Caitlin's Positively Honest Blog

A Poem: Break Free

2011-11-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

This is a poem I wrote at a time (2006) when I was mourning the path that a loved one was going down. It can be about breaking free from many things: addictions, generational curses, peer pressure, societal, cultural, and family pressure, or just the sinful flesh in general.

Break Free

Stand firm on faith

Don't trust your human eyes

Cause everything around you

Is living off of lies

They say love doesn't work

It's weak and ineffective

You've gotta fight for what you want

And leave no room to be rejected

But they're walking on a leash

And they think the guy next to them

Knows where he is headed

But really he's pretending

Just like you

So why are you doing all the things that you're doing?

And who's on the other end of the leash?

And how did the leash get clipped to your collar?

Break free, break free, don't you wanna be free?

So you broke from the leash

And now you're making choices

But you can't help but notice

The sounds of all the voices

Telling which way to go

How can you decide?

You make your decision

And get started on your ride

But as soon as you get going

You see you're facing head on

A stampede of people

By their leashes being drawn

You feel so alone

And you don't want to be seen

So you attempt to blend in

And hide

So why are you doing all the things that you're doing?

And who's tugging on the end of your leash?

And how did you get caught up in all this confusion?

Break free, break free, don't you wanna be free?

They clip a leash on you

And you feel you're moving backward

You fight the other way

But the crowd marches onward

Where are we going?

You finally call out

And you see some folks around you

That seem to share your doubts

Let's break free

You suggest to your neighbors

They say, no we're going this way

As you near the gas chambers

But you see in their eyes

That they wanna turn around

They just lack the strenght to do it

Just like you

So why are you doing all the things that you're doing?

And who's tugging on the end of your leash?

And how far will you go before you step up and fight?

Break free, break free, don't you wanna be free?

So you decide you're gonna fight

And you rip off your collar

You walk against the crowd

Even though you're so much smaller

But your heart is alive

That's the only thing that matters

You fall down but you get up

And now the crowd scatters

Cause they see that you mean business

That you know where you're headed

A few rip off their own collars

As the leashholder has dreaded

And you're no longer alone

Now you're strong and moving forward

With so many roads ahead

You're finally free

So why are you doing all the things that you're doing?

You no longer feel the tugging, you no longer wear a leash.

You stepped up and fought and you made the right decision.

Break free, break free, don't you love to be free?

The Past 6 Years...

2011-11-01T15:36:00.002-07:00

A friend recently asked me to send him a summary of the last six years of my life in order to use as a reference to write a nomination for me for the Grinnell CollegeYoung Innovator for Social Justice Prize. He nominated me last year as well and obviously I didn't get it. I've spruced it up with some pictures (wish I had more from different times/events), but here is what I sent to him:

Jan. 2005 - went on volunteer trip to Esperanza, DR with organization called Orphanage Outreach. Two other friends came with own funds raised and extra fundraising helped two more to come, totaling us 5.

Winter/Spring 2005 - planned to return June 2005, fundraised together, returned with a group of 10.

Oct. 2005 - Began VT student org. Project Esperanza to facilitate what we were doing and be able to do more.

Fall, Winter 2005, Spring 2006 - Built a team, kept in contact with and planned with Orphanage Outreach staff in DR who ended up leaving OO and moving to Puerto Plata which changed our plans. Led weekly student org. meetings and led several fundraisers.

Summer 2006 - Led 30 volunteers to Puerto Plata. We did the street census, collected information on 140 shoe shine or street vending boys, and learned of their situations. I collected info. from volunteers each day and together we made profiles on my laptop. We also worked with a public school constructing a new building and taught English. After one month we began a day program with boys from the street census with lunch, tutoring, andorganized activities. As the summer/trip ended, I signed the lease to the house on behalf of Project Esperanza. Returned to U.S. and maintained communication with many people in the DR.

Aug./Sept. 2006 - Began meeting with others to form a board of directors, to incorporate Project Esperanza, and to file for non-profit status.

Fall 2006 - Fundraised a lot! Continued weekly meetings.

Nov. 2006 - Returned to PP with mom and Kristin. Rebought everything we had lost/Dale and Marta had taken. Met with many people in the community, boys from the summer visited, ate, etc. We gave them each their own soccer ball. Met Pastor Millien and Wanbert who had started a Haitian school in Padre Granero where most boys lived. They pleaded for payment of teacher salaries at the least.

Dec. 2006 - Graduated from Tech with Bachelor's of Arts - Interdisciplinary Studies: Leadership and Social Change. Pastor Milien called saying teachers were struggling. I sent Christmas money and some savings to pay them that month.. thus beginning our consistent support of that school.

Jan. 2007 - Led a group of 14 VT student

volunteers to Puerto Plata for two weeks. We split into two groups. One group continued with the same street boys program that was begun in the summer of 2006 but extended it to last all day rather than just the afternoon. Many more boys were included and many showed great academic advances in just that week, learning their alphabet and such. Younger, unruly boys also began showing up. The boys did lessons and participated in activities in exchange for points. At the end of each week we set up a little store with donated clothing items and allowed them to use their points to purchase items at the little store. It was a huge hit!

The other group used funds raised to help finish a room on the back of a church we had partnered with in hopes of using the room to serve food to people in need. A few members of the group spent some time visiting clinics.. specifically a clinic that specializes in HIV/AIDS patients. They hoped to volunteer but really just were able to shadow a bit.

At the end of this trip, I stayed a few days longer. Kristin stayed one more day and I stayed three more days I believe. During this trip.. lemme back up.. there were a few boys we began letting sleep at the house as they really pleaded and said they slept on sand in the beach or on people's porches. They were from the smaller unruly group that showed up. We checked it out by letting them sleep on a mattress on the ground in one little room at first and they were so pleased by that. Then we let them sleep every night. There were also three boys who always came very late for their lessons because they would get beat if they didn't sell all of their sweets. They began wanting to run away from the man they lived with and hiding from him. So I was left with the situation of all these boys along with some older helper guys and then one artist man who was a good bit older (36) and really behaved well with this group and was sensitive for them. I was left to figure out what to do with them. He ended up agreeing to stay in the house with those that didn't have a home (without pay) and he took the three running away from the man they lived with to meet their family in Haiti. They all three said that their mothers had been tricked into sending them with this man and they just wanted to return to their mothers. This is how the boys' home began... Who'd a thunk it? haha. My flight left in the middle of the night so I took a taxi to Santiago and the man and three boys went in the same taxi, we then split ways.

So we left the house around.. 1am if I remember correctly. The man who the boys were running away from showed up at our house late that night before we left with another boy that lived with him, the older brother of one of the three, who was more on his side. He tried to take the man back and was very threatening and the boys were very adamant to not go back with him and so was I. He gave up and left but left threatening to harm them with witchcraft, etc.

rest of Jan. to March 2007 - we now had a very excited group at Tech and we did some good fundraising to support the new boys' home.

March 2007 - I went to visit Puerto Plata and six other members of our group came. My brother and a friend came at the beginning for a short visit.. then they left.. then the rest came. I was able to go down a little e

arly as I had already graduated. We brought book bags and supplies for over 30 boys. We gave them to boys who had been going to school regularly and then registered 26 I believe while we were three.. some in public school at night if they were at higher level and the rest at the grassroots school in Padre Granero.. and we gave them a book bag with supplies and tennis shoes after they registered and attended three days of school. They started a soccer team and we had regular practices during that stay. When I left, one volunteer who was not a student stayed for a month.. although he had planned to stay for a year. Things were harder and different than he or we could've expected.

March – May 2007 - I was constantly on the phone with leaders and boys at the boys' home. I did

my best to talk to them all individually, send them gifts individually, encourage them, do conflict resolution, everything from afar. April 16th there were the shootings on campus. I was in the stadium tutoring as that was my job throughout college -to tutor and mentor athletes. The events following that were surreal to me.. I had already mourned evil and such evil events when a friend's brother committed some brutal murders in high school.. then again when a boy I worked at a camp with did the same.. so this wasn't as shocking as my initial encounter with evil in that way.. and I didn't lose anyone close to me.. but the way campus changed, classes ended, etc. was so surreal.. and all of the mourning and the sweets sent from everywhere! But what was so weird is that I was so de

tached.. this whole spring I was so detached.. my body was in Blacksburg but my heart and mind and every other part of me was in Puerto Plata. I was present for that event but felt barely present.

May to Sept. 1st ish 2009 - 29 volunteers came.. boys' home.. grassroots schools.. took on another grassroots school although I did my best to not.. this one in Muñoz.. the people starting it wrote to me often before I went down and then visited the house almost daily looking for support! I helped them talk to volunteers to see if they could help raise funds.. one girl's mom’s church raised funds to pay teachers for three months. After that we were stuck.. and didn't have any trouble financially for some years. The boys' home was a roller coaster.. so many boys... new staff.. started paying staff.. changed homes.. at the end we ended up renting a house with land in the country. Lots of negotiating needed to get it. Oh, June 2007 we got non-profit status.Then I stayed longer than expected to make sure that all started well. At the home in the country we had paid staff to stay, oversee chores, make food, and then teachers. It was really controlled and really great for everyone who was in the program. And at this point I had become best best friends with Jireste who I later married and now have two kids with.

Fall 2007 - that summer had been rocky.. so much had gone on.. I

was not so available for volunteers.. some had gotten upset.. others were more on board than ever.. but we had all seen a lot that summer.. that this was a big and deep problem we were facing and it wouldn't be a quick fix. We continued fundraising and I spent a lot of time organizing finances and trying to organize a non-profit I could leave on the US end and go be in the DR full time.

Oct. 2007 - visited the DR and was so busy and spread thin during the trip. We also started Massie's Learning Center in Blacksburg. This stemmed from my relationship with my little sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters and her extended family and neighbors. Kristin and other PE people started joining me in outreach to them and we arranged with the owner of the trailer park to have a trailer free of rent in order to start a learning center. I wanted to leave something to serve the community as I would be leaving my little sister but their problems would remain. Kristin and her now husband Ken were very crucial in getting this going.

Nov. 2007 - visited the DR (Kristin went too) and was so busy and spread thin during the trip again.

Jan. 2008 - moved to the DR. Kristin had planned to come but as the date became closer decided she was more needed in the US and would maybe come later. She was very important in fundraising US side and in keeping Massie's Learning Center going.

winter/spring 2008 - I began teaching science and then some Spanish, reading, and writing in the boys' home school and taught English in an English school in the afternoons. I also did a lot of outreach to local businesses trying to find jobs/apprenticeships for boys and was able to place a few but the conditions were still difficult. I met with grassroots schools admin often, teachers sometimes, paid them, etc. In March I went home for an emergency fundraising trip which was super successful and raised enough funds to comfortably get us through the end of the summer.

summer 2008 - the boys soccer team continued although it wasn't active during the school year so it started back up and we split into two teams..younger and older. There was no school in the mornings but I still worked at the English school in the afternoons. We had a volunteer program but I was not so involved.. some days I interacted but not every day. Kristin was there during the whole summer pretty much. Moral got down a little at the boys home during the summer.. and it has been a pattern when there is the less structure during vacation. There were some heightened behavior problems and the full time staff member seemed to be burnt out. In August he decided to go back to Haiti and that left us with no one capable and available and trusted to take his spot. Right before he went back to Haiti, I went home for a visit. I tried fundraising but at this point couldn't get much going.

fall 2008 - We started the next school year with boys enrolling in public school and things got tough financially. It became impossible to pay rent on the big house in the country. Teacher payments remained stable but we rented a smaller place closer to town and just put older boys as there was no staff. I moved into an apartment with Jireste and we had two younger boys (young in comparison to others – 12 and 14ish) stay with us - Babi and Chinaider. Two other younger boys ran away into the streets before we moved out and when they wanted to be taken back in.. we had no way to do that. I ended up sending them to Haiti upon their request when they saw they could not be taken back in. We had one same and one different teacher at the new home. Things went well there. Things also went well with us with Babi and Chinaider. Things were tough.. but they went to school and behaved well, etc. My dad visited and Jireste and I talked to him about us getting married. He was overwhelmed for many reasons but still liked Jireste although it was hard for them to connect with language and cultural barriers. He asked us to wait. As the boys went to public school in the mornings, I took a job at a bilingual school here teaching math and art. I became quite overwhelmed after about 1.5 mos. and quit as I couldn't juggle the job and PE. I began teaching English and Spanish to a Russian student at that school 3 times a week.

winter 2008/2009 - Things got tougher financially. I started having more computer access and was able to do more updating and outreach at that point. I started having to pay teachers late or give them partial payments. I sold everything I had and everything PE had and now was not using as we left the big house trying to get through financial troubles. This is also when Etyenn got sick and I spent a lot of time tending to him. My private lessons with the Russian girl ended but I got a job with Channel Forge - a company a guy from CO started.. basically outsourced sales.. I was essentially a sales rep for companies in the US and would make sales calls for them, set

up sales meetings.. got paid by hour and commission for setting up meetings. It paid pretty well and I learned a lot and made some friends from it. I did this for almost a year.. at least 4 hours a day. I also, of course, continued to oversee the boys' home and schools. At this time people from Saman and the ODHS started to seek me out more too and I started helping them to organize their efforts and became a liaison between them and university groups

Dec. 2008 - I went home for my sister Sarah's wedding. This was the last time I would go home in over 2 years. Forgot to say, while I was working for Channel Forge I got to spend a lot of time at his office on the internet and I researched lots of foundations and began working on lots of grant proposals. This is how I found Global Giving and we got on it. I also searched lots of online jobs and began freelance translating and blog writing. It has, however, been a great way of outreach. I haven' t made any income from blog writing but originally started for that purpose. OH, I do get paid though, to write articles on factoidz. But I didn't get into this until Nov. 2010.

summer 2009 - Alison Smith came with Tulane med students and a doctor. I led them around daily for 2 weeks doing day the clinics.. loooots of translating, walking around, etc. 8 mos. pregnant. My parents and four friends came when Ilayas was due. He took 13 days longer than that and all but my mom had returned to the US. He was born Aug. 5, 2009. Jireste's mom came and stayed to help out after the birth and we didn't know she was coming with about 6 other family members. :) All to stay in our one bedroom apartment. Our landlady didn't let them stay though so they went to an aunt's in Santiago and just his mom stayed. At the end of the month of Aug. the boys' home landlord kicked the boys out them out and had them all arrested.. he was trying to frame one of them for stealing and no one believes that he even had anything stolen but just didn't want them there anymore and has police officer brothers so he had power to do corrupt things.They arrested Jireste too who was trying

to defend the boy he was framing. Thisgrew into an ordeal, we went to court a few times, and although the judge said the boys could return to the house for at least a month until the deposit was up, the landlord and family wouldn't allow it and reacted violently. So many back into the streets, many into our apartment with us. :) This lasted for a few months.

fall 2009 - a VT volunteer group came and I led them in doing geography lessons and activities in the Muñoz school.

Dec. 2009 - We had searched and searched for a new house for the boys but it was hard to find someone to rent to us in the same community we had been in, which we wanted to be in. We rented two rooms in a church for school and stored their beds and things in there for the time being. But finally we found a house that rented to us and it was in a location they were scared of.. a small wooden house with

out close neighbors. Many were scared to live there or would live there for a few days and then not want to, etc.

winter/spring 2010 - Jireste, Ilayas, and I went to Haiti a few times. We were very consumed by that and by overseeing the boys' home as it was hard to get started back up well... they needed a lot of support.. and I was at school every night. I had split with the pastor who did the Padre Granero school in Aug. 2009 and then met up with a head teacher who had also split with him and we started the school back up in Jan. 2009. so that needed a lot of TLC to get going too.

march 2010 - new VT PE student org came and started the Muñoz jewelry group and made some initial efforts on the Muñoz internet center. I led them full days during their trip and translated, took care of logistics, etc.

may 2010 - began writing on La Vida Idealist.

summer 2010 - The Tulane med student group came again. 10 days of day clinics in 8 different communities.. full days long.. this time with a 10 month old. Soccer team started

again. We didn't do it during 2009.. first year without the team. It was really fun to get everyone back together and they did really really well. They now participated in the men's league, although our team's age range was 12-29..average age probably 17... but they held their own for sure. The season lasted until Dec. We found a new house to rent for the boys' home in a much better location and they really settled in. Another group of Blacksburg and Northern VA ladies came and worked with the jewelry group, distributed soccer cleats to the boys' team, and visited other PE sites.

Two girls from England came and interned for two months..college sophomores so I oversaw them. They did great. Then two more interns came for three months.. older than the girls.. one from VA and one from... NJ I believe.. a Dartmouth graduate. One did great and the other was a bit of a burden. However, the one that was a burden worked with the jewelry group and we together allowed that to advance. This started a time of having

constant expats here.. either long term or short term.. and this kept me busy. Jireste and I finally got married. It had taken this long because we kept having to jump through

more hoops that cost money that we didn't have so it was step by step on that. We got Ilayas' American birth certificate and passport and applied for a visitor's visa for Jireste to visit the US but they didn't give it to him. They said he would be easier off getting residency but we didn't want to live in the US so they said try again after a year.

fall 2010 - I volunteered a little with Monkey Jungle in hopes of making a connection with another NGO and they gave us the opportunity where over the course of two full days I brought 12 or 13 people (10 or 11 boys and two women) to get some

awesome free dental care. Late Nov. I went home for Thanksgiving and got to be there when my sister Sarah had her baby Blake. I got to see so much of my family and to visit Blacksburg and stay with Kristin and participate in some student org fundraisers. :) Also got to visit good old bank - BB&T, change some people around on the account, etc. Began writing on factoidz. I also began doing private lessons again.. mainly employed by two women in Canada who support 6 kids here.. one supports one family and another supports another. One has a blog for her kids and I send her updates and she puts them on this blog. I call this social mediating and plan on making a blog or website to market it.

winter 2011- two Seeds of Self Reliance volunteers came and stayed in Saman and did some service with us, creating a garden at the boys' home. I worked with them some, took them around some, helped them out some.

