Profe in the DR 20

Profe in the DR 20

We had thunder storms Tuesday night, leaving the soccer field in need of work again.  It seems we spend a lot of time trying to keep the field in good enough condition to play.  We are constantly trying to get rid of all the standing water and mud, filling in holes made from people or animals walking on it when it is wet and muddy, filling in ruts, picking up garbage and glass people throw on the field, and fighting back the thorn bush that is forever trying to swallow up the field.  We seem to spend even more time however, trying to find a shovel, a rake, and something to carry dirt in.  I have fixed the tire on a wheelbarrow so many times already that there are more patches than tube.  We can never come up with more than one five gallon bucket at a time, and even rice sacks seem to be at a premium.  It is not uncommon for us to spend twice as much time trying to borrow tools than time spent using them.

On Wednesday we played a practice game between the men’s team and the teenager’ team.  After the teenagers scored a goal, one young man, maybe 18, began to argue with Blanco who was refereeing the game (Blanco is the coach of the teenager’s team).  The young man continued to argue it wasn’t a goal until Blanco finally threw him out of the game.  The young man refused to take off his penny (practice jersey) and next thing I know, he and Blanco were rolling on the ground fighting.  I quickly ran over and got the young man off of 53 year old Blanco and separated the two.  I got the young man to take off the penny, and everyone told him to leave.  However, he stuck around and started threatening Blanco that he was going to get a gun and shoot him.  Blanco got mad and chased the young man off by throwing rocks the size of his fist at him. 

Rock throwing is very common here.  If you are angry at someone, throw a rock at them.  If you want to have some fun, throw a rock at someone.  If you like someone, throw a rock at them, hard.  Just last week one of the boys who plays chess with us had a big gash on the top his head from a rock.  I am forever hearing rocks that missed their mark (or maybe not) hit my house.  They make a real thud when they land on the metal roof. 

I got out yesterday for a three hour ride up into the mountains, accompanied by 15 year old Papito.  We rode mid day and I got a little more sun on my arms than I wanted.  You could clearly tell where the sleeves of my bike jersey ended (tan lines).  Today one of the boys asked me why my arms were two-toned.

Profe in the DR 19

Profe in the DR 19                                                       

Sunday June 26^th, I headed into the capital.  It was the end of a holiday weekend and all the busses were full.  I had to wait three hours for one to stop, and then I had to stand for the first hour fifteen minutes.  I saw the doctor about my finger on Monday.  He wanted me to spend the week in the capital to do physical therapy but I wanted to get back to my site since I had work to do.  I spent one extra day in the capital and went to therapy twice to learn what to do and am now doing my own therapy for my finger. 

            My English class Wednesday with the teenagers went great.  I had so many kids show up that I had to turn some away.  I think I will form a second class to accommodate everyone.  Likewise the Deportes Para La Vida class went well.  It’s a challenging group to teach.  They are all the boys from the soccer team.  But they seem to be learning a lot.  Chess just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  Every day someone new learns how to play.  The kids play every chance they get.  They were playing before and after the other classes.  I had another English class with Emanuel, and then he taught me Creole.  After that I headed to the play for soccer and ended the day with my house full of kids playing chess.

            Thursday I headed to Neyba and called on World Vision.  Every week I go to remind them of the things they promised to provide the kids, but still haven’t given us.  Once again I came out empty handed.  It seems to take forever for anything to happen there.  We also tried to speak with the director about getting the electricity hooked up to the refugio where they installed the computers, but he was on vacation.  While in Neyba, I used the internet and bought some food in the supermarket.  I was excited to find that the supermarket has started to carry sliced ham.  My world just got a little bit better.  After returning to Isabel, I helped my counterpart work on his business plan, headed out for soccer, and then a house full of chess.

            Friday morning we worked on the soccer field, getting it ready for Saturday’s game.  After lunch we had another class of Deportes Para La Vida.  At 3pm I was supposed to start a new English class for adults.  They have been asking me for a while to start a class for them, however when I finally did, no one showed up.  Emanuel couldn’t make his English class at 4pm, and so I studied Creole by myself.  I then headed out to the play and worked on volleyball, and as always the day ended with chess.  It is still quite difficult for me having my house full of noisy kids in the evening when I would prefer to relax, but I feel it is better that they are here playing chess, than walking around in the street at night, getting themselves in trouble.  

