Climb for Captives 2010

As some of you may remember, in August 2009 I climbed Mt. Rainier in Washington with Climb for Captives to help raise money for the International Justice Mission. This money went towards freeing victims of the sex trade in India and persecuting those who commit the crimes.

Climb for Captives has been given an incredible opportunity to take our next climb to a whole new level but we need your help to make it possible!  We recently submitted the Climb for Captives story in a competition put on by the Gore-Tex company to win $10,000 to put towards an outdoor experience of our choice.  On Feb 1st we were selected as one of the 6 finalists and with your help we can win the $10,000 prize.  We want to use the money to climb a mountain outside the US, and truly take Climb for Captives GLOBAL.  All we need to win is to get more votes than the other 5 finalists and that is where YOU come in.  If you are willing to vote for us, here’s what you need to do:

Step 1. Join the Gore-Tex Community

The competition is part of an online outdoor community and to be able to vote you have to be a member of the community, which means you have to sign up first. Don’t worry it is free and there are no strings attached.

Step 2. Log in to the Experience More Challenge

Once you have created an account and are LOGGED IN, look for the “Experience More Challenge” and click “VOTE NOW”

Step 3. Vote for “Climb for Captives 2009“

That’s all!!!  If you are ready to help us raise $10,000 and take Climb for Captives to a whole new level click HERE to sign up.

Sincere thanks,

The Climb for Captives Team

www.ClimbForCaptives.com

Emmons Glacier at Dawn (Thanks to Paul for the picture! Visit paulhassell.com for some amazing nature photography)

Fotografias, por fin

Hmm… Updates… Last weekend was pretty amazing. Like I mentioned we (Jordan, Lindsay, Claire, Becca and Ximena who are long-term volunteers/employees as well as Chelsea and Courtney, two short-term volunteers) went to Samana and Parque Los Haitises, and both were absolutely amazing. The park is a mixture of mangrove-filled brackish water and huge limestone rock faces. The guide said the ecosystem is similar to those found in SE Asia (Josh?). Also in the park are Taino cave drawings. The Tainos were the inhabitants of the island when Columbus arrived, most of who were wiped out within the first 200 years after Europeans arrived. After the park we took a very unstable ferry ride across the bay to Samana peninsula. On the peninsula we went to some of the best beaches in the country. One beach in particular, Playa Rincón, is considered one of the best (if not the best) beaches in the world. It is a looong beach with palm tree shade, turquoise water, and perfect sand. There is a river that flows into one end of the beach, so the water isn’t as salty as ocean water would typically be. On both sides of the water rise small mountain ranges, making the view from the beach pretty amazing. I also went on a hike and saw the Boca del Diablo (Mouth of the Devil), a “blow hole” that shoots water out when waves crash into it. The waves weren’t big enough that day, unfortunately, but it was still pretty and we got the idea. Highlight: while at the Boca del Diablo we saw humpback whales!!!! They were completely breaching, and although it was difficult to know where they would jump, I was able to get some awesome pictures. I had been bummed because a whale-watching trip didn’t happen, but we got lucky and saw some anyway! It’s pretty amazing watching these huge animals fly out of the water. The Samana bay is one of the best places in the world to go whale watching.

Last week we had our company-wide retreat. All the offices got together at a retreat center in the hills to spend time and refocus our organizational vision. It was fun to learn, play games and spend time outside the office with these people that have been part of my life in the last four months. I was able to see almost everyone from the San Pedro office which was also fun. On Saturday I went out to San Pedro to visit with my old host family, who I haven’t really seen since coming back. It was good to see them all, and I received a very warm welcome in my old house. I’ll be going back this Saturday because my Vicente, my old host brother, challenged me to a basketball game and I need to show him who’s boss.

In other news, my parents are coming next weekend! I’m very excited to show family what I have been doing, and it will be very special to have them here with me. They only have two days, so Mom and Dad, I hope you come rested because we are going to be all over the place! Also, my sister Sarah will be visiting in mid-March during her break from teaching. She’ll have a little more time here, so hopefully we’ll have at least a day or two to just kick back and relax on a nice, warm beach. It is her vacation after all, so I suppose I can take a trip or two to the beach.

And to close, continue to remember and pray for Haiti. The last I heard the death toll is over 200,000 and climbing. Donate money & give blood. Before giving food/clothing/supplies, please check first that it can be distributed responsibly. It may seem weird, but usually your dollar is put to better use as a dollar than as a can of beans.

OK. Picture time has come. I have a lot, because in two months pictures tend to accumulate. Sorry I haven’t been very good about uploading them recently!

