10 Month Mark

Friends,

After 10 months of service I must say that things have turned out quite different than was initially expected. This is by no means a negative outlook just an overall comparison as to what I trained for and what truly became of that training.

As mentioned in the last submission, I have been working with some basic business (micro-enterprise) education with a Haitian community in Santiago, some youth in my village and as well as with the members of our community association (who are constructing the Eco tourist lodges). I cannot say I am not keeping up with my goals as a Community Economic Development Volunteer (CED); however I no longer can identify myself as one. I say this simply because my personal goals have changed due to the needs in my village and the neighboring villages.

In reality the tourist lodges I was assigned to work with have support from the BIG GUYS (USAID-Dominican Sustainable Tourism Alliance (DSTA) as well as UNDP-Projectors Pequenos Sostenibles (PPS)) I had mentioned this fact when I first was assigned to my community but it was not until recently that I’ve realized and concluded that because the lodges have this grand support, I should focus my energies more on areas that don't have so much support. The lodges, like the community's micro-hydro electric plant will be completed (slowly but surely). In other words I can fulfill a direct need with the help of local organizations which will be super rewarding or I can fight to find a small amount of funding which will be a drop of water in a very large bucket.

This is not saying that I have dropped my support of the community association and their initiatives. I’m still giving the members business courses and helping them with the association's legalization which will be helpful to them in the long run as businessman.

Recently, I have been working with community leaders and two national foundations promoting nutrition and basic health practices. I have mentioned a pretty extensive garden project, which is well on its way (once there is a faster internet connection, there will be pictures posted). With the help of a fellow health volunteer we have hosted several nutrition workshops. One workshop focused on the development of child’s motor functions, in the last two weeks we have focused on teaching some easy recipes with ingredients found in the gardens.

With little effort on my part, one of the local foundations is organizing the delivery of 1575 chickens. The families that are participating in the garden project as well as the local health promoters will be receiving chickens. In order to be handed the chickens, these families are required to have their gardens well prepared and flourishing as well as their chicken coups built. Recommendations have been given at previous workshops so if requirements are not met then I will not feel these families will keep these projects alive or in other words the projects will not be sustainable. Unfortunately a foot has to be put down somewhere. Apparently a lot of these small projects fail because people see it as a hand out and do not take their responsibilities seriously.

My application for latrine funding has been submitted (cross fingers). I have plans to do a pretty major latrine project which will affect several neighboring communities. My community has indoor plumbing so will not be benefiting directly from this work, however many of the other communities have yet a place to actually go in or their latrines are full (YIKES!) I’ve also sent letters requesting wood donations from the secretary of environment.

A Pre-Kindergarten school is also a possibility along with a community library. I’ve received some book donations, but I’m still waiting to hear back from a few grant applications for everything else. WE SHALL SEE.

This may sound like a lot but everything is running pretty smoothly as of now. Nothing is truly tangible yet except for the amazing relationship I have with these communities.

Peace Corps hosts many conferences and recently I've been invited to many. I guess this is where I can say I have had some down time. At these conferences I have been able to see some sites, learn new things as well as relax. :) The only down fall is that I normally get what us volunteers call "campo guilt" or village guilt, which basically means I feel guilty about leaving my community to do anything that is moderately fun or comfortable. I really need to learn to shake it off,…but I can’t help it. Anyhow...Life is good :)

PEACE

Marité