            I just read the book The Alchemist in Spanish.  I enjoyed it and would recommend the book, assuming that it is just as good in English.

            Saturday we waited for two hours for the boys and girls soccer team from Batey 9 to arrive, but they never showed up.  Turns out the bus/truck that was going to take them here broke down. 

            Sunday the men’s soccer team from Batey 9 played the men’s team from here.  Batey 9 won 4-0.  I refereed the game.  About halfway through the first half, men from my team called for a time out.  They said they wanted to make a change.  I told them to go ahead, change their players.  However, they didn’t want to change players, they wanted to change referees.  They felt that since I was from Isabela, I should be making calls that favored the Isabela team.  I got a little upset with them, and let them know that under no circumstances would I cheat to help them win.  

            Monday it started to rain while I was teaching my first English class, and continued all day long.  This cancelled all further classes and activities for the day, since Dominicans don’t usually do things in the rain, including go to school. 

            Tuesday I headed to Neyba for the day.   I called on Word Vision, nothing.  I went to the atm, supermarket, cellular shop to buy minutes, used the internet, had lunch, then stopped by the hardware store.  I picked up 400 meters of nylon cord.  We are going to try to make our own soccer nets since the ones we received from World Vision were only half the size of the goals. 

            Wednesday after a morning ride I taught two classes of English to teenagers, then made lunch, and taught another course of Deportes para la Vida.  After that I had another English class, followed by my Creole class. ( I am now at the point I can say I have survival Creole.)  We then worked on trying to get the water to drain out of the play, and smoothing out footprints in the mud while it is still soft.  After Monday’s rain the play was full of water again. 

            The women here walk around carrying things on their heads, just like they do in Haiti.  They will carry all sorts of things on their heads from bowls of bananas to large bags of charcoal, buckets of water to large bundles of clothes.  They can balance just about anything on the top of their head and walk with great posture and ease.  I am never surprised by how big a load they can carry on their head.  Yesterday however I did see something that struck me as a little odd.  A woman had a walking stick balanced perfectly on her head as she walked down the street. 

            Thursday Juan Carlos and I rode to Tamayo on bikes and brought back four bags of cal to chalk the soccer field for this Saturday’s game.  The wind was so strong that it took us twice as long to go there as it did to return.   I also worked with Jairo on his business plan.  He seems to be working hard on it.  There is a competition for the best business plan and Jairo is determined to win it.  At 5:30pm we practiced/played soccer.  About ¾ of the play was finally dry enough to play on.

            Friday we finally started up the adult English class.  We had been waiting since November for World Vision to make photocopies of the book we are going to use, then another week for the adults themselves to show up.  Eight adults are currently in the class. 

The soccer team spent the afternoon working on the play, filling in deep ruts that were full of mud and water.  It’s going to be a long time before we finally get the play in decent shape.  It is full of holes, ruts, and low places that fill up with water/mud after each rain, and we seem to never have more than one shovel, one rake, and one old wheelbarrow to work with.   That and the fact that the kids seem to spend more time eating sugar cane than working.

            Saturday it rained all morning.  Everything including the play is flooded again, so we had to cancel the soccer game for today.  I was planning to go on a two day bike ride with two other volunteers, but one got sick, and the other said his sight was too flooded to get out.  I spent much of the day studying.  Around 8pm, a small crowd gathered around a dog lying dead on the ground.  Apparently one of the old men in the batey poisoned it.   The lifespan of an animal here is not long.  People marvel at the fact that my dog is 12 ½.  

This morning we determined the chess rankings again.  We do this every two weeks. We then post the results on my wall.  Several changes in the top ten this week, but the boy on top continues to be ranked number one.  He has now held that spot for ten weeks. 

While we were working on the rankings, the mother of the family I stayed with for my first three months stopped by and told me she needed to talk to me as soon as possible.  I quickly went to her house fearing that something was wrong with her family.  She told me to sit down since she had something to tell me.  It turns out she had a dream about me last night and in the dream I had been attacked and beat up by several hoodlums.  She felt it very important to warn me to be careful.   A lot of people here believe dreams to be foretellers of the future.

I spent several hours today cleaning everything in my house.  Everything gets so dirty so fast here.   Having your house constantly full of kids of all ages doesn’t help much either.

           

Profe in the DR 18

Profe in the DR 18

Last week I had to see a specialist in the capital about my finger.  He told me to keep in immobilized for another ten days, but at least he didn’t put it in a cast again.

