how do they survive

donquixote

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Aug 2, 2005
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i just returned from another vacation in the dr. i have met many people there and am always interested in the local people and their living.
i am always confused in trying to figure out exactly how people live and survive.

I have asked people and i constanly get the answer that the single mothers work the street but i do not belive that.

one lady i know lives in la union with her three children. i know there rent is about 5000rd. i know she is not working the streets as she is always home.
when i visited her family i noticed that they were out of gas. very little food in the house. she bought a loaf of bread and the kids seemed to go after it with a bit of jam like they had not eaten for days.

i took her to the local grocery store, and bought some milk, some rice and some meat..and a few other things and the cost was over 1200 rd.

there does not seem to be any means of support from her ex husband and she is sick and cannot work.

if anyone can tell me how people like this do survive i would like to know. i try to help some myself but cannot take on more...

our maid is another matter...she works part time for us, 3 half days a week and we give her 4500rd. we try to help out extra when we can. i know she makes a bit of tips on the cleaning but i dont think her total wages and tips would be more than 7000rd per month...i often wonder how she survives and raising 5 children

any knowledge and insite is appreciated.

thanks.
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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Simple Math

i just returned from another vacation in the dr. i have met many people there and am always interested in the local people and their living.
i am always confused in trying to figure out exactly how people live and survive.

I have asked people and i constanly get the answer that the single mothers work the street but i do not belive that.

one lady i know lives in la union with her three children. i know there rent is about 5000rd. i know she is not working the streets as she is always home.
when i visited her family i noticed that they were out of gas. very little food in the house. she bought a loaf of bread and the kids seemed to go after it with a bit of jam like they had not eaten for days.

i took her to the local grocery store, and bought some milk, some rice and some meat..and a few other things and the cost was over 1200 rd.

there does not seem to be any means of support from her ex husband and she is sick and cannot work.

if anyone can tell me how people like this do survive i would like to know. i try to help some myself but cannot take on more...

our maid is another matter...she works part time for us, 3 half days a week and we give her 4500rd. we try to help out extra when we can. i know she makes a bit of tips on the cleaning but i dont think her total wages and tips would be more than 7000rd per month...i often wonder how she survives and raising 5 children

any knowledge and insite is appreciated.

thanks.
4 years ago, 1$ - 45 pesos cost of living: food etc. was adjusted accordingly
Then the Gov. changed it to 1$ = 22 Pesos (Up to 34 since then) but prices remained same or more. Result, well your post says it all.
 

johne

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Jun 28, 2003
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The simple answer is...

they don't "survive". When they have an extended family or good friends (in the DR) they share what little they have. When they have family or "friends" in the U.S. they rely on remmission.I think the number of people receiving Western Unions is somewhere around 85% of the pop. (correct this fig. if I don't have current data.)

They don't have money for health care. That's for sure. No money to pay for power-but that's covered in many other threads on dr1.No money for nada plain and simple.

BTW-the meat you bought will be a very special treat for her and a change from the rice and bean diet.
 

cuas

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May 29, 2006
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Some depends on neighbors. People share the little they have. My sister who lives in a barrio passed through the back yard a plate of food to a neighbor. That will be the only thing she will eat if she is not called to wash somebody clothes.
A lot of things is going on in the backyards. Sometimes you hear "Vecina, vecina" and it is because a neighbor made a special dish and she is passing a plate to her neighbor.
The poorest people try to keep their children indoor at mealtime but some neighbors that know their situation when they see one of the children they ask them to the go to the colmado to buy something and when they come back they ask the child to come inside and tell him/her "Look what I have for you" and it is a plate of food.
When my mother was living in SD there was a woman with 6 children and each of them had a place to eat lunch. They do not have to sit on the table but when they were hungry they knew tho food was there. One girl that was eating at home every time she sees my mother thanks her for the plate of food. That was the only secure meal of the day.
When in college (UASD) some students were telling their stories that they have not eaten mostly on weekends when the comedor was closed. My mother was telling to invite them to study so she can feed them without embarrassing them.
Life is hard in the barrios. How can children learn in school if they are hungry?
 
Jun 18, 2007
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live is hard for many dominicans

i just returned from another vacation in the dr. i have met many people there and am always interested in the local people and their living.
i am always confused in trying to figure out exactly how people live and survive.

