Rancho Campeche – Saturday June 26th AM
Rancho Campeche is amazing. It is so peaceful compared to the busy city of Santiago. This place has a spirit like church camp in my childhood.
Almost nothing here looks commercially made. I imagine volunteers over the past years have created most of the bunks, chairs and tables. Many things have special touches, design in the mosaic rock, colored tiles in the floor or pain on the tables.
Here you are never truly inside. We eat and talk under a canopy made of dried palm leaves. At night we sleep with the cabin doors open under our mosquito nets. In the morning we wake up to cicadas buzzing, birds singing, roosters crowing and peacocks (which I have never seen) making the strange cat-like sounds that they make.
Electricity is minimal here. Our cabins and bathrooms have no outlets, only lights. The shower rooms have no roofs and the water comes out of a pipe in the wall – cold. Our group leaders seem really great. They are very laid back and seem invested in making this an awesome experience for everyone involved.
I am interested in finding out more on how to work for ISV from my group leaders. It seems like an awesome experience. However, I haven’t forgotten how hard it was to leave home but being here makes me wonder what type of opportunities might be possible in the future.
Saturday, June 25th PM
Today our entire group was invited to a local family’s house for a celebration. They were celebrating the one year memorial of Yolanda’s father’s death. To memorialize him they invited many friends to play drums – one of his favorite activities. They had a table set up with flowers, candles and pictures. They gathered around playing drums. There was intense energy in that room. It felt like a great privilege to be there. Sweat was dripping down everyone and the drums were loud and filled the whole space, people were shouting and singing along with the music. You really can’t imagine it – and I only say that because I would not have been able to imagine it. After a while one woman started dancing even more strongly, her body was convulsing and she seemed out of control of her body. It is believed that when families have these celebrations that the spirit of the passed family member returns to speak to the family. He or she returns in the body of one of his children. This woman was one of Yolanda’s sisters, a daughter of the passed father. We all stepped back as she continued to dance. Her family members gathered around her to keep her from hurting herself because it was as if she had no control over her body herself. The people here practice a religion that is based out of Africa. They worship African gods. However, because of Spanish colonization the official religion of the country was Catholic. It was at one time against the law to practice their native religions and so they began using Catholic iconography mixed in with their original beliefs and African traditions.
Sunday June 26
Tomorrow begins the intense work. My group has three construction days (MWF) and we are working with the kids two days (T/R).
It is starting to feel like a home here… more and more like camp. Together we suffer through whatever trials are—homesickness, spiders or just the sweat -- trivial or significant-- we are all in this together.
I’ve learned more about how one becomes an ISV leader. It requires two full months in the summer and a week of training in May. I don’t know how I would be able to get off work for a full week in may—maybe taking it with no pay? I still don’t know it is the right option for me but I have some time and five more weeks in this country to think about it.
I finished the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and it was amazing. It did give me “heavy boots,” just a little but it is an intriguing story and I would recommend it to anyone. Special things to Evelyn for letting me borrow her copy.
This afternoon we had some discussion time with Ziamara, who is one of the two main founders of this camp. She also heads up a women’s group, or foundation, made up of mothers in the community who are working with Rancho Campeche and ISV to improve conditions in the area. Ziamara is a musician who has lived all over the world and then she returned here to do this community work. The foundation receives a small amount of money from the women involved, it also receives money from our donations. The physical donations we give are sold at a small price to the people of the community then that money is put back into the foundation. They use the money to offer no-interest loans when someone is sick and needs to go to a doctor.