  Saturday the soccer team worked on the play.  After the last heavy rain, the play filled up with water and as people and animals walked through it, they left behind holes where they stepped, and pushed the mud up on the sides sticking out.  This dried hard (lots of clay in the soil) and was dangerous to play on.  The soccer team continued to work on the play, carrying dirt from just outside of the play and filling in the holes.  This took a long time since we only had one shovel, one rake, and one wheelbarrow.  They also picked up trash and tons of broken glass from the play.  Today we had are first home game of the co-ed summer league.  Our team played very well and won 1-0.   I refereed the game, and figured I ran more than the players did. 

I finally got out on my bike on Monday.  It had been a long time since I last rode.   I had to fix a few things on the bike, then various health problems (back spasms, dislocated finger, bad chest cold) kept me from riding.  I rode this morning with Aiden, another volunteer who just moved to Batey 1.  I got in 3 hours, and had two flat tires.

Yesterday was Día de Bañarse (bath day).  The kids all went down to the river and swam and splashed around.  Other kids were walking around pouring water on them selves. 

The teenagers showed up for English class on Wednesday, and came with friends.  The class doubled in size.

We had our second and third classes of Deportes para la Vida this week as well.  The boys don’t have a lot of patience but are learning quite a bit.

Lately more girls have been coming to learn and play chess.  My house is always full of kids playing.

One of our volleyballs came apart and the other has several holes in it, leaving us with nothing to play with.  I am trying to get some more volleyballs and a net.

I have been trying to teach the kids how to type, but the lack of electricity is making this difficult.  World Vision installed ten new computers in our community center, but there isn’t any electricity ever to use them.  The transformer from the street blew out five years ago and has never been replaced, so the only electricity for the community center comes when a neighbor chooses to run his generator (which is not that often since gas costs money.)

It’s been getting hotter at night and it’s been hard to get to sleep.  I finally got smart and use a bottle of cold water to help cool me down.  I place it on my chest or under my neck. 

Profe in the DR 17

Profe in the DR 17

Saturday we had our first co-ed soccer game with Batey 5.  We loaded 13 girls and 11 boys in the back of a small pickup and headed over.  The game scheduled for 3pm began a little after 4pm, which is on time for here.  It was hot and dusty, and we didn’t have enough water.  (The home team was in charge of providing water.)  Their field was full of glass and many of the players were barefoot.  Our team dominated the first half, but discipline broke down in the second half with all the forwards and center line playing back with the defense instead of their positions.  The only score came on a free kick, after one of our girls touched the ball with her hands.  By the way our kids cheered and sang on the way home, you would have never guessed they had lost. 

All in all the game was a success.  The boys and girls played well together.  The girls from the other team seemed to have outplayed their boys.  There were complaints from both sides that some of the kids weren’t between the ages of 12-17, but in a country where so many don’t have birth certificates, it is hard to prove.  The game between the other two teams in the league was successful as well.  Batey 9 beat Batey 7 five to zero.  Our next game is June 25^th against Batey 7.

Sunday morning I worked with Jairo (my project partner), helping him write a business plan.  He is starting a business producing and selling cleaning products.  He took a course and learned how to make bleach, shampoo, pinesol, and several other cleaning products.  In the afternoon we played volleyball again.  There was a huge crowd gathered, and we played for hours.  Once again, I insisted that they play mixed with three guys and three girls to each side. 

Monday no one showed up for English class in the morning, although my house was full of kids playing chess.  (Its always full of kids playing chess.)  In the afternoon we started the first course of Deportes para la Vida with the boys from the soccer team.  Deportes para la Vida is a program to teach about HIV and AIDS using sports to do so.  It started in Africa with professional soccer players under the name Grassroots Soccer.  At 3pm I taught another English class, and then had my Creole class.  At five, I headed for the play where they were practicing baseball, soccer, and Jairo had decided to play volleyball again.  Since Blanco was working with the soccer team and Profet with the baseball team, I decided to help Jario with volleyball.  We are discussing the possibility of forming a small league just with in the batey.  After dark, my house was full of kids playing chess again until 10pm when I kicked them all out.    

