On Site in Villa Mella, Dominican Republic

With Javier (Tiko) and Candida Rodriguez, Community Partners, Villa Mella, DR

This week I came to Villa Mella, where I'll be on site for the next two years at the Hogar Renacer. Also, I'll be doing community work in a more marginalized barrio nearby known as El Tamarindo.
Tiko and his wife, Candida, (above) have been central in building their church center. Last night I was introduced to the entire congregation of about 200 people. What an exciting evening it was! Despite all of the rains from Tropical Storm Sandy, I've been having an wonderful week.

Here I am with Dulce Maria Cruz Jimenez (left), Social Worker at Hogar Renacer; Sister Gertrudis Bukowska, Director at Hogar Renacer, and other staff at the Hogar Renacer. This photo was taken Wednesday, my first full day at the Hogar. I agreed not to post any of the adolescents staying at the Hogar; however I will post a few photos of staff and the environs here.

This photo was taken Tuesday, with Adele Williams of Peace Corps, Dulce, and Community Activist Camila, both who came all of the way to our Peace Corps Training Center to meet with me and help carry my back pack and duffel to Villa Mella. I must say that Peace Corps does an outstanding job with regard to placing volunteers in community sites.  The Hogar Renacer, the Community at La Colonia, as well as the home in which I have been living have all been researched thoroughly before my placement here. Peace Corps staff really do work hard to develop relationships and bring volunteers and communities together! Natalie Ferrell and Heidi Larr of Peace Corps have been instrumental to ensuring that my work in the community to which I have been assigned can succeed. I have never felt more as though I were one wave in a vast ocean of life's support and good will.

These photos are taken of the Hogar Renacer building itself.

Hogar Renacer serves as an educational-therapeutic residential center for girls and adolescents with a history of sexual abuse. The home was founded in the year 2000 by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent Depaul, however it is relatively new to the neighborhood, having moved to its current location in Villa Mella just two years ago. The Center works with a small population of 12-16 resident girls, mostly between the ages of 10-16, who stay in the home an average of one to 3 years following their trauma. Hogar Renacer offers  integral services, including therapy, educational support, workshops in arts, crafts, music. Sports are offered as well. Hogar Renacer is a warm, welcoming place with a staff of two clinical psychologists, five educators, a social worker, secretary, two cooks, an arts and crafts teacher, a driver, and the Executive Director. The Director, Sor Gertrudis Bokowska, is from Poland. She speaks Spanish fluently, of course. I find her especially welcoming and fun to be with. All the staff is terrific. I really enjoy the Clinical Psychologist, as well.

Marcelina Rodriguez, Clinical Psychologist, is pictured above with the Director. As a Licensed Clincal Psychologist myself, I can't say how much I regard Marcelina Rodriguez and her warmth. My experience in California has been that Clinical Psychologists are in general are dry and rather distant people. Marcelina and I sang together in Spanish, which I loved, and she gave me a copy of the songs she sings with the girls. Also, I learned different games with the girls that are great mixers and don't require fluency in Spanish. I took photographs of all the girls (initially they were very shy, so uncharacteristic of Dominicans, yet indicative of past abuse and self-esteem issues). The girls were thrilled when they saw their photos in a montage, accompanied by a beautiful Bachata by Dominican favorite, Prince Royce. Their feedback was very favorable. Many wanted me to take more photos! I feel very fortunate to be off to a good start here at the Hogar Renacer. What a fine colleague Marcelina Rodriguez has been in my first week here.

 
 Finally succeeded in uploading a photo of my host "siblings"(they are the grandchildren of my host "mom") jumping up and down outside of the house yesterday is particularly pleasing, in that their delight after finally having a sunny day is so obvious. While it's been raining, we've been reading together in Spanish from my Kindle, while listening to an auditory telling of  Julia Alvarez's books in English. My Spanish is improving, and so is their English. The three children are: Ruth, age 15, Angel, age 14, and Antonia, age 9. These children are a great joy to be with.

Together, Ruth, Angel and Antonio performed parts of the book together, much to my great amusement. It is a great joy to be with children without the constant interference of electronic gadgets. Of course, we have had little electricity during the past four days, which I find has actually enhanced our time together. I began to get rain weary on Friday (as did everyone else), so the weekend of sunny weather has been a real treat.

Also, wanted to upload photos of my host "mom," Rafeala, who just celebrated her 70th birthday October 24, and the home in which I am staying in Villa Mella. This is quite a lovely home, and I have my own bathroom with running (although cold) water--an unexpected pleasure. My host mom talks a million miles an hour and isn't much of a listener. She is a very dominating woman, yet I generally succeed in letting my wishes be known. She means well!

Here is a photo of the church this community built. This is the building where I'll be able to lead groups. This members of the community are very strong in their commitment to one another. I am totally impressed by their success in coming together to build a church home. It was a undertaking that required a great deal of perseverance. The building is still not complete.

The Catholic service last evening was rather arduous; a fact of life I will just learn to tolerate once a week for the sake of building relationships here in my new community. I feel very fortunate for this community's welcome here!