Friends at amazing merengue concert before I left

So amazing

Seattle! I missed you!

My beautiful niece

My lovely mother

What do you call a blend of a raspberry and a blackberry? Ask this man.

My beautiful nephew

The Cannons!

Sorry Mom, I had to. I love you!

Snowshoeing at night at the cabin!

Snowshoeing take 2. It was, um... Cold.

Cold but beautiful.

Aaaannd, we're back. In your face snow.

Clothing optional

Playa Bonita (Pretty Little Beach)

Yaqueline, a girl we met at Playa Rincon

Playa Rincon

Me at Rincon

Fish caught at Playa Rincon

Water moving professionals

Cruz Roja Dominicana

Water

On the way to Haiti

Parque Los Haitises, mangroves

Parque Los Haitises

Boca del Diablo

Whales!

Playa Bonita, the second best beach we went to.

I have a weird cooking situation... I can still eat guacamole and drink beer!

Getting Settled In (Again…)

I’ve actually been cold. Outside. In the DR. I can’t believe it, but at night it sometimes gets a bit chilly here now, and I’ve been forced to put on a light sweatshirt. I did not think this was possible; when I first got here in September I couldn’t go a night without sweating through my sheets in San Pedro (sad but true…). Daytime is great as well, pretty much a perfect temperature.

After talks with my co-workers and thinking about what I want to accomplish in the next couple months, I have decided to stay in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Pros are that I won’t be solely focused on Kiva profiles any longer, but will work on more business-oriented projects and reports. The biggest con is that nearly everyone in the main office here speaks at least some English and I’ll be constantly around Americans, so I’ll have to find some other way of improving my Spanish. I’m definitely a city boy though, and with somewhere between 2-3 million people, Santo Domingo is definitely a city.

On Monday I moved into a new house about a mile southeast of the main office here. I have my own large room but I’ll be sharing the kitchen and bathroom with other renters. The house is owned by a Dominican woman, and other renters are from Haiti, Ecuador, and France. And, unfortunately, the shower has no hot water. This was a major disappointment. I’m also right across the street from a colmado, a corner store slash bar, which prides itself in blasting bachata, salsa, and merengue music. At times this is pleasant, but 11pm on a Tuesday night is not one of those times…

Haiti has dominated the news here and around the world, and rightly so. This morning they had an aftershock of 6.1, quite the earthquake in itself. Infrastructure and order are still severely lacking, and medical supplies can’t get there fast enough. Please continue looking for ways to support them! Set up a schedule to give blood to the Red Cross over the next year. Raise money at your school or church. Be creative. Unlike its news coverage, the problems in Haiti are not going to go away in a few weeks. Our attention spans may last that long, but the problems will continue for weeks, months, and years after. I’ve heard that it will take Haiti TEN YEARS just to get back to where they were, which was nowhere. This is truly a tragedy on a huge scale that is hard to fathom.

Although I did not have the benefit of a three day weekend this past week, I’ll do you all one better: a five day weekend this week! Yep, you read that correctly. This Thursday and the following Monday are both national holidays, so I will be travelling to the Samana Peninsula to swim, kayak, and explore Parque Nacional Los Haitises (Highlands National Park), go whale-watching in the Bahia de Samana (Samana Bay), and relax at Playa Rincon, considered one of the top five beaches in all of the Caribbean. These types of things are what got me through the frigid-ness of Minneapolis, northern Michigan, and Chicago while in the States. There are definitely benefits from working in the Caribbean.

I’ll post some pictures soon too, sorry the last few posts have been lacking in that department.

Earthquake

Please pray for Haiti.

Then, if you can, please donate in some way to Haiti.

I feel bad. The situation there already was nothing to joke about, yet in a way I just was… With an office and work in Haiti, topics regarding this country often come up in our office here in the DR. Just last week, the head of microfinance at Esperanza asked me to give him a report of the economic outlook in Haiti for 2010. (For Haiti) The outlook looked pretty positive: huge amounts of international debt relief, expected high rates of GDP growth, healthy levels of inflation. Then when talking to one of my American co-workers, he said I should just write an economic outlook like this:

Haiti got screwed. Haiti got screwed again. And again. And then again.

We laughed.

How truer can this statement possibly have been? New year, new prospects for a country that has gotten absolutely screwed by their leaders, by the international community, and by natural disasters. Haitians had less than two weeks of 2010 to think about new possibilities. Then they got screwed. Again.

Infrastructure in Haiti was already horrific, so the addition of the worst earthquake in the Caribbean’s recorded history (read: Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492…) doesn’t help the already small stream of information coming out of the country so far.

