I am wrapping up my first three months of service here, I know, hasn’t it gone fast?!?! Well, actually I shouldn’t technically be done until the very end of the month, but we’re having our end of first 3 months conference a bit early, so I’ll be starting my real time of service a bit early.
So, what did I learn in the interviews? How did it go? I learned quite a bit and it went well. The thing I find the most interesting is that hardly anyone here eats fruits and vegetables. This, in my opinion, is the most pressing health issue in this community. In one question I asked the people to list what they had to eat the day before and only 11 of 89 households had eaten a single serving of fruits. 15 of 89 had eaten a single serving of vegetables. People here suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, and although this might sound crass, with the exception of a handful, I’d say almost every single person in this community is overweight. This isn’t a situation like in the US where people are overweight because they’re eating bad food; they’re eating fresh, often well-prepared food. But from what I’m observing, they eat heaps and heaps of it, use a lot of oil to prepare it (nearly everything is fried as no one has an oven), and only eat carbs and meat, and there’s very little change in the daily diet. So, whereas in the US we’re fat because we eat ice cream and chips and sometimes don’t take the time to sit down to a proper meal, it seems that those who are overweight here are so because they eat much more than a serving at a time of the same foods repeatedly and don’t eat nutritious foods.
So, my first step is to give a nutrition class. At the end (it will be several weeks long, one night a week) there will be an exam and those who pass with high marks will be eligible to join the health promoters. Then, we’ll meet and discuss different health topics, again weekly, and they will go on house visits periodically and spread the word of good health. As a part of this nutrition class I want to weigh everyone (who’s willing) at the beginning, have them track their diets, possibly join a walking group, and then weigh themselves at the end of the class.
Other interesting findings were with regard to sexual health and women’s health. I intend one large focus of the health promoters to be sexual and reproductive health. Another idea is to celebrate the various health-awareness days, weeks, and months that exist, particularly those that have prevention aspects in their messages, ie: breast exams for breast cancer awareness month. Very few women know how to do a proper breast exam, although I’m sure the same can be said about women in the US. About ½ of the women told me they go to the doctor regularly. We’ve had a lot of births in the town and over 300 were natural, whereas 34 were cesarean sections. I expected that number to be a bit higher because it tends to be a pretty popular option in this country. Although this could just be speculation and hearsay, I’ve been told it has to do with the idea that the more attention one receives from a doctor the better off one is. Obviously unnecessary surgery in a developing country with substandard healthcare is not ideal, so I was glad to see that the number of women who’ve had c-sections wasn’t too high. Not many women are breast-feeding exclusively for 6 months which is dangerous because the water supply is dirty and only a little over half of the parents here are supplying bottled or boiled water, or water treated with bleach for their children. That is something I hope to work on, as well as something inspired by watching the way the baby across the street is treated by her older sisters: an expecting parent/expecting sibling class in the form of home visits that the health promoters could give in the community. When my younger siblings were born my mom brought me and my older brother to a class at the hospital about what to expect with the arrival of a new baby, how to treat the baby, etc. Even though I couldn’t have been over six at the time, I remember the class as being a lot of fun and very interesting, but more importantly, it got me excited about being a big sister and helped me to understand the responsibility that came with that. Ask my family who just visited, the girls across the street need a class like that.
There are some people in community that are using latrines that are way past their expiration dates; they say that a latrine will last up to 10 years, there are people here using latrines that are 17, 20, 25 and 26 years old! That is to say that there are latrines here that are older than I am! If time allows and it appears to be a real need, a latrine project here might be a good idea.
Another project I’m very excited for is chicken coops. Again, ask my family-there are a lot of animals running around all over the place, seemingly not belonging to anyone. Chicken coops are great for a lot of reasons. For me the most important is that you could theoretically then place it anywhere, and as far away from your bedroom window as you’d like! Other good things include diminishing the amount of feces in living spaces, and increasing production of eggs which can be sold, or consumed by the family. Far too few of the people I interviewed told me they were eating healthy proteins like chicken, turkey and eggs. The alternatives that most people here favor are pork and goat.
Awareness on STIs and HIV/AIDS was as I expected it would be, pretty poor. We’ll definitely work with adults and teenagers on that topic. I went to the high school the kids from my community attend and gave out a survey on sex, STIs, protection, and drug and alcohol use. What I got back was pretty interesting. I hope to work in the community where the high school is with the youth group I form here in my community.