Profe in the DR 16

Profe in the DR 16

The new hurricane season is upon us, the first system pasted over Haiti and my site bringing six days of rain.  Currently the sun is out but there is water everywhere.  It will be some time until things dry out.  All the rain increases the dangers of cholera in the area, not to mention dengue and malaria.  Cases of all three have been increasing in the country.

            I was lucky; I was in the capital for half of the time it was raining.  I had a three day conference on mobilizing marginalized populations.  The conference was held at the Quality hotel on the east side of the capital.  It was the first time in six months I showered with hot water.  The conference started early in the morning and ran until after ten each night.  Could have used a little more sleep.

            My right hand is still in a cast, and I have a pretty good chest cold going on.  It’s hard to stay healthy here.  My system is under attack far more than normal here, and sleep is often hard to come by.  One neighbor has his music blasting until late at night; the other cranks his up early in the morning.  When deafening music isn’t robbing me of my z’s, the dogs, motorcycles, people yelling are.

            Gitana, (the volunteer in Batey 7) and I have put together a small soccer league during summer vacation.  Only four bateys are involved.  We managed to get a grant to cover transportation, and buy 2 soccer balls for each team.   We decided to make the league co-ed, mostly since we didn’t have the money to create both a boy’s league and a girl’s league.  A co-ed sport is something new here.  I have worked on the guys to get them to behave better around the girls, but the girls are still apprehensive to practice with the boys.  Tomorrow is our first game; I can only hope all goes well.     

                    

Profe in the DR 15

Profe in the DR 15

Friday I went to Neyba, to download several important work related emails.  It was about 11am as I entered the internet center and was told to come back at 2pm when the power came back on.  Apparently their inversora (battery backup) wasn’t working.   I bought a few things, talked with a few folks, had lunch, and then spent the rest of the time reading a book in Spanish in the park.  I returned to the internet center around 2:15 to find that it was still closed for lunch.  It wasn’t until after 3pm when someone finally came back, and another 15 minutes to get the computers all up and running.  I rushed through what I needed to do, then caught an old and extremely slow van, arriving in Batey 5 about an hour later.  Gitana (volunteer in Batey 7) was already there.  The two of us then waited an hour for Cameron (volunteer in Batey 9) and Elias (soccer coach in Batey 5).  The four of us then knocked out the final plans for a summer co-ed soccer league.  Co-ed sports are something new here so we decided to keep the league small the first time, only four teams. 

Saturday I started a new English class with several teenagers.  They had been showing such interest, trying to read anything with English written on it, that I felt compelled to teach them.  In the afternoon, after a little sumo wrestling, I taught a large group of teenagers how to play volleyball.  We cut two long wooden poles and hung a rope between them for a net, and marked out the court drawing lines in the dirt.  Despite their arguments, I got them to play co-ed, three girls and three boys to each team.  We played for about two hours, a new team replacing which ever team lost. 

We have been recording who wins in chess, and Sunday morning we went over the record of the week prior and determined the top ten players.  We then posted this list on the wall.  The kids are pretty excited about this, and are already working on trying to improve their lot for next week. 

In the afternoon I taught several boys how to play football (futbol Americano).  We played the school playground version with two hand touch and two receptions for a first down.  They seemed to think it was ok, but it didn’t quite grab them.  Afterwards we played soccer.  My team didn’t have a lot of talent so I was trying to make up for it by playing harder myself.  After about an hour of play, while going hard after a loose ball at mid-field, a player from the other team who was also going after the ball, tripped up right in front of me, and I went down hard, tripping over his legs.  When I came to my feet, I noticed that the little finger on my right hand was bent sideways at a 45 degree angle from the second knuckle down.  It looked pretty strange to say the least.  I promptly grabbed my stuff and headed back to my house.  On seeing my finger, little kids started following me, telling everyone we passed about my finger.  Upon arriving at my house I called the PC doctor.  Outside my house half the batey had gathered, either out of concern or to simply see my messed up finger.  Since it was already 6:00pm on a Sunday There were no busses to anywhere that would have an x-ray machine, so the doctor and I decided I would go in the morning on the first bus which passes by around 3am, getting me to the capital around 7am.

This morning I was up at 2am and in the capital by 6:30am.  The PC doctor Borianna took me to the emergency room and stayed with me for the four hours it took to get my finger x-rayed and fixed.  (I would have waited even longer had she not been there.)   The bone was completely dislocated at the second knuckle and I broke a ligament but I didn’t break any bones.  It was a French doctor who worked on me.  He made a partial plaster cast going up the right side of my hand and half my forearm.  He then wrapped it in an ace bandage to hold it in place.  I am so glad he did not make it a full cast.  With all the heat, dirt, and bugs here that would have been awful.  I have to keep the cast on for about 15 days.  