-7.0 magnitude earthquake hits most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere (with 28 aftershocks of at least a 4.0 magnitude following the original quake)

-Earthquake’s epicenter in outskirts of Port-au-Prince, with population of 3 million

-Port-au-Prince = Possibly one of the worst places to live in the entire world

-EIGHTY PERCENT of Haitians live on less than two dollars a day, over half on less than $1.25

-No death toll is known, but expect it to be high.

CNN reports that looting has started. Would you do any differently? “My house collapsed. Family members died. My business in which I only earned $2 a day is ruined. If I don’t steal, my family and I are going to die.” The presidential palace is almost completely destroyed, and we have yet to hear from the president. This could be catastrophic. Political unrest is already at high levels in Haiti, and if the president has been killed or even seriously injured, it could throw the country into riots and coups.

Honestly no numbers, no statements, nothing can truly describe how much it sucks to live in Haiti, now more than ever. In a world with SO MUCH, how can an entire population have so little? A Dominican here in Santo Domingo put it well:

“A los pobres, todo llega”. Literally, “to the poor, everything arrives”. We might say “it just goes from bad to worse”.

Please do what you can to make it go from worse to better.

Buildings shook and knees buckled even here in Santo Domingo, but I was in a truck on a country road at the time so I didn’t feel anything. At this point I don’t feel like giving an update on myself, it can wait. I’m fine, I’ll let you know my status in another post.

Good places to donate:

One Day’s Wages

Red Cross

Any Haitian-based organizations will be needing support

Peace

Merry Christmas! I am so very fortunate to be in the States during this season. I’ve seen friends & family, eaten good food, participated in my sister’s wedding, and traveled halfway across the country already (Seattle, Denver briefly, and now Minneapolis). I’ve still got a couple weeks left before I head back down to the DR in January. I apologize that it’s been so long since my last post. I started this post in the Miami airport on my way to Seattle a week and a half ago (some of the things I said are dated, like having jet lag still), and I’ve been thinking a lot about what I should write about. So, here it goes:

Here I am, back in the land of opportunity. Jetlag (or just plain lack of sleep) and culture shock are in full effect. Just a short 800km trip from Santo Domingo to Miami, and I am officially in a different world. Three months down, three to go. I don’t have any mind-blowing things to say. I won’t change how development is practiced with this blog, and I don’t have the answers to poverty. Just thoughts.

How TRULY fortunate I am to be an American citizen. I did not choose this life. I did not earn this privilege. Over the last several weeks, I slowly came to realize a cold, hard fact: no matter how uncomfortable I get, no matter how long I spend in a developing country, no matter what kind of living conditions I put myself in, how little I am paid, how many illnesses I contract, or how “sacrificial” I am, I remain a citizen of the United States of America. Do you realize how much weight this holds? Really, do you?

As I was sitting in a batey at a repayment meeting, I suddenly thought how odd it was that I was relatively comfortable there. The heat was sweltering. The conditions were dirty and smelly. It looked ugly, the bathroom was unusable by many people’s standards, and the Creole was intimidating. Then I thought, “I’m comfortable because I’m going back to the U.S.”. And there it is. It doesn’t matter how bad of a situation I am in, I can always hold on to some form of comfort simply because I happened to be born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, of all places. It is IMPOSSIBLE to truly become equal to those I serve. I am American. Esperanza’s client is Dominican or Haitian. That will not change. I can try my hardest, but I will never be her equal. I can never put myself in her shoes.*

This realization was honestly pretty discouraging for me. Does this mean everything I’m doing is irrelevant? Worthless or even hopeless? No. It just forces me to try to walk humbly, constantly aware of how privileged I am. It would be far worse for me to just keep to my American self, not trying to improve this life for others just because I was born in the northern half of the Western Hemisphere. I ask that you consider (if you are American, Canadian, European, East Asian, or of any privileged background) how truly fortunate you are. Not just, “wow, I am really lucky to have been born in the U.S., you’re right”, but rather “what can I do in my life to help make up for another’s unlucky roll of the dice?”. Again, I will pose the question: Do you realize how much weight your nationality holds? Do you realize how fortunate you are?

In three months I don’t have the answers. I can’t show with empirical evidence that microfinance is a great step towards eliminating poverty. I can just tell you what I’ve seen. I’ve seen a woman go from selling candy on the street to having a small grocery story in her home. I’ve seen a person teach themselves how to build inverters on his own because his current income wasn’t enough to support his family. I’ve seen a woman seek out a rare target market, take hold of it, flourish, and work her way up from borrower, to loan officer, to branch manager. I don’t have statistics. With stories like these, I don’t think I need them. That being said, microfinance isn’t perfect. People can be stupid. We are selfish, we are self-centered, we are human. When implemented properly, however, I believe it is an incredibly powerful tool. I am so very excited to continue learning and sharing with you about the work I am doing.

