12/19/2010
Feliz Navidad! I just got back from the holiday party for Peace Corps volunteers and staff in the capital. Romeo, our director, had the party as he does every year on the top floor of his apartment complex in downtown Santo Domingo overlooking the city. It was a very beautiful spot for the holiday gathering. To start off the night we read together “The night before Christmas,” but in Spanglish. It started with “It was the night before Christmas and all through the casa…” mixing up Spanish and English phrases to complete the poem, a nice was to share some Christmas spirit.
Many volunteers are going home for the holidays and its hard not to be a little jealous. Christmas in the campo is not exactly what it is back home. What it sounds like is that the main celebration is the night before Christmas, la noche buena. We will be having a dinner together, probably killing either a pig or goat beforehand and then enjoying some cervezas and rum together. Gifts are not exchanged and Christmas lights and Christmas trees are hard to come by.
So like the title of this blog states, I am 80 interviews into my diagnostic study of the community Casa Colorada. I will probably be doing about 20 more to complete all the houses in the area. The minimum amount of interviews is 80 but it has been a personal goal to interview every house in my community so that I have officially shaken everyone’s hand and they all know who I am and why I am here.
Through out this first 80, the interview format that I was originally using has changed a bit. A handful of the original questions that I was really excited about have turned out not to make cultural sense to the people here, so I have had to stop asking them. One of the best examples of this is the question “Me puede explicar un ejemplo de una comida saludable?” Can you give me an example of a healthy food? To myself, and the grand majority of people I know, health and food choice is inter-related and important. Here however, in rural Dominican Republic, health and choosing food do not have similar definitions or a connection. From what I have gathered, people eat what they can, what is available, what is growing in their backyard. Food choice as we know it is not a reality here.
After I asked this question, each family would look at me with a confused face. To help, I would ask further, “What is a food that gives you energy? A food that is good for yourself and your family? A food that makes your body strong?” …. STILL more blank expressions. The woman assisting me with the interviews would then translate this question to “What food do you like the most?” To me this was not at all a translation for an example of a healthy food but I just smiled and listened for the answer. I will get back to you with the actual statistic but my estimation is that 90% said arroz, habitúelas, y carne, also known as la bandera (the national flag in English, which is what they call their usual meal consisting of rice beans and meat). After about 20 interviews like this I had to give up on this question.
I remember in training when I was struggling with Spanish, I would sit and talk to children and ask them simple questions. What is your favorite color? How many siblings do you have? What is your favorite food? With the later the answer was always a matter-of-fact response: “arroz, habitúelas, y carne.” Other options and the ability to choose are foreign. One of my jobs is going to be teaching nutrition classes and trying my best to show the people of my community the connection between food and health and to slowly try and improve their diet. From what I have seen so far though this part is may be more complicated than I originally thought it would be.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Cholera on Hispaniola
For the past month, the Dominican Republic and Peace Corps have been busy confronting the recent cholera outbreak. Cholera is a bacterial infection of the small intestine spread through water and food contaminated with feces that carries the bacteria Vibrio Choleri.
The main symptom is severe diarrhea that is the color of rice water. Additionally, cholera is often not accompanied with pain or fever, which sets cholera apart from other types of diarrheal illnesses. If left untreated it can kill a person in 24-48 hours though dehydration however, as Peace Corps has explained, if treated with rehydration fluids early (a mixture of salt, sugar, and purified water), the bacteria will pass through the body and no medicine or other treatment is needed.
Cholera was first confirmed in Haiti on October 21, marking the first time in the last century that Vibrio Choleri has been found on the island (CDC). What I have read is that the bacteria was brought to Haiti through post-earthquake aid that Haiti received from Nepal. Vibrio Choleri can survive on food 5 days and up to 10 days in colder temperatures too, so it indeed seems possible that foreign aid could have carried it here. Quite an unexpected consequence of receiving help…
In other countries cholera is endemic and has become a somewhat normalized illness that people have learned to live around. The reason why is it such a big deal now is because cholera is new on Hispaniola and the population has no knowledge what so ever on how to prevent and treat the illness. Additionally, there are neither solid waste treatment plants nor proper plumbing for the majority of both Haiti and the DR. Because of this the DR and the Peace Corps are working hard to makes sure the population can recognize the illness and know how to prevent and treat it through hourly radio announcements, television announcements, and charlas (informative talks) in the clinics, hospitals and schools throughout the country.
