http://ministerionuevaesperanza.blogspot.com/
A website for the Dominican Alpha Course coordinated by the Singer mentioned in my last post, Ronald Romero.
Friday 21 November 2008
Thursday 20 November 2008
Brief Update
Hello and Feliz Navidad! There appears to be more and more Christmas decorations up every day here. The first appeared in my house almost a month ago and now in addition to fairy lights on the outside and inside of houses (this in a place where power cuts are so common!), model Santas and consumer advertising there are fireworks almost daily, and sometimes actually in broad daylight, which I would of thought defeats the object but hey...
Busy week for INSTRAW as there are two big players from New York here to work with the senior staff team to review the implementation of a change strategy and set key priorities for the next 6-12 months (INSTRAW needs extra leadership at the moment as there is only an interim Director in post) and in the name of participation the whole staff team is obliged to attend sessions for most of this week to contribute. Thus I'm learning about the organisation from a different angle, and one that is more suited to my academic background (Voluntary Sector Management as opposed to Development), but some of the work I had in hand that was shaping up nicely is on hold for a few days.
Spent some time with a group of Dominican friends during and after their Catholic Youth Group this weekend and went to a graduation party at an American theme bar that was blasting Ultimate Fighting Championship on pay per view from massive flat screen TVs. That was pretty surreal considering we'd come from a community meeting where they plan voluntary activities and where a really talented band played songs of peace, unity and praise. One of the fighters did have a slogan all over his clothes saying "Jesus didn't tap" which made me smile. The singer of the group is also the Latin America and Caribbean coordinator for the Alpha Course, an outreach programme originated by the Anglican Church in the UK for people with questions about Christianity. He's traveling to London in May and it would be nice to connect with him again as he seemed a very cool guy. On the flip side of the generosity and tolerance the strong role the church has here allows it to promote however, there is a darker moral edge.
Currently there is a panel of senior Dominican Judges sitting at the moment on the issue of abortion. One of the favored options, at least int he mainstream media, is to to make abortion equal to murder, as far as I understand it, for anyone involved in procuring, performing or receiving a termination, with a minimum sentence of 40 Years! This really came as a shock to me.Considering how big a class divide there already seems to be here this would probably have a disproportionate impact on poor women. Whilst I certainly wouldn't ascribe all blame for this at religions feet, one can't discount the cultural influence Catholic value have over attitudes towards such issues here and it really leaves a bitter taste in the mouth sometimes.
Busy week for INSTRAW as there are two big players from New York here to work with the senior staff team to review the implementation of a change strategy and set key priorities for the next 6-12 months (INSTRAW needs extra leadership at the moment as there is only an interim Director in post) and in the name of participation the whole staff team is obliged to attend sessions for most of this week to contribute. Thus I'm learning about the organisation from a different angle, and one that is more suited to my academic background (Voluntary Sector Management as opposed to Development), but some of the work I had in hand that was shaping up nicely is on hold for a few days.
Spent some time with a group of Dominican friends during and after their Catholic Youth Group this weekend and went to a graduation party at an American theme bar that was blasting Ultimate Fighting Championship on pay per view from massive flat screen TVs. That was pretty surreal considering we'd come from a community meeting where they plan voluntary activities and where a really talented band played songs of peace, unity and praise. One of the fighters did have a slogan all over his clothes saying "Jesus didn't tap" which made me smile. The singer of the group is also the Latin America and Caribbean coordinator for the Alpha Course, an outreach programme originated by the Anglican Church in the UK for people with questions about Christianity. He's traveling to London in May and it would be nice to connect with him again as he seemed a very cool guy. On the flip side of the generosity and tolerance the strong role the church has here allows it to promote however, there is a darker moral edge.
Currently there is a panel of senior Dominican Judges sitting at the moment on the issue of abortion. One of the favored options, at least int he mainstream media, is to to make abortion equal to murder, as far as I understand it, for anyone involved in procuring, performing or receiving a termination, with a minimum sentence of 40 Years! This really came as a shock to me.Considering how big a class divide there already seems to be here this would probably have a disproportionate impact on poor women. Whilst I certainly wouldn't ascribe all blame for this at religions feet, one can't discount the cultural influence Catholic value have over attitudes towards such issues here and it really leaves a bitter taste in the mouth sometimes.
