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My Travel to the Dominican Republic(March 31st – April 14th 2016)
1. Tourism and Animal welfare in Punta Cana2. Meeting with Peace Corps3. Spay and neuter operative in Samaná (part 1)4. Spay and neuter operative in Samaná (part 2)5. Spay and neuter operative in Samaná (part 3)6. The Caribbean dream…
2. Meeting with Peace CorpsAlready in February when our team was still operating in the southwest where Peace Corps volunteers had done a brilliant job to organize the campaign, Peace Corps director Adele Williams and I had wanted to meet during my visit to discuss future operatives and also because we had promised spay & neuter aid for the Cat Lovers RD, the animal welfare organization of which ardent cat lover Adele is a member in Santo Domingo…
On April 1st I took the bus from Punta Cana via Higuey to Santo Domingo and met Adele for lunch at the hotel Barcelo where she held a work shop that day. We both want a continuous cooperation in the bateys of the southwest as well as in Santo Domingo and Adele arranged a meeting with Cat Lovers RD board members and me for April 3rd before I headed off with the local guagua to Santa Maria… I was dropped by the side of the road in the late afternoon somewhere south of a place called Tamayo, walked to the nearest small house and asked in my best Spanish: “Donde es Leyla?” A child took me by the hand, walked with me around the corner and there was already the little house of Peace Corps volunteer Leyla!
View over Santa Maria from above Leyla’s house… Nobody knows who has thrown all these old shoes onto her roof… or why…
The next day I re-packed the medication and material left by the vets in Leyla’s house in February. Part of it was going to be stored with the Cat Lovers for the next operative, part would be needed at the operative in Samaná a few days later.
The main source of income is cane cutting for the rum production, a job that a lot of other Caribbean people refuse to do because it reminds them too much of the days of slavery. The only other possibility to earn money is to vend small items. There is a high rate of alcoholism and an equally high rate of illiteracy.
But even those who visit the one existing school don’t learn to read and write properly because the level of the teachers’ education is so low!
The main health risks stem from a poor nutrition. The region is extremely dry and not fertile, fruits and vegetables are a luxury…The basic diet consists of starches laced with fat, salt or sugar. While children and animals are usually undernourished, adults tend to obesity. Undetected diabetes is the killer No 1.
These children enjoy a ride on their makeshift cart just as much as children in industrialized countries enjoy their expensive kid cars. I met a little boy pushing a bicycle. The chain had come off. I tried to put it back on but the whole thing was so rusty and seized up that it wouldn’t budge. The little boy didn’t mind. He was happy to have a bike he could push rather than having no bicycle at all!
The second major attraction of Santa Maria besides the basketball field is a little shop where they serve excellent freshly made fruit juices and some local dishes. The owner had married recently and Leyla had photographed the wedding. When we visited he brought the album and Leyla viewed the wedding photos with her children.
On our way back we passed through a little road that Leyla doesn’t visit regularly. She hesitated for a brief moment…But we were welcomed warmly! The lady hugging me offered me food and drink and everybody wanted to get in the picture!
The income of a Peace Corps volunteer allows to maintain the life standard of the people in whose community the volunteer serves and covers food, housing and local transportation. And so we had at Leyla’s house exactly the same bath tub as this little man here… Peace Corps, founded 1961 by John F. Kennedy to promote peace and cultural understanding, renders developing aid in places like Santa Maria. Young Americans like Leyla sign up for 24 months preceded by 3 months of training after completing a college degree. In the Dominican Republic they engage in the following projects: Youth work (Leyla’s subject):
…and to encourage reading. Leyla has a reading contest going on. After a child has completed reading a certain number of books it receives a prize. The little bag of small toys I had brought along was most welcome as prizes for the contest… Education
Health
…by building stoves with chimneys to lead the smoke outside. A lot of people still cook indoors on open fires. Respiratory diseases are the consequence.
Also the rate of diseases induced by lack of hygiene or insect bites such as dengue fever and zika can be lowered with simple means. Due to the extreme dryness the ground is very hard, not absorbing water readily when it rains. Draining still waters or treating puddles with bleach helps a lot to eliminate ideal breeding grounds for mosquitos. Business
The next morning at 6 am we took the guagua to Santo Domingo where we were met by Tammy Simo and Emily Espinosa with whom I made plans for our first spay and neuter operative with Cat Lovers RD. Leyla who holds a degree in journalism stayed to contribute to the monthly edition of the Peace Corps journal and I took the bus to Kim and the dogs of Samaná… |
Most dogs I saw were shy, suspicious and not to be touched. These here are in quite good shape but I saw a lot of mangy, very skinny ones where I couldn’t even get close enough to take a photo…