Since Peace Corps issued volunteer consolidation in the beginning of November in order to inform all the volunteers at once about the illness and how to educate our communities, I have seen the death toll in Haiti jump from 200 to 2,000 and the number of reported cases jump from 1,000 to 91,000 (CDC). Further reported by the CDC earlier this week is that the case-fatality ratio is 2.3%, meaning that in the 91,000 cases, 2.3% of these people have died. This seems like a relatively low percentage but between November 27 and December 3, there were 41 deaths per day on average (CDC).
In the Dominican Republic the government has been slow to announce the cholera cases, no doubt due to the threat this would have to the tourism industry, the number one source of income for the country. Just to give you an idea, the news announced the first case of cholera in the DR in a region in the East of the country (probably 2 hours away from me) on November 16th. However, the host brother of a fellow Peace Corps volunteer in the central region of the country had already been diagnosed with cholera. It took the public radio and TV a few weeks to announce the cholera cases in her region. What we do have publicly announced as of Tuesday is that there are 22 cases in the DR (Dominican Today). None have been in my community or anywhere in the providence of Hato Mayor, where I am living. Gracias a dios!
Very complete and most current update on cholera in Haiti done by the CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5948a4.htm?s_cid=mm5948a4_w
Most recent article regarding DR cholera from Dominican Today, a good DR news source in English:
http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2010/12/7/37889/Public-Health-reports-Cholera-cases-now-22-but-under-control
The main symptom is severe diarrhea that is the color of rice water. Additionally, cholera is often not accompanied with pain or fever, which sets cholera apart from other types of diarrheal illnesses. If left untreated it can kill a person in 24-48 hours though dehydration however, as Peace Corps has explained, if treated with rehydration fluids early (a mixture of salt, sugar, and purified water), the bacteria will pass through the body and no medicine or other treatment is needed.
Cholera was first confirmed in Haiti on October 21, marking the first time in the last century that Vibrio Choleri has been found on the island (CDC). What I have read is that the bacteria was brought to Haiti through post-earthquake aid that Haiti received from Nepal. Vibrio Choleri can survive on food 5 days and up to 10 days in colder temperatures too, so it indeed seems possible that foreign aid could have carried it here. Quite an unexpected consequence of receiving help…
In other countries cholera is endemic and has become a somewhat normalized illness that people have learned to live around. The reason why is it such a big deal now is because cholera is new on Hispaniola and the population has no knowledge what so ever on how to prevent and treat the illness. Additionally, there are neither solid waste treatment plants nor proper plumbing for the majority of both Haiti and the DR. Because of this the DR and the Peace Corps are working hard to makes sure the population can recognize the illness and know how to prevent and treat it through hourly radio announcements, television announcements, and charlas (informative talks) in the clinics, hospitals and schools throughout the country.
Since Peace Corps issued volunteer consolidation in the beginning of November in order to inform all the volunteers at once about the illness and how to educate our communities, I have seen the death toll in Haiti jump from 200 to 2,000 and the number of reported cases jump from 1,000 to 91,000 (CDC). Further reported by the CDC earlier this week is that the case-fatality ratio is 2.3%, meaning that in the 91,000 cases, 2.3% of these people have died. This seems like a relatively low percentage but between November 27 and December 3, there were 41 deaths per day on average (CDC).
In the Dominican Republic the government has been slow to announce the cholera cases, no doubt due to the threat this would have to the tourism industry, the number one source of income for the country. Just to give you an idea, the news announced the first case of cholera in the DR in a region in the East of the country (probably 2 hours away from me) on November 16th. However, the host brother of a fellow Peace Corps volunteer in the central region of the country had already been diagnosed with cholera. It took the public radio and TV a few weeks to announce the cholera cases in her region. What we do have publicly announced as of Tuesday is that there are 22 cases in the DR (Dominican Today). None have been in my community or anywhere in the providence of Hato Mayor, where I am living. Gracias a dios!