Thursday 13 November 2008
Half Time Highlights
So pretty much half through my time in the DR I took a moment to reflect and, contrary to my habitual verbosity, briefly summarize the ups and downs of the journey so far.
Best Bits
-Improving my Spanish. there's nothing quite like that moment when you use a new word, in the right context, at the right time, and someone understands you.
-Caberete. Free Jazz Festival, loads of people, clubs, bars, the Joe Calazaghe fight on Cable, minimal sleaze all with the ocean lapping at my feet. Then to Playa Rincon for an all night rave and back to Constambar at 7AM for a swim before bedtime.
-The Beach at Las Terrenas. That first tantalizing glimpse of the Caribbean up close, and the white sand, and finally the water itself. Stunning.
-Dajabon. A slice of reality pie and an inspiration.
-The People. Too many to mention but shout outs in particular to Rosa for looking out for me, Monika for giving me a place to stay when I arrived and every random person on the street who lent a hand with anything.
Other Chulo items: Election Night, Baraboncourt 5 Estrella Rhon, Merengue, Bachata, Reggaeton, The Seafood, The Mountains, Halloween, the 24 Hour Sandwich Place ...etc etc etc
Worst Bits (though it's all part of the experience)
-My Spanish. Those totally impotent moments where you just don't have the words,and if you did you'd have no idea what to do with them!
-Power Cuts
-Missing loved ones at Home.
And aside from minor bug bears like Merengue full blast through terrible speakers on Coaches at 730 Am, is it for the bad bits!
Left on the To Do List
-Baseball
-Scuba
-El Limon (Most Famous Waterfall here)
-La Pica Duarte (The highest mountain in the Carribbean, with a three day walk to the summit)
-Haiti (Me. Port Au Prince. December. Watch this space.)
And so, on to the second half...
Tuesday 11 November 2008
Dajabon
As Hotel names go ‘Massacre’ doesn’t that enticing but it’s the best in Dajabon, a market town in the Dominican Republic on the border with Haiti, and speaks directly to the complex and often bloody history between the two states^. The Masacar river originally took it’s name from a colonial era slaughter of French pirates by the then ruling Spanish but will go down in legend as the dumping ground for the corpses of many of the estimated 30,000 Haitians hacked to death with Machetes by Dominican Troops in 1937 under the orders of the racist dictator Rafael Trujillo*. This water, tainted by so much innocent blood in the past, is now crossed on Mondays and Fridays by thousands of Haitian citizens permitted across the border to participate in the twice weekly market that transforms Dajabon from a sleepy country town into a hub of activity. Last Monday I rose early to watch the border open as these intrepid travelers walked ten abreast across an ageing bridge, monitored by UN Peacekeepers at one end and Dominican Border Guards at the other to pass through the arch that officially marks ‘La Frontiera’. Hundreds more traders waded across the river itself illegally, carrying embargoed goods such as garlic, which might have fetched them a higher return, once the obligatory bribes for the guards to turn a blind eye were counted into the equation.
Despite the obvious hardship of many of those crossing back and forth and the endemic corruption of the local authorities, the market itself was as a revelation for me, and it obviously proves a draw to both Haitians and Dominicans alike as a source of potential bargains given the amount of customers I saw engaging in market life. Full of barter and laughter, of sights, sounds and smells that I’ve rarely encountered across the rest of the Dominican Republic the streets in the designated market zone are laid out with blankets covered with various vegetables, clothes from disaster relief packages and counterfeiters and essentials like toiletries and kitchenware. As I wandered through the crowds I brushed shoulders with traders carrying piles of boxed underwear or with scuffed trainers dangling from their necks, trying to entice me to stop and take a look, and took evasive action between stalls as motorbike couriers forced their way through the narrow lanes, exhausts smoking and horns blaring. The pots of curried goat and rice bubbling away on corners eventually proved too tempting to resist and my breakfast proved a highlight of my visit.