I’d brought up dental health once during training because I honestly was curious if that was a part of our role here and didn’t know where the state of dental health in this country was. It became sort of a joke among my training group because the way I brought it up was rather ditsy. They then appointed me the dental health expert and people have been giving me resources on the topic. Although I shouldn’t admit this, I was honestly a little disappointed to see that almost everyone in my community is brushing their teeth at least twice a day. So it looks like I won’t be able to work as directly with that issue as I’d (or rather my training group) had hoped.
So apart from the youth group and the health promoters, which are my 2 main responsibilities here, I want to do chicken coops, a gardening project, a walking group, a children’s play group, a library project (there is no library in the town and strikingly little opportunities for people to have access to books), clean the water source of the aqueduct, work with a nearby environment volunteer on trash collection for the area, meet with prostitutes in a neighboring town to see what their awareness of STIs and prevention is, and possibly work with them to increase it, encourage those without birth certificates to get them (I was delighted to learn that only a handful of residents here lack their birth certificates, mostly children),and encourage community leaders to restart the Junta de Vecinos (neighbor group) to help with community issues like improving the street, keeping the park up, improving the baseball field, possibly creating a park for kids, etc. Does that sound like a lot? I know I won’t be able to accomplish all of that, and doubt I’ll be able to accomplish much of it. But, it’s nice to have goals, and I definitely want to feel busy for these next 2 years and that list will certainly help.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Adventures in Puppy-Owning
The Anti-Cruelty Society says that under no circumstances should a puppy be removed from its mother and the pack it was born with until 8 weeks of life. They claim that some states even have instated laws to this effect. 8 weeks is the minimum, if possible they suggest that a puppy stay with its mother and pack until 12 weeks. The benefits include learning proper play, versus overly-aggressive play, diminishing the puppy-habit of nipping and chewing, and other things. You can imagine how glad I was to realize that my puppy could potentially have those 12 important weeks with her mom, since I live just down the street from there.
My puppy was born to my neighbor’s dog and her husband felt strongly, although she did not, that someone could come along and steal my puppy from their yard, or that perhaps mine would get confused for one of her siblings. My puppy has a sister and brother, the sister is black and white, and the brother looks a lot like mine, but has one blue eye. Mine is brown and white. I thought it was strange that he’d be so concerned about this, considering people are constantly at their house, playing dominoes, hanging out, eating, talking on their phone, etc. But when he brought it up for a second time, I agreed that I’d either come over to the house and stay with the puppies, or I’d take mine to my Dona’s house. We agreed though, that it was still too soon to take her away from her mom for the night, as she wasn’t even four weeks old yet. After about 4.5 weeks, my neighbor was planning to take the other 2 puppies to Santiago, the other girl puppy for his daughter, and the boy puppy for a friend. This was last week.
Well, when I went to watch over the puppies one day last week I noticed the mom, who is a very rambunctious dog, was laying still in the very small space that was typically only inhabited by her puppies. I knew something was wrong even before I saw that the only puppy still there was the black and white girl, ie: not my dog. Apparently my neighbor had sent a little girl to come get me because they were taking the puppies to Santiago a week early, and they wanted to make sure they took the right one. When the girl got to my house my Dona told her I was eating and couldn’t be disturbed (what?!?! Since when is that the rule!?!) Needless to say, I didn’t get the message that they were looking for me down at the house, and so my little girl was carried off to Santiago, barely 4 weeks old.
In the grand scheme of things I knew this wasn’t a huge problem. I could take the black and white puppy to Santiago on my way to the capital later that week and pick up my girl on the way back here. Sure it meant my girl would be away from her mom and pack at a very small age, in the care of strangers, but surely it wasn’t the end of the world.
It turned out not to be at all. My neighbor helped me put the black and white puppy in a box to carry on the bus, and she slept the entire way. She didn’t even make a mess in the box. I was very impressed. I dropped her off with some relatives of my neighbors and arranged to pick up my girl from them a few days later. I’d bought some pet supplies in the capital, although let me tell you for all of the American food I tell you I miss, and the convenience of Walgreens and abundance of Costco, it’s nothing compared to how badly I wish there was a Petsmart in this country! The plan was to pick up my girl, bring her back to my neighbor’s house for meals and sleeping, and either play with her there during the day, or have her at my Dona’s house. I was nervous, but feeling good, despite having tons of stuff to carry, in addition to the box with a small, precious, life inside of it. She was calm and well behaved and when I looked at her, I could see years of fun that I knew was coming. She responded well to my voice, and although it might be naïve of me, I think she remembered me from before; I used to go to the house to play with the puppies to get them and their mom comfortable with me.