Money got so tight. It had been tight before but we had always been able to eventually pay teachers off but at this point it became tight to where we kept getting behind on teacher payments and haven't, to present day, been able to pay them off. My dad started going through chemo and radiation for lung cancer so I went home with Ilayas for almost a month. It was great to spend time with family and friends. I called and visited restaurants to set up monthly restaurant nights for Winchester during this time. In Jan. Jireste and I moved out of the apartment we lived in since Dec. 2009 which was outside of the city about 10 or 15 min. and was fully furnished.. although it still had its vices. .inconsistent electricity and we didn't have a washing machine.. but we first moved into the tiniest of tiny apartments close to the boys' home. It was unbearable and we actually slept in the school some nights rather than in that apartment.. Oh just thinking of it makes me feel queasy partly because the toilet wouldn’t' flush well and there was no real separation between bathroom and bedroom/entire apartment as that was all it was.. plus.. I was getting into a new pregnancy and oh so sick to top it off. After a month we moved into where we are now which is bigger but no running

water and same toilet doesn't flush well problem (with pouring water in the bowl) and it has no furniture. We slept on the floor on mats for months.. until August or late July. We still have no fridge. We had no chairs for months as well.. now we have a kitchen table, and chairs, a bed, and thank the Lord after Maraya was born my parents sent money for a little washing machine. I now have internet and my computer here and there are still improvements that need to be made.. we have a serious mouse problem.. but it is feeling like home sweet home and we are not paying to use someone else's stuff that they will undoubtedly say we ruined even if we didn’t' and not give us back our deposit. We are close to the boys' home and school and always available for them.. and have really built some great relationships with neighbors. Ilayas has some best friends. :)

march 2011 - VT study abroad group volunteered with grassroots schools for 5 days. I led them, organized, translated, etc. I led the Dartmouth group that stayed in Saman around to see PE sites one day. I continued to work at the boys' home school every night. I believe it was this month that we started the movie theater in Muñoz, which I have had to be very present for when I thought I would not have to be and it would be an easy start up.

april 2011- some friends/visitors/volunteers came for a week and we did an Easter event in Padre Granero and I led them around a little more.

may 2011 - VT PE student org group did a week of activities. Kristin came and helped and stayed with the group but I was still spending a lot of my days with them too. Then some consultants from a group called Resortful Arts came and helped out with the art shop. Jireste and I were also their personal chauffeur.

They were here for about a week.. went and came back so it spread over two weeks. The jewelry really improved from their trainings!

june 2011 - visitors from Peaceworks and a university in Atlanta came and did a site visit.. I took them around for a day. Long term volunteer came to help out with the English camp. I spent a lot of time planning for that and working with her to rent a houseand get it set up, purchasing materials and moving beds, etc. And at the same time Alicia came to work in the art shop. When these two women came I was extremely busy as they came to work in two different areas and were both new and needing orientation. Whew! And I forgot to mention that my vehicle got taken away because I took a loan out of it when finances got really tough and ended up losing it not being able to pay it back. I mean.. the car was the.. in order to get the loan they had the title so when I couldn't pay it back.. they got the car. Sad but true.This was a car my dad had sent money for me to purchase after selling my vehicle, which he had also purchased for me, in the U.S., after Ilayas was born in 2009. So I began running around all over the place with a very large stomach and Ilayas in public transportation, which was tough, but we got through it. Ilayas I love him to pieces and would never leave him and go do something without him. The only time I ever really

have is I would leave him at the English camp to run errands nearby around town and left him with Jireste a little to have more uninterrupted time having long talks with volunteers summer 2011. And then when Maraya was born he stayed at home with Jireste two nights when I was in the hospital.. no boys allowed to stay. But he was there during the labor and waited outside with Jireste, Alicia, and Alicia's boyfriend during the c-section. Forgot to mention, I got a new little cheap crappy car after losing the first one but it broke down and I had no more funds to invest in it so it's been sitting here ever since.

summer 2011 - great group of volunteers came for the english camp. I organized the sponsorship of campers and rounding up sponsored campers and bringing them every morning. I came with them every morning and with Ilayas. I was there during the camp but would run errands and come back. It was really an awesome camp that we hope will go on for forever and it was successful in plugging volunteers into a project they can own. Then in the afternoons they served in the grassroots schools communities and got to visit other sites during their stay. We tried to get the english immeresion pre-school we planned to do up and running in the fall but it didn't fly.. need to advertise more in advance. It has great potential though. During the last week before school began Alicia, a woman named Sonia, and I really ran around trying to make this happen... going door to door,

etc. Alicia and a Romanian woman here moved into the house we used for camp and counselor housing and we turned it into a hostel. I still did english lessons there and picked up four new students which I gave lessons to right up to the birth of Maraya. Two weeks before Maraya was born we had teacher training which was awesome... a total moral booster for teachers. They felt fed rather than being the ones always feeeding. But attending this every morning was exhausting as I was so huge and running out of steam. I felt anxious in the last two weeks before giving birth.. staying up soo late at night to work on the website and do computer stuff I feared I wouldnt' have time to do after she was born.. and I was right!

Sept. 10th.. - she was born. :)

Sept. 10th - present - family time, home time.. I've had to go do some stuff but have mainly been at home and people have been coming to me (sigh). During the first few days at home my heart broke as my relationship with

Ilayas changed but we got used to it and my heart broke as I realized how much we had been separated from Jireste in the past few months. When we had the car we did everything together but after the car was taken away I just went with Ilayas and did not see Jireste for many times the whole day.. and when we got home at night we were so tired. Sometimes we barely talked. We often came home and he had made food or cleaned and organized. Now that I was still I realized this and was so overwhelmed with sadness. I've been trying to do what I can from here.. phone calls, e-mails, and internet outreach to get the art shop and hostel going stronger. And I've started doing lessons again

as of Oct. 4th. But from the house. I'll start doing them from the hostel building in Nov. but will do as much as possible from the house.

This covers the main events, not to mention the constant answering of e-mails, recording finances, writing updates, and meeting with teachers and leaders in the organization, etc.

Frequently Shared Concerns (FSCs)

2011-10-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

My Responses to FSCs (Frequently Shared Concerns) about Project Esperanza and My Personal Life Path Decisions

And some of these concerns are not necessarily frequently shared with me but I am aware that they frequently exist.

This post is in continuation to the Swim Down Together post. Some must think that I do all of these things, lead all of these efforts, and make all of these cries for help with an alternative agenda, a desire for power, and fame, or something negative. They must think that supporting the efforts would only encourage and support such negativity. Sometimes I think that others must just want Project Esperanza to fail for some reason, perhaps because they find it an ideal and unrealistic, perhaps they feel that its ideals conflict with the values and goals of their own lives in some way, or perhaps they are very accustomed to a paved path and see it as an anti-conformist organization and threat to their clear and paved path. I’m not sure. These are all just speculations. A final speculation is that people may not give the efforts and work much value and are therefore not motivated to make even si

mple efforts such as searching online with Good Search rather than Google or Yahoo, or to even read e-mails that notify of such simple opportunities. For whatever reason, I find that many do not wish to make even the most simple efforts to support.

Some people I think may fear that opening the door to any kind of support, no matter how small, may suck them into more or obligate them to do more, until this takes away from the lives they want.

Multicultural Marriages Can Be Trying

I have gotten what I guess we could call warnings from a few women regarding their own experiences with multicultural marriages. They have mentioned cultural differences being the hardest obstacle to get over. I agree that this is an obstacle but I also believe that it can create a rich family if handled correctly. However, I think that there is the danger that both my husband and I feel overwhelmed when completely immersed in the other's family and culture. Therefore, living in a country and culture that is neither his nor mine has likely been a good compromise. Our kids fit right in as well because the majority of Dominicans are actually biracial so they appear very Dominican, whereas they would be a minority in either of our respective countries. Here we are both minorities, which can be trying, but we both grew up in our home countries where we were part of the majority and have confidence that comes with that. It is good that our kids can grow up with that same confidence. We also spoke early on in our relationship much about the kingdom of God. Throughout our relationship we have sharpened each other and recognized aspects of our respective cultures that are positive and negative, worthy of cutting out and holding onto, thus seeking the kingdom of God, which doesn't practice any one culture.

Education of Our Children

I consider the matter in all aspects of the word and feel that a multicultural, trilingual education is quite rich. I have no intentions of allowing their formal education to suffer due to the poor education system in the Dominican Republic and plan to make efforts to keep that from happening. Additionally, I do realize that education is so much more than just the formal aspect. The practical aspect is just as important and I would argue that it could perhaps be richer here in the Dominican Republic than in the U.S. I feel as though preparing children to serve developing nations is much more of a service to God than preparing them to continually develop an already quite developed nation like the U.S., and the type of education they will receive here will do just that.

Too Many Projects Going On. You Will Burnt Out.

I am encouraged by something a leadership speaker I heard speak a few times at Tech said. He has images that he calls Habitudes and says they each teach something about good habits and attitudes of leadership. The one this reminds me of is one where there is a picture of…a factory or something.. and there are lots of spokes that turn connected to each other. One spoke in the center is very tiny and is surrounded by larger spokes. The smaller spoke is supposed to turn the larger spoke. In order for the smaller spoke to turn the larger spokes, it has to work very hard and turn many times for them to turn once. But there is hope for the small spoke because once the larger spokes get going, they generate more energy which actually then moves the smaller spoke. It is a lot of work for the small spoke (the leader) in the beginning, but it doesn’t stay that way.

Some people ask me if I think we have taken on too much and our efforts are spread thin. I then explain the reason behind things and the strategy then they normally don’t have any better solutions and see how things logically fit in. This page on our website gives somewhat of an explanation to our holistic approach to meet needs and reading about each program individually, along with its history where available, can give even more insight.

Too Much Honesty and Correctness

I have been told, throughout the life of Project Esperanza, that a “problem” is that I do everything correctly, without doing anything crooked. Many organizations use many tactics to raise funds that we don’t use but I find these tactics exploitive to the locals or deceiving to donors, etc. Hopefully there is reward in that and people can appreciate that and not punish it.

For example, there is an organization here that has one program that provides recreational activities to kids in a marginalized neighborhood but the recreational activities do not really affect their education..it just gives them something to do, which there is value in as well, I am not denying that. They charge $75 a day just to be driven around and introduced to the program and some of the families involved I believe. Many visitors are here on a wee

k’s vacation I believe and just want to take a day for such a humanitarian effort and are involved on the ground for a very short amount of time. The visitors are then led to believe certain things and made to feel like saviors. Many turn into sponsors. I have been told on several occasions how the director of the organization bad mouths every other organization in the area. She has lied to people who have mentioned wanting to meet up with me, saying that I am out of the country, and she has bad mouthed others to me in our few interactions as well. I have heard much of this organization from its beneficiaries who critique it and from a few ex-sponsors who saw through it and ended up getting involved with Project Esperanza. But the method continues to work and the director lives a comfortable life with a comfortable salary from the organization.

This is a different approach designed and led by someone with a different point of view. I don’t think it’s based in truth but on exploitation, deception, and unnecessary competition, and I could never take this approach. I guess I should say this approach is based on unnecessary competition if true service is one’s goal, but if making money is one’s goal then the competition is necessary. So what should I do, submit to the crooked ways of the world in order to bring in money like a mother who gives in and gets involved in prostitution to feed her family? I have faith that there are rewards in holding out…and I honestly wouldn’t even know how to get involved.

Too Many Locations & Facilities – Why not consolidate into one?

Here are the six buildings we rent with their monthly rental prices in USD: Muñoz school building ($263), Padre Granero school building ($79), boys’ home school rooms ($66), boys’ home residential building ($66), Muñoz art shop building ($66), and the English immersion camp and pre-school building/volunteer hostel ($658)…so a total of $1198. The art shop and English immersion camp and pre-school/volunteer hostel are basically sustainable at this point as far as rent is concerned. The only building that we had hoped to more quickly generate an income to pay for the rent of is the Muñoz school building through the movie theater but that has not yet been able to do so. But this building is completely necessary as the school was overflowing in the previous smaller building. I had just hoped to make it able to sustain itself sooner. In the Padre Granero school, it’s pretty ridiculous how they run class in the small rooms where sound is not really blocked from each other. You see that many of the buildings are very low price. They can’t be consolidated in any way as one would see if they were able to visit them. They serve specific purposes in the locations where they are and to consolidate would mean to cut out beneficiaries or to bus them, which would cost more than renting these buildings.

If Funds Can’t Be Raised, Expenses Should Be Cut

I appreciate being asked questions as I know when someone is being asked to invest in something they want to investigate to make sure it is a worthy cause, but I will say that the overall suggestion of cutting back on expenses is quite insulting. Again, we are running schools and paying teacher salaries on an income that most US residents don’t feel they can run a four person, three person, or two person home on. I work sometimes 12 hour days and have been for years and have not been able to ever take out a salary like most directors of organizations do, and not that I would necessarily ever want to if it could be avoided.

I see that the only solution is to increase the income, not decrease the expenses! The expenses should be reduced on the US side, generally speaking, if we were to truly believe in equality. By that I mean, people in the developed world should reduce their personal expenses or the countries as a whole should reduce their expenses in order to support efforts to develop developing nations.

Swim Down Together: Thoughts on Teamwork & Collaboration

2011-04-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

There is a scene in the movie Finding Nemo that depicts a beautiful picture of teamwork. There is another moving scene in the movie Gladiator which does the same. I used to dream of coaching my hypothetical daughter’s AAU basketball team and before key games, using these two movie clips as examples during inspirational pep talks. However, I have found use for them earlier on in life while I explain my hopes for effective teamwork and collaboration in efforts to develop impoverished communities and improve their quality of life. Project Esperanza was born to organize these efforts. I would like to describe one of these movie clips and the positive examples it portrays. While we have made great headway due to teamwork and collaboration, I can’t help but to continue to imagine the unreached potential that remains and to see simple opportunities for teamwork passed by; failed to be acted upon.

I would like to declare that I have no other agenda but to glorify God through loving his children in a wise, organized, truly impactful, and change-creating way. We need more teamwork…more collaboration to be able to successfully do that. In 2005 when Project Esperanza began, I never imagined I would be the director of a non-profit organization, president of a student organization, or even a real leader of a volunteer trip. I always imagined a simple life with a large, healthy family, surrounded by lots of animals and nature. I guess after I saw that my dream life was obtainable for me an American but truly unobtainable for so many others in other countries made it seem less sweet. I guess I couldn’t comfortably settle into such a life unless I knew that I was also actively making it also available for others where it wasn’t available before.

I remember sharing visions of what I thought should be done at Project Esperanza’s lunch meetings early on and sort of looking around the table along with everyone else present as if to wonder, “Who will lead us to do these things?” I really expected someone else to do it. But I soon realized that I would have to step up and act if I truly wanted any of it to get done and by continually stepping up, I grew into a position of leadership. My position was confirmed during critical times when a decision had to be made and I held strong to what I knew had to be done to move us forward. At times, this disgruntled a few others who I then realized lusted the position of leadership but didn’t actually make such sacrifices and investments to obtain it as I had. And I had not made such sacrifices and investments to gain a position of leadership but because they are what poured out of my heart, body, and soul in order to advance toward bringing visions to reality. I share all of this because I feel as though many are often reluctant to support Project Esperanza in even the most simplest of ways and one reason for this is that I always assume must be present is that they don’t trust me as the leader for some reason. I will address this topic further in my next post I plan to title “My Response to (FSCs) Frequently Shared Concerns about Project Esperanza and My Personal Life Path Decisions”.

If you have not seen the movie Finding Nemo, it is about a father and son clown fish that get separated from each other and then make every attempt to find each other. The father is accompanied by a blue fish named Dori. At the end of the movie, Marlin, the father, and Nemo, the son, are reunited. Minutes later, Dori gets caught in a large fishing net that is pulling hundreds of fish into a boat. Nemo, being small and having learned a teamwork method to battle such an attack, slips through a hole in the net to join Dori and lead the fish in the effort. His Dad protests but Nemo insists saying, “We have to tell all the fish to swim down together! We have to save Dori!”

Marlin collaborates, swimming along the net repeating, “Swim down together!” Nemo does the same from his position inside the net. Before long, the hundreds of fish that were just swimming frantically in every direction begin swimming down together and chanting the phrase in unison. They make headway, putting pressure on the part of the boat that held up the net. However, the fish at the top of the net have already been lifted out of the water and are therefore no longer able to contribute. They are now gasping for air. Therefore, their fate now relies on the fish below them in the net. The fish continue swimming down together until those at the top dip back into the water and can once again contribute. Now everyone swims down together, putting an intense amount of pressure on the board that holds the net, and it eventually snaps, allowing the net to crash into the ocean floor and free lots of gleeful fish. The event also rightfully shocks the men on the boat!