Profe in the DR 14

Profe in the DR 14

Friday morning I had to go to the capital.  Like always I hired a motoconcho  (motorcycle taxi) to drive me the mile out to the bus stop in front of Batey 2.  We were just about at the stop when we saw the Neyba bus go flying by.  My motorconcho driver then sped on trying to catch the bus.  He succeeded several miles down the road.  I got on the bus and settled down for what I thought was going to be my normal 4 ½ hour ride into the capital.  About 15 minutes later, as we were pulling into the town of Tamayo, we were met by a group of 20-30 people blocking the road and not letting the bus pass.  They were all yelling, and making threats, and someone hit the side of the bus twice.  The bus driver jumped out and started arguing with them.  The people on the bus didn’t know what to do, about half got off, the other half stayed.  I was trying to decide what to do when the driver came back and said he was turning the bus around.  We went back to the crossroad next to Batey 4, and were soon met by another Neyba bus.  We got off the bus and waited while people discussed (and I mean yelled) what they should do.  A third Neyba bus showed up, and there was talk that the police were coming, and we would be able to get by, so we got back on the bus.  My motorconcho driver had come by to drop someone else off in Batey 4, and he came over to the bus and advised me to get off the bus and go to Barahona and catch a bus going from there to the capital instead.  He said that would be much safer.  (A police presence here does not guarantee safety.)  So I got on one of the old vans that go to Barahona along with several other people with the same idea, and we headed south (instead of east) and completely avoided Tamayo.  About 20 minutes down the road we got off at a crossroad and waited for a Barahona bus to pass by.  I arrived at the capital about an hour and a half late for my meeting.  I later heard that the mayors of the two towns, Neyba and Tamayo are fighting and that was why Neyba busses were not being allowed to pass. 

I had originally planned to go to the capital the day before, but the Neyba busses were on strike because they wanted the other half of the road into Neyba fixed.  (The government fixed one side of the road then stopped.)  There have been a lot of strikes lately.  People have been striking over lack of water, lack of electricity, and the rising gas prices.  Strikes here usually involve people burning tires to block the road, and lots of yelling and threatening.  They often turn violent, and people are often killed. 

Friday and Saturday I spent in the capital.  I am part of a group that is re-writing a manual for the Chicas Brillantes (girls group) program.  I returned safely Saturday evening.  The Neyba bus went around the town of Tamayo, taking the same route I took Friday morning to go into the capital.

You have to be very patient as a volunteer and roll with the punches.  I have several new programs I have been trying to start, two since March, that I have to keep moving back the start date for one reason or another.  Sunday I was going to start an English class with a group of teenagers, but only one teenage boy showed up.  Wednesday I was planning to start up the program Deportes Para La Vida, but one of the two young men who are going to help me with the program had to go to the capital.  His mother is in the hospital.  I also have been trying for a long time to start a math tutoring program and re-start the art club.  Things happen much slower here, and you just have to get used to it. 

I reached into my coin pocket of my jeans the other day and felt something that wasn’t a coin in there.  It turned out to be a strange looking hard shelled bug about an inch long, ¼ of an inch wide. 

Chess club continues to be a big success.  More and more kids are learning how to play and several adults as well.  Some of the kids have gotten very good.   We decided to record who beat who so we can rank the top ten each week. 

We have had a few wrinkles with soccer, but have been ironing them out.  A large number of boys decided that they want to play baseball as well.  Blanco the boy’s soccer coach didn’t want them to play two sports and hasn’t been showing up much to work with the boys lately.  The girls also lost the majority of their players to softball.  I told them I see no reason they can’t play both sports, especially since summer vacation starts in a week.  I have been working with the baseball/softball coach to avoid schedule clashes. 

Gitana, the volunteer in Batey 7 and I are currently planning a soccer league for the summer vacation between four teams.  We are planning to make it a co-ed league which is something new here.  I will let you know how it goes.  The last two days I have had the girls and boys practice together, but the girls are hesitant to join in.

It rained a lot last night and this morning everything is slightly flooded again.  Its always mud or dust, mud or dust around here.