A ways into the journey back to my site (about a 2.5 hour drive) she started to get restless. At first it was just adorable, watching her try to peak her little nose and little head out of the small gap in the box. But, I was sitting in the back seat of a very full public bus with my backpack under my knees, her box on top of them, between the window with a very hot sun behind it beating down on me, and a large man on the other side. Things weren’t so ideal for a fussy puppy. I tried lots of things, gave her a bone I’d bought for her (of course she had zero interest in that), let her chew my fingers, tried to give her space to climb around, pet her, let other people pet her, talked soothingly, and much more. With about 45 minutes left in the journey, once the back seat had emptied but for us, a man sitting near us suggested that she was fussy because she was hot. I took out a bowl and gave her some water from my water bottle. He suggested that we move up a row because the back seat (called the kitchen, in Spanish) is notorious for being the hottest part of a bus here.
It was like magic. She drank water enthusiastically and fell asleep immediately after I moved her. My mom had suggested I keep the dog who was so well behaved on the bus before, and after mine had been so fussy, I’d been thinking of how I could explain to my mom that I’d still made the right decision in keeping my girl, but was having a hard time convincing myself. But of course, she was just thirsty and hot! Sometimes Dominicans get me a bit frustrated; but other times I don’t know what I’d do without them.
So we made it home. So far that has definitely been the hardest part. Well, my brilliant plan of buying some pet supplies, but not all that I’d eventually need, sort of back-fired. I know, I know, I should have known better, but I really didn’t look ahead. You see, while my girl was off vacationing in Santiago, her mom, left with no puppies back home, lost her ability to give milk. I’d been banking on that, and in an effort to not over burden myself with stuff, decided not to buy dog food. Also, I was pretty sure you’re not supposed to give that for a while after they’re born, so I thought I’d have time. Nope. We’re rolling with the punches though, and she’s doing as all Dominican dogs do and eating rice and meat. We’ll change to dog food soon though.
Nights aren’t the greatest. I keep her in my room because that’s really all I have at this house (one more reason that I should move out, and hope to by the end of the month). She sleeps a lot during the day, takes little naps, so when we get to nighttime, it just doesn’t seem natural for her to be able to sleep a full 8 hours. She usually cries a bit out of boredom or something else I haven’t figured out yet. I’ll take her for walks and give her water, sometimes let her crawl around in my bed, but it’s the strangest thing-she wants nothing more than to nip and wrestle and be rowdy when she’s in my bed, but when I’m working or eating at a table during the day, she loves to curl up between my feet and fall asleep. It’s almost like she prefers my feet to my face. Wow.
There are a few things that make this a remarkably Peace Corps Dominican Republic puppy-owning experience. For one, I know it’s cruel not to let a dog have clean water at all times. However, my house is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and as a health volunteer, I can’t reconcile leaving a bowl of water lying around all the time. So, I’m still working on that one. Another thing is that she’s still pretty young, and small, to know how to walk and get around, so I try to keep an eye on her the vast majority of the time. This becomes quite a challenge when the power goes out. Looking for a puppy the size of your hand in a house full of places for her to hide with nothing but a candle to help isn’t exactly how someone imagines their first few days with a new pet would go. But again, we are rolling with the punches.
I haven’t told you a thing about her yet. She’s adorable. She has the greatest face. I can capture some of its greatest in photos, but not nearly all. She’s scrappy. It’s a great word, and truly the best to describe her. It means that she’s curious, adventurous, willing to get dirty, and a fighter. She nips, enjoys shoes, pants, my backpack buckles, and couldn’t care less about the bones I bought her. She has the softest hair and I just adore her brown spots. She’s got one over the base of her tail, one about half way up her side, and one big one that covers her face, but leaves a white stripe down between her eyes. She’s patient and very smart. The first full day we spent together, she found her way outside, even when I had her roped up inside, to do business! I was blown away. She knows how to push whatever I’ve left sitting on her water bowl to get to her water when I forget to provide it for her. She’s friendly and curious, and so far has been great with everyone who has handled her, which if you know my host father and some of these Dominican children means you know just how patient she must be. She’s only barked twice that I’ve heard; once was at a very annoying yippy-chihuahua dog that wouldn’t stop barking at her, and once was at a chicken that had wandered into our house, so in my mind, both were great times to bark. We’re visiting her mom at least once a day which they both seem to enjoy very much, although not nearly as much as the people who watch them play.
Most importantly, she seems to be getting to know me pretty well. We have this thing where I make kissy sounds near her ear and she kisses me. Is it weird that I love it? Also, she responds when I call her by name, “Lina,” and seems to enjoy the belly rubs I give her. On her name, it’s “Angelina,” for the notorious Angel dream, and I’d thought of that always as more of a formality, that I’d end up calling her “Lina”, the clear nickname. Well, why did no one remind me of “Angie,” which is a much more obvious nickname as well as a much cuter name for a puppy? Dogs named after rock songs are always a good thing. Oh well, perhaps when we’re back in English-speaking lands we’ll transition to “Angie”. For now, it’s good old, able-to-say-in Spanish-“Lina”. And they seem to like it.