So please, enjoy your holiday. I know I am. I soaked in Seattle as much as I could (lattes, chowder, the Market, walks in the drizzle, as many friends as possible, a WEDDING) and am now cruising the country visiting family in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. I had my wonderful Christmas Eve Swedish dinner, and I’m currently stuffed to the brim with turkey and mashed potatoes. Chicago: I expect good pizza out of you. And of course I’m letting my parents spoil me as much as they would like.

In this season of recognizing the greatest gift of all, how can I use the gifts and privileges God has given me? How can you use yours? As you soak in your many blessings, challenge yourself to bless.

–Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world (1Jn.4:7-14)

Peace be with you.

* Apparently the topic of “being from a fortunate background” comes up in a book called Compassion by a collection of authors including Henri Nouwen. I have not read it (I plan to), but after having this conversation with my good friend Claire, she read me some excerpts and highly recommended it. I trust her opinion, so this is my official pre-having-read-it plug for this book.

¡Feliz Acción de Gracias!

Happy Thanksgiving! Unfortunately, this is not a holiday in the DR, but I will be putting forth my best effort in celebration with fellow Americans down here! My time is really winding down here in San Pedro. I have less than three weeks left in this city, and when all is said and done, I will have spent almost three months of my life here. Crazy. I’m both very ready and very not ready to leave this place, so if you have a chance, pray for a fitting departure. I still would like to spend some quality time with the people I have met here, but I just don’t have a whole lot of time to do it. And also pray that I stay focused on what I am doing right now, not what I will be doing once I’m back in the States (not that I can’t look forward to friends, family, a wedding, great food, Christmas, New Year’s, etc.!)

Last week I helped out with a group visiting from the States. Esperanza partners with Hope International, and groups with ties to Hope frequently come down to get an idea of what is going on here in the DR. This past week a group came from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where Hope is based. One of their leaders was actually the founder of Hope International, Jeff Rutt, so it was cool to get to know him a little bit. The group was a high school senior class, and I was a bit hesitant going into the week. They were working at a kids camp, doing some work projects, and experiencing microfinance as much as they could in a week. My job was mainly to help translate as much as I could (which wasn’t much; I have to focus too much on understanding to regurgitate what I’ve heard into English), but participate when possible. It ended up being a great week, for several reasons.

-          First, I had a lot of fun. Working with kids is (usually) a pleasure for me, especially in a fun environment like the camp. I also had some perks thrown in, like free food and a trip to Isla Catalina, a popular tourist destination. I even played baseball against (and with) Dominicans, without embarrassing myself too much (I went 2-2 with two singles)! And I made friends, both from the group and also Esperanza employees that I didn’t know well or at all.

-          Second, I was surprised at the amount of information I was able to share after just a couple months in the country. I’d have to ask the students how well I did teaching that information, but I felt confident that I was adding value to their experience. And it was fun to translate when I could.

-          Third, I learned a lot too. I was kind of a backup to a fellow American-in-the-DR named Claire, and her job is specifically to work with Hope trips. She is full of all kinds of information that I don’t know, so it was cool learning from her. I also became friends with and learned from an Esperanza employee named Tricia, who is Dominican and fluent in English. And the students taught me as well. They were a refreshing reminder of 1) why I am here in this country, 2) the heartbreak upon learning about how others live, and 3) the passion to do something about it.

Kids camp

Kids camp

These guys followed me everywhere

Work site

Beisbol

Esperanza's stadium in Consuelo

It looks terrible, I know

Horrible, horrible place

Snorkling!

Along with this trip did come some thoughts about short-term missions, however. Is it really worth it? Who does it benefit, those who come or those who have to stay? Would the money spent to send a group down be better used if given to a microfinance institution or invested somewhere where it will push local communities to act? I don’t have answers, just questions. Maybe by the time I leave this country I will have formed a better set of thoughts on this issue. I’m not saying this group did not help, I think for the most part they did, but I have heard of many groups who have done more harm than good.

This weekend I will be going to Las Terrenas again with several other Americans (this is the same town I was in a couple weekends ago, I wrote about it in my previous post). We are all taking tomorrow (Friday) off, partly as a Thanksgiving celebration and partly as a send-off for a fellow Esperanza employee who will be leaving next week. Since I was just in Las Terrenas, I don’t have any big plans other than hanging out on the beach and watching Nebraska pound Colorado on Friday. Before we leave, we are going to have a DR-style Thanksgiving tonight, thanks to some canned pumpkin and some amazing cooks!