I get so much from this scene. First of all, how often do people go in their own direction when faced with a problem rather than collaborating efforts and sticking together? The effort is always more impactful when there is a team rather than an individual. In this situation shown in Finding Nemo, had the situation not been so urgent for those in the active position, there likely would’ve been hours if not days or weeks of discussion deciding whether or not “swimming down together” is the best option. People would be making excuses just for the sake of arguing or refusing to follow a leader. I have never put up with this sort of time wasting and arrogant bureaucracy but believe that the best policy is “Do something! People’s lives are on the line!”

Also, how rare are Nemo and Marlin as leaders in this situation? They were not the ones trapped, but out of compassion for those that were, they stepped in and led. They did not sheepishly yell from the sidelines, thinking that no one would listen, but they aggressively chanted with faith that others would catch on. Of course, their involvement was motivated because a good friend was trapped. I think this is common in real life. People get involved with a cause because a loved one has been affected. But when it comes to international development, how can you have a loved one that you’ve never met, who lives so far away, whose life is so foreign. If no other opportunity presents itself, out of love for God who loves all of his creations, you have to seek out such relationships.

An impacting part of this scene is the part where the fish at the top are gasping for air and their fate relies on those at the bottom. This has totally been the case with Project Esperanza. Many insensitive or ignorant Americans, (please don’t take offense as we know that each nationality, including my own, American, has the insensitive and ignorant as well as the sensitive and well-informed), like to understand that there is a simple solution that those we serve are choosing to not do or are too lazy to do. I can say with much experience that for the Haitian immigrants as a whole we serve, the barriers they face are extreme and most often unable to be overcome without assistance. The barriers are financial, educational, social, mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, historical, and probably more. This is similar to a group of fish caught in a net. Chances are slim. The only hope is a brilliant plan or series of brilliant plans and complete teamwork toward a common goal.

From a global point of view, populations like the Haitians we work with..the widows, the fatherless, the discriminated against, the ignorant… are like the fish at the top of the net who are out of the water and gasping for air. Their fate depends on others who are in a more capable position. Some of those from their own community who are in a more capable position may also be heading down the same path or facing the same dangers, although their situation is not currently as severe. It is wise that they all work together and don’t waste time or energy allowing any division or conflict enter between them. I feel as though I have acted more like Nemo. Being a privileged U.S. citizen and college graduate, my options are quite plentiful. But out of love for God and love for his fish that are caught in a powerful net, (and not his own net as referred to in Matthew 4:19 & 20 when Jesus says, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” but rather we can understand them as being caught in the Enemy’s net), I live in solidarity with those we serve and lead “swim down together” plans in order to free all of us from this evil net.

There are times, though, that we need more help and more strength. I am forever grateful for those that consistently pray, consistently support financially, and consistently visit, executing educational or service activities and bringing gifts. However, when it comes to me personally receiving support on my decision to jump into this net, I feel as though many people have the approach that that was a poor decision I made and they should encourage me to jump out of the net and return back to safety. Supporting me, even in the most simple ways, would only encourage this wrong decision I have made. To that mindset I want to say, “I’m not jumping out of the net. I want to see change. I want to see this net completely broken and everyone trapped in it freed. And in order to do that, I need to be in it as I am. This is not abusive to my son and future children. This is teaching them a life of service to God which is more important, more deeply fulfilling, and I think more healthy than a life where one is surrounded by entertainment, comforts, and conveniences of all sorts as is the argument that they are missing out on in the U.S. I will further address these concerns in my next blog post as well.

There is one extremely simple way people can support me personally and two extremely simple ways people can support Project Esperanza. It is when people do not participate in the extremely simple ways to support after many efforts to inform and remind that I have to wonder what the deal is and feel as though most everyone must be deliberately NOT supporting. Two of these ways have been going on with little to no success and the other is something new.

FIRST: Amway. I became and Individual Business Owner with Amway in September 2010. I wrote a blog about it on here, on La Vida Idealist, and I sent out support letters asking people to become Amway customers. There is no cost to become a customer. There are billions of great opportunities for Amway customers, things that most people already do and purchase, such as using a VISA credit card.

They also have a pretty awesome gift for any occasion called the Ribbon Gift Collection. The giver orders a gift of their desired price online and the receiver receives an album and gift card in the mail. The gift card contains a message from you and directions as to how one can redeem the gift on OrderMyGift.com and have it shipped to them free of charge. The album contains photos of the variety of gifts the receiver can choose from without ever knowing the sum of money spent by the giver. It’s a really neat concept and if I had any money to give gifts whatsoever I would send Ribbon gifts for weddings, birthdays, etc.

With a little bit of research over the site, I’m sure that the common consumer could incorporate the site into their regular shopping and really enjoy doing so. The post where I wrote about this blog is the most viewed post out of my 18 posts so far. However, I just a few customers. Until a few weeks ago my mom and one loan supporter were my only customers..registered customers that is…this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are active customers each month. A few friends recently signed up after I complained about this to them. But I find it strange that so many people would be interested in reading my post but so few willing to act on the request. I feel like it is such a simple thing that could begin generating a much needed monthly paycheck for me. So please give it a try! You just have to go here, then hit “Register”, then fill in your info, and you are eligible to make purchases from the site any time you like.

SECOND: Restaurant Nights. One of the most simple (I think) ways to support Project Esperanza is something we’ve been recently developing called Monthly Restaurant Nights. In the communities of Winchester, Virginia, Blacksburg, Virginia, the area of Northern Virginia, and New Orleans, Louisiana, supporters can eat at a different designated restaurant every first Tuesday of each month and the restaurant donates between 10 and 20 percent of those sales to Project Esperanza. This has HUGE potential and individuals who consistently participate and convince others to participate will really make an impact for Project Esperanza. You can read more and see schedules on our website.

THIRD: GoodSearch. Another extremely simple way to support Project Esperanza that few people participate in is GoodSearch.com. Those willing to set GoodSearch.com as their home page with Project Esperanza set as the charity they support or download the Project Esperanza GoodSearch toolbar will create a penny for Project Esperanza each time they search. Those who shop with GoodShop will generate even more. I don’t know why more people don’t do this one. Some may already use GoodSearch to support another organization, which is fine, but for those who don’t use it at all, I think it just doesn’t make sense. Rather than searching with Google or other search engines all the time that don’t benefit yourself or any cause at all, why not be intentional about your daily searching and use GoodSearch? Come on. Let’s swim down together.

Well, I hope that readers of this post will ACT on these things and not just read them for entertainment purposes.

SWIM DOWN TOGETHER!

Consumerism vs. Practicality

2011-02-28T03:06:00.000-08:00

I took a trip to the U.S. for two weeks around Thanksgiving. It was my first time going back in two years. It worked out perfectly as I got to see lots of friends and family around the holidays and my sister conveniently had her baby early so that I got to meet my first niece! I found that many things had changed and I also saw many things through a new lens after spending so much time being immersed in a very different world. Among other things, I was introduced to a Blue Ray and also learned who Justin Bieber is.

While I was home, I spent a fair amount of time in pawn shops and electronic stores such as Radio Shack and Best Buy because we are setting up some small movie theaters here in Puerto Plata to generate income for Project Esperanza’s programs here. So I took advantage of being in the U.S. by researching AV options. I actually got a great deal on some equipment, came back with it, and we are now just working on some final preparations before opening up our first movie theater.

During this searching and investigating, I felt very aware of the consumerism present in the U.S. and compared it to a more practical knowledge and lifestyle that is present here in the Dominican Republic. I found a portable DVD player at a thrift sale which I thought I could use for the movie theater but it didn’t have its charger. I took it to Best Buy and thought they would have the charger without a doubt. The first guy I talked to examined the DVD player and assured me that they didn’t make such chargers anymore. I got a second opinion who agreed that the necessary charger was out of the norm, but perhaps Radio Shack would have it. I told them both that I was surprised that a large store that specializes in electronics such as Best Buy wouldn’t be able to help in such a situation. In the Dominican Republic, someone would quickly find a phone charger with the same plug head and cut the wires if need be in order to attach the head to the proper source. If they couldn’t do this, people often just stick the bare wires right into the hole and get the job done. I have seen this done on a regular basis by kids as young as twelve years old and no one has gotten electrocuted yet! Were they now trying to tell me that this DVD player was no longer chargeable and I should get a new one? If they were, I wasn’t buying it… literally.

I went to Radio Shack. They did not have the charger but I could go to the DVD player company’s website and likely order it from there. Before heading back to the Dominican Republic, I visited a Radio Shack in another city. They had a selection of cords with different jacks and could connect them to the proper source. This was more practical and what I would expect from an electronics store. However, I left the DVD player at home so we couldn’t find the right fit. I ran out of time and headed back to the Dominican without the charger, sure that we would cut wires but wary of making a mistake and messing it up.

Upon arriving, I presented the DVD player to my husband and explained the dilemma. Within a few minutes we were at the house of one of Project Esperanza’s teachers who quickly lent us an all too practical piece of equipment. It had four jacks on one cord and a source that could be set on 3, 6, 9, or 12 volts. And it worked!

“Where did you get this?” I asked the teacher.

“At a store,” he replied.

“It’s genius!” No one else seemed that excited. A few days later I showed up at Project Esperanza’s boys’ home for Haitian immigrant boys who have come to Puerto Plata in “search of life” and face many difficulties upon arrival. I found the charger in the wet grass in front of the house, source busted, and cord torn. My husband had left it there overnight with one of the boys to allow him to charge his CD player. I immediately began arguing with him.

“It didn’t work!” he defended.

“But it wasn’t yours!” I insisted. “You can’t just break it!”

I knew that things would be worked out with the teacher later, but needed the plug to run the movie theater, so I tried searching around Puerto Plata. The first store I visited did not have it. The second store quickly sold me a source with the same settings, (3, 6, 9, and 12 volts), and six interchangeable jacks! This was just too practical!

I returned to the boys’ home the next day to find the four in one head had been salvaged, connected to the plug of a cell phone charger, and was being put to good use. I was glad to see that and was not a bit surprised.

I recently had a conversation with another La Vida Idealist blogger about raising our respective kids in our respective developing countries and the better educational opportunities that are available in the U.S. However, while our future plans are not set in stone, I conclude that I can bring better formal education to my kids here in the Dominican Republic, but the consumerism and ignorance led by the domination of large corporations in the U.S. seem to pose a serious threat to practical education which, I think, holds just as much value as formal education. So while I am ever so grateful for the opportunities I have received and continue to receive as a U.S. citizen and I tear up at the pledge of allegiance and the singing of the national anthem, at this point, I have little desire to go back to live full time in the U.S. I would rather use my blessed life to bless others where blessings are much scarcer. And I want to encourage others to do the same. Let’s share the wealth! Live in a developing country!

The Social Aid Mediating Agency: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

2011-01-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

I recently applied for an Echoing Green Fellowship for social entrepreneurs and was not one of the 12-20 of the 2,850+ applicants chosen. Therefore, I am posting my application here. Applicants apply for start-up surrort of a non-profit or for-profit organization that must be less than two years old and in the start-up phase. Project Esperanza is now 5 years old so I could not apply for support of her. But recently, upon request, I have been using skills acquired through directing Project Esperanza to perform services in the community that have been earning me a profit. I decided to organize and market these services in The Social Aid Mediating Agency: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. I have written up the contents to a website but have to finish with the new Project Esperanza website before I could work on this new website. I don't assume that this will be an agency that will provide an instant wealth of work, but will start off slow, be based largely on references, and grow and involve others over time.

Describe your idea for social change in one single sentence.

My idea is an agency that handles funds from loved ones in the developed world in order to help solve a problem faced by a local resident.

Describe your idea for social change in one single paragraph.

This agency will meet requests made by those in the developed world to assist loved ones here in Puerto Plata. It will be composed of a team of Dominicans, Haitians, and expats in the area who are familiar with the institutions and way of life in our city. The agency is committed to the development of society through partnerships with the developed world rather than the destruction and corruption of society through misunderstandings, miscommunications, and dishonesty with the developed world.

What specific problem in the world are you trying to solve? Where possible, use statistics and references to identify the size and scope of the problem.

Many Puerto Plata residents maintain relationships with members of the developing world. Residents often share problems they face with those abroad and request aid. Sometimes funds are sent to solve the problem. There are often barriers such as language, culture, lack of trust, and distance. When sent, the result of funds channeled is often the creation of a dependency of the receiver rather than empowerment. Misuse of funds can empower negative activity while the sender remains ignorant.

What, specifically, will be your programs or products? Who will you work with?

First, members of the developed world that wish to provide aid in response to a problem their loved ones in Puerto Plata face contact the agency through a website. After obtaining information, the agency determines whether or not we can mediate in the case. If we can be of service, we agree to assess the situation for a fixed fee. Through listening to the situation explained by both parties, a determined pathway is decided upon using the institutions and services available, mediated by a member of our agency. We will provide feedback to the funder as he or she receives feedback from the loved one as well. We will assist in areas of education, health care, legal, housing, financial, automobile, and purchases. Those who wish to give students a better education can request private tutoring, mediated registration in a language institute, computer school, or vocational school, and mediated registration into a private school. Our staff can attend health service appointments, court hearings, oversee housing and automobile repairs, assist in opening bank accounts, paying back loans, etc.

Describe the impact you hope to achieve. In what time frame? What specific metrics will help you determine whether your work is making a difference?

The goal is a shift in society where relationships between local residents and those abroad create less dependency and more positive growth and development. While local residents benefit from such transactions by being able to satisfy their carnal desires, this reinforces a system of depenency. The party sending the funds is in a dominant position and the party receiving funds is in a subordinate position. These relationships often remain as such or are ended without true positive development having occurred. This inhibits the receiver’s personal growth as he or she abandons personal efforts and becomes accustomed to a life that is not realistic over time. Through managing funds sent to meet basic needs and provide growth opportunities, the receiver moves from a subordinate position to an increasingly equal position. I hope to ensure that 100% of the cases the agency mediates follow this pathway. Cases that are determined to follow a different pathway will not be mediated by the agency. This will be measured by conducting simple questionares to both parties at the beginning and end of the agreement, as well as one year after the case.

How does this approach represent bold innovation versus the status quo?

Puerto Plata is extremely affected by visitors from the developed world. However, the result of contact with the developed world is, in many ways, the degradation of society. Prostitution is a problem here. The area is an attraction for sexual predators with little protection from the law enforcement due to lack of funding and professional training. Expats who live in the area often marry or form friendships with local residents. These people develop local knowledge and can therefore provide controlled assistance, thus influencing growth. There also remains a large population of visitors who live abroad but maintain contact with friends here. This agency combines the local knowledge of local expats and natives with the funds sent by visitors living abroad in order to provide controlled assistance and influence growth. This approach should reduce the sex worker industry by rewarding personal growth as opposed to personal exploitation. This approach takes an opposite pathway as sexual predators, a more effective pathway than those sending funds from abroad, and the same approach as expats living in the area but designed to serve a much larger group.

How much money will this organization need in the next 12 months? In the year after? How much have you raised so far? From whom? How do you plan to get the rest?

Lack of funds will not inhibit this organization from functioning since it is designed as a business with service fees charged but additional funding will allow the organization to function more comfortably. $25,400 is needed in the next 12 months. $30,000 is needed for the year after. So far I have raised just $320 from people abroad paying for my services to aid loved ones here. If I am not awarded this fellowship, I plan on officially launching and advertising the agency and covering all costs through service fees.

Your interest in starting this organization makes you unlike most people. What in your personal, academic, and/or work history compels you to dedicate your life to this idea at this time?

Since 2005 I have dedicated my life to launching and running a non-profit organization called Project Esperanza which serves the Haitian immigrant population in Puerto Plata. The Social Aid Mediating Agency is an embodiment of the marketable services I can offer as a result of the skills I have gained and, while providing valuable services, will simultaneously serve as a for-profit organization to support myself financially. The time is right as Project Esperanza is at a point where I can begin to step back but remain on call. However, perhaps I should answer what compelled me to ever co-found Project Esperanza. I was a high achiever academically and athletically throughout my school career in the U.S. I was also highly burdened by injustices throughout the world. I grew up on a farm with a strong love to care for animals. This grew into a love to care for and to protect people. As a Sophomore in college, I followed my instinct to volunteer in the Dominican Republic with a volunteer organization. My heart has been here ever since. I can’t contain the socially generative ideas that enter into my mind and can’t keep myself from acting upon them.

What skills or experiences demonstrate that you will be able to attract money, people, and other resources to your idea?

Through serving in the Puerto Plata community with Project Esperanza I have gained great insight into the institutions here, have built many relationships with community members, volunteers, and frequent foreign visitors, have developed cultural understanding, and have perfected my language skills in both Spanish and Haitian Creole. I now realize, after receiving requests from visitors from abroad, that I possess skills that can be marketed to perform a high quality, highly demanded service. I have quite a bit of fundraising experience and proof of my fundraising ability with Project Esperanza which has maintained a monthly budget fluctuating between $2K and $5K since January 2007. We have raised funds strictly from grassroots fundraising efforts, merchandise sales, and individual donors. However, I do not intend to do much outreach for the Social Aid Mediating Agency in comparison because without having a website or advertising the services, people contact me with specific requests. Also, I am a contributor on the La Vida Idealist network with Idealist.org. This draws lots of interest as well. I frequently receive e-mails from people wanting to volunteer.

What evidence do you have of your ability to overcome challenges and adversity?