Very complete and most current update on cholera in Haiti done by the CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5948a4.htm?s_cid=mm5948a4_w
Most recent article regarding DR cholera from Dominican Today, a good DR news source in English:
http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2010/12/7/37889/Public-Health-reports-Cholera-cases-now-22-but-under-control
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Peace Corps Dominican Republic Video
Here is a video my mom found while looking up material for the World Wise School Peace Corps exchange program (http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/). The movie talks about the city closest to me, Hato Mayor, about halfway through the video. It also talks briefly about the small sugarcane towns around the city, where I am currently living! Take a look.
http://isp.web.ur.msu.edu/Dominican%20Republic.wmv
http://isp.web.ur.msu.edu/Dominican%20Republic.wmv
Bienvenido a Casa Colorada
Hello again,
Finally I am moved-in at my permanent site and should be able to write more now that my schedule has slowed down. About a week before I arrived here our APCD (the Peace Corps director of the Health Program) interviewed the health group one last time and gave us a small packet about the communities he had chosen for us to volunteer in for the next two years. Soon after we swore-in as official volunteers, repeating the same speech that the president uses to swear into office. Here are some photos from the ceremony...
The health volunteers
Fellow voluntarias
My language class
Health volunteers during the ceremoney
More photos can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2361129&id=6711258&l=67040a5f97
The name of my new community is Casa Colorada. It is a batay in the East of the country, 45 minutes on a motorcycle from the closest city, Hato Mayor. The main form of transportation to and from my site is by motorcycle and the road is not paved, we have dirt with gravel hear and there. The batay communities here have intrigued me from day one. I expressed this interest to our APCD, which is why I think he chose this site for me. The population of these communities is a mix of Dominicans and Haitians and Creole is spoken as well as Spanish. Since Creole shares many similarities with French, I have been interested in learning some Creole as well. Additionally, the racial dynamic between Haitians and Dominicans is incredibly interesting and to have the chance to be in the middle of it sounded like the experience of a lifetime.
What exactly is a batay you ask? A batay is a rural Haitian/Dominican community originally developed to temporarily house Haitian migrant workers during the sugar cane harvest. As these communities were developed to house Haitians only during the harvest, housing and sanitation was not created to withstand long-term use. Nevertheless, Haitians and Dominicans over time began to live in these communities full-time.
One way you can pick out a batay when your moving through the Dominican countryside is by the barrack-style housing. Here in Casa Colorado we have one of these barrack-style houses still here housing a group of families but the rest of the houses are personal family homes. The batays, like mine, still lack proper housing and sanitation and are commonly marginalized due to the high population of Haitians lacking Dominican citizenship papers among other things.
Today, due to internal government issues regarding taxing and exportation, the sugar cane industry has collapsed and what remains are the rusted trucks and machinery in the fields surrounding and in the batay. Small family-owned sugar cane fields still exist but what I’m told is that it is nothing like it was before. When I ask what this community needs, I am constantly told that they need jobs. Unemployment is high.
Even though the situation may sound grim. The people are very pleasant and seem happy. The land is very lush and green and fields of sugar cane and other agriculture like passion fruit, papaya, yucca, plantain and banana and grapefruit trees surround the community. The temperature can get hot but it cools down significantly at night and I’ve actually gotten to put on my sweatshirt a couple of times, which was very nice.
Currently I am conducting a diagnostic of the community by first interviewing every house in the community with a 3 page questionnaire that I developed in training and my first few weeks here. The interviews take about a half hour each but it is a great opportunity to meet and talk with the members of the community and to gain confianza. So far I have done 10 interviews, only 80 more to go! These first 10 have been interesting. I’ve realized already that there is a need for latrines since there are families that are currently using the sugar cane fields as their toilet. Also we need a sports field and youth programming since the youth here have way too much free time.
For more information about batays you can read what Wikipedia has:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batey_%28sugar_workers%27_town%29
Although not complete it gives some more information and some photos regarding batays. If anyone gets a hold of a more complete history please share.
Finally I am moved-in at my permanent site and should be able to write more now that my schedule has slowed down. About a week before I arrived here our APCD (the Peace Corps director of the Health Program) interviewed the health group one last time and gave us a small packet about the communities he had chosen for us to volunteer in for the next two years. Soon after we swore-in as official volunteers, repeating the same speech that the president uses to swear into office. Here are some photos from the ceremony...
The health volunteers
Fellow voluntarias
My language class
Health volunteers during the ceremoney
More photos can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2361129&id=6711258&l=67040a5f97
The name of my new community is Casa Colorada. It is a batay in the East of the country, 45 minutes on a motorcycle from the closest city, Hato Mayor. The main form of transportation to and from my site is by motorcycle and the road is not paved, we have dirt with gravel hear and there. The batay communities here have intrigued me from day one. I expressed this interest to our APCD, which is why I think he chose this site for me. The population of these communities is a mix of Dominicans and Haitians and Creole is spoken as well as Spanish. Since Creole shares many similarities with French, I have been interested in learning some Creole as well. Additionally, the racial dynamic between Haitians and Dominicans is incredibly interesting and to have the chance to be in the middle of it sounded like the experience of a lifetime.
