Day Five: Learning and Acclimating

When I woke up Friday morning, the family had already awoken and gone about their business.  The kids were at school and the parents were working.  I took my time getting myself together.  When I left my room and entered la sala, my breakfast was already sitting out on the table: a few dry buns that were shaped like hot dog rolls, un cafecito (demitasse cup of Dominican coffee with a LOT of sugar), and a tall mug of Dominican chocolate (a watery chocolate/sugar/cinnamon concoction that I LOOOOOVE).  You dip the bread into the chocolate for a delicious treat.  When I finished, I headed over to pick up Erin and we headed over to our first appointment of the day: a 9:00 meeting with some of the women of Sonador.

We met with five women: Domenga, Rosa, Rubia, Isabel, and Dorita.  Dorita claimed that her job was cooking, and everyone agreed that she was a great cook.  Her husband was a great house painter, but he had recently been in the ICU for high blood pressure, so he doesn’t work and she takes care of him.  There was a little joke among the women that Dorita is a widow.  Rubia was, with her husband Chide, one of the leaders of the village as well as the singer in the church.  Rosa was willing to do manual labor, working in the cacao fields and whatnot, but that just wasn’t really available, and Domenga also claimed to be a cook and a housekeeper for her own home.  Isabel was a young woman who had been a college student studying to be a teacher, but now she was not in school anymore.  The cost of traveling to the college had become so expensive that she had to quit school.  She had been part time for three years and had about 5 years left to complete her degree.  She started out by traveling to Tenares for college but then went to school in San Francisco de Macorís.  All she wants for herself is to get money to go to school on the weekends.  She said that it costs 100 pesos to go to Tenares and 20 or 30 pesos to then go to San Francisco one way.  The classes at the college are only 6 pesos per credit at the public university, so the major cost is the transportation.   As a frame of reference, the current exchange is 37 pesos per US dollar.  Isabel also told us that the people who left Sonador to go to school do not generally come back. 

Rubia said that she enjoys life in Sonador because it’s very pretty, and generally, people don’t want to leave.  She went on to say that the village is very welcoming; they accept everyone.  Their biggest problem is the river: during the rainy season the children who are in grades 3 through 8 can’t get to school because the river’s too high to cross on foot or on mule.    They are geographically trapped because the road to La Penda is simply a callejón right now (unpaved alley way).  There is also no work for the women or much for the men either. 

Rosa said that she thinks life in Sonador is nice.  They have water and light.  When there is work, they make up to 300 pesos per day.  She really likes working, but she can’t because it’s just not available.  The men are day laborers, and her kids want new clothes as they grow out of the old ones, but there just isn’t any money for that.  All of their money goes into paying for food, soap, etc.  In one week, they might spend 1500 pesos just covering normal day-to-day costs.  There are also problems regarding money lost to illness.  People stay home sick for a while before going to the doctor because transportation is so difficult. 

Domenga talked a bit about enjoying life in Sonador.  Her husband makes 300 pesos per day working in the fields; however, in order for the kids to get to school in Blanco Arriba, it costs 250 pesos per month.  There is no free lunches in the schools, so it costs between 25 and 50 pesos per day for each child to buy food at school.  She is dedicated to keeping her kids in school and wants them to attend the university somehow.  Her hopes for her children are that they can study at the university and progress through their studies.  Education is their way out of their current conditions. 

Rosa said that none of her kids was in school and none finished programs at school.  She now wants to find a way for her grandchildren graduate.  She also pointed out that she only has a second grade education. 

Rubia went on to say that she has three children with Chide, ages 5, 6, and 8.  The education in the area is not very good.  Because of teacher strikes, the children only go to school for 2 or 3 days each week.  The teachers go on strike because they don’t get paid and have no benefits.  They work for months without getting paid.  At the end of the school year, the kids finish and take exams, but they get very low scores. 

Rosa said that life there is not secure.  She believed that the teachers are asking for more money than is necessary.  They currently earn 1,800 pesos per week, but they want health insurance and more money than the people they’re teaching.  One of the problems is that the teachers are coming in from surrounding areas.  They come from Tenares, Blanco Abajo, and Blanco Almedio.

Isabel pointed out that she had been called in as a substitute to work with the adult literacy program that runs at night.

Peter asked about pressure on teachers to join the teachers’ union, and Isabel said that the teaching certification is entirely political.  When teachers are interested in getting certified, they need to be of the same political party to get it.  When the party in power changes, good people get pushed out in favor of politically sympathetic folks, not necessarily qualified folks.  Ileana explained that there is a teachers’ union cooperative that teachers pay into so that teachers can take money out to survive when they go on strike. 

Isabel said she has a nine year old son for whom she wants better things than what she has now.  She really just wants the opportunity to work, but there is no work.  She doesn’t want her son to live here and deal with the same troubles that she grew up with.