As anyone who has been following Project Esperanza since it began knows, we have faced one challenge after another. Our efforts here began with a street census we conducted during the summer of 2006 where we collected information on the group of society that was visibly in the most need: the shoe shiners and street vendors. We soon learned that this group is largely composed of teenage Haitian boys who face great dangers in leaving their families and country to come to the Dominican Republic in “search of life”. This street census led to the development of a program specifically focused on this group of boys. However, we learned along the way that pulling this group out of poverty and helping them transition to educated men and productive members of society is not easy, especially when faced by discrimination. Nonetheless, the program continues today with many members of the original group beginning to take on leadership positions. Additionally, I am married to a Haitian man and we have a 15 month son. Our financial situation has been difficult and we face social opposition but we, like Project Esperanza, have persevered.

A Comparison Between Gandhi and Jesus

2010-12-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

When I was a Junior at Virginia Tech in 2006, I took a class focusing on the life of Gandhi. It was extremely interesting and insightful. As a final project, I did a comparison of Gandhi and Jesus. I wrote a paper but could only find this summary. I think it’s important to compare the two men when considering Gandhi’s life and work because so much of what he believed was inspired by Jesus, although Gandhi never did accept the Christian faith as his own but remained a Hindu, which I learned to be a pretty fluid faith without solid beliefs in one thing.

In addition to studying the life of Gandhi, there are similarities found when studying the life of other social movement leaders and those who practiced nonviolent resistance in order to bring about change. However, I do believe that Jesus was the first to practice, preach, and embody these concepts and it is important to give credit where credit is due.

I recently submitted this comparison to be published on a site I have been writing articles for called Factoidz. They did not wish to publish this article so I am sharing it here. Nonetheless, Factoidz is quite an enjoyable site that pays authors according to the number of views articles receive. If you would like to write articles for Factoidz too, you can sign up through my affiliate link, which gives me a little bonus should you be promoted to a staff writer one day and saves you from a longer application process.

Here is A Comparison Between Gandhi and Jesus:

Similarity:

Large crowds would gather to hear them speak. They were highly attractive to people and carried a unique message.

Difference:

Lots of what people today have learned about Gandhi is from his own recorded thoughts. There are four recordings of the life of Jesus, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. None of these were recorded by Jesus himself.

Similarity:

Both men believed that everyone should love their enemies.

Difference:

The two men differed as to whom and what should be considered an enemy.

Similarity:

Both men led movements and acquired a group of followers.

Difference:

Jesus’ followers had a stronger commitment than Gandhi’s followers. Even after the death of Jesus, many of his followers died for him and many more came to follow him.

Similarity:

Both men reached out to people that were the outcasts of society. Gandhi reached out to the Untouchables in India. Jesus reached out to the prostitutes and tax collectors in his time. He also reached out to Samaritans as recorded in John 4.

Difference:

Gandhi sought Truth and equated God with Truth. Jesus claimed to be the Truth as recorded in John 8:32 and John 14:6.

Similarity:

Both men greatly influenced their communities and other communities around the world.

Difference:

Jesus’ influence has been much greater and his time on earth was much shorter. Jesus died at age 33 whereas Gandhi died at age 79.

Similarity:

Both men opposed authority figures. Gandhi opposed the British authority whereas Jesus opposed the Sadducees and Pharisees.

Difference:

Jesus did not break the law but Gandhi did. Jesus was blameless and pointed out the wrong doings of the authority but did not break the law. (Mark 12:13-17, Matthew 5:17, John 18:23, Luke 23:39-43)

Similarity:

Both men took the burden of others onto themselves.

Difference:

They went about taking the burden of others onto themselves in different ways. Gandhi volunteered to fast for others to make peace. Jesus did not volunteer to undergo torture was captured. He did not fight back or refuse abuse. It is recorded that he dreaded taking on the burden of others but knew it must be done and accepted the torture he knew he would undergo. (Matthew 26:36-39, Luke 22:24, John 12:27)

Similarity:

Both men were killed for their causes.

Difference:

Gandhi died and left his followers without his leadership. The Bible records that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his followers. As a follower of Jesus, it is written that one is baptized by the Holy Spirit, (Luke 3:16), and Jesus promises that he will be with his followers forever, (Matthew 28:19, 20 & John 16:33).

Testimonies to the Existence and Use of Magic in Haiti

2010-12-29T05:01:00.000-08:00

Ever since I began doing volunteer work in the Dominican Republic in 2005, different people started suggesting that I read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. If you have not read or are not familiar with this book, it’s about the life and work of Dr. Paul Farmer who is co-founder of a non-profit organization called Partners in Health which does significant health care activity in Haiti and in other developing countries. I go through stages of reading a few books and then not doing any pleasure reading for long periods of time. A few years ago a friend got me the book for Christmas but I still did not get a true hankering to read it until I heard that Dr. Farmer would be speaking at Virginia Tech, my alma mater, last year. I found the book to be very enjoyable, educational, impressive, and thought-provoking. I was especially interested in Dr. Farmer’s unique and quirky, yet nurturing upbringing that likely had a large influence on him turning out to be a very intelligent and high achieving man with a pioneer spirit.

Through reading Mountains Beyond Mountains, one can really gain an understanding of Dr. Farmer’s views regarding world poverty and health care for the poor. There were several points throughout the book where I wish I was reading it as a part of a class or a book club so that we could discuss certain points. I won’t talk about every point I would have liked to have discussed but just one main issue.

Early on in the book, the author recounts a conversation he observed between Dr. Farmer and a Haitian patient. The patient told Dr. Farmer that she believed that her health problems were caused by a magical attack done by someone that was angry with her. Dr. Farmer told the patient that magic does not exist. Through living and working with Haitians I hear continuous talk about magic. I have always heard of this magic referred to as voodoo in English but I rarely hear Haitians use the world voodoo. I have also never seen or heard reference to voodoo dolls coming from Haitians. They talk about someone going to a “boko” or a “mambo” When asked what a “boko” is they often say someone who serves Satan or who knows how to use magic. A boko is a man and a mambo is a woman. People go to a boko or a mambo for a number of reasons. In exchange for money and sometimes under certain circumstances such as certain materials provided, a boko or mambo can supposedly kill someone with magic, witness a situation or find out the true story without actually being there, make someone sick, make someone crazy, make someone receive money, make someone fall in love with the person desiring, give someone the power to disappear, heal someone from a physical or mental sickenss inflicted by magic or Satan, put someone into a state where they appear dead and then later raise them from this state, raise someone from the dead to serve as a slave, give someone the power to disappear, give people the ability to transform into certain animals, and more.

After hearing so many accounts from so many Haitians, I think that it is unwise of Dr. Farmer to conclude that magic does not exist and to state this with authority to Haitian patients. Anyone who believes in the Bible should also not ignore such accounts as such things are also recorded in the Bible. 1 Samuel 28 tells of Saul going to a spiritist and calling up the spirit of Samuel to give him insight as to what David was up to. Perhaps Dr. Farmer’s thoughts on this issue were misrepresented by the recorded conversation and he has further thoughts on this issue. I don’t know. I would be interested in talking to him about it as well as with other foreigners working in Haiti or with Haitian immigrants or refugees in another area such as we do in the Dominican Republic.

Although I have not witnessed many of the things Haitians assure me exist and they have witnessed, I have witnessed some and therefore have to conclude that magic of some sort does exist and it is Satan’s tool. It is also not a joke or a game as some might think it is. An American might hear the word magic and think of a magician pulling bunnies out of hats or making little balls disappear under cups. Haitians know nothing of this sort of magic and the word has a totally different meaning. Magic is not something that people should submit to out of fear, just as one should not submit to Satan out of fear. But it is something that should be taken seriously. 1 Peter 8 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil is prowling around like a lion looking for someone to devour.” I often hear bits of this verse stated in reference to mambos, bokos, and people involved in magic or witchcraft, saying that they will eat you. My husband is Haitian and has spoken seriously and firmly with me about magic ever since we met. He gets upset when friends or family have any sort of involvment in magic. People have spread rumors in the past that he used magic to make me fall in love with him. This is an accusation that has highly offended him.

The main situations I have witnessed have been illnesses and the disappearance of items and money. I have witnessed several people with illnesses that are understood by Haitians to be zombies, demon possession, or a spiritual attack of some kind but will mention two cases here as examples. In 2007, a member of our program for Haitian refugee boys working and sometimes living on the streets of Puerto Plata became ill. He first started acting strange when a fight broke out and there was lots of commotion. The fight got diffused and then I thought that this boy was fighting but after observing further, saw that he was on all fours and about three or four large boys were on his back, trying to hold him down. One boy was laughing at their inability to contain him. Soon after, he laid on the ground unconcious. Staff members carried him to a hospital that was located conveniently right across the street. The doctors had him stay for a few days and diagnosed him with epilepsy. I was very busy during these few days and unable to visit him. When he was released, he continued having attacks. They did not appear to be seizures and members of a Christian Haitian church said that we were wasting our money at the hospital. These were spiritual attacks and prayer would heal him.

One evening he was having attacks and we took him to the emergency room where they gave him a strong tranquilizer injection. We assumed that he would sleep through the night but after a few hours, he was having strong attacks, biting the sheets on which he laid and attempting to bite himself and others. We held him down and prayed for him. At one point he called the name of the staff worker next to me and said, “There’s a demon walking in my head. When he finished saying that, I felt a wind come from him and turned my face to avoid taking the wind straight on. As I did this, I saw that the man next to me he had just spoken to did the same thing simultaneously with me. We continued praying throughout the night and the boy prayed some himself as well. He eventually became peaceful and slept. Before becoming sick, this boy had asked to return to his family in Haiti. I had been reluctant to send him since no one could go with him to assure that he arrived safely and it was where he should be. However, after his sickness and other mayhem that went on in the large group, I realized that the responsibility was too great and sent him back along with a few others. No one has seen or heard from him since. Therefore, we have no update on him. During the few days between the long night of prayer and the day he left he did not have any attacks. This is one of several examples I have witnessed and helped care for here.

There is another young man who walks the streets of Puerto Plata selling ice cream every day. Everyone calls him “Dyab” which means “Demon”. He apppears mentally handicapped or restricted mentally in some way although I haven’t spent a lot of time with him. Those that are from the same place as him in Haiti, including my husband, say that his father had a boko do something spiritual to him that causes him to be in this condition. They explain that as a child, he was very uncontrollable and violent. His father made the decision to mentally handicap him in order to control him. His father did this by going to a boko and paying him to use his knowledge and power to put his son in this state.

These cases would likely be understood and explained as something different by psychiatrists in the United States. However, I remember learning about medical framing in a History of Disease and Medicine class I took at Virginia Tech. Framing is basically recognizing a group of symptoms and defining them as a disease. Many illnesses diagnosed, especially mental illnesses, do not have tests that can be run to measure anything in the body to prove the presence of a specific illness. To me, this is evidence of the spiritual nature of the illness. Understanding that diseases are framed somewhat arbitrarily helps to open one’s mind to the different ways illnesses are understood across cultures. Hopefully this also helps Americans to open their minds to the possibility that Haitian understanding of such illnesses may be more accurate or at least worth considering and learning from. For more information on this topic and the use of psychiatric drugs in the US, check out this very informative documentary video made by the mother of a classmate of mine that committed suicide shortly after our high school graduation. His suicide was linked to the psychiatric drugs he was taking for depression at the time.

While spending time in Haiti, I spoke with a pastor, a judge, and other community leaders about the subject of witchcraft or supernatural acts of Satan. I did not seek out community leaders and specifically ask them questions about this but just through passing time in the community and experiencing different things that happened while I was there, such as the dealth of community members, these conversations came about. Before these conversations, the majority of the testimonies and stories I had heard had come from boys in our program in Puerto Plata, as well as Haitian staff members and neighbors. I definitely considered these accounts, but after spending more than a week with my husband’s family in a remote community in Haiti, experiencing life there, and talking with these community leaders, I reflected on Paul Farmer’s comment I read stating that magic does not exist and realized that if that is the approach taken by humanitarian efforts in Haiti then I think it is an insensitive and arrogant approach that gives no value to the testimony of millions of Haitians.

To be scientifically clear, I have not personally listened to the testimony of millions of Haitians but I have listened to at least 100 testimonies in Puerto Plata from people representing various regions of Haiti and at least thirty testimonies from a community outside of Cap Haitian. All have spoken affirmative to the existence of the magical works I mentioend earlier and no one has yet spoken in the negative. These testimonies have come from Haitians of all ages, varying educational levels, and varying levels of personal involovement with magic.

One boy who has been in and out of our program told me about growing up in a household that worships Satan and the sun. I was confused when he told me that they would leave offerings to Satan such as plates of food and Satan would eat them. After asking for further explanation, he told me that Satan could eat the food in different ways. After leaving the food, you could go away and come back to find it gone, not knowing exactly what had happened. Or a force could come over you and you yourself could eat the food or throw it somewhere before coming back to total consciousness. After regaining awareness you are unclear as to what happened.

I also mentioned that I have experienced the disappearance of items, especially money. Before this began happening, I had been told several times that there were people who could disappear, go and steal without anyone seeing. I had also heard of people just having to get near you in order to somehow steal your money without ever touching it. Lots of people that go to a boko go and make some sort of an effort to get money. While Dominicans generally look down upon Haitians, some make trips to Haiti in order to seek out bokos, usually with the ambition of getting rich. A teacher with Project Esperanza used to work as a guide in this area, leading visiting Dominicans to bokos in Haiti. He then became a Jehovah’s witness and quit doing this.

I have experienced several occasions where money has mysteriously disappeared. At first, I accused those nearby and got upset but after a few times, I learned to keep my cool as I realized that accusing people and getting upset only seemed to make things worse and wrongly turn me against others. Yes, people have been responsible for taking money before but there have been several times when that possibility was completely ruled out.

One example is when I ate at a cafeteria and had a zipper wallet in my hand. It had a 500 peso bill and a 200 peso bill. I checked intentionally before eating and saw this. I held the wallet in my hand the whole time and no one touched me. After eating, I opened the wallet to pay and the 500 peso bill was missing. I am 100% sure that the bill was securely in the wallet before and that no one touched the wallet.

Another example happened this past summer when Project Esperanza co-founder Kristin Preve was visiting, along with the Tulane Medical student group. I was on the soccer field at soccer practice. I pulled a zip lock baggy from my purse that was full of change and sent someone to buy water. I then put it back in my purse. Kristin then showed up at the door at other end of the field. I yelled over to her, asking her to bring the guagua (van) full of volunteers over to the other door so that I could pay the guagua driver without having to walk across the field. After a few minutes, the guagua sat outside of the door I was near. I went over and stood by the driver window to pay him for the day’s services. I gave him some money from my pocket but then needed to complete with money from the change bag. I searched all through my purse and couldn’t find it. I went back to the soccer field where I just was and couldn’t find it. I asked the boys on the soccer team that stood around and they searched. I then had to tell the guagua driver that I would finish paying him tomorrow and he took the volunteers back to the hotel. Kristin never got out of the guagua as I paid the driver. The only time she got out was when she appeared at the other end of the field, about 100 yards away. We never were in contact with each other. Additionally, no one that was outside of the guagua got in the gaugua at this point. I just went to the window and paid the driver. Later that evening, Kristin found my bag of change in her purse which she had with her in the guagua. We confirmed that it was the same bag. How the heck did it end up there? This sort of thing has happened on too many occasions. Luckily we found the money this time but on several occasions I have not.

It is probable that Dr. Farmer told his patient that magic does not exist because he did not want the patient to engage in continued conflict with the person she believed had sent an illness upon her with magic. He also likely believed that the case could be solved with modern medicine. That is very reasonable and I think it’s important to try to lessen conflict in such situations. However, there is value in exploring the spiritual realm as well when considering the health of individuals and communities. I think that this is an area that Haitians specialize in.

By Faith We Continue

2010-12-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

Below is an essay I wrote for a Faith and Development essay contest put on by the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA) and the SEVEN Fund. As my essay was not chosen as a winner, it will now serve as a nice addition to my blog. However, I was awarded second prize in an If I Had a Million Dollars essay competition. The essay and a section about Project Esperanza will be published in a book in the spring.

By Faith We Continue

We began by executing business ideas left and right with the faith that our efforts would produce fruit. In order to create change we would need money; money to pay rent on a house to feed, teach, and provide shelter for street kids. We would need money to pay Haitian immigrant teachers to run grassroots schools that educate children and keep them out of the streets and money to pay for odds and ends such as purchasing chalk or items for someone’s shoe shine kit. Lastly, we would need money to get ourselves there and then back again.

I remember when we executed our first fundraiser. It was a chilly Saturday morning in November 2005. We set up a table outside of Wal-Mart and sold Project Esperanza t-shirts, coupon books, raffle tickets to win a football autographed by the Virginia Tech football team, and did face painting. The Friday morning before this first fundraiser we met at the chapel on the Virginia Tech drill field and prayed. We asked God to bless our efforts and had faith that He heard our prayers. We did not strike rich off of that first fundraiser but did make seed money for further fundraisers. Every Friday morning we met and laid our requests before God. We had faith that He heard us and He showed us that He did. We continued fundraising, designing more t-shirts, and found local stores to sell them in. We sold mistletoe at Christmastime, held a thrift sale, 5K race, and executed various other ideas.

As a group, we raised over $30,000 which we used to serve in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic that summer. Though we started by working on the construction of a neglected public school, our main summer project began when we ran a street census in which we met hundreds of Haitian boys who had left their home country “in search of life”. They walked the streets daily, some shining shoes, others selling different food items such as hard-boiled eggs, peanut brittle, or coconut sweets. They started showing up daily at the house we rented, so we began serving lunch, teaching lessons, and playing games such as musical chairs, hot potato, and soccer. We faced challenges in setting things up and had nay-sayers among us, but we kept the faith and kept up the prayer, which saved us.