Felix, one of the loan officers, outside a bi-weekly meeting

Group of borrowers from batey El Fao

Felix and Celida, our branch manager, running a bi-weekly meeting

Barbed wire clothesline

Typical street and homes

$113,475

Sometimes I wonder how much of an affect I have on this organization. Earlier this week I was thinking about all the people I have talked to over the last two months or so, and I began to wonder what my impact has been. I keep a list of all the people I’ve talked to and the loans I’ve posted, and I began to wonder if I could compile some statistics about those loans.

Total loans disbursed: $113,475

Average loan per group: $2,182.21

Average loan per person: $241.44

And these are just the loans I have worked with. There are so many others from all around the country. One of my favorite things about this is where the money comes from. Take this map for example:

Beautiful thing

And this is just for one loan. There are literally thousands of loans all over the world, each with their own little markers. What a cool time in history we live in, and what opportunities it provides us! Outside of the last 5 years, when would this map have been so easily made, and so easily replicated time and time again?

Now just know that I’m not bragging about the amount of money I’ve worked with. This was not hard. Can others do this job just as easily? Of course. Are there other ways that I will contribute in the future? I sure hope so. One thing that is comforting, though, is knowing how incredibly appreciative these borrowers are for every single one of those 113,475 dollars. This is just the beginning for me; as I slowly get more comfortable here, as I pick up the language, more opportunities will arise through which I can contribute.

So, to updates. Sorry I haven’t been on top of this as much lately, I just want to fill these posts with excitement, mystery, and intrigue, and sometimes there isn’t too much of that to report during a given week:). November 2nd was El Día de los Fieles Difuntos (Day of the Faithful Dead). I’d say it is the Dominican version of Halloween, but really it’s the other way around. Halloween is a dumbed-down, non-religious marketing and spending spree that really doesn’t have a whole lot to do with anything other than eating candy and dressing up. Here, it is a day to pay respects to your lost family members. I went with Miriam, one of my host “mothers”, Vicente (her son and my host brother), and two of the neighborhood boys to two cemeteries. Miriam and Vicente cleaned the tombs of many family members, including husband/father, son/brother, father/grandfather, and others. It was sobering. Also a beautiful experience however, and I was glad to share it with them.

Miriam after cleaning one of the tombs

Many Dominicans can't afford tombstones, so they just paint on the epitaphs

All the tombs are above ground

Last week I came up with a good description of what the language is like for me here. It’s somewhere in between Taboo and Mad Gab. If you haven’t played those games, here is a quick rundown. In Taboo, you are trying to get your teammates to say a specific word, without saying a list of related words (trying to get them to say “cow” without using words like “milk”, “farm”, etc.). Mad Gab is a game where a team tries to say a word or phrase based on similar-sounding jibberish. So my language here is somewhere in between those two. I can’t say something exactly how I would like to, so I have to beat around the bush and figure out another way to get my point across. When I am not understood, I have to just keep repeating myself until the listener gets it, repeating back to me what they did not recognize I had been saying the whole time. Haha, make sense?

Plans have changed over the past week or two, and it looks as though I’ll be staying in San Pedro until I return to the States for three weeks in December. I had been planning on leaving San Pedro in about a week, but between housing situations and the fact that I’m enjoying my time here, I will stay put. This is good in many ways, and it is bad in another. It is good because I really enjoy the people in this city. My host family is great, and the people I work with have opened up to me a lot over the last few weeks. They know where I stand language-wise, and it is nice that they know where I stand and how they can challenge me and help me learn. It is also good because San Pedro has, by far, the most Esperanza associates and diversity in communities reached. I am able to attend meetings in urban barrios and rural bateyes, and everywhere in between. It is bad in one way – I’m starting to get a bit bored at times. San Pedro is the oldest and most established branch office, and it was easy to knock out most of the Kiva-eligible loans in the first month and a half that I was here. Since most of the loans last six months, they won’t come back around before I leave. There are still new loans, but almost all of them are done in the office and I can’t just go out into the field every day anymore. So I’m just hoping that in the next month or so I will have the ability to experience some new things.