Dorita also spoke about her seven children and her inability to give them the support that they need.  Her children barely know their letters, and she hasn’t been able to give them the base that they need in order to do what they need to do.  Some of her kids have learned to milk cows, so they make a little money doing that, and a couple more are day laborers.  She and her husband have not been able to educate the kids as she wishes she could have.

Peter asked what type of work is available.  Rosa mentioned that all of the men are out in the fields cutting cacao.  When that’s not in season, they clean the land with their machetes (“Collins”) to keep the weeds out.  The cacao is, luckily, a year-round option for work. 

Rubia ad Rosa said that, twice a year, the men go to work for a few weeks at a large farm owned by a man in the US.  The man hires 60 to 100 men for several weeks at a stretch, but this work is not permanent at all. 

Rosa said that she wanted to know what we thought of what they had all just told us.  Marianne responded that she hoped that they would all be able to stay in this beautiful place and still be able to fulfill their dreams for their children.  Peter said that it was clear that transportation is an ongoing problem.  Also, there is a great need for a teacher to live in the community.  These two things would change the community drastically.  I pointed out that if transportation changed, this place would change.  Erin asked what would happen if there were more money; what would change about the community?  

Rosa responded that they wouldn’t have to walk everywhere if the road to La Penda were completed.  People would have a better chance to study as well.  People would be able to get to the hospitals as well.  The village has changed drastically because people are leaving; they can’t get to the hospitals or the schools easily. 

Peter asked if they ever have a chance to talk to the mayor of Tenares or Salcedo about their problems.  Rosa, Domenga, and Rubia all said that they are promised many things when they candidates come through for elections.  Politicians promise money and services and help with roads and education, but as soon as they are elected, they raise their car windows when they see the people they’ve made promises to.  The politicians are getting rich from the poverty of the villagers.

Dorita spoke at length about the transportation problems.  The children can’t cross the Río Sonador during the rainy season to get to school or to get to see the doctor.  In May during the election season, the politicians are friendly and say they’ll help, but in December they don’t know you.  Sometimes, they even bring food to the people.  The most promised promise is the construction of the road to La Penda which is the way to the hospital. 

Erin asked about the local involvement in elections.  They were very vocal that EVERYONE about eighteen years of age votes.  There are three political parties here, and everyone participates even though they are not all from the same parties.  In the end, they are all asking for the same things in trying to get the help to build a road out.  They don’t see it as a lot of money needed to build the road. 

Peter asked about what they thought were the reasons why Sonador doesn’t get the help it needs.  Dorita agreed that it’s not much money.  “We’re not asking for much money here.”  Rosa said that it’s just not on their radar as being important.   Those who work for the representatives and senators just aren’t interested in their issues.  No one is representing them to the government.  Rosa said that If she could go to New York, she would go and ask for money.  Rubia said she’d be just like a politician then.  Rosa said that if she could get to the US, she’d get Ileana to help her get the money.  Dorita said that folks who leave for Nueva York, they say they aren’t coming back.  But some people buy fancy clothes in the US and when they return, they pretend like they don’t know the villagers because they’re so poor.  Some folks who return don’t forget their people, but Dorita feels that most do.

Rosa said that she would love to leave Sonador, but Rubia and Dorita said that they would never leave but they want things to get better. Rosa said she wants to leave immediately so that she can work.  She can’t stand that there is no work for her.  Rubia said they need to stay and be united so that they can work together and get things done.  Rosa agreed that she would stay if there was work, but she needs to do what’s best for her family.  Rubia said that if they all leave, Sonador (Sounder) will no longer ring. 

Rubia closed by telling us that we would be meeting with the young people around 3.   At this point, Erin, Lance, and I decided we would go on a tour with one of the young men to visit a cattle farm while Ileana, Kasey, and Marianne would go visit a health worker.  I’m not sure what Peter was doing at this point.  I think he wasn’t feeling well, so he might have just stayed home, but he’ll have to tell you about that.

Erin, Lance, and I started our journey with a very nice young man whose name I still don’t know.  He was very tolerant in hiking us up and down the country side.   We started out by hiking up to the cattle farm where we saw how they keep their cows and how they have things set up for milking.  Of course, it’s al manually done.  They bring the cow into a special enclosure away from the “general population” and then they get her to put her head in a wide space that they then lock off so that she can’t back out.  Thus commences the milking.  Of course, while Bossie was being milked, she also decided this was the time to pee.  There was no concern taken about this by the milker.  I will NOT be drinking that milk.  The villagers certainly don’t pasteurize their milk either, so I don’t know how brave I could really be.  The milk was sold by the barrel for some miserably low price.  It was slightly depressing. 

