Extreme Needs Placement

Dan here y’all and I’m here to tell you more about my future placement. I have “provisionally” been placed in what the Peace Corps Dominican Republic terms as and “extreme needs” placement. The extreme needs program partners volunteers with existing organizations who work specifically with children who are either currently in or have been in various extreme situations. The Peace Corps Volunteers role within the organization is to provide institutional strengthening, youth empowerment and access to services. I feel blessed to have a unique opportunity to work alongside an international non governmental organization who appears very well equipped to work with youth who have lived in extreme situations. I’ll be working with Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos.

All Peace Corps Volunteers will be working with children who would be considered extreme needs. The main difference in my placement is that nearly each and every child I will come into contact with would be considered extreme needs and I will be working alongside an organization who works specifically with children of extreme needs. The Peace Corps defines extreme needs children as follows:

• Living with HIV/AIDS
• Living outside the family unit
• Victim of child labor or exploitation
• Victim of neglect or abuse
• Not declared (meaning no birth certificate = they don’t exist in the eyes of the law)
• Sobre edad (overage) in school, behind in school or not attending school
• Living in a marginalized community

I am currently one of eight extreme needs aspirantes, soon to become volunteers, in the DR and we will soon become volunteers (we hope). Upon our swearing in to become Peace Corps Volunteers, we will join four additional extreme needs volunteers who are currently in country and have been working with a local NGO over the past year. This year is the first year that the extreme needs initiative has included an extreme needs specific training and our group of outstanding volunteers will be working with Dominican based nonprofit organizations, orphanages, a Dominican governmental agency, an International Non Profit (Me), centers for street children, and day homes. In addition, each volunteer will have the opportunity for community based projects outside of our primary project and we are assigned a secondary project partner within the community to help facilitate this process.

The project has the potential to consume a majority of my time, energy and spirit. It is my plan, now, and as expected by the Peace Corps, to take my first three months to evaluate the NGO and conduct an assessment. During this time, I’ll be able to determine alongside my project partners how I’ll best fit into their system of operation, find what strengths, programming and ideas I can bring to the orphanage staff and children. It has been made very clear that I’m not coming in to fill a specific job within the organization; meaning I won’t come in and be their new therapist, receptionist or soccer coach. What company wouldn’t want an employee to come in and work for free? That’s not what the PC is in the business of doing nor is it my intention. So, I can work with my new co-workers to help in training new skills, different perspectives and the like. My role will become more clear in the coming week as I’ll be heading to Batey Monte Cristi to visit for 5 days, meet our project partners, new host family, neighbors and begin making friends.

As always, let us know what you think, feel or would like to hear more of. We’re here to interact and share in this experience. We feel more motivated to write when you comment, so bring them on!

Next week we’ll be headed to visit our new community for five days and I don’t think we’ll have much internet access. It’s our hope to get a couple more posts in before we leave, however that remains to be seen.

I’ll sign off with this: Celebrate the small successes…I’m feeling excited writing and thinking about our future placements, missing my family, friends, IYFD profs and students, MKP Bros, enjoying the last few days of training with my Youth and Family Development volunteers, bumbling through Spanish each day, and loving myself and my wife.

Dan Out.