Getting To Know My Initiatives

In the last week I had my second Hogares Saludables meeting and my first Escojo Mi Vida meeting. These two initiatives are the two required initiatives I will be working with for the next two years in my assigned site. The big difference is that in my site I will start my own group and likely a group will not already be formed and also I will be facilitating these groups by myself in my site. At training now there are four other girls that I am working with in my group. The second Hogares Saludables group went well. Because we knew what to expect and we had a more solid topic the meeting went much more smoothly. This past week we talked about sanitation and disease prevention. 2.7% of Dominican children die before the age of five from preventable illnesses. 16% of deaths in women are due to maternal, prenatal, and/or nutritional conditions. In order to attempt to combat these statistics there are outlined topics that we discuss in a series of sessions with our Hogares Saludables groups. This past week my group outlined why hand washing is important, how to properly wash your hands, how to properly clean and keep food, and how to prevent spread of mosquito carried diseases as well as communicable diseases such as TB. Many people here do not have running and so it is often very difficult and sometimes rare for people to wash their hands. Often people who do wash their hands often wash in a sitting bowl of soapy water along with many other people, which is definitely not as sanitary as washing with flowing water. After being in the country for a little over a month and not having running water, I think I have nearly mastered the washing of hands with a bucket and the little water that is available, but it can be difficult. It depends on the woman and the family situation, but sometimes it is difficult to convince people how important it is to wash their hands after using the bathroom and before cooking for example. During these lessons that we give our women’s group I have presented a lot of the dynamicas or ice breakers. The grand majority of Dominican people are very animated and love to move around and express themselves loudly. Consequently, many Dominicans LOVE dynamicas. I also love dynamicas, which is super fortunate. I feel like it takes me back to camp, being able to sing silly songs, be loud, and be goofy. For example in this last lesson I led a dynamica where I was yelping that an iguana had bit different parts of my body and then I had the women repeat after me and shake out the various parts of their body that the “iguana” had eaten. I also led a dynamica where the women were split up into two groups and we passed a peso coin through our clothes and the first group to be able to pass a coin through their line and all of their clothes won! (This is much more difficult than you thinking considering that the majority of Dominican women wear extremely tight shirts and jeans).

The day after our second Hogares Saludables group (which had approximately 10 women attend and 14 children accompany) we had our first Escojo Mi Vida group (with approximately 15 young women and men). This Escojo group aims to teach about and promote safe sexual health practices, promote self-worth, and healthy decision making for young adults. In the Dominican Republic 23% of adolescents get pregnant before the age of 18. Girls from ages 12-14 who are pregnant or campo married is also not very uncommon. A “campo marriage” is a term often used to refer to people who have not had an official wedding, but move in together. The husband often has the responsibility of providing a house and cooking supplies for the wife and then they can move in together and be considered spouses without the hassle or expenses of a wedding. In our first group meeting we tried to get to know the girls in our group and we had an interactive discussion about decision making. We specifically discussed how to make safe and healthy decisions about being sexually active. This group was held at 7PM, which meant that the sun had just set and it was very dark. Luckily, our group was held next to someone’s house who had had light. Often it is hard with discussing these topics because especially with medical phrases, it is difficult to express what I want to say in Spanish.

I have Spanish class still every weekday and I was just recently tested to see if I improved for my Spanish speaking abilities. I did not yet receive my level yet, but I think I only improved a very little bit in my level, which I am disappointed about, but I hope that soon with more studying and more compartiring with my family I will be able to- even if very slowly- improve my communication skills. I know that communication skills will be extremely helpful when I get to my site. Despite this knowledge I also know that attitude, body language, and action can be just as instrumental in building relationships, trust, and gaining respect in my community. I will not know my site placement for another couple of weeks, yet I am hoping to live in a rural area. Some hopes and desires that I have for my site include having the ability to garden, being able to start a women’s soccer team/yoga group/ walking club, being able to run in my site, being in a small enough community that I feel like I can at least recognize the majority of my community members by the end of my service, being able to start a special needs initiative, and a support system for women from abusive households. Despite these goals, I solely want to be able to serve the community that I will be placed in and I do not yet know what their needs are. During the first three months I am at my site I will do an extensive diagnostic of my site before I start any work and I hope to find how I can best empower the community by utilizing the skills that they and I have, even if this includes some or none of my original desires for what my service will look like.

It was also a holiday this week, the day of Virgin Mercedes and so no one had to go to work or school on Wednesday. Even though us volunteers had class we had a fun afternoon swimming in the nearby river and visiting with each other and having snacks. It is great being able to celebrate Dominican holidays, but it is always very hard thinking about things back home while so far away. I am so thankful for such an amazing opportunity I have here in the Dominican Republic and I am so thankful for my loving friends and family not with my now. I send all my love to anyone going through a hard time right now.

Here are some picture updates of where I run in the morning as the sun gets up and near and around my house…