*Update since I first wrote this entry… today, she got fleas. Now, I’m not so familiar with fleas, although I’m sure American dogs, including mine, get them all the time. They’re gross. And they crawl fast and are masters at avoiding ones finger tips. I gave her a bath with flea-killing shampoo and let it sit for a while but wasn’t entirely sure it worked. After the bath I spent a long time combing her and searching for more fleas. As you can imagine she wasn’t too pleased. Another thing that makes this undoubtedly a Peace Corps-DR doggy-owning experience is that I got to give her a bucket bath with cold water. As you can imagine, she hated it. Yikes.
My puppy was born to my neighbor’s dog and her husband felt strongly, although she did not, that someone could come along and steal my puppy from their yard, or that perhaps mine would get confused for one of her siblings. My puppy has a sister and brother, the sister is black and white, and the brother looks a lot like mine, but has one blue eye. Mine is brown and white. I thought it was strange that he’d be so concerned about this, considering people are constantly at their house, playing dominoes, hanging out, eating, talking on their phone, etc. But when he brought it up for a second time, I agreed that I’d either come over to the house and stay with the puppies, or I’d take mine to my Dona’s house. We agreed though, that it was still too soon to take her away from her mom for the night, as she wasn’t even four weeks old yet. After about 4.5 weeks, my neighbor was planning to take the other 2 puppies to Santiago, the other girl puppy for his daughter, and the boy puppy for a friend. This was last week.
Well, when I went to watch over the puppies one day last week I noticed the mom, who is a very rambunctious dog, was laying still in the very small space that was typically only inhabited by her puppies. I knew something was wrong even before I saw that the only puppy still there was the black and white girl, ie: not my dog. Apparently my neighbor had sent a little girl to come get me because they were taking the puppies to Santiago a week early, and they wanted to make sure they took the right one. When the girl got to my house my Dona told her I was eating and couldn’t be disturbed (what?!?! Since when is that the rule!?!) Needless to say, I didn’t get the message that they were looking for me down at the house, and so my little girl was carried off to Santiago, barely 4 weeks old.
In the grand scheme of things I knew this wasn’t a huge problem. I could take the black and white puppy to Santiago on my way to the capital later that week and pick up my girl on the way back here. Sure it meant my girl would be away from her mom and pack at a very small age, in the care of strangers, but surely it wasn’t the end of the world.
It turned out not to be at all. My neighbor helped me put the black and white puppy in a box to carry on the bus, and she slept the entire way. She didn’t even make a mess in the box. I was very impressed. I dropped her off with some relatives of my neighbors and arranged to pick up my girl from them a few days later. I’d bought some pet supplies in the capital, although let me tell you for all of the American food I tell you I miss, and the convenience of Walgreens and abundance of Costco, it’s nothing compared to how badly I wish there was a Petsmart in this country! The plan was to pick up my girl, bring her back to my neighbor’s house for meals and sleeping, and either play with her there during the day, or have her at my Dona’s house. I was nervous, but feeling good, despite having tons of stuff to carry, in addition to the box with a small, precious, life inside of it. She was calm and well behaved and when I looked at her, I could see years of fun that I knew was coming. She responded well to my voice, and although it might be naïve of me, I think she remembered me from before; I used to go to the house to play with the puppies to get them and their mom comfortable with me.
A ways into the journey back to my site (about a 2.5 hour drive) she started to get restless. At first it was just adorable, watching her try to peak her little nose and little head out of the small gap in the box. But, I was sitting in the back seat of a very full public bus with my backpack under my knees, her box on top of them, between the window with a very hot sun behind it beating down on me, and a large man on the other side. Things weren’t so ideal for a fussy puppy. I tried lots of things, gave her a bone I’d bought for her (of course she had zero interest in that), let her chew my fingers, tried to give her space to climb around, pet her, let other people pet her, talked soothingly, and much more. With about 45 minutes left in the journey, once the back seat had emptied but for us, a man sitting near us suggested that she was fussy because she was hot. I took out a bowl and gave her some water from my water bottle. He suggested that we move up a row because the back seat (called the kitchen, in Spanish) is notorious for being the hottest part of a bus here.
It was like magic. She drank water enthusiastically and fell asleep immediately after I moved her. My mom had suggested I keep the dog who was so well behaved on the bus before, and after mine had been so fussy, I’d been thinking of how I could explain to my mom that I’d still made the right decision in keeping my girl, but was having a hard time convincing myself. But of course, she was just thirsty and hot! Sometimes Dominicans get me a bit frustrated; but other times I don’t know what I’d do without them.
