyfriend, sugar daddy or American that they can meet, chat with and eventually ask for money, fall in love with (or not) and marry. For example, I have a friend who happens to be my exact age. Three years ago, she was living with her parents and they ended up splurging on Internet for the house. She immediately set up her own Facebook page and told me she would spend countless hours at home on the Internet just chatting with men from America because she was bored and odds were, she told me, if she spent enough time chatting, eventually one would become her boyfriend. Well, three years later, she has a two-year old daughter and just officially married to her baby daddy, a 61-year old Romanian American who lives in Orlando, Florida. He pays her rent, Internet and food, buys her and daughter clothes and sends money for cell phone minutes and trips to the salon. He comes to Manzanillo two or three times a year and each time he comes, they are whisked off to a resort for a few days, making her the subject of much envy in town. “She won,” a friend told me, “She got what we all want.” This is not an unusual/outlier case. 

Another problem with this remittances thing is that it gives people an idea of America as this jackpot of money. There is a huge misconception that if you can “make it” to America, you will be rich and live a great life. Therefore, everyone is trying to move to New York, legally or illegally, no importa. I’ve been asked countless times to “mangar la visa” a semi-rude term people will yell to gringos ordering them to “get me a visa.” When I teach class, students will interrupt in the middle of a lesson and say, “Bea, when are you gonna get me that visa, huh blondie?” I’ve also been propositioned with a legitimate offer of $5,000 if I marry my neighbor’s son and then divorce him when he gets to America. I tend laugh it off as a joke even though they're absolutely serious. The culture of “mangaring a visa” is pervasive. I've come to understand how growing up in this culture would lead one to believe the will only be successful if they make it to Nueva Yol. Everyone has a primo, uncle, abuela, amiga or relative in Nueva Yol and they're just trying to make it, too. It is an undeniable stamp of victory.

And here’s another problem with remittances. Let’s say, for example, someone sent me 4,000 pesos (or $100USD) for my remittances one week. I would go to Western Union and sign for it, and spend it...all of it. Dominicans are not accustomed to saving money and almost no one I know has a bank account. Even though 4,000 pesos could feed a family of four for almost a month, many of the young women I see getting their remittances spend it within a weekend. On what? On the salon, clothes, baby formula, cell phone minutes, makeup, perfume, you name it. This is a culture very preoccupied with appearances and 4,000 pesos can do a lot to propel that image. 

I can sympathize with Dominicans who feel that they have nothing because quite honestly, much of the time there literally is no way to feed their families. The immediate and simple solution has been to ask families in America for money, look for American men/husbands/boyfriends who will send money over, and any other way of getting money and food on the table. People are often shocked that I don't have a sugar daddy/boyfriend sending me over money , "But Bea, how do pay your rent, do you not go to the salon because he doesn't send you money, who's buying your clothes?"

I see the job of Peace Corps Volunteers (and other international aid organizations) is to help these young women (and men) acquire skills that will decrease their independence on remittances. In this day in the technological age, finding a boyfriend and eventually husband online is relatively easy, especially if you have no job and all the time in the world to sit on the street and fish for one. The question of “where do people get their money” is a complicated one without a simple solution, but investing in education, micro-finance loans for women and healthy after school activities (aka Escojo Mi Vida) are a good start and one where I can personally make a dent. The world is a much bigger and complicated place than I ever could have imagined. 

Disclaimer: This was my first attempt at investigative reporting! It started with an email from a former boss/friend from back home asking how people here make money. It was meant to be a combination of my own (limited) observations and a series of facts about the DR's economy. If you have topics you're curious about for the future, send an email!