7/11

To keep this short – a lack of work support and security issues in my old site have forced me to move. Productivity over the next year plus and sustainability thereafter would have been virtually impossible. Saying goodbye to some was tough, but the move was necessary.

Plum and I now live in a batey (communities formed around the sugar cane industry) in the east in the province of Hato Mayor. This batey has around 60 houses. There is a substantial Haitian population, an unfinished clinic, and a problem with prostitution here. These things should make for interesting secondary projects: documentation – getting folks birth certificates and/or IDs, particularly the Haitians; collaborating with what is essentially the department of public health to get this clinic up and running; and, an income generation project for those who may wish to change career paths…

 I’ve been here for about two weeks and am having a great time so far. I’m living with a host family while my house gets built right next door. I should be moving in this week! While my host dad and uncle do the building, I’ve been off riding various horses (I even went to get the wood for my house on horseback!), visiting neighboring bateys, and playing in the church band. Not kiddding. This community is predominantly Catholic. I went to mass the first Sunday that I was here – purely as an integration technique – and the next thing I know, I’m up in the front playing the  güiro  (looks like a cheese grater)…dancing around with a bunch of old ladies. Needless to say, I’ve been enjoying myself.

 

I don’t know this guy, but this is a güiro.

More pictures to come next week.