After numerous circuits of the market, each giving me a new memory; an attempted negotiation in mutually broken Spanish with trader whose first language is Kreyol, finding a classic USA 94 World Cup T-Shirt for the price of a newspaper at home or simply taking a moment to pause from ducking under the hanging tarpaulin shades as the midday Caribbean sun blazed away overhead, to truly appreciate the organized chaos around me, I set out to make the journey back to my hotel room. The hustle of the day had begun to die down and as I walked back through the emptying streets, past children playing amongst the discarded cardboard and plastic and the goats used to dispose of more edible waste I reflected on the gap between second hand and direct experience. Haiti is one of the world’s forgotten crisis’s and it’s depiction in the global arena is all too often the same superficial tale of a state and a people crippled helplessness and senselessness conflict. The people I saw in Dajabon are striving to earn a living and despite, or perhaps because of, their circumstances, to do so with dignity and vitality. It’s a humbling experience I can’t help but recommend and one that communicates not an attachment to a tragic past, but a hope for a brighter future.
^Following the 1804 ousting of the Spanish by slaves and the birth of the first post colonial state Haitian military advance eventually led them to dominate the whole of Hispaniola (the name of the island the two countries share) for 22 years. Now even the possibility of such a situation is absurd to many Dominicans, given the perpetual political turmoil in Haiti and the lowly position of most Haitian migrant, legal and illegal in Dominican society. Dominicans celebrate their independence not from their Spanish Colonial occupiers but from Haiti and prejudice and persecution prevail in attitudes toward Haitian migrants and workers.
*Tensions between Dominicans and Haitians characterize the region to this day. As recently as last week 500 Haitians were repatriated by the authorities from a nearby settlement officially for their own protection, after a Dominican was murdered in an attempted robbery.
Despite the obvious hardship of many of those crossing back and forth and the endemic corruption of the local authorities, the market itself was as a revelation for me, and it obviously proves a draw to both Haitians and Dominicans alike as a source of potential bargains given the amount of customers I saw engaging in market life. Full of barter and laughter, of sights, sounds and smells that I’ve rarely encountered across the rest of the Dominican Republic the streets in the designated market zone are laid out with blankets covered with various vegetables, clothes from disaster relief packages and counterfeiters and essentials like toiletries and kitchenware. As I wandered through the crowds I brushed shoulders with traders carrying piles of boxed underwear or with scuffed trainers dangling from their necks, trying to entice me to stop and take a look, and took evasive action between stalls as motorbike couriers forced their way through the narrow lanes, exhausts smoking and horns blaring. The pots of curried goat and rice bubbling away on corners eventually proved too tempting to resist and my breakfast proved a highlight of my visit.
After numerous circuits of the market, each giving me a new memory; an attempted negotiation in mutually broken Spanish with trader whose first language is Kreyol, finding a classic USA 94 World Cup T-Shirt for the price of a newspaper at home or simply taking a moment to pause from ducking under the hanging tarpaulin shades as the midday Caribbean sun blazed away overhead, to truly appreciate the organized chaos around me, I set out to make the journey back to my hotel room. The hustle of the day had begun to die down and as I walked back through the emptying streets, past children playing amongst the discarded cardboard and plastic and the goats used to dispose of more edible waste I reflected on the gap between second hand and direct experience. Haiti is one of the world’s forgotten crisis’s and it’s depiction in the global arena is all too often the same superficial tale of a state and a people crippled helplessness and senselessness conflict. The people I saw in Dajabon are striving to earn a living and despite, or perhaps because of, their circumstances, to do so with dignity and vitality. It’s a humbling experience I can’t help but recommend and one that communicates not an attachment to a tragic past, but a hope for a brighter future.
^Following the 1804 ousting of the Spanish by slaves and the birth of the first post colonial state Haitian military advance eventually led them to dominate the whole of Hispaniola (the name of the island the two countries share) for 22 years. Now even the possibility of such a situation is absurd to many Dominicans, given the perpetual political turmoil in Haiti and the lowly position of most Haitian migrant, legal and illegal in Dominican society. Dominicans celebrate their independence not from their Spanish Colonial occupiers but from Haiti and prejudice and persecution prevail in attitudes toward Haitian migrants and workers.
*Tensions between Dominicans and Haitians characterize the region to this day. As recently as last week 500 Haitians were repatriated by the authorities from a nearby settlement officially for their own protection, after a Dominican was murdered in an attempted robbery.
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