On my job

So all this talk about the DR and it’s people and my very vague idea of a project. What the heck have I been and will I be doing for the next two years? Well, so far, I have been living in Pantoja (a poor neighborhood north of the center of Santo Domingo) for what is known as Pre-Service Training. I wake up every morning around 6am and am out the door (fed and full of coffee) by 7:30. I go to “school,” where 46 of us learn Spanish, technical health skills, and core skills like water purification, cross-cultural competencies, approaches to international development, the Peace Corps’ approach to development, and leadership training. Around 5pm, I walk home and wait for Kiara to come home from school as well so we can do yoga on the porch or chat in Spanish. Sometimes I take an evening walk around the neighborhood (dependent on whether or not I want catcalls and people staring at me) and then I’m usually in bed reading, watching a movie, doing homework, or writing a blog by 8:15. Lights off by 9:30...repeat.

Next week, I am heading to a town in the province of San Juan (north of Santo Domingo) to stay with a current Peace Corps Volunteer (I’m a lowly Trainee still). The idea of this visit is to see where a volunteer project site might be and to grill them about various health projects I can take on, and different aspects of Peace Corps life. Oh, and I get to take a “motoconcho,” or motorcycle taxi, to get there! The Peace Corps Dominican Republic is one of the only (or maybe the only) countries that allow volunteers to ride motorcycles because they are mission critical and imperative in getting from site to site.

On September 12, I pack my bags and head to the campo (countryside) to live with another host family for five weeks. Here, we are doing what is known as “technical training,” basically all the health skills I’ll ever need to know to complete my projects for the next two years. Training includes assembling and teaching health concepts to groups of doñas (women) in the countryside, learning how to present about HIV/AIDS to youth groups, organic gardening techniques, and much more! This also called Community Based Training (CBT) and is set in the rural parts of the DR so as to mimic what our project placement sites will likely be...small, and rural. I’m beyond stoked for this part, but a few of my companions are extremely nervous to head to the campo. Growing up in Idaho gives me street cred(it) here, thanks ma and pa!

At the end of my five weeks in the campo, I head back to the capital (Santo Domingo) where I will be given my site placement. This is where I will live in the DR for the next two years!(!!!!!!). And I could get a million sites. Options range from bateyes (very very small farming towns of about 300 people usually with migrant workers from Haiti), to campos (small towns of about 900 people in more rural locations like the mountains, or on the border of Haiti), to pueblos (villages ranging from 5,000-12,000 people usually with unreliable amenities), to barrios (suburbs of larger cities with upwards of 60,000 people in a one kilometer radius). My preferences are to be in a campo setting in the mountains to the north of Santo Domingo, but from what I hear, placements are a total crapshoot. I have no control or say over my placement, and will be given a location by the Associate Peace Corps Director for Health (or the head honcho of my sector). I cannot wait to get a placement and know where my project will actually be, but I’m really getting too far ahead of myself! 

On October 30, 2013, I will officially be sworn in as a Volunteer. Then, I pack my bags, say goodbye to Santo Domingo, and head to my site. I will live with a host family for the first 4 months I am in my site. The first 3 months on site consist of performing a diagnostic, and from what I can tell, this includes a lot of chatting with doñas on their front porches, drinking coffee with señores, and playing dominos with kids. And finally, after three months of pre-service training and another three months conducting a site diagnostic (to see the needs of my community and their basic health concerns), I begin my projects.

All Health Volunteers have two primary projects: 1) Escojo Mi Vida (My Life, My Choice) - a youth group specifically designed to teach sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention and empower high school students and 2) Hogares Saludables (Healthy Homes) - a women’s group designed to teach mothers about nutrition in order to improve healthy outcomes for kids and families. Apart from these two projects, I can do whatever else I want! I am thinking about starting my own version of a Lean In circle (a women’s empowerment and entrepreneurial group), perhaps a yoga clinic, and definitely a community garden. All things to think about over the next six months – any ideas, tips and helpful info would be much appreciated!

So that’s where I’ll be over the next few months and beyond - it's my job, can you believe it?! More specific updates to come!

My job includes teaching these fabulous young ladies all about the reproductive parts and safe sex. 

And how to use condoms!

And when we plan a huge regional youth conference for World AIDS day, we feel proud!

I also get to teach senior citizens to read.

And on special days, I get to draw and paint!

I also get to make floor cleaner as an income generation project for unemployed women.

And I always take my conference calls on the beach because why wouldn't you?