At our first group discussion we talked about Sustainable Development. We covered the areas of economic sustainable development, social and ecological sustainable development. We talked about how the goals of RC and ISV both aim to meet sustainable development in all three areas so that the work we do can have an impact long after we are gone. We also each wrote down our personal goals for the two week s of work here. Here are the goals I chose:
1. To gain a greater understanding of Dominican Culture.
2. To make new friends and learn from their experiences and life perspectives
3. To reflect on my life and my future from afar and think about what goals I have for myself back at home.
When Natalia spoke of her goals she said she wanted to be “necessary for someone” and I felt like somehow by breaking it down to as simple as that it meant something strong. We want so much (as Americans, as young people) to be independent –we don’t want to depend on others and we do not want to be depended on. That mentality is so very isolating and selfish – but safe – because if you don’t have to depend on others then no one can let you down except yourself and if no one is depending on you then only you can let you down. But, if you are so very independent then what can you gain from others and what can you give to others? Jason, our group leader said his goal was to help us receive the benefits of how good it feels to give and to become life- long givers. Depending on others, being depended on, giving and taking from others is all a risk but the rewards greatly out- weigh any possibility for disappointment.
Tuesday, June 29th
Yesterday was our first day of construction. We cleared brush/compost, hand-mixed and laid concrete for a sidewalk on the edge of a basketball court and laid block to make a wall.
The area we are working on will become a community center. It is “in town” and next to their school. There is already a basketball court and later we(ISV) will finish building walls for the tutoring center (there is already a roof and floor). The women’s group here will also use the building to sell their goods in the community and therefore help to keep money both in the community and to keep up the community center.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 AM
Yesterday was my group’s first day working with the kids. The way the program is set up is children are chosen based on their good attendance and behavior in school during the regular school year. Then each day there are 2 “classes” on in the morning from 9-12 and one from 2-5. Each class is a different set of kids, and we do the same lessons and activities. There is a pickup truck that busses the kids from a central bus-stop to Rancho Campeche. The ISV curriculum is set up to teach on topics of safety, personal hygiene, recycling, some English words and phrases, as well as arts and crafts, and games and songs.
Working with the kids is a lot of fun. They mostly seem happy and excited to be there. Some of the older kids seem to think it is a little too kiddish and some of the kids who I imagine have either little education or just difficulty in general get upset and frustrated easily – just like any other place.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 PM
For once, right now, I am not sweating; this is a miracle. Usually, I’m living in constant sweat and bugspray… I’m still wearing busspray but it’s nice for an evening not to be completely sweaty. Speaking of bugspray and bugs… last night we discovered two giant tarantulas. It’s become common to all the sudden hear someone screaming bloody murder. Often it is a moth as big as your hand or a beetle larger than a golf ball or a giant cockroach but last night took the cake. The first tarantula was in the bathroom chillin on the ledge. The second one was in our cabin and it crawled out of Chivanie’s bag, over her hand and then onto her backpack. Imagine a furry black mouse with eight creepy crawly black legs crawling around under your bed… you’d scream bloody murder too. All of you animal lovers out there will be happy to know that neither tarantula was killed both were escorted out of the buildings and back into the wild so that they can give someone else a heart attack tonight after dark. Sweet Dreams ;)
Thursday, July 01, 2010 AM
There’s nothing quite like starting the morning with a cup of Dominican coffee. It’s another beautiful day here at Rancho Campeche. Yesterday our group had a successful day at the construction site. We finished the wall/fence, we cleared more brush and put a smooth layer of cement on the outside of the small storage building that had been built out of cinder blocks – it looked like brown stucco when we were finished.
Last night we all watched the movie In the Time of the Butterflies. Jason and Christina asked me to lead a discussion over the movie and talk a little bit about the background and the book. I really enjoyed getting to talk about the movie and felt like there were so many things I could have said that happen in the book. I highly encourage anyone to read the book, even if you’ve seen the movie because the movie pretty much just focuses on Minerva when there are three other important sisters involved. After the movie several people had questions and we talked a little bit about it. Leah said at her other project up north in El Limon they weren’t very far from the death-site of the Mirabal sisters and that many people in their community have three butterflies painted on their house to pay tribute to the Mirabal sisters.
Rancho Campeche is amazing. It is so peaceful compared to the busy city of Santiago. This place has a spirit like church camp in my childhood.
