Hi all,
Knock on wood, I am safe and sound currently. I am in the world vision office in the nearest town to me. I have been trying to establish a relationship with the people of world vision. They have money and can help me with materials for my projects. They benefit by of course by counting any work I do with those materials as work done by them. Its a win, win.
I have now been in the DR 6 months as of today. A little more than 3 1/2 months in my site. Tonight I have a girls group meeting. Its the first official meeting. Last Friday we met but it was just informational. Some of the girls fought a little after the meeting becuase they did not want one girl in the group. The young woman that is going to help me with the group also does not want her in the group and told me that if the girl is in the group she will not help. One mother said she will not let her two daughters participate if this girl is in the group. I asked what is so alwful about this girl, and they said her mother thinks she is better than everyone else. After thinking about it long and hard, I decided that I am not going to kick the girl out. I want to give everyone a chance. Also I didn´t think it is a good idea to let a mother control the group with threats of pulling her two daughters if we dont do things the way she wants. The whole idea of the girls group is to empower girls. There are plenty of other girls that want to participate. As far as the young woman who is/was going to help me, I expressed these thoughts to her, and she said she will let me know today. The women in the batey do a lot of gossiping and a lot of fighting with each other. Every day I see or hear at least one fight in the streets.
As far as my soccer project goes, things are going well. The young men just had a game on Sunday and lost 1-0 against a team that previously beat them twice 4-0. They out played the other team in everything but the final score. I am working with the regional secretary of the department of sports along with several others to plan a soccer tournament between all the bateys. 12 teams in all. Hopefully we can get this off the ground. If the tournament is successful with the young men, I want to do one with the girls next.
The girls team is doing well. They have really improved. Just recently however we have lost half our numbers to softball. This is not a problem since we had about twice the number of girls as we had before. Also, I dont care what sport they are playing, just as long as they are doing something positive. They werent playing softball before and as a result of being out and active with soccer, some decided to start playing softball. The girls are having less problems with boys/men and children bothering them. One reason is that I started up a game for the children 8-11 that happens at the same time the girls practice, and I have asked some of the boys to help run it.
The boys team will hopefully have their first game this sunday. Batey 2, which is about a mile and a half away now has a boys team. Since we can walk there, we dont have any expenses for transportation. (always a problem). The only problem is that it rained a lot last night and it is most likely that the soccer field is flooded again. I havent seen it yet. Hopefully it will dry out soon, or the field in Batey 2 is dry. The boys have become real serious this week. I have been working on leadership with one boy in particular, and he is now the captain of the team. He told the others that if they dont come to practice this week, they couldn´t play on sunday. So all the boys have been showing up everyday.
Another volunteer working in an orphanage in the east part of the country gave me 3 sets of old soccer uniforms (just shirts). Someone donated 8 sets to the orphanage. Needless to say, everyone was extremely excited about the uniforms. Now if we could just do something about shoes. Just about everyone is playing barefoot.
We have been working at cleaning up our soccer field (which is in the middle of the outfield of the baseball field). I personally have picked up at least a couple hundred pieces of broken glass, and there always seems to be more. We have been cutting back the thorn bushes but they keep growing back, and we have been trying to get people to stop throwing trash on the field. We havent been able to do anything about the animals (and people) going to the bathroom in the field however.
I have been using soccer as a means to teach leadership, teamwork and getting along. Everyone always seems to be yelling, arguing and fighting here in the batey. I have managed to get the kids that play soccer with me to talk without yelling, to stop arguing and fighting over every little thing, and to stop saying ¨Tú no puedes¨ (you can´t do it) ¨Tú no sabes¨(you don´t know how) or ¨tú no sirves¨(you´re no good). I am still trying to get them to say positive things. Step by step.
Wednesday the third grade teacher asked me to teach his kids soccer for gym class. The captain of the boys team helped me, and we divided the class in two and ran two games at the same time.
I am studying Hatian Creole everyday. I have a class on monday, wednesday, and Friday. I teach English to a young man fromHaiti who came to the DR after the earthquake in Haiti Haiti
I am planning to start up a beginner English class next Tuesday.
Living alone in my own place is going well enough. Its nice not to be number 14 in line to use the bathroom in the morning. I had to buy a lot of things for the house. I rented the small refrigerator, four folding chairs, and the bed along with the house. I had to buy a small stove and gas tank, pots and pans, lantern (for when electricity goes out, which happens every four hours, then comes back for four hours), etc. I made a table and desk out of wood. and plan to make some shelves soon. Next to my house is a ¨Colmado¨ They sell beer there on the weekends and play very loud music. (Bachata) It is so loud that it is difficult to talk in my house. The music goes on until 1 or 2 in the morning. The house is in a very central part of the batey. In the evening, I get a lot of visitors, especially the teenagers that play soccer. I decided to not allow children in to the house and no more than 8 people at one time. The teenagers come over and play cards. I just taught them the Japanese game¨Daifugo¨last night and they really liked it.
I fixed up an old trek mt. bike that a volunteer leaving the country gave me. It was in terrible shape and required a lot of fixing and a few new parts. (it needs several more new parts but I dont have the money.) I have now been taking someone out with me to go mt. biking. They have been showing me different two tracks and paths through the sugar cane. We have only been going out for an hour or so at a time, but as they get in better shape, I hope to go out longer.
