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

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.

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

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