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
Or go to
http://www.peacecorps.gov click on Donate and submit project number 517-473.
Happy New Years!
M