The summer ended and we took over the long-term rent of the house so that we would have a place to come back to. And we came back as often as possible. We soon learned about the faith of these shoe shining, street vending boys we had met. They crossed the border from Haiti to the Dominican Republic and walked through the woods for days in order to avoid guards and arrive in Puerto Plata. They also executed their business plans in order to make ends meet and to, in some cases, send money back home. They faced so many challenges; challenges much more extreme than anything I had ever encountered. Their faith further sharpened our faith.

I took special joy in helping them organize their personal business efforts. We began a little bank to help them save money and to show them where there money was going. I often helped them purchase shoe shine kits and materials, making a contract outlining their agreement to work certain hours after school and give back half of their earnings until the start up costs invested were paid back. I didn’t make back my money in most cases but introducing the concept of a contract and a business agreement was worth it. Some of them began acting as middle men, purchasing jewelry from local artisans at low prices, then sending the jewelry with me to the U.S. to sell. I brought back their profits and they bought things such as clothes, bikes, and chickens.

I remember the first time we did this. Two boys purchased ten bracelets each and watched excitedly as I packed them up in my suitcase. However, their excitement soon turned into conflict when one suggested that they separate the money between the two, regardless of whose bracelets sold. The other disagreed as he had carefully chosen his bracelets and did not want them mingled with those of the other. A heated discussion broke out which almost turned into a physical fight. I yelled at them to stop! They couldn’t let the business break them apart! I gathered them together and we prayed over their business and their friendship. They were soon smiling. Three years later, these two are still friends and they still wheel and deal together. I keep an eye on their wheeling and dealing to make sure that it does not get them into trouble, as well as look for healthy business opportunities for them.

Now Project Esperanza celebrates her fifth birthday. What began as a Virginia Tech student organization in 2005 is now a registered non-profit organization in both the United States and the Dominican Republic. Our faith-based and business minded fundraising efforts have allowed us to generate a steady income to cover a monthly budget that has fluctuated between $2,000 and $5,000 since the beginning of 2007. More importantly, we have generated funds with specific sensitivity to those we serve, being sure to protect and not exploit in any way. We have also been as clear and transparent as possible, taking out no administrative salaries to run the organization but relying on part-time work opportunities and personal business efforts to make ends meet.

In Hebrews 11, we find that “faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.” Time and time again we have acted on faith, taking steps without the visible and tangible security that everything would fall into place. This can appear crazy to those who lack faith. We can imagine how Noah appeared as he built the ark. And even those who have faith may question whether or not the God that you claim to have faith in is the same God that they claim to have faith in. They may question whether or not your efforts are truly carrying out His will. This causes many to observe but few to invest or risk much. But as we continue to overcome challenge after challenge, those observing cannot help but to admit that God whom we have faith in is in fact acting with us. He is our leader and counselor.

We are now faced with challenges in getting our first local business up and running. This business will be located in an area where we run a grassroots school which is also close to a tourist resort. The school provides education to about seventy Haitian immigrant children who mainly live in small one room houses with several family members and eat one or two meals a day. With tourist excursions passing through to “see the countryside” on a daily basis, social stratification reaches its peak. Passing tourist excursions include horse drawn carriages, four wheelers, horseback riding, and go-karts. Kids from the community have learned to run up to horse drawn carriages and beg. A complete image of royalty and peasantry is the result. The profit from these excursions goes to those running the excursions. Nothing goes toward developing the struggling community they pass through.

The business we are setting up is an internet center and gift shop. Passing tourists will be invited to stop by to receive information about Project Esperanza and the efforts we are making to develop the community, to purchase local artwork, and to use the internet. Volunteers have been forming a women’s group among mothers in the community, teaching them to make various forms of jewelry out of purchased and donated materials as well as beautiful indigenous seeds. The women are anxious to have a spot to sell their work. Other artisans include painters and a basket weaver. Food such as delicious homemade peanut butter will also be sold.

We have invested resources toward launching this new business but have steps to take before things are actually up and running. With limited resources, one can only act on faith. Many in this country do things similarly. They invest what they have to build a house halfway and have faith that they will be able to finish it one day. Getting this business up and running will likely lead to a necessary breakthrough for us. The income generated will provide financial stability, independence from U.S. funds, support from the visiting tourist population, and start-up funds to execute more business ideas, thus providing more work for local people.

When resources are abundant, it is easy to act without true faith. But at times like this, when you are almost there but have spent all that you have and have exhausted all of your resources, there is nothing else to do except pray for doors to open and ask God for more faith as you’re knocking and waiting. Bondye pa janm komanse pou li pa fini. God doesn’t start anything that he doesn’t finish. And out of loyalty to God our leader, we don’t either.

A Haitian Thanksgiving Tall Tale

2010-11-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

This is actually from 2009:

Since living and working with Haitian immigrants in Puerto Plata, I have heard many crazy stories, accusations, and understandings of things. I think I am fairly open minded when being told about various magical accounts such as people that are able to turn into animals in Haiti. I am careful not to completely and quickly disregard something several people say they have seen with their own eyes. Sometimes I add in my own knowledge, such as when I was told that mice sprout wings and fly when they grow old. I first replied by saying that I had never heard of, or seen that. Then, while flipping through a science book with one of the boys, he pointed to a picture of a bat, saying that this was a mouse that had grown old and sprouted wings. I was tickled, now understanding how this claim came about, and told him that I didn't believe that to be true. I had seen baby bats and they were born with wings. I was sure that bats and mice were different species. (Species happened to be one of their science vocabulary words at the time).

For the past year and a half or so, Haitians have been telling me that they hear the United States will soon run Haiti. I always reply that that is something I often hear from Haitians but have not heard from Americans either by word of mouth or in the news. Therefore, I didn't believe it to be true. Lately, several people have reported that Haiti no longer has a president but that Bill Clinton is running the country. I know that Hillary Clinton, if not Bill as well, visited Haiti, and perhaps Bill's foundation is leading or plans to lead some development efforts there, but I am pretty sure (correct me if I'm wrong) that Bill Clinton will not be running the country.

This, then, often leads to them asking me my thoughts on the matter, as well as them sharing their own thoughts. Would I be in favor of the U.S. running Haiti? When asked this, I reply that Haitians declared, fought for, and gained their independence for a reason. I think they should believe that they have the potential to lead their country and lead it well. Foreign aid, in reference to much more than money, is great and necessary because foreign countries have access to more resources and have successful practices that should be learned from, but there is a difference between aid and domination. Haitians, or any other country in a similar situation, should work together with those who want to aid, and be careful of those who want to dominate. Their independence, as well as their unique and beautiful culture, should not be compromised.

Sometimes, after hearing a piece of gossip or news that seems stretched, I imagine a huge game of telephone. The other day, one of our grassroots schools teachers wanted to confirm the truthfulness of some things he had heard about American history. One thing he said delighted me and I feel the need to share it with you all as Thanksgiving is approaching.

We talked about Christopher Columbus, who Haitians and Dominicans know, discovered their island, Hispañola. At the time, the island was already inhabited by Taino Indians. We talked about the use of the name Indian. He wasn't aware of the origin of the name or the term "Native Americans". We then talked about the early settlement of the U.S. He said that he had heard that the U.S. is a country that is very blessed. He heard that one time there was no food and the people were praying and praying. Then, before long, turkeys fell from the sky, providing food! After a good laugh, I took the opportunity to share the true Thanksgiving story with him.

What are you thankful for? I'm thankful for my friends and family here that never cease to make me look at life in a different way. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Monkey Jungle & Lessons on Volunteer Medical Efforts

2010-11-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to visit and help out with a free medical clinic run by an organization called Haitian and Dominican Assistance Cooperation (HADAC). This past weekend I was able to go again and bring 12 beneficiaries of our programs to receive wonderful and free dental services. I am incredibly grateful for the teeth that were pulled and capped as well as the cavities that were filled! I also had a fun time interpreting and helping out.

The clinic is located at a tourist attraction the organization recently opened called Monkey Jungle. The whole deal is essentially a profitable business set up to generate funds to run the clinic which serves Dominicans and Haitians in need. It simultaneously gives tourists a way to have fun while giving back to the comunity they are visiting. This type of thing is exactly what this country needs. Honestly, I have seen more examples of money coming from the tourist industry supporting negative (or neutral at best) practices toward or among those in need than supporting positive practices. Therefore, harvesting such resources to serve people medically is a wonderful example!

Monkey Jungle and the on site clinic are located just outside of Sosua, nine kilometers down a road called Los Chocos. The tourist attraction includes zip lining, a wall climb, a caged in jungle with monkeys roaming, a restaurant, and a gift shop. The price for zip lining is 2000 pesos per person (about $60 USD) and there are special deals for parents coming with children. For those not wanting to zip line but just to visit and look around, the cost is 500 pesos (about $16 USD) per person. It appears as though relationships have been or are being established with tour companies that take tourists from their hotels to such excursions. However, we come in contact with volunteers and travelers often who don’t stay at hotels and may still like to find their way out by moto.

The medical clinic, which is completely free, includes a shelter with benches at the bottom of the hill for patients to wait. When their turn comes, patients walk up the hill to very nice facilities. Services include general medical care as well as full dental care. The dental care is especially unique here because even fillings are done for free, unlike anywhere else. Volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists and other assistants are coordinated to receive between 35 and 50 patients every Saturday. HIV tests and maralia test are available but x-rays, ultra sounds, and other blood, urine, or fecal tests are not available. Patients in need of surgery and more serious cases are referred to other facilities such as Centro Medico Cabarete, which is a hospital set up with a similar for-profit/non-profit concept and is very close to Monkey Jungle on the main road that passes through Sosua. I have not beeen able to visit this hospital yet and am unsure of how patients are determined as someone able to pay for services or not, but I know that income generated from those who pay funds services for those who cannot pay. I worked for a short period of time with the wife of the doctor who founded this hospital at OyM Hostos School, a wonderful bilingual school in Puerto Plata which I wrote about in a previous post.

From my visits to Monkey Jungle and the on site clinic, I conclude that this project is completely full of positive potential and will serve to truly improve the quality of life of many in need. It is also a young project and will likely have kinks to work out in the beginning years. While I’m sure that those in charge have considered all angles, for the purpose of creating a think tank and to post what I have learned on my blog, here are some thoughts I have from my five years of experience doing fundraising and service work in this country.

Treating People in the Most Need

It appears as though a challenge may come up that those coming to the clinic are not those in the most need. I plan on getting the word out among the beneficiaries of our programs and perhaps continuing to take people out from time to time. There is such great need and it’s true that it is futile to distinguish between treating someone who would be considered very poor and someone else who is extremely poor, but as Project Esperanz a had Tulane medical students run two weeks of intensive day clinics over the past three summers, I have seen that some people do come to free medical services to get a second opinion or get their perscriptions filled, while others come with no other option. We have found that treating those who can find treatment elsewhere creates dependency and can actually interfere with the growth of society whereas treating those with no other treatment option is empowering and stimulates the growth of society.

Getting Patients in Need to the Clinic

In the past we have charged patients 10 pesos each to cover their consultations, any necessary medicines, and necessary eye glasses. This 10 pesos just causes patients to recognize that the services they are receiving are valuable and should be appreciated. The distance that most patients will have to travel from their home to Monkey Jungle will likely more than do what our 10 peso fee is intended to do. However, it will also likely be a barrier for those in most need to get to the clinic. Therefore, I think the solution is teamwork with organizations who have consistent presences in the field, such as our organization as well as Health Horizons International who I wrote about in a previous post, along with individuals serving in the most impoverished communities. I believe that HADAC, the organization that has created Monkey Jungle, runs a feeding program in a batey so I’m sure that will draw in the most urgent needs as well.

As a side note, the woman who has led the Tulane medical group these past three years is now leading efforts to begin a clinic in Jacksonville, Haiti. She is a great friend, partner, and I’m proud to announce the foundation of Sante Total (Total Health in Haitian Creole).

Coordinating Volunteers

Another challenge that Monkey Jungle and its on site clinic will likely face, and likely have already, is the coordination of volunteers in order to consistently and smoothly run the clinics. As anyone who has coordinated volunteeers over a long period of time knows, this sometimes gets complicated. Where companies and businesses are run with defined authority, clear roles and responsibilities, rules of conduct, contracts guaranteeing committment on both sides, etc., lots of this can get lost with volunteer efforts. Roles and responsibilities get confounded, authority is undermined, people come and go more freely, and the result is frustration among those taking responsibility over the efforts, along with inefficiency. We have found that the way to deal with these issues is to attempt to use those same aforementioned practices that one would use to run a company. The only difference is that the work is done voluntarily, not for pay. However, the volunteer is aware of this ahead of time and accepts the position on his or her own free will. The work being done is no less important than the work of any company or business. In fact, in many cases, it’s more important!

Interpreting

The last challenge that we have faced is one of communication and education. This may seem obvious, but I have witnessed too many poorly interpreted medical consultations and (not just with volunteer groups but often with Dominican doctors and Haitian patients in public hospitals) to keep quiet. I also have lost friends due largely to their lack of understanding of their condition and their treatment. On the contrary, I have seen and participated in clinics that were beautifully interpreted and the result is satisfaction on both ends. If patient-doctor communication is a serious issue where doctors and patients speak the same language, the issue needs an extra amount of care when there is a language barrier. The truth is that patients often nod and act as though they understand something when they really don’t. Additionally, doctors and volunteers often assume they understand more of the conversation than they do. Therefore, skilled and thorough interpretors make a world of difference. Accurate and thorough interpretation is a matter of life and death in some cases as much as the presence of the doctor and the treatment. See Project Esperanza co-founder Kristin Preve’s article on How to Avoid Mistakes in Medical Interpreting.

Simple Education

Many patients who are in true need lack basic education and have grown up with and been raised by others who lack basic education. While leading educational discussions with Haitian patients waiting to be seen at one of the day clinics we ran this past summer, we found that most patients did not know why women have menstrual cycles or where the blood comes from. Many people say that they are anemic but when asked what anemia is, they reply that it is a lack of blood. Many people also use the term “pressure” which is also used for high blood pressure, to explain diziness, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Many mothers give baby food to babies as young as one month and give cow’s milk to babies way too young too. They claim that the baby wants to eat and milk isn’t enough for him or her. Education on these topics as well as many other topics gives patients understanding of the problems their bodies face. After they better understand the problem, they can better understand the treatment and the lifestyle changes they are often asked to make. We have found that educational discussions using simple explanations can entertain and inform patients waiting or provide clarity to someone during a consultation. An example of such an explanation is as follows:

Anemia does not mean that you lack blood. If you were to look at blood under a microscope – Does anyone know what a microscope is? No? A miscroscope is a piece of equipment that you can place an object under, then look into, and it makes the object appear much bigger than it really is so you can see it better. When you look at blood, how would you describe it? A red liquid? Well, when you look at it under a miscroscope, it appears as lots of red circles in a clear liquid. Each of these circles should have iron attached to it. I’m not talking about iron like an iron bar (used on most windows and doors in this country) but the nutrient iron. (I also use the word vitamin here even though iron is not a vitamin because I’ve found that the word vitamin is more commonly understood among uneducated Haitians here.) If your blood doesn’t have iron then it can’t nourish your body and it doesn’t appear as red. That’s why your fingernails and gums are whiter when you’re anemic. That’s also why you feel tired when you’re anemic. Your blood is not nourishing your body as it should because each little ball does not have its iron. So to avoid anemia, you should eat foods that are high in iron.

The educator would then ask listeners to explain back to him or her what was said. He or she would also go over foods that are rich in iron and continue to review the foods to be sure that patients remember. Reproduction and baby care education are interesting and highly important topics for everyone! While all health topics are important, understanding these topics of reproduction and infant care can have such drastic effects on the lives of families which makes it extremely valuable in my opinion. See Pregnancy, Birth, and Neonatal Care Practices in the Dominican Republic & Haiti.

These are, again, solutions to many problems we have faced and practices we have developed and executed with success. I hope that sharing these solutions with readers will help others doing medical missions and working in clinics and hospitals in the Dominican Republic and all over the developing world. What an amazing field to be working in! While technology continues to advance in the developed world, we should never forget the value of the dedication to applying simple solutions in areas of need. The solutions are often so simple. It’s the humble and dedicated workers who are lacking. And yes, I do claim to be a humble and dedicated worker – although not by my own strength. God is the one responsible for keeping me that way.

Doing Business From Your Home Computer

2010-11-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Because I am running a tight budgeted non-profit organization in the Dominican Republic and also have a fifteen-month-old son, it’s very hard to make an income. Luckily, when I was five months pregnant, I found an opportunity with a company here called Channel Forge.

The owner of the company, who is originally from Colorado, worked in sales in the U.S. for twenty years before moving down here. He then began Channel Forge as, pretty much, an outsourced sales/advertising company. While working for him I made sales calls using Skype for a few different companies in the U.S. I reached out to possible business partners in each company’s area, trying to establish new business relationships and to set up sales meetings. It was never necessary that anyone I talked to ever knew I was in the Dominican Republic! This job took care of me for awhile but is not able to practically fit into my life for the time being for several reasons. However, it has been a way that I can work from home with a flexible schedule. If you have a business and would be interested in some unique advertising/sales outreach, e-mail Ed, the owner of Channel Forge.

