Water, Water Everywhere

In the last few days of October and the first few of November I finally went to visit my 3 water volunteer friends who actually live only about 3 hours from me (which is close in DR travel speak). But first, I started the trip at the site of an environment volunteer to get a look at the stoves that are in that town which are the same that I would like to put into my community at some point in the very near future. The stoves were HUGE and just by first glance I could tell how much better they are than the stoves that are typically used. The stove owner and the volunteer then explained how the stoves work and I was even more sold on the project.

We then went on a hike to the town of the first water volunteer that I visited. They supposedly live 1 ½ hours from one another but the hike ended up taking over 3 hours, partly because me and another volunteer that I did the hike with aren’t the fastest, but also because I had to keep changing shoes. You see, the path wound around a river that was easily crossed with the proper footwear that neither I nor the other female volunteer in our hiking group had. She had flip flops and I had both sneakers and flip flops. So, we were slow. The views from up in the hills were lovely, check out some photos on the website. We hiked also with the environment volunteer’s puppy, Wind. Adorable.

The water volunteer I visited first has a very small and very spread out community. I felt I was walking around in a jungle when I was visiting there. We had a lot of fun on the visit, although it was pretty short. (The next day I went to vote in Santiago by general absentee ballot that I cannot be sure ever made it to Cook County. On the trip I was able to pick up a tee-shirt that volunteers made which support our favorite candidate. So at least there was that.)

Later that day I went to visit another water volunteer and due to heavy rains, spent two nights at his site and put off a visit to water volunteer number three until the following week. On this visit I got a chance to take a walk of his town (hilly, very sweaty in the high heats of October.) We also watched lots of DVDs and cable. Yes that’s right, he still lives with his host family and so still has a television and so can somewhat still be in touch with the world. It was nice, as were the members of his host family. We cooked dinner for them one night (spaghetti with red sauce) and it was met with mixed results. Food that is liked by Americans is often just tolerated, if not hated, but Dominicans. This has been my experience.

So then in that following week I went to visit the third and final water volunteer in my area. The trip to his site was probably the most educational on what exactly it is that the water volunteers do. I went up to his water source and to watch the water brigades work (ridiculously quickly). It was actually pretty simple-looking, or maybe that was just my friend’s ability to explain it so well. I couldn’t get over how quickly the men were able to dig the trenches where the piping will go. My trip to his site took place just days after we did the “double dig” in the garden project that we are working on in my community. It was difficult to get hardly anyone motivated to do the digging for the garden and since it was mostly kids working on it, it went pretty slowly, and actually ended up being me doing most of the work. Meanwhile, at my friend’s site, 4 days a week, organized groups go out and up to work on their water supply. And while I’m happy for him, and my other friends who are having success on their aqueducts, it still makes me want to scream, “WHY WON’T PEOPLE DIG FOR GARDENS!?” I think I’m learning firsthand about Dominican (or human) priorities: power, paved roads, plumbing, and then who knows. I don’t think first aid classes, nutrition classes, or gardening projects are up there… I get the feeling that some of my friends in other groups such as community economic development, youth, or special education feel the same way. Water can give aqueducts, environment can give stoves or trees, but the rest of us are supposed to just train to make new fisherman.

So, I’m going to need these library and stove projects to work out. I might be reformatting the financing of these projects, switching the two grants so that I might be able to actually get some funding. What this means for you, my supporters, is that I might be asking you for money for a grant for stoves instead of for the library. But don’t worry, you can still get Spanish books and hand them off to be over my winter break. WHOOPDEEDOO!