It is really hot here in Guaymate, yet Rosa's home has a good fan and we have shared wonderful talks. I slept comfortably last night in Rosa's home, thanks to her hospitality and a great mattress. Thursday was a long day! The day began at 7:30 am in Santo Domingo with a taxi ride to the station where at 9am I caught an express bus to La Romana, which arrived at 11 am. Then I caught a Guagua inland to Guaymate, and arrived here about 12 noon.
Rosa's work is impressive, and she leads groups for youth in which hundreds of youth participate regularly. Walking around town is quite an experience, as everyone knows Rosa. She speaks fluent Spanish, though her native language is actually a dialect she spoke as a child growing up in Oaxaca. Rosa moved to a Farmworker community in Lamont, California (near Bakersfield) at the age of ten, and learned Spanish and English at that time.
Asked how she learned both Spanish and English in a year's time, Rosa told me that her father brought home audio-books from the library so that she and her siblings could learn to speak both languages. Rosa said her father locked her in the room on the weekends with the audiotapes, which was a hard experience at the time, but she was glad she learned to speak two new languages so quickly.
Rosa received her college degree from UC Santa Cruz, and worked as a Paralegal for six years before applying to become a Peace Corps Volunteer. She came here a year ago.
Many of the people in this area are of Haitian descent, as their parents and grandparents were brought to work in the sugar cane fields. The heat is oppressive and the poverty is staggering. Children have very little opportunity to learn in the school system, as there are few supplies and teachers are not always available. The programs provided through Peace Corps, and Rosa's NGO organization, 180 Degrees provide much of the education and interaction to which children have access.
The Peace Corps experience is sure cracking my world open. I am so appreciate the work Peace Corps is doing in the Dominican Republic, and especially Rosa's work. She is my hero! My prayer is that I may be able to contribute in my own way too.
How I loved the mini-dramas performed by Chicas Brilliantes yesterday, and the children with whom I played. They were very affectionate with me! Rosa played the bad mother in one role play and I got to be the good mother! I really liked that. The idea behind the mini drama was to demonstrate the effects of positive parenting on girls' attitudes toward themselves and other girls. Rosa has worked with some of the more impoverished girls to draw them out. She has also worked with girls who are unkind to other girls so they better understand the effects of their behaviors on others.
Today we are going to the Superman group, and I will be able to meet some of the young men with whom Rosa works. Rosa has a number of young people she has taken with her to camps. The young people she has trained to lead groups on their own are called Multiplicadores. Several of the young men came to the house today so Rosa could work with them to plan today's group objectives.
I would download more of the exquisite photos I took yesterday except that photos have been very slow to download today. More photos are to come soon!
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