When I found myself needing additional income, I began researching online money making opportunities. Of course, I learned about taking online surveys but they don’t seem to want to let me participate in many from this country. I also find myself way behind the times on everything American such as movies, TV shows, products, etc. So I kept my eye opened for other opportunities in addition to online surveys.

I am fluent in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, but hadn’t found a way to use these skills to earn an income from home until Google AdWords brought Translator’s Base to my attention. I have an account as a freelance translator and have gotten some work, although I think I need to beef up my portfolio with past work and feedback from clients in order to consistently receive more work. Nonetheless, it’s good to have a little movement there.

Translator’s Base introduced me to the world of completing freelance jobs from home, a concept I love! One of my favorite things to do is to write. Therefore, sites like People Per Hour caught my attention since they match writers and clients as well as many different jobs such as data entry, editing, translating, web design, and cold calling. I have not completed any jobs through these sites yet but have made a few connections. Again, the movement is good.

I have found two sites, and have posted gigs on one, where you can offer any gig you can do along with the price. Site visitors purchase your product or service offered through the site. I imagine that this concept is new and it looks like not many people actually purchase the gigs but it is perhaps something that will grow more popular in the future.

Lastly, I wrote on a previous post that I am an Individual Business Owner (IBO) with an online shopping company that offers thousands of goods and services. Those who register as Customers through me help me to generate points which translate into a monthly check. Others who register as IBOs through me help me to generate points as well and it becomes a team effort. The product I plan to promote the most is a normal Visa credit card. Those who use this credit card help me to make a living. Of course, it’s not much income, but the more people participating, the more income I make. Other products that I haven’t used but are highly recommended by others are the Ribbon Gift Collection gifts which can be used for any occasion. From what I understand, shipping is free and the receiver gets a beautiful album in the mail. The album contains gifts to choose from and instructions on how to send in the choice and receive the gift. This is done in a way that the receiver never knows the price spent on the gift. This site is full of other unique products and great deals, especially for IBOs. It also has partnerships with several popular brand name stores.

Well, that has been my experience this far with doing business online. I hope that this helps others looking to do the same. I also hope that some readers will find a way to do business with me! I forgot to mention that my motivation for starting this blog was to create a highly followed blog that is eligible to participate in Sponsored Reviews. In order to be eligible, I need ten posts (this is my 10^th), and quite a few more followers. So I appreciate you spreading the word!

The Newlyweds - A Creative Short Story

2010-11-01T22:25:00.001-07:00

I recently entered a creative short story competition put on by Writing Forge and my story was not chosen as a winner so I am posting it here. Enjoy!

The Newlyweds

“What’s for dinner?” he asked from the closet as he hung up his shirt.

“Oh, I haven’t started yet. Sorry. I was planning on making chicken and broccoli,” she replied from the bed without looking up from what she was doing.

He appeared before her wide-eyed in dress slacks, a black belt, and a white wife beater that was tucked in. He stared at her angrily and seriously long enough to both intimidate her and piss her off.

“What do you mean you haven’t started yet!? What have you been doing!?”

“Jacob wouldn’t let me go!” she defended. “He’s only been sleeping about ten minutes. I was about to get started.”

He stood sternly in front of her threatening with his stare. She sat still on the bed. Their two-year-old son lay sleeping next to her. She had a notebook on her lap and a pen in her hand. He didn’t break eye contact. His eyes jumped down to the notebook and then back to meet her stare. He then advanced toward her aggressively.

“What’s this? What’s this!?” he demanded. She quickly tried to lay the notebook off to the side but he grabbed it and began leafing through. With large, exggerated movements he ripped a few pages out, crumpled them up, and threw them on the ground. She squealed his name and pleaded but it was too late. He messily threw the notebook back on the bed and said angrily, “I come home from work and there’s no dinner. You’re sitting here writing in your little notebook.” . She cried and complained but remained seated on the bed. He then proceeded to slowly and sternly remove his dress shoes, then belt, then dress pants.

“Why did you do that?” she asked. She also threw in a few cuss words and a little name calling. She glanced down at her son first to make sure he was still asleep before doing so. “I’m moving out! I’m going to live with my mother! You’re messed up. You’re crazy. I hate you.” He turned away from her and acted as though he didn’t hear her or care about anything she was saying. He continued undressing himself slowly and proudly as she complained. She hated him for that. He had just wounded her emotionally and now took pride in displaying how collected he was.

When he finished undressing, he moved from the bedroom to the living room in his wife beater, boxer shorts, and dress socks. She sat on the bed and continued to cry an angry cry for a few minutes after he left. She then went and picked up the torn pieces of paper off the floor. She uncrumpled the wads and examined them. Things weren’t as bad as they had seemed. He had ripped up three pages, only one of which had writing on one side. And even that page was salvagable. Still, she asked herself, why did he have to act like such a maniac? They had a child for crying out loud. What a horrible example!

She threw the ripped up sheets away, put the sheet with writing into her notebook, tucked the notebook under the mattress, and moved into the kitchen. From the kitchen, she saw her husband sitting on a chair in the living room facing the TV, feet propped up on the coffee table, hands folded in his lap. His face was stern, serious, and fixed on the television. “What an ass hole,” she thought as she pulled a pot out of the cupboard. “How did I end up with him and why am I still with him?” she asked herself as she always did after conflict that left her feeling so enraged. She must have made a mistake. Should she have listened to her mother? Should she have married someone with a higher, more professional degree rather than someone with an Associate’s Degree in Building Construction from a community college? Would a computer scientist or an engineer rip up things and throw things? Probably not. Why couldn’t she have been more practical and have chosen a husband that was more rational?

Well, she started calming down, I guess anyone in the comfort of their own home could act irrationally, regardless of their degree, she thought. And she just didn’t fall for any of the computer scientists or engineers. Maybe she should have given them more of a chance. Maybe there was something wrong with her. Should she have thought with her head more and less with her heart? She felt incapable of doing that. As long as there was any freedom to follow her own will, she couldn’t help but to follow her heart. But was she right in doing so?

After such fights she couldn’t help but to think that she had made a mistake. However, she knew from experience that she wouldn’t actually do anything drastic to change the situation but would stick things through. Even as the words left her mouth, “I’m going to go live with my mother!” she knew that it wasn’t true. She just said that to try to have some sort of control over her husband’s uncontrollable behavior. Being able to threaten him with something made her feel at least a little empowered whereas him ripping up her law school application essay and performing other such acts of insanity , especially in front of their son, made her feel powerless. In the moment, she often wanted to seek revenge by ripping up something of his, for example, but did not want to stoop to that level and realized that he would just do something even worse in return. She was forced to submit and it almost killed her. The only thing that gave her any power was to threaten to leave. But they both knew that was an empty threat. She had ben using it for years and never actually done it although she had pretended to on occasion. Even though it wasn an empty threat, it still seemed to subdue him, at least a little, at times.

At other times he was unsubduable. He returned her threat to leave with threats of keeping their son if she were to truly leave. But she knew that she wouldn’t ever actually leave him because her life seemed to have reached a whole new level when she met him. She never felt as at home and comfortable before meeting him as she did after meeting him. Without him, she was bored. Her mind seemed to always be racing and she felt unsettled. But with him, she was able to calm down and be still. His wildness seemed to force her to submit. But who did his wildness submit to? It seemed unrestrained and dangerous. However, the truth was, she concluded, that his wildness submitted to his work. She had observed him at work and although he was still bold and strong, he was more subdued. He probably came home with bottled up wildness, then, that he took out on her.

As she cut the chicken and worked through her thoughts, she started to think that she was perhaps not crazy. She poked her head in the bedroom to check on her sleeping son. He was still asleep and in the same spot. She returned to the kitchen and continued cutting. Her thoughts flashed back to when they first met. This often happened after questioning her decision to marry him as she had just done.

They first met at a party she went to at a friend of a friend’s house during summer vacation after her freshman year in college. She wasn’t really big on parties and much preferred to hang out in smaller groups but she was only home for a few weeks and didn’t want to back out of a night out with her closest friends. The party was in a neighboring county to the one where she and her friends attended high school. Her close friend Emily had made friends with a hallmate from this neighboring county at the university she attended. The four friends headed out in Emily’s Toyota Camry. After a twenty-five minute drive they arrived at a brick, two-story house in a middle class subdivision. Cars lined the street in front of the house. They found a spot at the end of the line, parked, and headed through the yard to the front door. Emily rang the doorbel. Her friend answered shortly after with a birthday party cone hat on her head and a red, plastic cup in her hand. She and Emily hugged, as well as the other two friends who attended the same university as Emily.

“And this is Alexis!” Emily exclaimed as she presented her much talked about friend.

Alexis gave the friend a Happy Birthday hug and they both declared that they had heard so much about the other. The group then headed inside to the party. The birthday girl quickly led them past the beer pong table to the keg where they all filled up red, plastic cups with beer. Alexis wasn’t a big drinker but normally took part at parties in order to be sociable. She also enjoyed playing beer pong and quickly added her name to the waiting list with Emily as her partner. Two hours later, she and Emily celebrated winning their third game in a row and waited for their next opponents.

The birthday girl led three guys who had just arrived to the keg which was behind Emily and Alexis. As they filled up their cups, she introduced them to the girls. The first, both girls were previously informed with a full description, was the birthday girls’s prospective boyfriend. The other two were his friends. “What’s your name again?” The birthday girl asked to the third young men.

“James,” he replied. It appeared as though they had recently met.

“James, you don’t want a beer?” she asked.

“No, thanks,” he replied. “I don’t drink.”

“You don’t drink!?” she replied as a drunk girl would. “Why the hell not!?”

He stood confidently beside the beer pong table with his hands held in front of him and replied, “Because I don’t want to.”

“You don’t want to!?” the birthday girl exclaimed as a druk girl would and continued to babble for a few minutes before she got distracted by a song she liked at which she ran into the living room to dance. The new opponents showed up, the guys nodded to the girls as if to say, “Nice to meet you all”, and headed on their way. Emily and Alexis started their fourth match against a guy and girl team. They started off strong sinking three balls out of the first six before their streak broke and they collectively couldn’t hit another shot. They lost and had to leave the table. Those who had been following the games congratulated them on an impressive streak. As they walked away from the table, the birthday girl came and grabbed Emily. “Come and take shots with me!” she pressured.

“I’m the DD!” Emily replied.

“Oh, come on! You’ll sober up!”

“Oh man...” Emily turned to Alexis. “Do you wanna drive home?”

“Sure,” Alexis agreed. “I’m not gonna drink anymore.”

“Seeee,” the birthday girl said as she pulled on Emily. “Come on!” And they were off.

Alexis didn’t see anyone else she knew so she slipped out back. As she stepped out of the sliding doors and into the backyard, she found a group of about six people to the left smoking cigarettes, about five people in the pool, and two guys sitting at a picnic table off to the right. She didn’t want to swin, didn’t like cigarette smoke, and felt like sitting, so she went and sat at the picnic table. Here she found that the two guys were James and the birthday girl’s perspective boyfriend. She said, “Hi” and sat down.

“You all lost?” the perspective boyfriend asked.

“Yeah, we went off our streak,” she replied.

“Okay,” he said in a friendly and smily manner. They sat in silence for about a minute. He then returned to telling James a story he must’ve already been telling about his cousin, his cousin’s mechanic shop, and the vehicles that he owns. Alexis didn’t really listen to the conversation but nonchalantly observed them as they talked. James mainly listened, nodding, and asking short questions here and there. He didn’t make eye contact with his friend but starred toward the pool as he listened. The perspective boyfriend looked at James as he spoke and grew quite excited over some of the technical details he shared. James showed his interest in his replies but didn’t show any sort of emotion as his friend did. Alexis found James to be attrractive. He seemed very physiclly fit. His face was stern and his jaw very defined. His hair was auburn and fairly short but wavy and slightly unkempt. Although his face was stern, his eyes were gentle. She noticed this already when the birthday girl had questioned him about not drinking. Her observations were interrupted when one of the friends she and Emily came with came running up.

“Alexis! Emily fell over!”

“What?”

“”She fell over right onto the coffee table after taking a shot and busted up her chin. She’s bleeding a lot!”

Alexis jumped up and followed her friend inside. She found Emily sitting on the couch, head back, with a towel on her chin. About seven people crowded around her. They discussed her need to go to the hospital to get stiches. Alexis was the most sober candidate but still wasn’t sure she should drive.

“James can drive,” someone suggested. James was quickly found observing from a short distance and confirmed that he could drive. They took Emily’s car as James had come with his friend.

Alexis and the friend that had fetched her helped Emily into the car. Alexis sat up front and their friend in the back with Emily. As the girls talked on the way to the hospital, Alexis observed James’ stern expression yet gentle eyes as he drove. She felt completely calm, safe, and content. She was concerned about Emily but knew that she would be okay with a few stitches. She seemed to be okay as far as her alcohol level but just drank too much too fast and lost consciousness which caused the fall.

The group ended up having to wait in the emergency room for a few hours. She and James got to talk quite a bit. They asked each other questions back and forth and somehow got into a conversation about the death penalty. Alexis seemed to have formulated more thoughts than James but James seemed to appreciate Alexis sharing her thoughts as though he would keep them in mind. She learned that he was third of four boys and their mother had died when he was in middle school. His father had never remarried or shown any interest in doing so. He lived in a rented townhouse with one of his brothers, had just gotten his Associate’s Degree, and worked with a construction company. When Alexis returned home late that night she felt settled in a way that she hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever. It was similar to the way a child feels in a safe and happy home: safe, secure, and fairly carefree.

During her few weeks at home before leaving town to work at a camp, she waited tables at a restaurant where she had worked the summer before and over Christmas vacation. Two days after meeting James at the party, he ate at the restaurant with his brother while Alexis was working. They didn’t have much time to talk and James didn’t attempt to talk to her much but just apparently wanted to be near her. He came and ate almost every other evening for the rest of the time Alexis was in town. Sometimes he came alone and sometimes with the same brother. Sometimes he didn’t eat a meal but sat down and drank coffee at the bar. He never acted eager to talk to Alexis or pressured her to give him attention in any way but just sat, ate, drank, said good-bye, and left. This made her feel completely secure and flattered. Had he attempted to see her more outside of work she would’ve felt a bit uncomfortable with the pressure of a “date” and confused about any future as she was leaving for camp soon. When she had the chance, she came and talked to him but didn’t normally get the chance to do so for more than ten or so minutes at a time. He always asked her, “Are you working tomorrow?” She would reply by telling him the next time she had a shift.

On her last shift, she gave him her phone number, e-mail address, and told him when she’d be back in town. From then on, he called her almost everyday. They began visiting each other on weekends and grew very close. Both had dated previously but never really entered into a serious relationship having never found someone they were willing to commit to. By the following summer, James had talked to her father about marrying Alexis. Alexis’ mother was concerned about a few things. Her main concern was that Alexis was pursuing a higher degree than the degree James held and she had ambition to continue her education further. Alexis’ father listened to and considered these concerns but James didn’t really approach the matter completely as a question but more as a declaration. James’ sternness and Alexis’ apparent committment to him caused her father to agree, despite her mother’s concerns. James’ strength coupled with gentleness gave Alexis’ father a secure feeling as well, although he still had slight fears and doubts if he thought too much. They married that November and Alexis was pregnant in no time. Nonetheless, she still graduated in four years, took a year off, and was now applying to law schools.

James stared at the TV at an old episode of Seinfeld but didn’t really pay attention to the program. He probably shouldn’t have ripped pages out of her essay, he thought, but she had made him so angry. She always had other priorities and needed to learn to make household chores a higher priority. He agreed to her going to law school but he didn’t want her to put that above her role as wife and mother. And he didn’t want to let her disrespect him or find her school or work to be more important than his work. She may cry at his outbursts, but as long as she didn’t give up neglecting her role as wife to pursue other goals, he wouldn’t give up reminding her of her family roles, by any means necessary. He didn’t say all of this to Alexis or plan to. She should know.

As always after having some time to calm down and reflect, Alexis concluced that she had made a good decision, despite frustrating outbreaks with little rational, verbal explanation. She might not always understand everything but trusted how things had started so she would continue to trust. Time would tell all things. Sometimes you have to follow your heart and let your head figure things out later. That is what we call faith.

Distributing Laptops to Children in Need? Prioritizing Need on a Global Scale

2010-10-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

As Project Esperanza has been attempting to begin a few internet centers here in Puerto Plata in order to generate funds to support our ongoing programs, two people have directed me toward two different organizations that have the mission of supplying a laptop computer to every child in the world. I won’t state the names of these organizations or provide the websites since this post is a critique that does not support this mission.

If one were to prioritize the needs of every child in the world, a laptop is not on the top ten list to say the least. One theory of developmental psychology that I think makes sense is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Actually, this is more than just a theory as there is hard evidence to back up this theory, or at least the basic concept of the theory. Abraham Maslow presented that one cannot function on higher levels until more basic needs are met. He demonstrates the order or hierarchy of needs human beings have in the shape of a pyramid with the bottom layer being the most primary needs. If these most basic needs are not met then one cannot function. The category of needs go in this order: physiological (eat, drink, sleep), safety (of self, of resources, of family), love/belonging (friendship, family, sexual intimacy), esteem (confidence, achievement, respect), and self-actualization (creativity, problem solving, morality). I think it is safe to say that a laptop does not fall in these first three categories. I also think it is safe to say that a laptop does not truly meet a need but should be considered a want. It could perhaps be used as a tool to help some of these higher needs to be met but only in certain situations with well prepared recipients.