This past weekend was a three day weekend; Monday was Constitution Day. Constitution day is kind of a joke – The DR doesn’t have a permanent Constitution. Almost every new government just scraps the old one and makes their own. In fact, it is going to change again in less than a month under President Leonel Fernadez’ government. Regardless of the value of the holiday, it was still a holiday, and we were happy to oblige the offer of a three day weekend. I went up to the Samana Peninsula, expecting nice hikes and nice beaches with lots of sunshine. We got the nice hike, but the nice beaches were abruptly stolen away from us as a rainstorm consumed most of the island for the majority of the weekend. And Mr. Murphey and his stupid law were in effect on Monday: after morning rain the sun poked through the clouds, only to be swiped away by wind and rain as soon as we arrived at the beach. It was still a great weekend, and a relaxing one, filled with good food, chats, and reading. The hike itself was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far – we went out to Salto de Limon (Limon Falls), a very beautiful waterfall in the middle of the mountains. It was somewhat of a treacherous hike, mostly because we were wearing sandals and the trail was well worn, slippery and muddy (with plenty of presents left behind by the horses that carry tourists to the falls). The falls had a great pool to swim in, however, and we definitely took advantage.

Our trail, full of mud and, uh, gifts from the horses

Our guide, Junior, with a cacao pod. It's surprisingly sweet and tangy when eaten raw.

View on the hike

Beautiful. Salto EL Limon

Coming from nowhere

Coffee!

See Seattle? It rains here too!

And finally, here are some things that I can’t currently say I enjoy, but will someday look back on with fond memories:

- The phrase “La luz se fue” (the electricity went out), which happens at least twice a day here, and the phrases “¡Gracias a Dios! (Thank God!)”, “¡Por Fin! (Finally!)”, and the applause and cheers across the neighborhood when the electricity returns

- Standing in front of my shower at 6:15AM in the dark with no electricity, trying to psyche myself up for the frigid drip of a shower I’m about to experience. (and on some days, finding there isn’t even a drip to dread, which is even worse haha!)

- The continuous, unashamed, and slightly-off-key singing of the people in my office

- Queso creole (local white cheese. squeaky and not tasty at all, but unfortunately it comes on everything), chicken and pig’s foot soup, carrot and mayonnaise salad, Crisol oil (used to cook EVERYTHING, and then usually drizzled over the finished product, just in case your food wasn’t oil-soaked enough)

- Cockroaches. They are feisty little buggers.

Tough Week

This past week was rough. A lot of it had to do with my inability to communicate. I’m definitely improving by the day, but it is SO frustrating not being able to say whatever I want as opposed to skirting around something in a way I am able to. My point doesn’t get across in the way I want it to. I’m just tired. That being said, I’d appreciate prayers for a new drive over the next week, and the remaining month and a half before I have my U.S. “break”.

I feel bad that I was frustrated this week, because I had a chance to see some great stuff. The last week was the first round of Esperanza’s literacy graduations. These are mostly held in the bateyes, and most of the graduates are over 30 years old. Some were as old as 70 and just never had a chance to learn to read and write. Let me just say that it was a joyful experience. To us, literacy may seem like a small achievement. To someone who didn’t recognize their own name for 70 years, literacy is huge. These people were so proud of what they had accomplished, and they should be! Hearing the stories (or at least what I could understand) was very humbling, another example of how privileged we are as Americans. This is an example of Esperanza’s efforts to be “more than just a loan”. Financing is important, but if you can’t read, how far will a small loan really get you? It will help, but the support is only multiplied if literacy is there.

Graduates!

Never too old to learn

 

Love the faces…

Notice the cake in the foreground of this picture. One of the interesting parts of the graduations was bringing all the “stuff” with us. For example: on a given day we would have two graduations. To make them successful, we brought with us pop, ice, napkins/plates, robes, and mortar boards for thirty people, along with two huge cakes. In addition to all this, pack 6 people into the same truck. What can we learn from this? Thank God for air conditioning.

(Also, the graduations gave me an excuse to bust out the Nikon for the first time with Esperanza, it was nice to get away from the ol’ point and shoot. Some of my favorite pictures below)

Trek to the waterfall

The falls

I also had a fun time last weekend. I went with two other Esperanza employees, Lindsay and Claire, to Jarabacoa, which is the self-proclaimed outdoor capital of the Dominican Republic. It is up in the mountains in the central D.R. and thankfully much cooler. The first day, Lindsay and I took a long motoconcho ride, which in itself was really fun, to one of the largest waterfalls in the Caribbean, Salto Jimonea. Apparently the falls were used in Jurassic Park, but I don’t know which part. After that we told our drivers we wanted to hike in the mountains. They said they knew a good spot, but it ended up being, to put it nicely, sub par. They thought we would be robbed in the mountains, so they brought us to a river bed instead. Lindsay and I forded the river in search of higher ground (it wasn’t that shallow…) and eventually trespassed onto private property to get to the top of a large hill (it was the best we could do). Not ideal, but the experience getting to the top was interesting. The next day we went rafting on Rio Yaque del Norte, and it was much more intense than I was expecting. The trip lasted about 2 1/2 hours and we went through at least 4 class 4 rapids. More than I thought a little island could produce, but I was pleasantly surprised. A couple names of the rapids: Mike Tyson, Jr., El Cemeterio, and Monica Lewinsky. We had a fantastic time getting back to Santo Domingo after the rafting trip, witnessing firsthand the wonderful (insert sarcasm) efficiency of the developing world.