Last Week in Monte Plata

Today we took our Youth Group to a neighborhood nearby named Columbia, along with the local department of Health. The project the girls in our group decided on was going house to house giving charlas (educational talks) on the benefits of using chlorine to standing tanks of water in order to reduce the mosquito population.  The idea was to prevent  Dengue in the area.  Aside from providing households with small packets of chlorine, packets of poison were given away to reduce the rat population. This was not really my idea of a great Youth Project, and the word "charla" is really getting on my nerves. My experience is one of having been lectured at so much while in the Peace Corps and I dislike the possibility that I might similarly patronize the Dominican population. 

The highlight of my day was being in the back yard areas of those we visited. I wish that I were as self sufficient as the people with whom we visited. And they were so kind-- allowing all four of us in our group to tromp right through their house (unannounced) and stand around in their back yard while receiving a lecture! They listened patiently while being chastised for all of the standing vats of water in the backyard. The Health Educator was very good, don't get me wrong. I think she really does a great job and her heart is in the right place. It's just that if the Health Department came to my house unannounced, I wouldn't want them to take a tally of all the containers in my back yard with standing water and preach to me about how my lifestyle is all wrong (OK, maybe I am a little sensitive here. I suppose it is possible that those we visited were truly appreciative of the education provided). Also, I thought it was too bad the girls who developed the idea for the project weren't able to take a more active role today (yet I was also personally relieved-- there is nothing more annoying than being lectured to by a teenager--just my opinion).  The Health Department pretty much took the lead. They came into the collaboration on the recommendation of the Institut de Mujeres, the organization with whom we are partnered.

Everyone we visited today raised chickens and various households in the community raised ducks as well. My photos in today's blog post will include many taken today of chickens and ducks. I'll start with is a photo of one of our girls in the youth group, as well as the representative from the Health Department who is explaining to a woman the benefits of using chlorine in water stored in tanks that are left standing out of doors in the back yard.

OK, I will admit that there are mosquito larvae in these pails of water. I will refrain from maintaining this kind of mosquito producing haven in my own back yard in the future!

Aren't these good looking chickens! The following is a handsome representative of his species as well!

I found this roost particularly impressive today.  And how about this rooster! I love the concept of year around outdoor cooking, too. A great way to keep electricity costs down. I should be as capable of living off the grid, so to speak. 

Also, I admire the way Dominicans line dry their clothing, the way my mother did when I was growing up during the 50's. I wonder how soon it will be (as fuel becomes less available & more costly worldwide) that citizens of the USA return to drying clothes out of doors instead of relying on clothes dryers.

This is a photo of one of the streets we visited today, and the truck carrying bottled water which is ubiquitous in Monte Plata.

And here we are going into a house. The political banner of President elect Danilo and the Vice President, formerly the First Lady of Dominican Republic, prompted this photo.

I appreciated this landscape of the Dominican Republic in one house we visited today, along with family photographs and the school photo of a child alongside a famous Dominican baseball player.

This stream in the barrio we visited today struck me as being lovely, although the all too common problem of basura in the water is evident.  There's plenty of basura in the good ol' US of A too.

I'll end this segment of the blog with another photograph of ducks.

Here we are in our Peace Corps Spanish class yesterday after our instructors arranged an opportunity for us to ask questions of women about the priorities in their lives and what they hope for their children's future. I'm cheerful because of the opportunity to stand with women "de mi edad." The women liked that I enjoyed being with them so much. My friend Susan is standing just behind me. 

A new chapter is about to open at the beginning of next month!

Last week I found out I've been assigned to Hogar Renacer and I'll live in Villa Mella, a northern suburb of Santo Domingo. I love the name of this Home, which means "Rebirth" in English. I imagine that I will be born again there too. This is an exciting new cycle for me.The home is supposed to be very lovely, and Peace Corps staff told me they are very excited to have me here. I will be working with 16 girls along with  a staff of a social worker, a psychologist, and the nuns who run the organization. I am very happy to hear the news of this assignment from Adele Williams, the Youth Program Director for the Dominican Republic. I realize that Peace Corps staff have been paying attention and they know that I am older, have a PhD and am a Licensed Psychologist. 

Peace Corps staff told me that the staff is very excited about having a mature woman with their team and someone who has an extensive background as a psychotherapist. They are particularly happy to know of my background and interest in art therapy. My host family here is really happy that I am going to be living an hour away and can come and see them often. I am very glad about this too, because I love my host family here in Monte Plata so much. I also hear that Peace Corps had wanted to place a volunteer in the Hogar Renacer for some time yet did not have someone with the experience needed. She had considered placing a third year volunteer in this home, and then they met me! Peace Corps staff visited the site six times before assigning me to Hogar Renacer. Peace Corps does invest time and care into their decisions!

Next blog I'll post about the site visit I'll be making to Hogar Renacer during last week of October. October 31, our training group will have our official swearing in ceremony as Peace Corps Volunteers.