I have asked people and i constanly get the answer that the single mothers work the street but i do not belive that.

one lady i know lives in la union with her three children. i know there rent is about 5000rd. i know she is not working the streets as she is always home.
when i visited her family i noticed that they were out of gas. very little food in the house. she bought a loaf of bread and the kids seemed to go after it with a bit of jam like they had not eaten for days.

i took her to the local grocery store, and bought some milk, some rice and some meat..and a few other things and the cost was over 1200 rd.

there does not seem to be any means of support from her ex husband and she is sick and cannot work.

if anyone can tell me how people like this do survive i would like to know. i try to help some myself but cannot take on more...

our maid is another matter...she works part time for us, 3 half days a week and we give her 4500rd. we try to help out extra when we can. i know she makes a bit of tips on the cleaning but i dont think her total wages and tips would be more than 7000rd per month...i often wonder how she survives and raising 5 children

any knowledge and insite is appreciated.

thanks.

Life can be very tough here in the DR as I know from my own experience and I know how it is to live just on rice and beans or rice and noodles.
You said that this lady lives in La Union is this La Union in Los Alcarrizos and she's paying RD5000 rent per month? I've lived in el Tamarindo in Los Alcarrizos and if she's paying that amount she must be living in a mansion and where does she get the RD5000 from? Are you sure she's not playing you for a fool or was it a typo?
Asking this doesn't mean that I'm trying to down play the poor living conditions of many Dominicans as I have seen them firsthand.
 

Jumbo

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Jul 8, 2005
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Life can be very tough here in the DR as I know from my own experience and I know how it is to live just on rice and beans or rice and noodles.
You said that this lady lives in La Union is this La Union in Los Alcarrizos and she's paying RD5000 rent per month? I've lived in el Tamarindo in Los Alcarrizos and if she's paying that amount she must be living in a mansion and where does she get the RD5000 from? Are you sure she's not playing you for a fool or was it a typo?
Asking this doesn't mean that I'm trying to down play the poor living conditions of many Dominicans as I have seen them firsthand.

My educated guess would be La Union across from POP airport. Apartments there go for around RD5000 a month.
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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Some depends on neighbors. People share the little they have. My sister who lives in a barrio passed through the back yard a plate of food to a neighbor. That will be the only thing she will eat if she is not called to wash somebody clothes.
A lot of things is going on in the backyards. Sometimes you hear "Vecina, vecina" and it is because a neighbor made a special dish and she is passing a plate to her neighbor.
The poorest people try to keep their children indoor at mealtime but some neighbors that know their situation when they see one of the children they ask them to the go to the colmado to buy something and when they come back they ask the child to come inside and tell him/her "Look what I have for you" and it is a plate of food.
When my mother was living in SD there was a woman with 6 children and each of them had a place to eat lunch. They do not have to sit on the table but when they were hungry they knew tho food was there. One girl that was eating at home every time she sees my mother thanks her for the plate of food. That was the only secure meal of the day.
When in college (UASD) some students were telling their stories that they have not eaten mostly on weekends when the comedor was closed. My mother was telling to invite them to study so she can feed them without embarrassing them.
Life is hard in the barrios. How can children learn in school if they are hungry?
In my first post, I gave the major reason for what led to their present condition and I think the above is probably the best answer to your question. I've seen it. It's sad.
 

rio2003

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Aug 16, 2006
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Very hard for them and for me too!

I agree with Cuas - my best friend is a Dominicana with three kids living in a very poor village who very often has only a plate of rice and beans to eat in a 24 hour period. She gets by with the occasional cleaning job or washing clothes. Food is often sent in from neighbouring houses as well as the electric! She cannot afford the meter installation or the monthly bills. When I am over there, 2 - 3 times a year, I buy food everyday which she cooks and gives some to the neighbours - payback time. Each time I visit I try and do something to make their lives a bit better - had the house painted, bought a fridge, school uniforms and so on. It is very hard for me to come home to my comfortable life in England knowing how they are living in the campo but I only send money in absolute emergencies. I have found the Dominican mentality of "live for the moment" kicks in only too often and if she has cash in her hand it may well be used for a new blouse or pair of jeans and worry about food the next day!
One thing that does worry me is the huge increase in money lending or loan sharks to be perfectly honest.It seems that most of the people I meet on my visits are in debt with very high interest rates being levied. I just wonder where it will end. There has already been one suicide in the campo from someone who couldnt cope with his financial problems and this is a first for me in 12 years. People are certainly struugling more than ever.
 

donquixote

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Aug 2, 2005
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I agree with Cuas - my best friend is a Dominicana with three kids living in a very poor village who very often has only a plate of rice and beans to eat in a 24 hour period. She gets by with the occasional cleaning job or washing clothes. Food is often sent in from neighbouring houses as well as the electric! She cannot afford the meter installation or the monthly bills. When I am over there, 2 - 3 times a year, I buy food everyday which she cooks and gives some to the neighbours - payback time. Each time I visit I try and do something to make their lives a bit better - had the house painted, bought a fridge, school uniforms and so on. It is very hard for me to come home to my comfortable life in England knowing how they are living in the campo but I only send money in absolute emergencies. I have found the Dominican mentality of "live for the moment" kicks in only too often and if she has cash in her hand it may well be used for a new blouse or pair of jeans and worry about food the next day!
One thing that does worry me is the huge increase in money lending or loan sharks to be perfectly honest.It seems that most of the people I meet on my visits are in debt with very high interest rates being levied. I just wonder where it will end. There has already been one suicide in the campo from someone who couldnt cope with his financial problems and this is a first for me in 12 years. People are certainly struugling more than ever.