Almost nothing here looks commercially made. I imagine volunteers over the past years have created most of the bunks, chairs and tables. Many things have special touches, design in the mosaic rock, colored tiles in the floor or pain on the tables.
Here you are never truly inside. We eat and talk under a canopy made of dried palm leaves. At night we sleep with the cabin doors open under our mosquito nets. In the morning we wake up to cicadas buzzing, birds singing, roosters crowing and peacocks (which I have never seen) making the strange cat-like sounds that they make.
Electricity is minimal here. Our cabins and bathrooms have no outlets, only lights. The shower rooms have no roofs and the water comes out of a pipe in the wall – cold. Our group leaders seem really great. They are very laid back and seem invested in making this an awesome experience for everyone involved.
I am interested in finding out more on how to work for ISV from my group leaders. It seems like an awesome experience. However, I haven’t forgotten how hard it was to leave home but being here makes me wonder what type of opportunities might be possible in the future.
Saturday, June 25th PM
Today our entire group was invited to a local family’s house for a celebration. They were celebrating the one year memorial of Yolanda’s father’s death. To memorialize him they invited many friends to play drums – one of his favorite activities. They had a table set up with flowers, candles and pictures. They gathered around playing drums. There was intense energy in that room. It felt like a great privilege to be there. Sweat was dripping down everyone and the drums were loud and filled the whole space, people were shouting and singing along with the music. You really can’t imagine it – and I only say that because I would not have been able to imagine it. After a while one woman started dancing even more strongly, her body was convulsing and she seemed out of control of her body. It is believed that when families have these celebrations that the spirit of the passed family member returns to speak to the family. He or she returns in the body of one of his children. This woman was one of Yolanda’s sisters, a daughter of the passed father. We all stepped back as she continued to dance. Her family members gathered around her to keep her from hurting herself because it was as if she had no control over her body herself. The people here practice a religion that is based out of Africa. They worship African gods. However, because of Spanish colonization the official religion of the country was Catholic. It was at one time against the law to practice their native religions and so they began using Catholic iconography mixed in with their original beliefs and African traditions.
Sunday June 26
Tomorrow begins the intense work. My group has three construction days (MWF) and we are working with the kids two days (T/R).
It is starting to feel like a home here… more and more like camp. Together we suffer through whatever trials are—homesickness, spiders or just the sweat -- trivial or significant-- we are all in this together.
I’ve learned more about how one becomes an ISV leader. It requires two full months in the summer and a week of training in May. I don’t know how I would be able to get off work for a full week in may—maybe taking it with no pay? I still don’t know it is the right option for me but I have some time and five more weeks in this country to think about it.
I finished the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and it was amazing. It did give me “heavy boots,” just a little but it is an intriguing story and I would recommend it to anyone. Special things to Evelyn for letting me borrow her copy.
This afternoon we had some discussion time with Ziamara, who is one of the two main founders of this camp. She also heads up a women’s group, or foundation, made up of mothers in the community who are working with Rancho Campeche and ISV to improve conditions in the area. Ziamara is a musician who has lived all over the world and then she returned here to do this community work. The foundation receives a small amount of money from the women involved, it also receives money from our donations. The physical donations we give are sold at a small price to the people of the community then that money is put back into the foundation. They use the money to offer no-interest loans when someone is sick and needs to go to a doctor.
At our first group discussion we talked about Sustainable Development. We covered the areas of economic sustainable development, social and ecological sustainable development. We talked about how the goals of RC and ISV both aim to meet sustainable development in all three areas so that the work we do can have an impact long after we are gone. We also each wrote down our personal goals for the two week s of work here. Here are the goals I chose:
1. To gain a greater understanding of Dominican Culture.
2. To make new friends and learn from their experiences and life perspectives
3. To reflect on my life and my future from afar and think about what goals I have for myself back at home.
When Natalia spoke of her goals she said she wanted to be “necessary for someone” and I felt like somehow by breaking it down to as simple as that it meant something strong. We want so much (as Americans, as young people) to be independent –we don’t want to depend on others and we do not want to be depended on. That mentality is so very isolating and selfish – but safe – because if you don’t have to depend on others then no one can let you down except yourself and if no one is depending on you then only you can let you down. But, if you are so very independent then what can you gain from others and what can you give to others? Jason, our group leader said his goal was to help us receive the benefits of how good it feels to give and to become life- long givers. Depending on others, being depended on, giving and taking from others is all a risk but the rewards greatly out- weigh any possibility for disappointment.
