Educational Entertainment...Need a new book?

A few folks have asked us for a list of books to read we could recommend about the DR, andmovies to suggest...these resources touch on the culture we are immersed in, the population weare working with and the history of the region we live in...this is a work in progress:

Fiction...

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alverez

The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa

The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Dantica

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junet Diaz (Crude language and a lot of Spanglishbut very realistic)

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder

Non-Fiction...

The Eastern Stars by Mark Kurlansky

The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic by StevenGregory

Why the Cocks Fight Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola by Michele Wucker

Movies...

Road to the Big Leagues Starring David Ortiz and Vladimir Guerrero 2008

Sugar Starring Algenis Perez Soto and Andre Holland 2009

The Price of Sugar Narrarated by Paul Newman

Enjoy!

Chicas Brillantes

Hi friends, family, and followers,

We are up in the mountains of San Cristobal for the weekend for a gathering of girls of all ages from all over the southern half of the Dominican Republic. The conference is called, "Chicas Brillantes" or in English, Brilliant young ladies. We both brought two girls from each of our work sites along with fifteen other volunteers to a weekend camp...girls only; Dan and the other four male volunteers don't count. We are all sleeping in bunk beds for the weekend, eating group meals and well...doing girl stuff. It is our first official, "Camp" and we are feeling very psyched about being here and having the privilege of bringing girls from our proper sites.

Girls in our Batey and in DR society in general are encouraged to stay in the house helping their families with daily chores, rearing children, etc. Often in our presentations in the community or informally during visits we will hear older women or older girls telling younger girls, "Tu no sabes.." meaning in English, "You don't know" this phrase said over and over again, resulting in cultural oppression among the female gender. Education is valued in an urban setting more than a rural setting based on access and resources...so it is not always an easy feat to rally girls to leave the community, this is a very big deal!

During our Chicas Brillantes Conference, The girls have had presentations and discussions on topics such as; self-esteem, conflict resolution, parts of the body, teenage pregnancy, health, gender equality, and heroines. Dominican nationals as well as volunteers have led the presentations, and many questions and insightful dialogue has been presented in the process of talking about many issues that are naturally silenced within this society. As the weekend progresses the girls have become closer, forging friendships with other girls from other regions and more sensitive topics are being presented based on the level of trust.

We watched Mulan, great movie if you haven't seen it! And then discussed how women are capable of changing gender roles and doing nearly anything a man can do, exceptionally empowering. We are both feeling inspired, and content, and having moments this weekend when we are beginning to realize, "Ah...yes, this is why we are here!" as we witness and participate in a genuine experience with our Peace Corps peers.

Wishing you all the best. We love questions and comments and love,

Danno and Phoebs

Daily Schedule

A few folks have asked about my (Phoebs), “Daily Schedule”…most days

• Wake up and make the bed 6-7am, tuck in mosquito net to prevent creatures in bed
• Make breakfast with windows and doors closed (Coffee, oatmeal, homemade yogurt and cereal and/or fruit)
• Dishes in two dish bins (similar to camping) in the house
• Sweep and Mop the floor while spraying for roaches and moving around rat poison
• Look for Water at the neighbors and fill up h2o tank, then clean the shower before the electricity turns off in the whole Batey
• Yoga 10-12, shower with a bucket afterwards (Always)
• Make and eat lunch with all the windows and doors closed
• Walk around the community, have a bit of coffee and chisme (gossip) and tell community members and parents about the classes offered tonight
• Reading hour with whomever comes to read, hopefully the students whom need to practice their literacy skills, the electricity comes back around this time….
• Meeting in the afternoon with one of the organizations or/a break to prep
• Make a snack and eat it in the house or eat a snack at the meeting
• Go running with a group of wild girls
• Teach English, girls group, adult literacy, or Sexual Education until the electricity goes…when the light goes, class is over…
• Make and eat dinner with Dan…and yes everything closed again
• Sometimes visit and play cards
• Wash feet, hands and face…very important to prevent parasites
• Off to sleep…ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz, and then we wake up when the electricity goes

*Please note, no internet access in my life on a daily basis…this is very special when I get to use it. For meals, all the windows and doors must be closed while eating or preparing food or we are expected to provide food for anyone that walks by…tall order when a dozen people walk by the house sometimes. We are learning more and more daily…Peace, Phoebe

Agua...water

Every other day I wake up and wash my face with the last few gallons of h20 in the thirty-gallon tank, and then I use the same water to do the dishes. After that, I mop the floor and then with this water, I flush the toilet. What a journey the last few gallons had. After flushing the toilet, I take my three 5-gallon white buckets and go to the neighbor’s house where I alternately fill up the three buckets with his hose, carrying two and leaving one to fill. After three trips and a couple of hours, the thirty-gallon tank is full, and 15 other gallons are stored in the three white buckets. Next time you use the shower, flush the toilet and brush your teeth, think of us here in the DR…maybe your water could make a longer journey.

Three month IST…In Service Training

It is official, three months of community diagnostic has passed. Many meetings observed, cups of coffee drank, dominoes and cards played and heart to heart conversations had, on to our official time of service. Nearly 6 months in country, 6 MONTHS, WOW! After a three-month training and three months of evaluating the community and organization, now the magic happens… This past week we experienced our first of many In Service Trainings. We both presented our community diagnostics with our Host Country National Project Partners to the other 22 Youth, Family, and Community Development volunteers, our directors, and our Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders. Very Exciting! It was great to share with our peers and learn about their adversity and personal feats. It was a comforting reminder we are not doing this alone, we have a strong support system and a director who truly cares about us. In the conclusion of our presentations we presented our official Plan de Trabajo (Plan of Service). Based on the information we found, our interviews and observations, we are both ready to start up our activities and serve our communities. Dan will be coaching baseball, swimming and soccer, working with the caregivers at the orfanato, running both a girls and a boys science group, and leading initiative games with the staff throughout the year. I will be continuing English lessons and a running group, I am starting a girls group, and I will be teaching yoga, sexual education, environmental education, literacy and adult literacy. In addition, I am trying to move into the school library to work and lead classes in exchange for renovating the space and hopefully, acquiring more books…wow, somewhere in the next year I hope to drink a bit of coffee, go to the beach and maybe make a few new friends. My personal goals; I hope to master the Spanish idioma (language), every other day I hope I will do yoga, every week night we will shut the door at 9pm and at least once a month we will take some sort of trip or go to the beach. Tall order, but here we go. Wish us luck, go through your children’s books in Spanish and please keep holding us in the light, Phoebe