Take care.
I have now been in the DR 6 months as of today. A little more than 3 1/2 months in my site. Tonight I have a girls group meeting. Its the first official meeting. Last Friday we met but it was just informational. Some of the girls fought a little after the meeting becuase they did not want one girl in the group. The young woman that is going to help me with the group also does not want her in the group and told me that if the girl is in the group she will not help. One mother said she will not let her two daughters participate if this girl is in the group. I asked what is so alwful about this girl, and they said her mother thinks she is better than everyone else. After thinking about it long and hard, I decided that I am not going to kick the girl out. I want to give everyone a chance. Also I didn´t think it is a good idea to let a mother control the group with threats of pulling her two daughters if we dont do things the way she wants. The whole idea of the girls group is to empower girls. There are plenty of other girls that want to participate. As far as the young woman who is/was going to help me, I expressed these thoughts to her, and she said she will let me know today. The women in the batey do a lot of gossiping and a lot of fighting with each other. Every day I see or hear at least one fight in the streets.
As far as my soccer project goes, things are going well. The young men just had a game on Sunday and lost 1-0 against a team that previously beat them twice 4-0. They out played the other team in everything but the final score. I am working with the regional secretary of the department of sports along with several others to plan a soccer tournament between all the bateys. 12 teams in all. Hopefully we can get this off the ground. If the tournament is successful with the young men, I want to do one with the girls next.
The girls team is doing well. They have really improved. Just recently however we have lost half our numbers to softball. This is not a problem since we had about twice the number of girls as we had before. Also, I dont care what sport they are playing, just as long as they are doing something positive. They werent playing softball before and as a result of being out and active with soccer, some decided to start playing softball. The girls are having less problems with boys/men and children bothering them. One reason is that I started up a game for the children 8-11 that happens at the same time the girls practice, and I have asked some of the boys to help run it.
The boys team will hopefully have their first game this sunday. Batey 2, which is about a mile and a half away now has a boys team. Since we can walk there, we dont have any expenses for transportation. (always a problem). The only problem is that it rained a lot last night and it is most likely that the soccer field is flooded again. I havent seen it yet. Hopefully it will dry out soon, or the field in Batey 2 is dry. The boys have become real serious this week. I have been working on leadership with one boy in particular, and he is now the captain of the team. He told the others that if they dont come to practice this week, they couldn´t play on sunday. So all the boys have been showing up everyday.
Another volunteer working in an orphanage in the east part of the country gave me 3 sets of old soccer uniforms (just shirts). Someone donated 8 sets to the orphanage. Needless to say, everyone was extremely excited about the uniforms. Now if we could just do something about shoes. Just about everyone is playing barefoot.
We have been working at cleaning up our soccer field (which is in the middle of the outfield of the baseball field). I personally have picked up at least a couple hundred pieces of broken glass, and there always seems to be more. We have been cutting back the thorn bushes but they keep growing back, and we have been trying to get people to stop throwing trash on the field. We havent been able to do anything about the animals (and people) going to the bathroom in the field however.
I have been using soccer as a means to teach leadership, teamwork and getting along. Everyone always seems to be yelling, arguing and fighting here in the batey. I have managed to get the kids that play soccer with me to talk without yelling, to stop arguing and fighting over every little thing, and to stop saying ¨Tú no puedes¨ (you can´t do it) ¨Tú no sabes¨(you don´t know how) or ¨tú no sirves¨(you´re no good). I am still trying to get them to say positive things. Step by step.
Wednesday the third grade teacher asked me to teach his kids soccer for gym class. The captain of the boys team helped me, and we divided the class in two and ran two games at the same time.
I am studying Hatian Creole everyday. I have a class on monday, wednesday, and Friday. I teach English to a young man from
I am planning to start up a beginner English class next Tuesday.
Living alone in my own place is going well enough. Its nice not to be number 14 in line to use the bathroom in the morning. I had to buy a lot of things for the house. I rented the small refrigerator, four folding chairs, and the bed along with the house. I had to buy a small stove and gas tank, pots and pans, lantern (for when electricity goes out, which happens every four hours, then comes back for four hours), etc. I made a table and desk out of wood. and plan to make some shelves soon. Next to my house is a ¨Colmado¨ They sell beer there on the weekends and play very loud music. (Bachata) It is so loud that it is difficult to talk in my house. The music goes on until 1 or 2 in the morning. The house is in a very central part of the batey. In the evening, I get a lot of visitors, especially the teenagers that play soccer. I decided to not allow children in to the house and no more than 8 people at one time. The teenagers come over and play cards. I just taught them the Japanese game¨Daifugo¨last night and they really liked it.
I fixed up an old trek mt. bike that a volunteer leaving the country gave me. It was in terrible shape and required a lot of fixing and a few new parts. (it needs several more new parts but I dont have the money.) I have now been taking someone out with me to go mt. biking. They have been showing me different two tracks and paths through the sugar cane. We have only been going out for an hour or so at a time, but as they get in better shape, I hope to go out longer.
Take care.
Dan
Hey Dan:
ResponderEliminarJust got all caught up on the blog--wow! great stuff! thanks for keeping us posted. we look forward to following along. Stay safe!
Jess, John, Caitlin, Ryan and Nora