5 Months in 3 days

Hi friends and family! Dan and I are both working hard on our initial community diagnostic. For Dan, this looks like meeting after meeting with different sects of the orphanage to seek information about NPH. For me, it includes a lot of walking around to different houses, informal introductions, visiting and an array of different styles of coffee or cold drinks. We are learning more about our community, eliminating generalizations and making connections. I am learning to slow down because time is definitely necessary for this process. For example, yesterday my goal was to execute 5 interviews with 5 different families. I completed 3 and an organizational interview. Through the process, I learned about specific family relations, the full names and ages of the family members, and what programs and curricula the family is interested in. Sometimes I learn more; one of the families I interviewed keeps bees, another family makes 30,000 pesos a month which is great for a rural Batey, another family has two daughters with scholarships studying in the Batey. In general, I have learned hurricane George displaced many families and demolished most of the houses in the Batey. I have also learned that most of the employment is not in the Batey, most families commute to San Pedro de Macoris or Juan Dolio to find work. Every interview and going around the community makes it feel like this is my barrio, this is my community, and this is my home.