If an item such as a laptop is supplied to someone in need, they will likely use it as a resource to get basic needs met by selling it. A laptop can be an educational tool but it is a responsibility many adults wouldn’t know how to use, let alone children. I believe that the most necessary resource in any effort is the human resources to execute the effort. It is not necessarily a lack of money or lack of food or lack of any such tangible resources that cause such a large percentage of the world to live in poverty and to lack education. The problem lies in a lack of capable and loving individuals willing to patiently and persistently work with others toward a genuine solution.

The idea of supplying every child with a laptop is terribly impractical and completely oversimplifies the situation. An organization such as Recycles.org that collects unwanted computer equipment and distributes them to non-profits and charities may be quite productive. However, an organization whose mission is to distribute a laptop to every child in the world may need to rethink some things. After living and working in a developing country for a total of three and a half of the past five years, I have put forth lots of effort only to reach a benchmark that appears pitiful compared to those set by developed countries. However, I think the improvements we have made is impressive when the starting point is considered. The most impressive success to be celebrated in this line of work is perhaps building a trustworthy and competent team. Nonetheless, even a trustworthy team needs oversight and protection from temptation. For example, when food is distributed by the Dominican government, there is not a Santa Claus figure that delivers food to each house. No one waits outside of houses for people to come home and receive their package. Living arrangements are normally tight and people don’t normally have mailboxes or even secure porches to leave items on. When the government does distribute food out of the back of a truck every so often, some people walk away with a few bags and others with nothing. Those driving the trucks distributing the bags of food likely go home with several.

Let’s imagine that enough laptops were collected to supply every child in the world. To successfully distribute the laptops where there is no reliable postal service and a large percentage of houses without addresses, one would have to go through some sort of community organization or school that accounts for every child. Many children are undocumented and therefore not even accounted for by the government. Project Esperanza works together with schools and grassroots community organizations, giving financial, material, and administrative aid so that, among other things, every child in the communities we work in is accounted for. From what we have seen and experienced here in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic there is an abundance of work to be done before even responsibly distributing one pencil to every child in this area becomes a securely executable task, let alone a laptop. The Dominican Republic is just one of many developing countries so I can imagine this situation is similar around the globe.

Project Esperanza’s method of “saving the world” is the opposite of these organizations who seek to supply every child with a laptop computer. We focus on a small geographic area with the intention of digging deep – creating genuine and lasting change in one community. Through digging deep and through seeking genuine and lasting change, we discover and create methods and systems to deal with situations that come up. These methods and systems can be shared with others and perhaps replicated in different geographic areas. We also believe that the change created in one community will serve as a catalyst for change in neighboring communities. Attempting to supply every child in the world with a laptop computer is an effort that does not dig deep and does not, I don’t believe, create genuine and lasting change. If partnered with the right situations and the right organizations on the ground this effort could be quite a blessing. However, I believe that more than there is a need for laptops, there is a need for more genuine organizations on the ground!

Morality of Profit: Diamonds in the Rough

2010-10-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

I recently entered an essay competition hosted by the SEVEN Fund on the topic of Morality of Profit. My essay was not chosen as a winner so I am posting it here on my blog. Enjoy!

I have been working with the Haitian refugee population in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic since 2006. We began our work by first conducting a street census in the area, collecting information specifically on the hundreds of boys and young men that work on the streets either shining shoes or street vending of some sort. We were already aware that Haitians were the part of the Puerto Plata population in the most need, but our street census clearly confirmed that, gave us a better idea of the situation we hoped to be a light in, and provided a way to begin building relationships with those we hoped to serve.

In the months and years that followed the street census, we went on a roller coaster ride as we worked together with community members to set up programs in order to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. In the United States, our Virginia Tech student organization grew into a registered non-profit organization and our fundraising efforts remained in full throttle in order to support our programs in Puerto Plata.

The heart of our efforts in Puerto Plata is a home and school for Haitian boys that have come to the Dominian Republic under a number of different circumstances in order to “search for life”. The fact that these boys are walking the streets of a foreign land day after day, learning a new language often by ear without written materials or the skills to use them, usually without their family, serves as a natural screening process. The boys in our program are strong, perseverent, brave, intelligent risk takers. They are diamonds in the rough. Strict and clear house principles provide further screening so that those our program focuses its efforts on are also honest, humble team players. Our goal is to provide a pathway of transformation and empowerment so that these diamonds in the rough can successfully lead their lives, their families, their businesses, and their mother country. I am now married to one of these diamonds. I gave birth to our first child, a baby boy, in August 2009. We are thankful for and delighted with our forming family.

One thing I absolutely love about this group and about Haiti in general is the rawness and transparency that comes from living in true need. Life is more real and vibrant for me now than it ever was before. I feel as though I am continually undergoing training by living my everyday life which sharpens me physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

I will give further explanation as to what I mean by rawness and transparency. For example, someone who lives in the land of plenty is, for the most part, free to be a glutton. One may internally struggle with this and make efforts to rid oneself of gluttony but direct and immediate negative consequences of gluttony are not normally seen and every day life is often, for the most part, unaffected. In Haiti, the gluttony of one family member may cause direct and immediate suffering for other family members, exposing the situation very clearly. In the land of plenty, slander and gossip often continues unchallenged in the privacy of one’s home. Among Haitian boys living on the streets, this behavior is often erradicated by forms of discipline such as being beat in the face with a 2x4. This is life. This is the human race.

While pondering the issue of the morality of profit, I realized that I had made clarifying discoveries to this ambiguous question through working with the boys’ home and school. In order for those living in extreme poverty to work their way out of poverty, they have to be extremely frugal. Our boys’ home and school always attempts to use all resources available as wisely and efficiently as possible. We encourage household members to do the same. This skill and mindset does not come naturally to all, even if one is used to living in extreme poverty.

In order to rise out of their situation, the boys have to remain active. When they don’t have work, they should search for work or make attempts with personal business efforts. I have seen first hand the difficulty of this and am understanding when people get discouraged but the only solution is to learn from experience and continue making an effort. When they have work, they should value that and work dilligently. The same ambition is necessary for seeking and utilizing educational opportunities.

Lastly, in order to move forward, the boys must work together rather than against each other. The reality and seriousness of this situation has provided a foreground which identifies and exposes any actions or ideals that are contradictory to the practices that our program encourages and requires. There are times when the group of boys as a whole is on top of things, acting very efficiently with resources and dilligently with work and school. Then someone new enters the group. I have come to learn that entering someone new into the group must be done with lots of attention. In the past, neighbors or friends have slowly snuck into the group and caused large shifts. Other times we have intentionally introduced a new member or allowed someone to enter and also saw shifts as a result.

Sometimes the influence of new members is harmless. Their biggest influence may be the addition of a new phrase. It is always entertaining to observe the speed at which such things catch on. Other than that, they conform to the group and the morale stays the same. Sometimes the influence of a new member is primariy positive, causing the rest of the group to make more of an effort in a certain area or to enjoy themselves more in some way but not distracting the group from the goals of efficiency, dilligence, and teamwork.

However, there have been a few occasions where the presence of new members has negatively influenced the group. In these cases, division is often created, trust seems to slip away, and people become lazy and wasteful. It is through observing this paradigm that I have formulated thoughts and drawn conclusions in regards to the morality of profit.

I have come to see that often times when Haitians are receiving something, even if it is something very small, there are other Haitians that want to work their way in to receive. If they find that they are not welcome, they’ll try to take others down with them. Perhaps this is true anywhere with people in need or even at times when there is no real need. My observations here are based on what I have seen with Haitians.

In such cases, the person attempting to enter the program is not seeking the life that the program has to offer. They have no real interest in attending school, learning self control, money management skills, or in acquiring the fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5. They will try to trick you into thinking that they want whatever the program offers. What they really want is to do whatever they have to do to enter in. Upon entering in, they continue using such lies and tricks to gain control. Then, if you’re not careful, they start to shift the focus of the program and it’s no longer about discipline, education, and the fruits of the Spirit, it’s about acquiring immediate wealth and comfort. Boys that were on a pathway to empowerment and freedom from poverty are distracted from their path with ideas of clothes, MP3 players, expensive cell phones, and money itself. These items are not necessarily bad but they serve a bad purpose in this case.

An easy way to acquire immediate wealth and comfort is to steal or to convince and send others to steal. Anyone with an inside position in the program, such as a paid employee, is succeptible to being lured into such activity. They need support and supervision. We are sensitive to theft temptations and make attempts to remove temptations from program members but for those in need, items such as cooking oil are sometimes stolen in small quantities and sold. When a shift is created in the group, division is created, everything becomes a little cloudy, and it can be difficult to see who is to blame for this shift. Once the one guilty is recognized and removed from the group, things begin to shift back on track. However, damage has often already been done and household members affected need some recovery time and assistance in getting back on track. I see this as Satan’s plan in hindering God’s work. It is very real and I have regretfully seen it occur a few times. However, we know that in all things, God works for the good of those that love him (Romans 8:28). Overcoming each of these attacks leaves us stronger and wiser.

Therefore, the difference between the mindset of these destructive intruders and the mindset our program maintains, along with, therefore, those involved in it, is their end goal. Destructive intruders have a goal of gaining whereas our program encourages a goal of giving. If gaining is your goal, then profit is your end. You will be satisfied when you gain wealth. The acquisition of more wealth will keep you satisfied. If giving is your goal, profit is the means to your end. It will be necessary that you earn a profit, yes, but you will be satisfied when you have wisely invested and distributed the profit in a way that will benefit yourself as well as others and yield fruit.

Jesus Christ exemplifies someone with the goal of giving and provides an explanation of his intentions when his disciples offered him food in John 4. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for Harvest.”

It appears that in reality, people fall onto different points along a spectrum where “gain” is one extreme and “giving” is the other extreme. Someone who falls closer to the “gain” end of the spectrum is filled with selfishness and greed. Someone who falls on the “giving” end of the spectrum is filled with selflessness and sacrificial love. This paradigm is present in most every fairy tale.

Profit is not tied to either end of the spectrum but is an independent factor. Whether or not an individual seeks a profit and the extent to which he or she seeks it varies based on the situation. Therefore, we cannot conclude that those seeking and earning large profits fall in any one position along this spectrum. A wealthy parent who abandons his or her parenting responsibilities in order to seek a profit would likely fall onto the “gain” end of the spectrum. On the other hand, a family member that flees his or her impoverished country in order to seek and earn a profit which is then sent to the family would likely fall onto the “giving” end of the spectrum. Therefore, there is not direct correlation between the presence or absence of greed and the presence or absence of profit.

The way profit is earned and the way it is spent must be examined in order to determine the presence of greed and selfishness. Ways of earning profit that are harmful to others is more positively correlated to the presence of greed whereas ways of earning profit that is mutually beneficial to all parties is more negatively correlated to greed. However, other factors related to the specific situation should still be considered. For example, there are situations where those earning a profit in a harmful manner are doing so in ignorance or have little choice for other methods of earning a profit. In this case, it is wrong to place this person on the “gain” end of the spectrum based on the way profit is earned. However, it is safe to assume that greed and selfishness had a hand in creating this situation where harmful profit generating practices are so widespread.

Haiti as well as the Haitian diaspora in the Dominican Republic can be examined as an example. I have met and worked with many poor Haitians who have found or created work opportunities and earned profit to support their families in ways that appear to cause no harm to anyone. I have also met and worked with many poor Haitians that have earned profit, at least in part, through prostitution and dishonest business transactions of some sort. Through living in solidarity, I understand at least a part of the difficulty of their situations and would be very wrong to conclude that everyone earning their profit in such harmful ways is full of greed. I can, however, see that greed has had a large part in creating this difficult situation as well as causing the situation to continue. In order to understand how this situation was created in Haiti, one should look at history.

Haiti was a French colony before it gained its independence in 1804. The French enslaved West Africans in order to work on plantations in Haiti. In comparison with the United States, the system of slavery in Haiti was more extreme. Slaves died under harsher conditions at a faster rate. The slave to slave holder ratio was higher. Violence used by slave holders was more brutal. It is safe to conclude, therefore, that French colonists earned their profit in a way that was harmful to others and that France as a whole earned a profit in a way that harmed other nations. Here I see no reason not to blame this entire situation on the greed of France and its colonists.

Haitian slaves fought for and gained independence in 1804. In his book Uses of Haiti, Paul Farmer explores a series of Haitian historical events, specifically in reference to Haiti’s relationship with the international community after independence was earned. The book provides evidence of the continued abuse Haiti received from the international community while attempting to engage in international trade after gaining independence. Each event described in Farmer’s book would have to be examined to draw further conclusions, but we can assume that greed had a presence in the situations of abuse as well, along with racism and essentially hatred. The result of so much abuse for which greed is highly responsible is the present state of Haiti and its large presence of harmful profit generating practices.

How, then, can the human race avoid greed? Greed is represented clearly in my mind by a situation that used to occur with my family’s flock of sheep. I remember two occasions where someone stored a bag of corn in an irresponsible manner and a ewe got into the sack during the night. In both instances, a dying ewe was found lying on the ground the next day, poisoned by overeating the corn. This ocurred because of poor shepherding by those responsible for the flock and lack of self-control by the ewes. Jesus calls himself the good shepherd and refers to people as sheep (John 10:11). The history of the world has proven that human beings are at risk of overindulging on anything that gives them pleasure. I have seen and experienced that the solution to falling into such greed is to obey the teachings that Jesus, the good sheperd, taught.

What exactly did the good shepherd teach? He taught many things, some of which are recorded in the Bible. When asked which is the greatest commandment in Matthew 22 he replied, “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

If this teaching is followed, profit should not be earned in ways that are harmful to others in any way, anywhere. Someone seeking a profit may try to fool themselves and others into stretching the truth about certain practices, saying they are not truly harmful, those receiving the harm deserve it or have less value, they should be thankful for the work opportunity, or a number of excuses along those lines. Anyone trying to justify harmful profit seeking practices using such excuses is not taking these commandments seriously. If this teaching is seriously followed, poverty will eventually be erradicated, along with misery in general. No one on the earth should be opposed to loving others by refraining from harming others with greed driven, harmful profit seeking practices.

However, problems always arise with the first commandment: love God. But this comandment must be obeyed in order to be able to love others. The world is too full of differences and we are too imperfect to successfully love others without God’s example, guidance, power, and protection. People are caught up with questions of God’s existence and for those that believe in his existence, his character, his will, and ways to carry out his will. Those who quarrel over such issues rather than focuing on simple answers and solutions that most, if not all, human beings agree to are failing to love God. In working together, discoveries to such questions will be made, but the search for answers should never halt the work.

As I stated previously, I enjoy living and working with Haitians because of the rawness and transparency of life. I have yet to meet anyone on this island, Haitian or Dominican, who questions God’s existence. Everyone seems to understand things clearly and simply. God exists. Satan exists. God is good. Satan is bad. Which do you choose to serve? Especially in Haiti, there are groups actively and cognitively practicing both sides.

Through working in the area of international development, I have found some specific practices that I think put love into action in any international situation. Communication should be a top priority. Everyone working in international development should be honest with self and others about the level of their language skills. If necessary, they should have a translator handy to make sure everything is understood by both sides. All parties should have patience, being sure to take the time to completely understand the other party and effectively communicate the thoughts, questions, and concerns from your party.

Cultural understanding and sensitivity should be a top priority. One should be very careful not to make any assumptions or judgments based on actions or practices because those assumptions and judgments will have a cultural basis that cannot be transferred between cultures. If you try to do this, you will make mistakes and your mistakes will have repercussions. Humbly and patiently attempt to understand and use the “gain” and “giving” spectrum to discern, working together with and trusting those who truly want to give.

The end goal of international development should be empowerment of citizens of the country being developed. The diverse world with a grand array of rich cultures is priceless. Extinct cultures should be viewed as just as devastating, if not more devastating, than extinct species. Foreign aid groups should responsibly provide aid but leave the country’s decisions and leadership in the hands of the locals. When providing aid, the fewest amount of foreigners as possible should be sent to the country. Resources should be diverted toward methods of allowing the locals to do the work themselves. Communication and cultural understanding are an absolute need in order to execute this.

If large amounts of foreigners are unnecessarily sent to aid, the work is inefficient and the local community understands that foreign aid agencies see locals as incapable of leading themselves. They understand that the agencies have large amounts of money they are eager to spend which they choose to spend as they please. To locals, this is understood as dominance and a declaration of war rather than aid. While setting up the Haitian led relief efforts our organization is making in order to provide shelther and organization to a Port-au-Prince tent city, I gained insight as to the way Haitians understand foreign aid that is being brought to earthquake victims. There are rumors that the United States has declared Haiti, the damaged government buildings are filled with American soldiers, and, I believe somewhat as a joke, that the earthquake was a missile sent underground from the United States.

Lastly, money should not be the focus of international development. Sums of money granted to governments and agencies should not be announced and celebrated as though the act of granting money is a success in itself. Instead, the focus should be on the need that exists, the plan of action toward meeting the need, and the progress that is being made. Money is as unattached to international development as profit is to morality. It is a tool and not a solution. Just as a builder focuses on the house being built more than a hammer, those working in the area of international development should focus on the work to be done rather than money. A hammer is necessary to build but it is ultimately the builder and his or her team that builds the house.