And as a side note: The DR doesn’t have daylight savings time. That means that for all of you who have chatted with me in the past, add another hour to our time difference (Pacific +4 hours, Mountain +3, Central +2, Eastern +1).

It’s November!

Circumcision & Prostitution

Sorry I haven’t posted anything new in a while – I’ve been strangely without internet the last week or so. Anyway, I had an interesting start to last week, so here it goes:

Every Monday morning, each Esperanza office has a two-hour devotional. Usually I spend this time completely lost, but this Monday happened to be an exception. It started off innocently: we read Galatians 6:15 which states that “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation”. Totally agree. From there, things got interesting. Starting with one female loan officer asking for an explanation of circumcision, we got the full rundown. And I mean the FULL rundown. Male and female anatomy in full detail? Check. Hand gestures? Check. Debate on the physical pleasure during sex if circumcised/uncircumcised? Check. In Spanish please, my opinions on the spiritual and physical benefits/consequences of circumcision? Check. And of course the best of all – “Jarrett, are you circumcised?” Uhhh….

Wow. Long story short, you can see that I had an interesting start to my work week. It was hilarious watching this conversation unfold – most of the people in the office are Adventist, aka incredibly conservative (they don’t dance or drink caffeine), so hearing them talk about sex was pretty funny. And it wasn’t all serious, they were laughing hysterically at times, especially when they realized I understood almost everything being said.

And this wasn’t the only awkward, semi-sex-related thing that happened on Monday. Prostitution is unfortunately pretty common in the DR, but until Monday I had avoided the most blatant cases. While walking back to work from lunch, a woman pulled the classic “Are you Mormon? No? Want to sleep with me then?” line. I was not wooed, however, and politely turned her down.

Monday night I went to the first home game for the Estrellas Orientales, the professional baseball team from San Pedro. They beat the Toros (bulls) from La Romana 5-1, and I am telling everyone I bring luck to the team so they can win the championship for the first time since the 60s. The game had an opening fireworks show and a rowdy bleacher section in which I was proud to take part.

My Dominican Cubs!

 

First run of the season!

You know how in the U.S. we have that age-old debate: Christmas music before or after Thanksgiving? (AFTER!) In the DR, the debate is more like “Christmas decorations before or after October 15?” My office chose “after”, but just barely. That’s right folks, as of October 20, my office is ready for Christmas! It seems a bit premature, but considering we have two major holidays (Halloween & Thanksgiving) that do not exist here, aren’t we all celebrating something for almost the same amount of time?

Flaudia and Teodora, happy to be celebrating Christmas in October!

Random observation on political correctness and race in this country: to get someone’s attention, you yell “Moreno!” (brown guy!) or “China!” (Chinese lady! Pronounced chee-nah). Skin color here is used simply as an identifier, without the baggage it can carry in the States. You can be white (rubio), brown (moreno), caramel (mulatto), or simply referred to by your heritage (Dominicano, Hatiano, Chino, etc.). Also, many Dominicans seem to conveniently forget their history. Often they refer to themselves as “india”, what Columbus called the natives of the island (who no longer exist), for the same reason in the U.S. we have the incorrect term “Indians”. Instead of embracing an African ancestry, many Dominicans think of themselves as an indigenous people whose ancestors were in no way related to the slaves of the U.S. I met a black American girl down here, and she said she is frequently mistaken as a Dominican. When she tells them she’s from the States, they respond by saying “That’s weird, why do you look like us?” I don’t understand this, because obviously they know of many black Americans.

And as a long side note, I really dislike the term African-American. It is so engrained into our culture that white Americans refer to black people as “African Americans” no matter where they are actually from, sometimes when they aren’t even American. Wrong. I am white, so what’s wrong with black? In my experience, black people are fine with me referring to them that way because they know I am not adding any baggage (*correct me if I’m wrong). I really wish the U.S. was more like the Dominican Republic when it comes to ethnicity. Be proud of who you are, respect who you are not.

