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From Conociendo El Limon

Dear friends,

I`ve been absent, I know. First, a bout of the one-year blues, as a fellow volunteer has dubbed it. Then, my computer died! Or se jodió, got screwed up, as we say here in the DR. In other words, my ability and enthusiasm for sharing my experiences has been in a swoon.

Well, here`s an update.

On the advice of the Peace Corps doctor, who is a beloved Bulgarian lady who takes care of us spiritually as well as physically, I have been exercising more to get out of my funk. Running, to be exact. I`ve been jogging up the hill where Fermina died on a semi-daily basis. This morning a mosquito buzzing in my ear woke me up at 5.30 am, so I figured it would be a good time to try out a new route. I jogged through town to the road to the beach.  When I arrived at the ocean, I stood watching the churning waves, especially high because of the hurricane I have heard is out there in the ocean, spinning around. I tried to decide if I should swim, and decided not to, 1) because the current was probably pretty strong and I didn`t want to drown in it, alone at the beach, as happened to the brother of a volunteer last year, and 2) because I didn`t want to jog all the way home chafing from wet shorts. So next time I will plan a little better and bring a swimsuit. It was a beautiful run, though, and less full of the annoying things that really discourage me from jogging here: loud motorcycles trying to run you over and men. Always with the men. Here`s a pic, recycled, from what the trail out to the beach looks like. It`s called the cienaga, or marsh.

From Conociendo El Limon

Other things I have been up to:

1. Re-started the community journalism project, formalizing it into a class from an informal club. There is a lot of interest and so far the students seem really excited. The other week, the more experienced youth interviewed the new mayor of town for more than an hour live on the community radio station. Residents called in to ask questions and the principal of the elementary school congratulated the youth over the air on what a great job they were doing. The mayor seemed to enjoy the opportunity to explain himself and converse with the community, as well. Tuty, one of my favorite youth, was bold enough to ask him this: In this country, everyone becomes disillusioned with politicians, and decide they are selfish thieves stealing from public coffers. What do you think about that and how will you be different? I was so proud. Brings tears to my eyes.

2. Girls group. Peace Corps has a gender and development initiative that encourages volunteers to work with girls, teaching them about self-esteem, machismo, and their sexual health. It`s basically a course that teaches feminism. So of course I`m all about it. I decided to target 8th and 9th graders, since those are girls at the beginning of their adolescence, when all this stuff really starts to count. So far, it`s going just OK. The girls are a little immature and have not been as consistent in attending as I would like. But I hope this turns into a rewarding project.

3. Applying to stuff. The time has come to start thinking about the end of Peace Corps. I`m weighing a lot of different ideas, but my main goal is to have options. I applied to one graduate program in communications and am trying to pull together a Fulbright application for Peru. Then there is always Haiti. We`ll leave it at that for now.

4. Homemaking. I planted herbs in the aluminum bean cans that have been lining up in my kitchen. The cilantro is already sprouting! I baked the most delicious banana and rulo bread. Rulo is sort of in between a plantain and a banana. My host grandfather gave me some the last time I visited, and it was really ripe, so I figured it would make good banana bread. I was right! I gave some to the neighbors and they seemed surprised that I bake. Last weekend I spent all Sunday baking peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for my friend Lorenzo and my host brother Luis Miguel, who both celebrated birthdays the week before. Lorenzo, 25; Luis Miguel, 12. Feliz cumple!

5. Reading. Since my computer died and my ability to watch American TV went with it, I have been reading more (in my handsewn rice sack hammock, maybe my best project in Peace Corps yet). In the last two weeks I`ve been through Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Three Cups of Tea, and am now reading The Road to Hell, a very fuerte book about the damaging effects and lies of international aid and NGOs in Africa. It`s very interesting. You would be amazing at the stuff people get away with in developing countries because they are dealing with voiceless, powerless people.

6. ¡Se me olvidó! I forgot! Three youth from my business class this summer were selected as finalists for the national business plan competition! I was so excited for them. They worked really hard on planning their business, a dulceria (making sweets like dulce de leche with coconut, orange, etc), and I didn`t want them to go without recognition. The joven who did most of the work and I will be going to a conference in the capital in early October to present the plan. I don`t really think he will win one of the first three slots, who will have 100% of their starting costs funded, but I think it will be a great opportunity for him to learn and network, which is the important thing.

7. Daydreaming about projects. This has been one of my principal activities since the start of Peace Corps, and now that I have seven and a half months left, it is my last chance! Here are some things I am considering, all of them fairly ambitious and involving a lot of cooperation with local leaders, the mere thought of which gives me a nervous twitch.

• Teaching teaching methodologies to teachers. This isn`t so painful, actually, I love the teachers here and they love me. But I would have to compile the curriculum myself. This would be a worthy project because as I have mentioned before, the schools here more closely resemble zoos. It would be great if I could teach the teachers some tricks in classroom management and change their didactic emphasis from memorization and repetition to critical thinking.
• Income-generation project. I really was hoping that out of my business class this summer would come an entrepreneur who wanted to bring artesania back to El Limón. There is a glut of souvenir junk in this area, but I think with the right branding and marketing, a women`s group making hand-made, recycled products like rice-sack hammocks and purses, jewelry from seeds, coconut and bamboo, and even homemade fruit jams could be a big hit. I would want to use this project to provide some income to the poorest members of the community (that is, select the women who are invited to participate by their relative poverty). But I would need to do a lot of hand-shaking in Las Terrenas and mainly I would be concerned about trying to coordinate an effort like that. Dealing with money is a nightmare. So is trying to form a working group. Herding cats, I tell you.
• Community newspaper? I would love to do this if I thought it would keep going once I`m gone. Not sure that would happen unless someone started it as a business and turned a profit. It`s a dream of mine, but the realist side of me says it might be better to work with the radio station.
• English conversation club. This is easy, I should do it. Just be available once a week to English students to chat me up in English.