Bibliography

Girard, Philippe. Paradise Lost. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

2. Farmer, Paul. Uses of Haiti. Common Courage Press, April 2005.

A New Way of Generating Personal Support

2010-09-29T01:31:00.000-07:00

Starting a grassroots non-profit organization while still in college and then maintaining it and running it after recently graduating is not easy for many reasons. This is what I have done with Project Esperanza. Wanting to make the most of our funds raised, I haven’t ever drawn a personal salary from our pool of funds but we have used funds to go directly to our organization’s programs and to cover some necessary administration costs such as communication and bank fees (which are ridiculous when transferring money internationally as much as we do). If we had received grants from large foundations then perhaps things would be different but ironically, just around the time we gained our non-profit status and became eligible for receiving such grants, the economy took its downturn and many foundations stopped seeking new organizations to work with.

Additionally, through receiving daily e-mails from Foundation Center, it is apparent to me that there is an abundance of funds available for projects within the U.S., especially projects with the public schools, but next to nothing available for international projects. I find this frustrating as we are attempting to provide “public schools” to Haitian immgirant children living in the Dominican Republic which reach a sliver of the standards of U.S. public schools and have such trouble finding the funds to do so while I see weekly and sometimes daily notices of calls for proposals for projects that will further improve the already high standard classrooms in the U.S. If you find yourself disagreeing that U.S. public schools provide high quality education, come to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic for a visit and let me give you a quick tour of reality here.

Having not received grants, although we have sent in several proposals, we continue to depend on monthly sponsors, sporadic or one time donors, fundraisers often held on the Virginia Tech campus, and merchandise sales. We now are in the beginning stages of setting up some sustainable businesses here in Puerto Plata to generate income and have many more ideas along those lines for the long run.

I know others who have made some sort of ministry or humanitarian work their full time job create an income by seeking supporters who donate money monthly or annually. I already seek this to cover Project Esperanza’s basic monthly operating expenses so I can’t do this for my personal expenses as well. Therefore, I have worked several part time jobs to make ends meet. Next month will be Project Esperanza’s fifth birthday. During these five years I have worked as a tutor and mentor for Virginia Tech athletes, bussed tables in Blacksburg, taught English at a language school in Puerto Plata, taught math part time at a private school in Puerto Plata, tutored privately, worked as an outsourced sales representative for companies in the U.S. while making sales calls via Skype from Puerto Plata, and as a freelance translator for English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole translating documents through a freelance translator website. I have applied and/or been nominated for a few fellowships that would provide a living stipend and believe I am still considered for one although I have not heard back from them in months. Things are hard! With a son, Project Esperanza’s bustling activity, and few opportunities for the aforementioned work, I am pretty pesoless with pretty much no assets.

However, I am now attempting to seek some personal support through a way that asks sponsors to do nothing additional to what they already do in their everyday life. This new route I’m taking is something that may be successful for others who want to make mission or humanitarian work their full time job but have reasons for not seeking donations in order to do so. I know that a founder of Campus Crusades for Christ successfully used this method to support himself and perhaps still does.

I recently became an Individual Business Owner (IBO) with an online company. Here is this our concept as I understand it. Many companies would like to transition to selling products online. This saves them lots of money in retail costs (the space to sell or run a store, employees to run the store, etc.). Selling online allows products to simply leave the warehouse and go straight to the customer. Companies who want to transition to selling online partner up with this company. Our company is paid to bring customers to these businesses. Many businesses that this company partners with are popular companies such as Sears, Barnes & Noble, and Best Buy to name a few. Other partnering companies solely sell online through us and their names are, therefore, less well known. As an IBO, anyone can register as a Customer under my IBO number. When these customers shop through me, I receive points. There is a system in place and these points translate into a monthly check. The more customers I have registered under me making more purchases generates more points and therefore more monthly income.

Some potential supporters may find this a convenient route for supporting me. However, some may not like to shop online. There is one product that I will push, therefore, to try to gain some supporters. There is a Visa credit card we offer. It is no different than any other Visa card, just has our company's name marked on it. Anyone can register as a customer under me (IBO #5940240, Key: MCH), logon, then go to “Shop”, then “Parnter Stores & Services”, and find where to register for this Visa card. Just by using this credit card, I receive points. The income I receive is obviously a very small percentage of purchases made on the credit card, but with several customers using the card, it adds up. I receive an e-mail whenever customers register under me and will add customers to a personal update list. Anyone else wanting to register as an IBO can e-mail me.

Term "Hit and Run" Explained

2010-08-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

In my last blog post I used the term “hit and run” referring to short term volunteer groups or even tourists who visit the Dominican Republic, have a good time whether spending time at the beach or engaging in activities with locals, taking pictures, then return home and continue with their normal lives. Their experience in the Dominican Republic remains a memory but other than the experience, memories, and pictures, no real and lasting connection exists between the individual or group and the community that was visited. This is the situation that I referred to as a “hit and run” but after receiving some feedback, I realize that this comment needs further explanation.

Here the economy is very slow and there is little opportunity for work. It is not entirely accurate to assume that locals are lazy and don’t want to work or lack business ideas that could be implemented to create work and profit. It is more accurate to understand that the economy is depleted. There is a lack of start up resources and there is a lack of consumers with resources to which goods and services can be marketed and sold. There is also, in many cases, a lack of local leadership and training but this is not hard to find a solution to with thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of people available tolearn when a proper teacher or teaching team is present.

Whether or not members of communities here have cognitively recognized that these are the missing factors that cause the economy to remain slow, they do realize that visitors from the developed world possess resources that are lacking here and this causes their presence to be exciting and bring hope. However, as in any situation where one is excited and hopes are high, there is the risk of being let down. It is important, therefore, for foreign visitors to fully realize the effect of their visit and to be wise and sensitive accordingly. It is my point of view that if someone or a group cannot engage in such a relationship with the developing world with great sensitivity, conscienciousness, and committment than it is best not to engage at all. Any other such engagement ends up in some sort of exploitation. The Dominican Republic is full of the negative effects of such exploitation.

After locals have had a few encounters with “hit and runs” – foreigners who cheerfully visit but do nothing to create change in the community long term and begin to serve as a reminder of what locals do not have rather than bring hope for a brighter future, some locals take on a mindset that they should learn to get what they can out of visitors while they’re here. The most honest way to do this is to market products or services that foreign visitors seem to like and jack up the prices. Such products include alcohol, cigars, jewelry, and artwork. Such services include hair braiding, massages, and tourist excursions where visitors are led further into local communities on horseback, horsedrawn carriages, four-wheelers, go karts, or monster trucks, and sometimes to experience natural attractions such as waterfalls. I am not suggesting that all such activity causes negative effects but some have seemed to in the past when executed without careful consideration and sensitivity.

First, it is important to realize that those conducting such business with foreign visitors are indeed reaping a profit but this profit often benefits them personally rather than benefiting the local communities, schools, members of society in most need, etc. During the 2008/2009 school year I was responsible for two students in a small elementary school located in a rural area about twenty minutes outside of the city of Puerto Plata. This school had an established relationship with a monster truck tourist excursion business. Things seemed to pick up throughout the year, but by the end of the year, according to reports from the students I was responsible for, about four trucks full of about 20 foreign visitors each visited the school almost daily. Dominican public school days last about four hours and quite honestly, they do not provide very high quality education. Private schools do a much better job but still do not cmpare to the education I received from U.S. public schools. The students reported that visitors from the monster trucks interacted with them during recess. Often times they would have their pictures taken, would receive small gifts, or would come home with e-mail addresses. They once reported that one visitor threw coins up in the air and a group of kids mobbed to fight over the coins. They said that after recess their teacher always called them back into the classroom to begin class. Sometimes visitors came to stick their heads in the doorway and take pictures of the class.

Apparently community members began flocking around the school while visitors came in order to beg. The school’s director ordered these community members to leave. I became increasingly frustrated with this situation and believed that the school had compromised its purpose and the education of the students in order to entertain tourists. Also, the students I was responsible for are smillar to family members for me so imagining how many random people had taken their pictures was... and still is.. unsettling. I spoke to a teacher about this once, just stating that I heard about the visitors. He was filling in some paperwork as I spoke and without looking up, proudly replied that yes, this school receives visitors from the U.S., Canada, France, etc. With the schools Project Esperanza runs things are done much differently as far as visitors are concerned and I wanted to share my thoughts but felt sheepish to do so. I didn’t share my concerns with the teachers at this time The school year ended and the two boys did not attend the following year. This is an example of how such tourist excurions can be disruptive and exploitive from a local point of view.

Other ways locals have learned to benefit from the presence of foreign visitors is through dishonest business transactions or blatantly stealing as well as prostitution. Prostitution is present in various forms here in the Dominican Republic. To give a few examples, there are prostitutes who sell themselves on street corners at night and there are wives and mothers who “go out with the girls” every now and then but end up making money from a gringo somehow during their night out. There are homosexual men that move here or visit here occasionally who seek out relationships with boys on the streets. Shoe shine boys have reported such men becoming shoe shining clients but then the man eventually invites the boy to his house where he attempts to engage in a sexual relationship in exchange for food, clothes, money, etc. It has been my experience with the police here that they are not very motivated to bring about justice by the mere presence of injustices but are motivated by money. I have never attempted to persecute one of these men for this reason but plan to do more research here in the future should the situation arise again.

I am not relating this next situation to or labeling this prostitution but it is common for foreigners who visit here often to have a local boyfriend or girlfriend who they take care of financially in some way as long as the relationship lasts. These people may not feel as though they fit into a “hit and run” category because they do leave with a connection here and are helping someone out financially in some way. However, I have seen this situation largely taken advantage of as well. For example, I recently learned of a woman who lives in a community we work in who had a gringo boyfriend buy a nice, new vehicle for her. The word is that when her boyfriend visits, she says that her husband is her brother so that he thinks she is single. The husband is, of course, well aware and in on the business. I have seen this happen on various occasions. Perhaps the foreign boyfriend does not expect his Dominican girlfriend to be 100% loyal but I just use this example to point out the fact that funds being channeled into the country in this way does not necessarily create positive change in society. If anything, it sets an example for another exploitive practice. These flings are, of course, very different than more serious relationships and marriages between foreigners and locals.

In conclusion, as members of the expat community, it is important to be intentional about your presence here and to realize the effects that your presence has on the local community. The local community is honestly fragile in many ways, has been taken advantage of, been toyed with, and has taken advantage and done its toying in return. Or perhaps the abuses were simultaneous, I am not sure. Regardless, those of us from the developed world must admit that we, in general, have access to more resources which gives us more power which leaves us with more responsibility. So instead of asking those with less power to resist the temptations our presence poses them, we should act first in changing our practices. The more powerful party should set the stage. The local community needs sensitive and considerate interactions with the foreign community in order to become more stable and for such abuses to end. Let’s be aware of whether we are supporting a negative system or a positive system in the way we spend our time in the Dominican Republic or any other developing country.

Responsible Short-Term Foreign Presence from the Developed World in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

2010-05-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

In addition tothe long-term foreign presence I wrote about in my last blog, there is also the presence of foreigners that are in the Puerto Plata area short term. These foreigners come through tourism or volunteer and/or mission trips. Tourists also normally stay in secluded resort areas. Some take part in tourist excursions where they see more of the country. I am in disagreement with the way that the majority of such excursions are run which at times intrusively parade tourists through very impoverished communities without truly educating tourists about the lives of the inhabitants, the challenges they face, and any solutions they can support in making change. They simply pass through sometimes handing candy out to begging children. One excursion leads tourists through in horse drawn carriages. Children from the community have learned to run after the carriages and beg. This image depicts a system that we would hope to change. This depicts a system of rich and poor, subordinate and dominant, royalty and peasantry. This is the enemy of equality and empowerment.

We are making efforts to take such a situation in one of the areas where we have a grassroots school and turn things around so that tourists are educated about the community, efforts being made toward positive change, and are invited to support. We are doing this by setting up an internet center and call center where local artwork will also be sold. Once the center is in full function, we will make contacts with those in charge of running the various tourist excursions that pass through the community, asking them to lead their groups to the center. Profit made at this center then will support the school and other projects to benefit the community.

There are many different organizations and groups that lead volunteer teams on short-term trips. Sometimes volunteers stay for longer periods of time as well. Groups may be medically focused running day clinics and distributing medicines, they may complete a work project such as building or painting, or they may run some sort of educational activities for locals. A critique and concern I have about these trips is that they sometimes have the end goal of providing an experience for the volunteers rather than creating true lasting positive change in the community. A goodgoal and rule of thumb when it comes to such trips which we implement is to be sure that the end goal is not for volunteers to just have an experience but to truly and intentionally bring their presence around full circle to where the community is being empowered in some way. Here are a few examples of how this can be done:

Have the volunteer group fundraise/gather necessary equipment and execute a project that leaves a small business in the community which generates funds from within the commuunity, allowing community development efforts to take place year round.

Determine a skill or knowledge the volunteer group possesses that would be practical and beneficial to pass on to the locals. Execute educational activities in order to pass on the skills or knowledge using care and honesty to be sure that everything is successfully communicated.

Be intentional about analyzing areas in need of development, conducting simple surveys to obtain some basic information that can be shared with others working in the same area or desiring to do so. This information is also useful to accurately understand a situation and explain the situation to those at home, educating the foreign community and rallying support. Be careful to not make any assumptions but conduct well translated surveys and interviews to obtain accurate information.

Require volunteers to engage in continued activities upon returning home that raise support and awareness for the community in which they volunteered. It is also wise to give volunteers a pathway to serve in their own local community upon returning home.

These four practices keep volunteer trips from being a “hit and run” where volunteers obtain an experience an pictures to share but leave nothing lasting in the community. A few last words of advice to groups truly wanting to instill change are focus and persevere. Focus in order to be effective in one thing rather than ineffective in many things. Don’t give up when problems arise but take the time and patience to understand the problem, learn from it, pick up and continue.

Every effort should be made to connect short term volunteer trips into ongoing sustainable efforts. I recently met the co-founders of a new non-profit organization in the Puerto Plata area that is thankfully doing just that in the medical sector. We are in the process of planning ways that our two organizations can partner. Health Horizons International trains community health workers and plans three medical service trips a year focusing on five communities in great need. They are working to build a sustainable system where the community health workers continue caring for patients throughout the year and patient records are kept to ensure that there is continuity between groups.

Time will tell if this model successfully meets the medical needs of the counities they serve and the success will also, just like anything else, rely largely on the continued effort of the staff and volunteers that carry the model out. Nonetheless, the type of thinking that went into creating this model is just the type of thinking volunteer groups working in developing countries everywhere need to have – turning short term efforts into something that lasts long term, has continuity,and truly aims to create change in the community.

Responsible Long-Term Foreign Presence from the Developed World in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

2010-05-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Dominican Republic, located on a Caribbean island just a short plane trip away from the United States and Canada, has a large foreign presence from the developed world. To give an example, for a short period of time I taught math in a bilingual (English and Spanish) private school (pre-K through 12) in the area called OyM Hostos School. This school is American run and staffed by many Dominican teachers but also many foreign teachers, mainly from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Germany. The student population is similar with many Dominican students, students of foreign origin whose families now live in the Dominican Republic, or students with one Dominican and one foreign parent. In addition to the foreign nationalities represented among the teaching staff, I taught students who are Russian, Korean, and Spanish. The majority of students with one or both parents as foreigners are German. I can’t speak for the entire country but there is a large German population in Puerto Plata. Furthermore, I have met Austrians, Serbians, Italians, Australians, French, Switz, Argentines, Peruvians, Perto Ricans, Brazilians, and South Africans who live here as well. Our organization, Project Esperanza, works with the large Haitian population but Haitians and foreigners from other Hispanic countries are in a different category than the North American and European foreigners from more developed nations I am referring to here.

Many members of the foreign population live in secluded areas with a high percentage of foreigners as residents. There are some, such as myself, who live more intermingled with the local population, usually married to or in a relationship with a local. My husband is a foreigner as well. He immigrated from Haiti. Haitians typicaly inhabit the areas of Puerto Plata found to be the least desirable and work jobs that are also viewed as least desirable.

All members of the foreign community in a developing country such as the Dominican Republic and more specifically those from the developed world should bevery aware and intentional about the effect of their presece. We should not further a segregation betewen class, race, and nationality, but should use our priviledge of living and receiving education in a developed country to infuse such positive practices we possess into the developing country. A great way I have seen this done here in Puerto Plata is through OyM Hostos School. In this school the foreign presence sets a standard for organization, puntuality, and higher achievement altogether. Dominican teachers and students are a part of an institution that functions much more effectively than many other institutions in their society. They will likely adapt to certain positive practices and carry them, at least in part, to other instititutions in which they have a presence.

It is important to note that it is not simply the North American and Eurpopean presence that makes OyM Hostos School an empowering institution in the community, but it is their presence along with the way the school is run with teamwork and equality. I am aware of a similar bilingual private school in a nearby community that does things differently and has a different effect .Foreign teachers are paid a starting salary that is significantly higher than Dominican teachers. A school run with such underlying principles does not empower Dominican students and teachers but more so flaunts foreigner priviledges, declaring that the key to sucess is to be or become North American or European rather than the key to success being the succesful practices that led the developed world to be able to provide its citizens with certain priviledges.

Those of us who understand that it was not us personally that successfuly developed these countries but we simply benefit priviledges created by those before us will seek to use our priviledges to empower developing communities to do the same rather than to flaunt our priviledges in the developing community’s face as something we choose to remain difficult for them to obtain...something they have to compromise their culture and often personal and family life to obtain. Those of us who understand this and believe this should work toward creating more community empowering institutions and activities with patience, teamwork, and hope.