Somos Mujeres Dominicana (Northern Conference) 2012

Somos Mujeres Dominicana (Northern Conference) 2012

I'm Slacking

Well, I’ve officially failed at this blog thing. It’s not like anyone I really know reads it anymore so I’m really just writing to satisfy the needs of random strangers flipping through blogs. As I had expected my life now compares nothing to the life I shared with you in August which was in reality the last official blog which stated my status in the Peace Corps.

I quit working with the USAID funded tourism cluster... What a disaster that was! I ended up leaving because there were really hard feelings about an 'inexperienced' twenty something year old (me) coming in and telling older executives (Dominican Nationals) how USAID would like to monitor the project. Needless to say it is a ton of paperwork. No one wants to do it as requested so we end up doing it a million times until these executives realize that USAID won’t budge until it’s done properly. I was eventually ostracized from internal activity.

I don’t understand how little volunteer me can be considered a threat to an NGO but regardless it’s over and I am more than relived. As soon as I left I took up an opening as a regional volunteer leader which makes me responsible of ensuring new volunteers are safe especially in cases of emergencies. Although I’m overseeing many volunteers, this really does not take up to much time on my schedule so I have also volunteered my time with FDD Foundation Dominicana de Desarrollo, a micro financing organization. This job is definitely more of my forte. In reality the team is a team and there are specific issues that need to be tackled which are so nice to have. I’m done with ambiguity.

I was asked to join a team of two ladies who are in charge of program innovation. Although this information is broad, there is only so much I can say. I’m not even sure how much I can :). I’m basically working on a large scale organization diagnostic. The goal; keep the employees and clients happy. There are many ways to do this and not to do this and the foundation has entrusted me and the other consultants with tactics and its implementation. Again very vague.

I’ve been doing both jobs now since October and honestly couldn’t be happier with all I’m learning and being able to do. I get to continue my interacting and participating with the spirit of a volunteer and the people as well as work with a pretty well structured organization.

The best part of it all is that I can still play a role in my old community. I received the funding necessary to construct my ladies stove, which I hope to begin constructing in June (too much else going on between now and then). As mentioned in my previous blog, this stove not only offers my ladies an opportunity to generate income by selling a wide variety of baked goods but it also provides the community to consume goods that are nutrient rich as opposed to the stale breads available at mini markets. Im very excited to see how it all turns out.

I have about ten months left in my service, which really leaves me little time to figure out what is next. I have school on my mind but need to find the way to balance my schedule better in order to discipline myself to study. Ok, my head feels likes exploding when thinking about all of this. Thanks for reading!

Marite

COMMUNITY OVEN

Greetings Dear Friends and Family,

Two years and five months have passed since I landed in the Dominican Republic to serve with the Peace Corps as a Community Economic Development Advisor. In October of 2011, I signed on for a third year of service requiring me to move to Santo Domingo and take on a leadership role. Although I live several hours away from my original site placement I still have many initiatives in this rural village that the community and I are motivated to complete.

As many of you know, I was requested to assist the organization of a community association that is currently completing an eco tourism lodge with the assistance of USAID-DSTA and UNDP-PPS. After much hard work the community association is near the completion of this lodge and is in this planning phases of its grand opening.

While working with this association, I took on several secondary health projects within my community and neighboring communities. With the help of 17 rural health promoters, hundreds of family members were taught basic nutrition and were given the tools necessary to begin their own organic gardens. 160 gardens were created within 8 communities. Villagers are more aware of maintaining their diet and treating their ailments with the right foods.

Although nutrient rich foods can be found in the land and are more widely consumed, many villagers continue consuming products produced in towns made with nutrient poor and sometimes unhealthy ingredients contributing to the very common ailments of obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes. One of the main staples and products consumed in the village diet is bread (Pan de Agua). This bread is made with white flour, water, yeast, and sometimes flavored with pig fat and salt.

The Community association and I would love to introduce and sell a nutrient rich bread and baked goods to the surrounding communities. With the proper supplies and tools, an earthen oven will be built where large amounts of breads and baked goods can be made and distributed through our local "colmados" or markets. The Oven will be run by the woman of the community association within the grounds of the eco-lodge, also providing opportunity to sell to foreign and national visitors and empowering our village woman.