your and other replys are a help to me. some of my friends say i am foolish as i am being taken advantage of, but i believe if i help 5 people and am taken advantage of by 4 of them, at least i helped one who really needed it.

it made me think of the previous visit i made to this home. when i got there the oldest daughter said her mother was in puerto plata with her son at the doctor. when they came back the boy looked very sick. i asked the problem and was told and they had two prescriptions. there was no pharmacy there to fill what was needed so the next day i took her to sousa to fill the orders. when the pharmacist gave them to her, she began to cry. i asked someone what people do when they cannot get the medicine they need. i was told in this case they would buy just a few days pills instead of the 30 days required, and get more later if they could...i hope the new medical plan being instituted in dr will help with the medicine too...
 

rio2003

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Aug 16, 2006
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Donquixote
I am so with you on this one - I work two jobs here in the UK to fund my visits to the DR and to help my friend and I am always getting the same from my friends - I take no notice. I know how life really is - I lived there twice and had to live with hardly any money or more than one occasion - never again!
I was there in January and got the dreaded gripe (is that how you spell it?). I was so poorly, I have never had such a bad case of it but luckily I had my good old English GP and strong antibiotics to get me better. My Dominican friend wasnt so lucky and ended up in Gregorio Luperon hospital in Puerto Plata with pneumonia! Yes I helped with the bill - I dont want to lose her!
 

Jumbo

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Jul 8, 2005
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The best thing you can do is bring adult and children's vitamins, iron tabs ( anemia ) and calcium. But also explain how to take them. Especially the iron pills. The food they do get they cook all the nutrients out of. Buy them avocados ( mono fat missing in most Dominican diets ) and fruit along with the rice and beans. As i said they cook the meat and chicken to death so a large salami will go further than the latter two.

If the woman is poor please do not give her a cell phone. The rent will never get paid. If there is an emergency there is always a neighbor with a cell. Glad to see you do not send any WU because eventually it would be expected. The live for today with the new shirt and shoes is exactly what would happen.
 

Lambada

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One thing that does worry me is the huge increase in money lending or loan sharks to be perfectly honest.It seems that most of the people I meet on my visits are in debt with very high interest rates being levied. I just wonder where it will end. There has already been one suicide in the campo from someone who couldnt cope with his financial problems and this is a first for me in 12 years. People are certainly struugling more than ever.

I agree with all of this - would just add that also some loan sharks are also involved in the drugs industry so those in debt are sometimes obliged to pay off their debt by selling small amounts. Once brought into the business in this way it is then very hard to get out. Many people live their whole life in debt just to be able to eat & survive - so much for hope for the future!

Suicide in Puerto Plata seems to be increasing - it could be that more is being reported but there have been 2 in the last 10 days both for financial reasons. One was a young woman in Bello Costero barrio (the one near Long Beach) who remortgaged her home & was then about to be evicted
Puerto Plata Digital
and then last weekend a Swiss woman who had taken out a loan killed herself leaving a Dominican partner & 2 children
Polic?*a de Puerto Plata investiga sucidio de suiza que murió envenenada

DonQuixote you are never being foolish in helping particularly if you know the people and you know the circumstances are genuine. Those of us who live here fulltime frequently have to struggle with our guilt that we can't do more. Most of the expats don't talk about it much but one can recognise it in another when it is there. Mine gets translated into as much action as I can manage but it also gets translated into anger at corrupt politicians and self centred new residents who just choose not to see the half of what goes on. Probably not admirable but I'm being honest.

Donquixote I am so with you on this one - I work two jobs here in the UK to fund my visits to the DR and to help my friend and I am always getting the same from my friends - I take no notice. I know how life really is - I lived there twice and had to live with hardly any money or more than one occasion - never again!

That's exactly it! We've been poor here too, years ago. There IS no better lesson in understanding how life is here for very many people.