What exactly is a batay you ask? A batay is a rural Haitian/Dominican community originally developed to temporarily house Haitian migrant workers during the sugar cane harvest. As these communities were developed to house Haitians only during the harvest, housing and sanitation was not created to withstand long-term use. Nevertheless, Haitians and Dominicans over time began to live in these communities full-time.
One way you can pick out a batay when your moving through the Dominican countryside is by the barrack-style housing. Here in Casa Colorado we have one of these barrack-style houses still here housing a group of families but the rest of the houses are personal family homes. The batays, like mine, still lack proper housing and sanitation and are commonly marginalized due to the high population of Haitians lacking Dominican citizenship papers among other things.
Today, due to internal government issues regarding taxing and exportation, the sugar cane industry has collapsed and what remains are the rusted trucks and machinery in the fields surrounding and in the batay. Small family-owned sugar cane fields still exist but what I’m told is that it is nothing like it was before. When I ask what this community needs, I am constantly told that they need jobs. Unemployment is high.
Even though the situation may sound grim. The people are very pleasant and seem happy. The land is very lush and green and fields of sugar cane and other agriculture like passion fruit, papaya, yucca, plantain and banana and grapefruit trees surround the community. The temperature can get hot but it cools down significantly at night and I’ve actually gotten to put on my sweatshirt a couple of times, which was very nice.
Currently I am conducting a diagnostic of the community by first interviewing every house in the community with a 3 page questionnaire that I developed in training and my first few weeks here. The interviews take about a half hour each but it is a great opportunity to meet and talk with the members of the community and to gain confianza. So far I have done 10 interviews, only 80 more to go! These first 10 have been interesting. I’ve realized already that there is a need for latrines since there are families that are currently using the sugar cane fields as their toilet. Also we need a sports field and youth programming since the youth here have way too much free time.
For more information about batays you can read what Wikipedia has:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batey_%28sugar_workers%27_town%29
Although not complete it gives some more information and some photos regarding batays. If anyone gets a hold of a more complete history please share.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Las Tablas
Saludos,
I just moved from the capital Santo Domingo to a small town in the countryside for “community-based training.” In Santo Domingo all 59 of us volunteers learned the basics regarding health and safety, geography of the country, and Dominican culture and language. Now the 11 other health volunteers and I are located in a small campo, which is similar to where we will be living once we are at our permanent sites. Here in Las Tablas we have had the privilege to learn Spanish in very small groups with a handful of Spanish teachers that came with us. My class has only 2 other volunteers and I am definitely starting to notice my Spanish improving. Finally, I have overcome my habit of saying “oui” in lieu of “si.” Coupled with the Spanish I am learning lots more about what I will actually be doing here to promote health as well as the resources and tools available.
One of the main objectives of my service is to start two committees in the community that I will eventually be living in. The first is a youth group called Escojo mi vida (I choose my life) that focuses on making healthy sexual decisions. The other is an adult group called Hogares Saludables (Healthy Homes). Both are designed to follow a "trainers of trainers" model to promote sustainability and to help spread the information to more ears and in the voices of Dominicans themselves.
For Escojo I will be leading a youth group through a series of charlas (interactive lectures) and then will be choosing the star students to become multiplicadors or multipliers of the information. They in turn will lead their own charlas in the future and participate in national conferences for the Escojo program. Also, when I leave regional Escojo coordinators are available to support these groups. Hogares Saludables is similar but I will be working with a much smaller group of women and training them as Health Promoters. After training them, the goal is that they will act as heath resources for the community and lead health charlas themselves.
Here in Las Tablas we have formed both groups and are taking turns giving charlas for practice and to benefit the community as well. It is a struggle in Spanish but we are always reminded by our supervisora Ann, “Fake it until you make it.” So far I am very impressed by how interested and respectful our Dominican groups are.