A very large number of woman in the DR do not have the opportunity of providing income for the family. This is the result from a combination of many factors. The woman who will be baking have always been house wives and are ecstatic to have an new activity in their daily lives which will provide an extra source of income to help support their humble families.

If you would like to help fund my project you can donate to

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-473

Or go to

http://www.peacecorps.gov click on Donate and submit project number 517-473.

Happy New Years!

M

A New Chapter

As usually I have undoubtedly waited too long to submit another blog so I will begin to summarize some of the recent things that have happened.

My last submission for March and May did not include my high doubts in the health Consortium program at Peace Corps. I was asked to be the coordinator/Executive Director but then realized I would have no say in anything so what is the point other than taking the blame for the bad things that are bound to happen. I would watch a program I love multiply at such a high rate that no one would be able to run it to the standards we had these last few years.

Shortly after realizing how I really felt I was offered to work with a Consorcio Dominicano de Competitividad Turistica (CDCT) funded by USAID. This consortium overlooks all Tourism clusters (11) in the nation which strive to make tourism sustainable and more attractive to visitors. This will be set apart from the normal all inclusive resorts and typical beach party. My position is mainly to help USAID direct funding to this organization which requires a lot of paper work for the first four months. Once Money is rolling in Ill begin helping in the development/ implementation of their project plan which is basically a schmorgazborg of what I have been doing these last two years on a much larger scale. SO we shall see how that falls into place.

So since this offer in May, I have gone to Mexico for three weeks to spend time with my BF’s family and friends. I got to see a lot of new things and gained a new perspective on Mexico. I went once as a child and I don’t have many good memories. I met up with a few Peace Corps Volunteers over as well as their country director and it was crazy to see how different their program was compared to ours. Soon after my return I traveled and wrapped up any sort of project I had going on in the country so I can begin with USAID with a clear mind. I wasn’t too successful so I still have a few projects that need closure.

I’m now all moved into the capital and have been working in a beautiful ocean view office with very educated, experienced Dominican Nationals where I have to be in dress, business attire at all times and it’s insane transition. Someone mentioned to me, and I totally agree, that it’s a good thing I’m doing this now and not a year from now in the US. My mind would explode. My apartment is pretty near the office but it’s also near everything else, which is unlike anything I have had for the past two years. I still make basically nothing in living allowance so putting money aside to buy nicer things will be almost impossible. I still can’t make ends meet so; with the help of the institution I may be able to cover some living costs in Rent.

This all sounds great but it’s been really hard. Leaving a really slow village life, to moving with a weeks’ notice to the city, to participating in big events and talking big game tourism; it’s just all mind blowing. It’s another world, I no longer recalled; flashy but difficult. I’m happy for my choice but I’m still unsure how it will fall in to place still being new and all. Most of all I miss my host family who have yet visited and it’s been the longest we have had apart since I moved in with them. I’d like to visit but the cost and time is tricky.

Any who I finally posted most if not all my pics from my time here in the DR which can be accessed through this link. https://picasaweb.google.com/107317133106265603538

Much love to all------ M

March-May

I guess I can say things have been pretty slow these last few months at site and off site. Collectively, one can say a lot has been done however the time I have put into my service per day has been much less in comparison to my work schedule before. This has proven to be tough to swallow for me. To feel more productive I have taken it upon myself to research potential schools and dedicate a few hours a day to my GRE exam, which I hope to take in June.

I however still feel guilty that my service in site is coming to an end and that these last few months are dedicated mostly for my own benefit and loosely wrapping up legalization work and the construction of a few more latrines. There is a group of volunteers that have completed their service and are returning to the states this Friday; officially making my cohort the seniors in PCDR. Our service is scheduled to end in 6 months, which is really hard to believe.

In reality, the projects that I am working on are now pretty much running on their own. For example my youth group for HIV/AIDS prevention has become sustainable for the time being, expanding more and more each month. Last October I recommended one of my youth to take the role of Regional Coordinator and be the one to create an action plan and timeline to target more youth in the area of Jarabacoa. I am still in charge of financing from a grant I received distributing money based on my regional coordinators expenses. In other words my responsibilities have become almost non-existent. The regional Coordinator has done an amazing job. I’m really moved by how dedicated he has become in this role. He is doing a better job than I feel I could have done in all honesty.