I honestly believe that the poor are struggling more now than 15+ years ago when I arrived and it is very, very worrying. Particularly when you see the gap between rich & poor growing wider.
 

johne

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Jun 28, 2003
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Regarding medicine

How do you think one would be able to afford (2) pills a day (for sickle cell) @$1.25 each and (1) folic acid pill at $.25cents each? Everyday. Your whole life. Well, you don't eat very much. You don't buy clothes. You don't buy nada. I think (not 100% sure) 8 or 9% of the pop. is afflicted with it.

john
 

rio2003

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Aug 16, 2006
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I cant believe nobody has corrected me yet - my friend didnt go to the airport for treatment! Gregorio Hernandez was what I meant to type, getting carried away!!!
Hi Lambada,
As you know, my holidays are spent in a campo and you are right about the escalating drug problem. I spend a lot of time talking to my friends about the life and problems and they admit that if they have the chance of "oblivion" for a while and a chance to forget the drudgery of day to day life they grab it - whether it be through drink or drugs. I have seen friends of mine lose their motorbikes and their livelihood over what started out as a small debt and grew to insane amounts over a period of time. I agree that the gap between the rich and poor is noticeably widening - I have never seen so many new 4 x 4 vehicles as I did on my recent visit. Astounding!
A very quick note to anyone in the UK that does send money to the DR - Moneygram is far,far cheaper than Western Union and an excellent service. If anyone wants details send me a pm.
 

Jumbo

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Jul 8, 2005
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How do you think one would be able to afford (2) pills a day (for sickle cell) @$1.25 each and (1) folic acid pill at $.25cents each? Everyday. Your whole life. Well, you don't eat very much. You don't buy clothes. You don't buy nada. I think (not 100% sure) 8 or 9% of the pop. is afflicted with it.

john

Diabetes is a bigger and more expensive problem on the island. Not sure about SC but i know whole barrios full of diabetics. 25 test strips can run RD700. In the US they test 8 to 10 times a day. In the DR some are luckey to test every other day. The kids in this one barrio full of diabetics ( all related ) are at the colmado all day eating Doritos and candy. I buy the kid an orange and she starts to cry. There is only so much a person can do when a whole generation is set in their ways.
 

rio2003

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Aug 16, 2006
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The best thing you can do is bring adult and children's vitamins, iron tabs ( anemia ) and calcium. But also explain how to take them. Especially the iron pills. The food they do get they cook all the nutrients out of. Buy them avocados ( mono fat missing in most Dominican diets ) and fruit along with the rice and beans. As i said they cook the meat and chicken to death so a large salami will go further than the latter two.

If the woman is poor please do not give her a cell phone. The rent will never get paid. If there is an emergency there is always a neighbor with a cell. Glad to see you do not send any WU because eventually it would be expected. The live for today with the new shirt and shoes is exactly what would happen.

The only problem with this is that in my experience ANYTHING bought in bulk is sellable and will very possibly get resold when I leave. This is a fact of life there. For that reason I buy the food daily and see that it gets cooked and eaten. I have never experienced the meat being overcooked, on the contrary it is wonderful and her lambi guisado is as good as I can get in Maimon. The pleasure she gets from having good food to cook and eat and the kids faces is something I carry around in my head and think about in cold boring days in England. I would rather buy a pollo and 3 libras de arroz for a family than give them $200 for some presidentes, regardless of the nutritional value!!
I DO send her money when I regard it as being absolutely neccessary and after being like sisters for over 10 years I do hope that she "expects" me to help her in times of real need. God forbid that anything should happen to her or the kids and I did nothing about it.
 

johne

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Jun 28, 2003
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Diabetes is a bigger and more expensive problem on the island. Not sure about SC but i know whole barrios full of diabetics. 25 test strips can run RD700. In the US they test 8 to 10 times a day. In the DR some are luckey to test every other day. The kids in this one barrio full of diabetics ( all related ) are at the colmado all day eating Doritos and candy. I buy the kid an orange and she starts to cry. There is only so much a person can do when a whole generation is set in their ways.

The manager of a small store I have in SD is a 260 lb. brute that has diabetes. I used to bring her sugar free chocolates and reg. for others. She ate both. Going out to lunch-everybody would order chichen or fish. She would order 2 plates of rice! More carbs. More sugar.

Two years ago when my father died I found a sugar testing device that I had bought (around $75) that he never used. I brought it to her with a supply of strips. I then found out she didn't use it after the first two weeks.

Your're right old habits are hard to break.
 

bigbird

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May 1, 2005
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your and other replys are a help to me. some of my friends say i am foolish as i am being taken advantage of, but i believe if i help 5 people and am taken advantage of by 4 of them, at least i helped one who really needed it.

No way are you being foolish. You have a good heart and trying to do what is right. This is a great thread you started, very informative. I find most often it is the little things one can do to lend a helping hand.
 

sylindr

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Nov 29, 2007
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how can you go wrong feeding hungry children??? I am from Canada and cannot believe how much we take for granted compared to these people. I don't think my kids have even been hungry in their lives nor any of their friends.....and so many of these people don't know what being satisfied is!