Apart from work, I have been enjoying life out of the busy city. A normal day consists of the following: I wake up at 6:15 for a run the local sanctuary before the sun is too hot, I get home and eat two rolls of white bread with big pieces of avocado (lucky me it’s avocado season). Next, its off to four hours of training with Ann, followed but a two hour lunch, just enough time for a siesta and to eat the hefty Dominican mid-day meal of rice, beans, fried platanos, chicken, yucca and if I’m lucky a vegetable or two. Next we have another 3.5 hours of Spanish class. After I get to play dominoes and cards with the local kids, talk in Spanish to my new family, and occasionally dance bachata and merange with them. I eat a simple dinner, today it was a big bowl of oatmeal and then usually shower by candlelight since the electricity is so sporadic. Sleeping can be tough since I’m almost constantly sweating under my mosquito next and if there is not power, there is no fan either. Overall though I am really enjoying this cultural immersion and getting to learn about the tremendous amount of opportunities and resources I will have to work with when I am at my permanent site.
A la prochaine
Saturday, September 18, 2010
A quick note for now...
I have just moved to a new community for more training. It is called Las Tablas, a small town near Bani. Look it up on Google Maps if you get a chance. I will write more soon.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
First 24 hours in the DR
Hola from the Dominican Republic!
I am finally here and safe. Here at the Peace Corps training center I have internet but its slow since all 59 volunteers in my training group are trying to use it.
Last night I met my host family. They are incredibly warm and patient with my not so strong Spanish skills. I have a host mother, father, brother who is about my age, a small puppy named Snoopy, and a bird. I'll only be living with them for 4 weeks though and then I will be sent to another site for technical training. I am very very lucky to have running water and sporadic wifi in a part of the house. Most volunteers take bucket baths, which apparently is not that bad. I wasn't expecting to but here we take malaria medication and also must sleep with mosquito nets (mine takes up the grand majority of the room). Volunteers occasionally get Dengue so we are supposed to always wear repellent and take care.
Our training schedule sounds very interesting and thorough. It includes learning when and how to bargain, how to build ovens, how to bleach vegetables, how to handle social interactions and much more.
More to come later...
Alyson
I am finally here and safe. Here at the Peace Corps training center I have internet but its slow since all 59 volunteers in my training group are trying to use it.
Last night I met my host family. They are incredibly warm and patient with my not so strong Spanish skills. I have a host mother, father, brother who is about my age, a small puppy named Snoopy, and a bird. I'll only be living with them for 4 weeks though and then I will be sent to another site for technical training. I am very very lucky to have running water and sporadic wifi in a part of the house. Most volunteers take bucket baths, which apparently is not that bad. I wasn't expecting to but here we take malaria medication and also must sleep with mosquito nets (mine takes up the grand majority of the room). Volunteers occasionally get Dengue so we are supposed to always wear repellent and take care.
Our training schedule sounds very interesting and thorough. It includes learning when and how to bargain, how to build ovens, how to bleach vegetables, how to handle social interactions and much more.
More to come later...
Alyson
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Introduction
¡Hola!
I created this blog so that I can keep in contact with friends, family, professors, and other important people with whom I have worked with while I am living in the Dominican Republic. I would like to take this opportunity to use you as references for the various public health, language, and culture immersion endeavors that I will be facing and to keep you posted on my training and assignment starting soon when I depart August 18th.
So far I know that my job title is Community Health Extentionist and that I have three primary duties: Educating youth to practice safe sex and to prevent specifically HIV/AIDS transmission, improving mothers' nutritional practices in order to reduce malnutrition among children under five years old, and working to reduce undesired pregnancy by way of improving reproductive health practices among women living in small rural villages. Sounds like a big job!
The assignment should prove to be very interesting especially in the context of Latin American culture which is know to be somewhat patriarchal and with strong religious traditions. I have heard that this has been challenging for Peace Corps volunteers, particularly for women volunteers.
Secondary projects are free for me to develop aside from my primary assignment. I plan to develop a letter exchange with children in the DR and the high school that my mother works at in Los Angles as well as with the elementary school I worked at in Santa Cruz. I have also heard through a fellow volunteer already in the Dominican Republic that physicians frequently visit from out of the country to provide free medical services (organizations like Doctors Without Boarders I’m assuming). Since many don’t speak Spanish, they need Peace Corps volunteers to translate for them. I definitely plan to become involved in this. Additionally I hope to start a jogging club.
Any dialogue or advice about anything is very welcomed. I hope to keep you updated on the interesting situations and challenges that I face and that I can benefit from your opinions and guidance too.
Take care,
Alyson
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