Tuesday, June 29th
Yesterday was our first day of construction. We cleared brush/compost, hand-mixed and laid concrete for a sidewalk on the edge of a basketball court and laid block to make a wall.
The area we are working on will become a community center. It is “in town” and next to their school. There is already a basketball court and later we(ISV) will finish building walls for the tutoring center (there is already a roof and floor). The women’s group here will also use the building to sell their goods in the community and therefore help to keep money both in the community and to keep up the community center.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 AM
Yesterday was my group’s first day working with the kids. The way the program is set up is children are chosen based on their good attendance and behavior in school during the regular school year. Then each day there are 2 “classes” on in the morning from 9-12 and one from 2-5. Each class is a different set of kids, and we do the same lessons and activities. There is a pickup truck that busses the kids from a central bus-stop to Rancho Campeche. The ISV curriculum is set up to teach on topics of safety, personal hygiene, recycling, some English words and phrases, as well as arts and crafts, and games and songs.
Working with the kids is a lot of fun. They mostly seem happy and excited to be there. Some of the older kids seem to think it is a little too kiddish and some of the kids who I imagine have either little education or just difficulty in general get upset and frustrated easily – just like any other place.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 PM
For once, right now, I am not sweating; this is a miracle. Usually, I’m living in constant sweat and bugspray… I’m still wearing busspray but it’s nice for an evening not to be completely sweaty. Speaking of bugspray and bugs… last night we discovered two giant tarantulas. It’s become common to all the sudden hear someone screaming bloody murder. Often it is a moth as big as your hand or a beetle larger than a golf ball or a giant cockroach but last night took the cake. The first tarantula was in the bathroom chillin on the ledge. The second one was in our cabin and it crawled out of Chivanie’s bag, over her hand and then onto her backpack. Imagine a furry black mouse with eight creepy crawly black legs crawling around under your bed… you’d scream bloody murder too. All of you animal lovers out there will be happy to know that neither tarantula was killed both were escorted out of the buildings and back into the wild so that they can give someone else a heart attack tonight after dark. Sweet Dreams ;)
Thursday, July 01, 2010 AM
There’s nothing quite like starting the morning with a cup of Dominican coffee. It’s another beautiful day here at Rancho Campeche. Yesterday our group had a successful day at the construction site. We finished the wall/fence, we cleared more brush and put a smooth layer of cement on the outside of the small storage building that had been built out of cinder blocks – it looked like brown stucco when we were finished.
Last night we all watched the movie In the Time of the Butterflies. Jason and Christina asked me to lead a discussion over the movie and talk a little bit about the background and the book. I really enjoyed getting to talk about the movie and felt like there were so many things I could have said that happen in the book. I highly encourage anyone to read the book, even if you’ve seen the movie because the movie pretty much just focuses on Minerva when there are three other important sisters involved. After the movie several people had questions and we talked a little bit about it. Leah said at her other project up north in El Limon they weren’t very far from the death-site of the Mirabal sisters and that many people in their community have three butterflies painted on their house to pay tribute to the Mirabal sisters.
July 6, 2010 at 8:49 AM
I am LOVING your blog! My absolute favorite thing about travel is looking at your life in a new way and all of the endless possibilities! When I travel I can feel my brain expanding to take in all the different choices and ways of being in the world! I hope the bugs leave you alone and the homesickness is bareable! Love you!