Project Partner Day and First Site Visit

I finally got my site and have already gone for a visit. I am living in a small pueblo of about 6000 people southwest of Santo Domingo, about 30 minutes southwest of Bani. I am right near the sand dunes that are famous in the Caribbean, a few nice beaches within a short motoconcho or guagua rides reach. It is semi arid desert weather, with lower humidity than Santo Domingo (gracias a Dios) and temperatures usually in the 90s right about now. It is pretty much summer all year round and doesn't rain much. Since it is fall I am coming into their cool season, which is still hot.


Before you permanently move into your project site, trainees go for a five day site visit. It begins with the madness that is project partner day, where we meet our project partners who we will be working with the next two years. After working with them in the morning and having lunch, everyone departs to their respective sites and brings as much of their belongings as possible to make for an easier trip on the permanent move on Friday the 30th. We lugged all of our stuff to Entrena, hopped on buses over to San Pablo where the day happens (this was the same convent we had all spent our first night in the DR two and a half months earlier). I met my two project partners, a man and a women who were both very nice, good first impression. The woman is a member of the cooperative that produces dried fruit (my actual project partner is the president of the cooperative, but she couldn't make it), and the man is a member of the local development association.

Shortly following lunch we set out to my site. First we made a quick stop at FAMA in Santo Domingo, a local NGO that supports sustainable development projects in my site and around the DR. We met with the staff and then headed southwest on the highway.


We finally get there (ok, it is close only a little over two hours) and I am pretty surprised at how nice the town is. Little tree lines streets with sidewalks and paved roads throughout most of the town- notably clean.  Some areas are more marginalized and poorer than others, not all roads are paved but nearly all and there are about six parts of town. There is also a Haitian community here so I look forward to Creole training in the spring to integrate with the entire community.

My host parents are in their early seventies, and their granddaughter in her twenties lives there as well. My host dad is the president of the development association and the granddaughter is the secretary. Also there is a parrot that whips out phrases in Spanish asking the important philisophical questions like hay platano? I get a special gold medal if I can teach the parrot my name, since Erin usually becomes Eris here (parrot in the photo, chilling in its tree in our backyard). There are also a couple of shaggy dogs, a couple of roosters, a cat and her kitten (standoffish but it will come around) and some other birds. The little shaggy white dog is pregnant so I may be getting a puppy very soon.


                                                               Back yard at my new house.

My house is nice, there is a normal bathroom and shower, fan in room, nicest place Ive lived out so far. So its comfy. And there are three cooperatives: two mango cooperatives that sell mangoes domestically and export, and a cooperative that produces dried fruit using a solar powered drier. The dried fruit cooperative is my main project and is mainly comprised of women, with some male members. My other project partner works in the local development association (the president is also my host dad) which is down the street from my house. There seem to be a lot of motivated people that I met at the various community group meetings I went to throughout the week, and a lot of opportunities to work with the community.
                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                            Below: View of the Caribbean from a church                                                                                                                 down the street from my house.

The town has the local hospital for the region, highschool, primary school, two baseball fields, a central square, and lots of small businesses (little clothing stores, colmados, colmadons, ferreterias, auto repairs shops, paint shops, cafeterias, etc). There have been a lot of development projects over the years due to some very active a forward thinking community associations and residents, and remittance money being reinvested from the large Diaspora living mainly in the Bronx (also Boston and Florida). Every household seems to have half of their family in the little DR, aka the Bronx. 

The town also has trash collection and organic trash collection that they have a large organic compost, where they make fertilizer and sell it. Basically Ill be learning a lot and working with some sustainable development projects. (See photo at left, the Planta Abono Organico or Compost and my host dad).








So my first impression is good and I am excited to go back next weekend and get started. We swear in as volunteers on Wednesday, and will offically start our two years then. Made it through training and now the real work begins!!