Alison's Journey to the Dominican Republic

Sunday, July 04, 2010

You haven’t truly lived in the Republica Dominicana until you’ve traveled in the back of a pickup with 26 of your friends. Yesterday we took our first of two “field trips” while we are at the project. We went to the town of San Cristobal and went to a large Wal-Mart like store. It was air conditioned and they sold bug spray; it was amazing. Next we went to a park area where they have damned up parts of a river to make swimming pools. They have slides and several levels of seating. We had a waiter and ordered drinks and snacks. Some people swam, others just sat and relaxed, a few people danced – it was a blast. And then we were back in the best type of transportation – the truck. The wind in your hair, holding on for dear life, singing, waving at the adoring fans (locals)…. It can’t be beat. And we had to be quite the spectacle: a group of mostly female Americans (or at least whites) packed in the back of a truck. The riding in the back of a truck part is actually not that uncommon – it happens all the time here – but we still got a lot of attention.

Today we are taking the truck again to the beach. This will be my first Caribbean beach ever. The beach we’re going to is west of Santo Domingo and not too far from San Cristobal. Monday we go back to working on our community projects – my group has “school” on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then we’ll do construction Tuesday and Thursday. Friday around lunch we’ll be leaving Rancho Campeche. Most of our group is coming along on the adventure tour but we are going to have to say goodbye to a few people. The first night (nights?) of our Adventure Tour will be in Santo Domingo – the capital. I’m already excited about having wi-fi in our hotel room. The hotel that ISV has booked is only a couple of blocks from the hotel that I am planning on staying at on my way back, Hotel Freeman, so I will get to walk down and check it out and probably make a reservation for the last few days of July. I also found out that Christiana, one my project leaders will be staying in Cabarete and Santo Domingo during the last week when I am here without ISV. She is also taking an extra week – so it will be nice to have another person I know in the area. Also, ISV will probably have other tours in those areas while I am there. When we are in Cabarete there will be a Wind Surfing Competition and the last days of July when I am in Santo Domingo there will be a annual Merengue festival going on – so there’s a lot to look forward to.

A couple of other tid-bits...

I had my first “Back to School” dream last night where I wasn’t ready to go and ended up wearing Chuck Taylor All Stars and a hoodie to class.

The 200 Peso bill here has a picture of the three deceased Mirabal sisters on it – which just shows how important they are to the country. I’ll be bringing home some bills to show everyone. Their money here is really pretty.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Last night Xiamara spent another hour or so talking to us about her community, country and the culture here. She described more details about religion, education and the time of Trujillo.

The people of the Republica Dominicana who are from African decent still practice a form of their native African beliefs. However, in the constitution of the Dominican Republic it states that everyone here must practice Catholicism and native religions are not allowed. If someone is found guilty of practicing an African ceremony in current times they would probably be thrown in jail for a day or less and then released. The punishment is not harsh and usually it is the priests or other church workers who are on the lookout for people who break the law. The way that most people still practice their African religion is by covering it up with Catholic symbols and icons. For example, they might bow down to pray to a specific saint but each Catholic saint has a “partner” saint who is an African saint or god that they are truly praying to in their hearts. They might make an alter with pictures, candles and other icons and there would be a cloth covering the table – but under the cloth would be the names of the African saints whom they are praying to. The community here in El Limon follows more of the African religion or “voodoo” than in other areas. The whole country varies between degrees of Catholicism, Christianity and other practices including religions that originated here, before colonization, in Africa and also in other parts of Central America before colonization.

Another common practice here is to give each person a “secret” name and also a “public” name. This is part of the African religion. The “secret” name, often known only by the parents and the child is believed to be powerful. If you have a wish or desire and you go to a “mystery man” who will take your secret name and help you to achieve your wish. However, if someone other than you knows your “secret” name then they could use it for evil against you in a type of voodoo.

Another part of the community that Xiomara is trying to improve is education. There are several primary schools in the area. School is usually formatted so a child would attend four grades and that would be like elementary school, and then four more years and that is like middle school. In order to attend high school, known here as “college,” a student must travel back and forth from a farther away town. It is rare for students to go to high school because of the costs involved in travel and because their families often need them to work and help support the family instead of attend school. Unfortunately, this causes the community to not have any professionals and as the generations mature the pattern is repeated.

Most students start school around the age of seven and if they go through the eight years that count like elementary and middle school they will finish around the age of 15. Jason said that overall the in the Dominican Republic students test three grades levels lower than their peers in other countries. On average it would costs a student about $5 USD (or 180 pesos) a day for transportation to and from high school and for a lunch while they are there. Some of the teenagers that work here at Rancho Campeche are getting scholarships from the foundation to go to school and get an education. It would cost about $1000 a year to sponsor one student with a scholarship to meet the basic needs of transportation and food to go to high school.

After high school the public university is not terribly expensive. It might cost $100 USD a year, however the cost of living near the university is what hinders most students from continuing on after high school. A student would need to rent a studio apartment which would be about $200 USD a month and then pay any other bills, groceries, books and the university fees.

Before our time with Xiomara was over I asked her to talks some about the time when Trujillo was in power and the influence of the Mirabal sisters. Basically everything she talked about backs up the details that are in In the time of the Butterflies. She talked about how the fear of Trujillo overpowered the nation and people were killed and tortured for displeasing him. She told about spies and workers who were (as the book says) on “double pay roll.” She also talked about how difficult it was to move on for the country because of all the backstabbing and spying that had been done. In the book there is a line about how the hardest part would be “forgiving each other.” Xiomara explained that almost no one will talk about the time of Trujillo because it was such a dark and difficult time for the country. Dede Mirabal is one of the few people who will tell the whole story. Dede is still alive and she is living in Salcedo at the Mirabal home.

Recently, there has been a journalist who is uncovering military documents and preparing to publish them. There is a feeling that there are still many unanswered questions about Trujillo and some of the military may not want information to come out. Some people also question the validity of his death – perhaps he was wisked away to a secret location. Although this is unlikely it is something that people question, much like theories about Hitler’s death. Part of the reason some people are saying that he was not killed is because no one wants to have the blame of killing him – even if he was a horrible dictator.

Apparently, one of Trujillo’s daughters who lives in Miami is publishing a book about how great her father was and she is also hosting a celebration in his honor in San Cristobal in a few weeks. It will be interesting to hear if there are protests or what exactly happens. San Cristobal is known for being a dangerous place anyways.

It was a thrilling experience to hear the story from a person who lived through the end of Trujillo’s reign and even more so that Xiomara’s stories confirm that overall In the time of the Butterflies is an accurate story about the lives of the Mirabal sisters, Trujillo’s reign, other revolutionaries and the recent history of the Dominican Republic.