STOVES

I had an incredible day a few weeks ago. I went to see the mayor in the town over from mine to see if what he’d said (that he’d let me use the truck to get the ceramic pieces that go inside the stove) would be able to work out. I had little faith, because we, as Peace Corps volunteers, have learned not to have much faith in Dominican politicians, but I was hoping to be surprised with good news. It worked out. After a little bit of a wait for a driver we were on our way to get the ceramic. The drive was about 2.5 hours and once we got there, it was all stacked into the back of the truck with only two breaks on the way home.

The real surprise was when I got back. Each stove has 12 pieces of different sizes and I picked up the pieces for 25 stoves, so there was quite a bit to unload at home. Out of nowhere appeared tons of Dominican men to help unload the stuff (which seems to be one thing that happens spontaneously here without fail that would probably never happen in the US). I was so glad to have their help, but became instantly quite embarrassed.

As I opened my door to let little Lina out of the house she’d been locked in for about 8 hours, I looked up to see some feathers on the ground. I found that she’d gotten into some trouble while I was gone. (Check out some photos online.) I was a little nervous that my neighbors would look inside to see the damage that Lina had done and think she was a ravage animal, or maybe I was more scared that they’d know about the wildlife animal problem that exists inside my home and think I was a terrible housekeeper.

But then, after a couple of very long days trying to go get hardware and tools for the stoves, we were finally able to begin construction in the first 2 days of “Holy Week” which are the days leading up to Easter. We began construction on the stove at the construction worker/mason’s house and finished it efficiently and with only a few moments of wonderment and experimentation, which we were all able to handle with patience and care. We made the first stove counter top green, and the following week made the second stove red. In that week the masons sort of flaked out on me so we were only able to finish one and one half stoves, but this week we have been working machines finishing that first half and two and a half more (and will finish two and a half more this week as well). Now that we know what we’re doing we’re able to finish one a day which is quite efficient, but I’m happy to say that the stoves are coming out incredibly well done.

The masons are a father and son team and they knew even before we began some of the basic tasks that are called for in the stove construction process such as mixing cement and laying cinderblock. Working with clay and ceramic have been things I have been able to teach, which has been really interesting. I have really enjoyed the work, though it is very dirty and wears me out more than anything I’ve done here before, mostly because I really like getting dirty and feeling like I’ve earned a good night’s sleep at the end of a long work day. I have also enjoyed getting to learn how to work with my hands on a construction project and it’s been really rewarding in such a machismo culture to hear the masons say when I give tips or correct their work, “but it’s she who knows!” (And then they even listen to me.) The dad in the team doesn’t like me to do any jobs that might make me strain myself or damage the perfect skin on my hands. (What he doesn’t realize is that my hands have been screwed for a while as a thumb-sucker-turned nail-biter. But, even though I thought he was nuts to be concerned, I’ve noticed cuts on my fingers all over the place and that I’m starting to develop calluses, let alone the dirt which is constantly under my fingernails.)

I’ve been getting a lot of attention for my wonderful work outfit (which you can see on my photo website.) I purchased a pair of work boots (just like the men wear!) because the job is just dirty! I also have found in this country that it makes sense to get my hair out of my face when I’m working on something (or traveling with the windows open). The ensemble gets a lot of notice from my neighbors who comment such things as “Oh, but Eliza is going to work!”, and “oh but Eliza is a campesina now!” Understand that I don’t believe that I look awesome in the outfit, especially at the end of a long, dirty work day. But it just makes good sense!

We start at 8:00AM and work until between 11:00 and 12:00 finishing a stove. After lunch we begin another stove and are done with that between 3:00 and 4:00. If we continue at this rate we should be done with construction sometime in June. I am usually showered and briefly recuperated by 5:00 which gives me a few hours of sunlight to be social and work on some other things like Escojo and the library. This is one of the more busy times I’ve had in the DR which feels nice, but it sort of also makes me feel like I’m neglecting some other duties, principally Escojo. The good news there is that the kids have taken over a lot of the tasks that I used to do and are doing a great job with them. We had a regional conference a few weeks ago and I brought one member from the new group and one from the original group and they seemed to have a great time. They are both very intelligent, like so many of the kids in my town, which is always so fascinating to realize.