The Coordinator has created a team of his own who have graduated from the program I taught last year. They are now branching out and teaching the courses to other youth in the area. So far two new groups have received training and graduated. A new course is well on its way. A festival for Easter was hosted for all the youth in the area. Other regional coordinators and their youth were also invited to attend. It was a very well planned event. The municipal government lent out a projector, screen and a sound system for the presentations. The youth prepared choreography, poems and songs for the occasion. Lunch was prepared by local volunteers. I wasn't asked to do anything other than provide the funding. Truthfully, I feel a little unproductive for not having volunteered myself, however the purpose of our service is to teach and multiply, right? I should be satisfied knowing that my youth group is capable of hosting a function on their own not asking me for one piece of advice.

I am also having the same luck with my health promoters. Well I feel like they have always been sustainable because they have steady income from an NGO, however they are better established and have a stronger action plan for the coming years, when I am no longer present.

I finally received my first grant toward the new national health consortium project. 8 health volunteers and myself each received about 10 grand U.S. (PEPFAR FUNDING) specifically for educational material, transport, food, and some leg room to teach youth and woman about prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. This is basically what I have been doing in my community but on a larger scale. The money I was given for my community initiative was around 500 US and my team has multiplied the awareness on a pretty large scale in my opinion so you can imagine what can be done with 10 grand each a total of 90 grand. The volunteers that received this funding were asked to open these accounts with a leader from an assigned local health NGO. The point of this project is not only to multiply awareness on a very large scale but to enable these Health NGO's to take up this initiative on their own so Peace Corps can pull away and leave this responsibility to them, with the proper training and mission and vision. As the National Coordinator for this consortium, I have already heard feedback from most volunteers working on this initiative and unfortunately we are foreseeing obstacles which entails lack of motivation, maybe some special interest and inefficient use of funding. Each volunteer knowing that a little money can go a very long way, we feel that our initiative should be redefined before spending this large amount of money. So at the moment I am working with volunteers coming up with ideas and plans to better our project plan and long term goals.

Recently I have begun involving members of the community association with the legalization process. In all honesty I need them by my side in order to complete the process and to feel that they can defend themselves if or when something occurs where they may need legal assistance. This endeavor has really opened my eyes as to how backwards the system is here. Every step takes weeks which would take a few hours or a day back at home. The money that has been poured into transportation alone would prohibit any villager from taking the time to do this. I have literally lost count as to how many times my paper work has been turned down because it lacked a ‘minor detail’ when in reality I followed their guidelines step by step (which they hand out). It has come to the point where I feel some offices don’t want to recognize community associations as a legal entity. I don’t want to believe this but it’s been almost a year now when I should have been done a few months into the work. I don’t like to admit it but I’ve cried from frustration when usually I’m pretty patient and understanding. Im crossing my fingers and praying that this process will be completed by Mid-June.

March and April were basically dedicated to revamping the ecological latrine Manual that was adopted form Bolivia. Some artist were kind enough to re-due drawings of social situations and step by step latrine construction (people now look Dominican rather than late 20th century south/central american). This manual will be used by the new sworn in Appropriate Technology volunteers who trained in this construction at my site in April. My friend Andrea and I are rewriting and 'dominicanizing' the manual for future use. Having appropriate technology trainees at my site was really enjoyable. I helped with the construction of 4 latrines; 2 VIP (Ventilated, improved pit Latrine) as well as 2 dry pit latrines (ecological latrines).

Celebration for Peace Corps 50th anniversary has been going on for some time now. in March a Congressional Delegation came to the Dominican Republic. This CODEL was ran by Senator Leahy and led by Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams. The delegation arrived and traveled to a Batey 6 (Sugar Cane Plantation) in the East visiting a youth volunteer and her community, then they met up with the Leonel Fernandez and Finally ended the day with a Dinner at the US Embassy. I had the great pleasure of speaking on behalf of all the volunteers in the country and those serving around the world. There is also a PC Committee that is working on other great projects to celebrate the last 50 years of PC.

This is all I have for now. Grands Bissous!

M