Cacao pod

As we continued to walk, our young guide showed us a ripe cacao pod that he smashed with a rock to open it.  Inside were the cacao beans covered with this sweet white mucus.  It is this white mucus that, when dried, smells like the world’s smelliest feet as it dries. After seeing the young man do it, Brave Erin ate one of the beans, and then I think we all tried it out.  It wasn’t delicious or anything.  The goo was sweet, the beans were bitter, and now I can say I’ve eaten raw cacao right out of the pod.  What have you done? 

A few minutes later, we came across a coconut tree.  One of the coconuts had fallen on the ground.  Our guide, again, smashed it open with a rock.  It became clear that what we think of as a coconut is actually the inside of the whole coconut pod.  When you get the whole pod open, the coconut we are familiar with is inside, and it’s filled with coconut…milk??? and raw coconut meat.  Erin went right for it and drank the coconut milk right out of it.  I followed suit and then we both ate some of the coconut meat inside, though it was pretty bland. 

La Escuela Primeria

As we kept walking, we came across a one-room elementary schoolhouse, La Escuela Primeria.   We asked the young man to show us around.  He had to dismantle this very strange “gate” in order to get us in.  It was just a few sticks stuck together with barbed wire and poked into the ground.  When we got in, the schoolhouse was very barren.  There were chairs for about ten kids.  A handwritten poster on the wall listed out their classroom rules.  It read, “To be educated, you ought to: participate, respect of others, be disciplined, have good personal habits, be honest, be responsible, have good qualities.”  We also saw a poster that came from the Department of Education about the need for parents to get involved in their kids’ education because education doesn’t just happen in the classroom.  There were chalkboards on two of the walls.  One still had lessons up about fractions and the phonics of combining “m” with vowels.

Each corner of the room was labeled with a hand-written sign indicating what subjects were studied there:  Natural Science Corner, Social Science Corner, Math Corner, etc.  There was a small area separated out with a movable wall.  That are seemed to just be a storage area, but it was strangely run-down.  The walls were dingy and poorly repaired.  The window covers, like wood doors or shutters, had been busted through.  Lots of old building materials were stacked up against the wall on top of old school desks as though they’d been there for years.  Propped against the wall was an old first aid cabinet as well.  Erin came across a few textbooks that seemed to be in very good condition, though.  The school yard was just a dirt yard indicating that there was not a lot of playing going on there.   We learned that the little kids only go to school for a about a half day, so there’s not likely a lot of time for play anyhow.

New York money and the public sat phone

After our young guide closed the “gate” for us, we kept walking and came to another small village.  It was one of the Blancos, though I don’t know which one.  Were we headed for Blanco Almedia?  Blanco Abajo?  No sé.   Right alongside the run down wooden homes and colmados was a huge, gorgeous property with a lovely cement and iron fence painted pink and off-white with lamp posts appropriately spaced atop the pillars like we were suddenly in Miami or Orlando.  The trees and yard inside were perfectly manicured.  Our young guide indicated that this family was kept with New York money, meaning that they had a relative living in New York who would send back remittances to the family.  At the corner of the property was a public satellite phone as well, which people could use if they had a phone card.  It was very odd: you see this strange public phone as you’re walking along and it has a satellite dish on top of it. 

The next site our guide took us to was a rooster farm for raising fighting cocks.  I took a short video of the roosters in their cages in a small shed, unlike in Sonador where the roosters just roam around free.  In the shed, I spotted a table that had a used syringe on top, which I assume is for injecting the roosters with hormones and steroids.   The owner showed up, which made me super uncomfortable.  I thought he was trying to get us out of there, so we kept walking.

We stopped at a colmado for a soda, and Erin got a bag of Dominican Cheetos.  Seriously.  They were Cheetos made in the DR, and they were AWESOME.  It didn’t seem right that we were able to eat those there.  We talked for a moment with our guide, who was wearing a Durham Bulls cap that Ileana had sent him some time back, about how he feels about the New York money coming into the community.  He said it didn’t really matter to him.  It was generally good.  Erin asked Lance to tell him that when folks come to the US, the work they end up doing is very hard.  I don’t think he was ready to have a heavy conversation with us, so we decided to get a move on.

We kept walking and came across a pig farm.  This would not have been very significant except for the fact that the farm had no lagoon.  The pig pens ran off down a hill into a ravine that I assume dumped into some public water source or other.  The fences penning the animals in were made with narrow trees nailed together to form fences.  It was perfect and lovely!

We stopped for a while under a tree to lean on a nice wooden fence and watch a man working in the fields clearing the land with a pick ax.  He pulls out the weeds and what not so that the grass can grow up through it. 