So we made it home. So far that has definitely been the hardest part. Well, my brilliant plan of buying some pet supplies, but not all that I’d eventually need, sort of back-fired. I know, I know, I should have known better, but I really didn’t look ahead. You see, while my girl was off vacationing in Santiago, her mom, left with no puppies back home, lost her ability to give milk. I’d been banking on that, and in an effort to not over burden myself with stuff, decided not to buy dog food. Also, I was pretty sure you’re not supposed to give that for a while after they’re born, so I thought I’d have time. Nope. We’re rolling with the punches though, and she’s doing as all Dominican dogs do and eating rice and meat. We’ll change to dog food soon though.
Nights aren’t the greatest. I keep her in my room because that’s really all I have at this house (one more reason that I should move out, and hope to by the end of the month). She sleeps a lot during the day, takes little naps, so when we get to nighttime, it just doesn’t seem natural for her to be able to sleep a full 8 hours. She usually cries a bit out of boredom or something else I haven’t figured out yet. I’ll take her for walks and give her water, sometimes let her crawl around in my bed, but it’s the strangest thing-she wants nothing more than to nip and wrestle and be rowdy when she’s in my bed, but when I’m working or eating at a table during the day, she loves to curl up between my feet and fall asleep. It’s almost like she prefers my feet to my face. Wow.
There are a few things that make this a remarkably Peace Corps Dominican Republic puppy-owning experience. For one, I know it’s cruel not to let a dog have clean water at all times. However, my house is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and as a health volunteer, I can’t reconcile leaving a bowl of water lying around all the time. So, I’m still working on that one. Another thing is that she’s still pretty young, and small, to know how to walk and get around, so I try to keep an eye on her the vast majority of the time. This becomes quite a challenge when the power goes out. Looking for a puppy the size of your hand in a house full of places for her to hide with nothing but a candle to help isn’t exactly how someone imagines their first few days with a new pet would go. But again, we are rolling with the punches.
I haven’t told you a thing about her yet. She’s adorable. She has the greatest face. I can capture some of its greatest in photos, but not nearly all. She’s scrappy. It’s a great word, and truly the best to describe her. It means that she’s curious, adventurous, willing to get dirty, and a fighter. She nips, enjoys shoes, pants, my backpack buckles, and couldn’t care less about the bones I bought her. She has the softest hair and I just adore her brown spots. She’s got one over the base of her tail, one about half way up her side, and one big one that covers her face, but leaves a white stripe down between her eyes. She’s patient and very smart. The first full day we spent together, she found her way outside, even when I had her roped up inside, to do business! I was blown away. She knows how to push whatever I’ve left sitting on her water bowl to get to her water when I forget to provide it for her. She’s friendly and curious, and so far has been great with everyone who has handled her, which if you know my host father and some of these Dominican children means you know just how patient she must be. She’s only barked twice that I’ve heard; once was at a very annoying yippy-chihuahua dog that wouldn’t stop barking at her, and once was at a chicken that had wandered into our house, so in my mind, both were great times to bark. We’re visiting her mom at least once a day which they both seem to enjoy very much, although not nearly as much as the people who watch them play.
Most importantly, she seems to be getting to know me pretty well. We have this thing where I make kissy sounds near her ear and she kisses me. Is it weird that I love it? Also, she responds when I call her by name, “Lina,” and seems to enjoy the belly rubs I give her. On her name, it’s “Angelina,” for the notorious Angel dream, and I’d thought of that always as more of a formality, that I’d end up calling her “Lina”, the clear nickname. Well, why did no one remind me of “Angie,” which is a much more obvious nickname as well as a much cuter name for a puppy? Dogs named after rock songs are always a good thing. Oh well, perhaps when we’re back in English-speaking lands we’ll transition to “Angie”. For now, it’s good old, able-to-say-in Spanish-“Lina”. And they seem to like it.
*Update since I first wrote this entry… today, she got fleas. Now, I’m not so familiar with fleas, although I’m sure American dogs, including mine, get them all the time. They’re gross. And they crawl fast and are masters at avoiding ones finger tips. I gave her a bath with flea-killing shampoo and let it sit for a while but wasn’t entirely sure it worked. After the bath I spent a long time combing her and searching for more fleas. As you can imagine she wasn’t too pleased. Another thing that makes this undoubtedly a Peace Corps-DR doggy-owning experience is that I got to give her a bucket bath with cold water. As you can imagine, she hated it. Yikes.
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