Sorry for the quick rant. Language-wise I think I’m starting to get better. I can definitely tell that I am forming sentences more quickly, and every day it’s easier to remember words that are new to me. I still spend most of the work day oblivious to what is being said, but I can tell it’s getting better. A lot of this has to do with accents; I can actually have detailed conversations with my host mom, but one of the women in my office asked me to “please get the long box off the shelf” and I looked at her as though she was speaking Russian. I’m also learning some phrases like “Dime unos minutos”, which I took to mean “give me some time”, but actually means “let me use your phone minutes”. Or the joke “el maneja un B-M-doble pie”, or “he drives a B-M-two feet” (“W” in Spanish is “doblay-bay”, and “pie” is “pee-ay”). Little phrases are fun because they always bring a laugh when the American says them.

Also, check out some of my friend’s blogs on the side of this page. I know a great crew of people taking adventures all over the U.S. and the world (France, another in the D.R., Russia, SE Asia, Mozambique, Argentina). They are interesting people too! But not as funny.

J

- And how many of you read this post just because of the title? Haha, that’s what I thought…

Cabarete

Baseball season starts this coming week, and I’m pretty excited to go to a few games. The team in San Pedro, Las Estrellas Orientales, is pretty bad: they are called “the Cubs of the Dominican Republic”. Perfect reason for me to cheer for them, right? I’m already used to cheering for a team with the longest drought in its nation’s professional sports history, so no hurt adding another one to my list. And there’s always next year. Also, it’s no wonder why this area produces more MLB players than anywhere in the world. As I walk home from work, I see guys playing in the street with a broomstick. Oh, and instead of a ball they use a plastic bottle cap.

Cabarete is one of the best places in the entire world to kiteboard... It looks so awesome.

This past weekend I took a trip up north to the town of Cabarete with two other Esperanza employees, Lindsay and Jordan. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into – it was like I left the country. It sort of felt like a toned-down spring break hotspot. There were lots of Americans, and tourists in general, bars with college football and NFL games on all day, and beaches full of hot… sand? Let’s just say that Esperanza has an office in Puerto Plata, just up the coast from Cabarete, and I’m glad it wasn’t where I was sent. With Dominican, American, and Norwegian girls as far as the eye can see, and knowing why I’m here and how I should be spending my time, boring San Pedro seems just right.

Surfer?

I also had the chance to surf for the first time in my life. I’m no pro (or as the Dominicans would say, “He’s a pro…. a pro-BLEMA!”), but for my first time I think I did pretty well. The waves were the perfect size; the biggest ones were about 5-6 feet, so that they could carry me in without pummeling the willpower out of me. It was also wind free, so paddling out to the break was not as hard. I think I’ll do it again at some point while I’m here, but there are other adventures I’d also like to partake of first. Examples: scuba diving to see old ship wrecks, white water rafting in the Dominican mountains, and climbing and jumping down the 27 waterfalls of Damajagua. These are pricey for the DR, but well worth the money in my opinion (the surf lesson and three hours of rental were only $40). I’m sure I’ll also find more than these three little gems, and I’ll seek those out when I can.

Stood up on my first try! It wasn't pretty, but I was happy. I will definitely be surfing again while I'm here.

Going to Cabarete allowed me to finally see more of the country (at least outside of work). I passed through Santiago, surrounded by fields and fields of everything from tobacco (world famous cigars) to chinola (passion fruit). I had to go through 3 mountain ranges, relatively close to Pico Duarte, the highest point in the Caribbean at around 10,000 feet. All spent from the comfort (?) of the A/C equipped Caribe Tours bus. I thought I loved air conditioning in every instance here in the DR, but I was mistaken – 45 degrees is not enjoyable on a 5 hour bus ride. I was told to bring a light jacket with me, and until that bus ride I had no idea why.

Over a month of this crazy experience has already flown by. The first two weeks seemed to take forever; the last two went by in a blink. On one hand, that is a good thing. I am comfortable, have established some relatively close relationships at home and at the office, and my body has adjusted to the cuisine, although I could really go for some pad thai. Or Chicago pizza. Or fresh-baked bread and good cheese. Comfort is easy to rest in, however, and that is not why I am here. I am here to challenge myself, to throw my comfort to the Caribbean winds. With that being said, here are some prayer requests for those who are willing:

• Prayer for a new sense of motivation, even urgency, to be willing to widen my experiences and knowledge base
• Prayer for a sense of community without an ability to always communicate
• Prayer for the borrowers who I have been working with – successful business practices, health for their families, and a Dominican government that can get its act in gear
• Prayer for constant reminders of why I am in this beautiful country, having these beautiful experiences, and meeting these beautiful people

My little slice of heaven

Not much, but it does the job! The one sheet is usually overkill here. When the overnight low is 80 degrees, the way you sleep changes a bit.