This is pretty much where our crazy tour ended.  We’d been walking for almost two hours at this point, so we just headed back to our homes for lunch before the 3 pm meeting with the kids.    By the time, we got back, it was 1:30, and I was hot and exhausted.  Domenga had a lovely lunch waiting for me: rice and beans with some kind of delicious Dominican carrots, a small salad of lettuce, cucumbers, and vinegar, and an egg salad.  I was so tired that I could barely even photograph my food, but I did!  I ate a few bites and thought I might die if I kept eating.  Several times, I found myself staring at the wall because I was so tired.  Domenga came by once and asked if I liked the egg salad, which I barely had the stomach to try.  I told her it was delicious before I even tried it.  Once I did try it—begrudgingly—I discovered that it really was delicious, but I could barely eat another bite because I was so tired.  I excused myself from the table and told Domenga that I needed to lie down for a while before I went to get Erin at 3.  At 3:15, Erin showed up and woke me up.  I couldn’t get up; I felt terrible and I was totally overheated.  My travel alarm clock indicated that it was about 91 degrees in my room and I was drenched in sweat.  I told Erin I didn’t feel well, and that I would be up a little later.  When she left, I laid there for another 5 or 10 minutes trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with me.  After I had gotten one shoe on, Erin returned with the brigade in tow.  She had wanted to get Kasey to come down and check on me, but everyone else just came along, too.  Kasey said I had all the symptoms of being extremely dehydrated.  Thank God that was al it was.  I pumped some fluids down my gullet and felt better in no time.  I’d never felt that bad before, so it was very weird to me.  I just wanted to lie in that bed forever, but Kasey wanted me out of that sweatbox.  I pulled it together, and headed back up to meet with the kids.  It took a long time to wrangle them all.  As Ileana said, they all function on “Dominican Time” which means they could be there up to an hour after the scheduled meeting time. 

The kids ranged in age from about 9 to about 17.  We asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Some said they didn’t know, but Rosairis wants to be a lawyer.  In order to do that, she knows that she would have to leave Sonador for the university.  There was some discussion about them wanting to go to the US.   It was pretty difficult to get them to speak up about what they wanted to do.  They were quite shy.  We tried to explain what we were doing there and why we were asking these questions, but they were still a little tough to pull out of their shells.  One little boy said he wants to be an engineer like his father.  Another young teen-aged girl said she wanted to be a teacher like us.  Another young man wanted to go into business and finance.   One young teen-aged girl wanted to go to the US to learn English and become a secretary.  The last young man said he wanted to be an architect so that he could build houses. 

Isabel sat in on this discussion and told us that kids in Sonador think that the US has better education and is more developed; there are more resources for the people.  The concerns she voiced about Americans involved the way we treat each other socially.  For example, in Sonador, they treat everyone the same, but when Dominicans go to the US and then return, they no longer treat the people the same.  Isabel also pointed out that she thought we treated our elderly well by providing them with nursing homes and that she thought we treat our children well by not abandoning them.  I thought this was a very telling statement, both about us and the Dominicans. 

The last thing the students really told us was that they need books.  They like to read, but the only books they have access to are textbooks—there was nothing for leisure reading.  The number of books available to them is terribly low, so they dream of getting more books.

After our discussion with the kids, we met the newest member of the Sonador community: a 16-day-old baby!  So sweet! 

Since we had all the kids gathered in one place, Erin pulled out the rest of her balloons.  The kids LOVED them.  That game went on for about an hour!  We had a great time all playing with the kids.

After that, we headed to Rosa’s colmado to play some afternoon dominoes.  While we were there, Tonya—Rosa’s daughter—showed up with all of her nail painting gear, so all of the girls except Ileana got their nails done.   Rosa said that she hopes to get Tonya to New York so that she can open her own salon, which would be wonderful!  She did a very good job on our nails.

Rosa put an Antony Santo CD in the CD player, and it would play for a while until the power went out.  Then, it would come back on a little later.  Once it was dark, we headed back to our houses for dinner.  When I got to Domenga’s, my dinner was waiting for me, so I ate dinner while she and Rosairis watched their favorite telenovela: Teresa.  Domenga explained to me what was going on: Teresa is an evil girl who is trying to hurt her godmother.  I later found out that everyone in the village had been watching Teresa.  After that, there was another telenovela on that involved a lot of girl-argues-with-hired-help/girl-kisses-hired-help/girl-fights-with-hired-help-again.   When I went to get Erin, Dorita and her family were all watching the same program.  Hilarious!

We spent the rest of the evening at the colmado playing dominoes with the neighbors.  It was a LOT of fun.  Ileana showed them what was what again.  The girl is GOOD!  When the lights went out, Erin took out her handy-dandy camper’s headlamp and wrapped it on the beam over the domino table to that we could see what we were doing.  She did us all a great service by bringing that thing with her. 

When we al finally decided to go home to bed, we came across the tiniest snake in the world.  It was quite adorable, but just the idea of it was enough to send…someone among us running like a little girl in the night.  Awesome!  What a great day this was.