- Thread starter Matilda
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Matilda's blog
I love your blog - it's "REAL" DR life and living.
We have some of those guys on our property when we're there too. I'm not Dominicanized enough to send them on errands, but my husband has no such qualms. But when I cook, I make enough to send a plate out to them too.
AE
We have some of those guys on our property when we're there too. I'm not Dominicanized enough to send them on errands, but my husband has no such qualms. But when I cook, I make enough to send a plate out to them too.
AE
We had the pleasure of meeting them last month
(when whirley took us to see matilda)
and I was surprised how well mannered they were,
nice young men I think
everybody needs a sense of purpose I believe,even if it is being a nice dwendy lol
teach them how to paint,cut your yard , groom your dogs
and keep feeding them
yes
there has to be an answer
Manu
(when whirley took us to see matilda)
and I was surprised how well mannered they were,
nice young men I think
everybody needs a sense of purpose I believe,even if it is being a nice dwendy lol
teach them how to paint,cut your yard , groom your dogs
and keep feeding them
yes
there has to be an answer
Manu
Chip, people like Matilda describes as the dwendies are everywhere in the D.R.
If you do not recognise them then this is either wilful ignorance or just a total lack of awareness in your bubble.
Is there 1 other poster that does not at least recognise the type? I think not.
It is understandable trying to convince yourself and others that the D.R.is more perfect than it is in order to justify your decision to come and live here. But it is bordering on psychosis to dent that these dwendies are prevalent in all areas in the D.R. If you choose to ignore them then that is fine too - not very Christian - but fine.
I only met Matilda once but it was obvious to see that she is one of the few people actually prepared to get their hands dirty and get involved. Good on her.
If you do not recognise them then this is either wilful ignorance or just a total lack of awareness in your bubble.
Is there 1 other poster that does not at least recognise the type? I think not.
It is understandable trying to convince yourself and others that the D.R.is more perfect than it is in order to justify your decision to come and live here. But it is bordering on psychosis to dent that these dwendies are prevalent in all areas in the D.R. If you choose to ignore them then that is fine too - not very Christian - but fine.
I only met Matilda once but it was obvious to see that she is one of the few people actually prepared to get their hands dirty and get involved. Good on her.
I'm not even sure what a dwendy is actually, which is quite understandable given my lack of English comprehension, dizque.
Nonetheless, at least from my personal experience of having lived here in Santiago for almost 6 years and in Moca in a very poor campo for more than 6 months the cases presented on the blog would seem to present this as normal if not a majority while I would disagree. Certainly there are similar cases but they are a minority.
If she is not presenting this as normal in the DR then I owe her an apology and will gladly give one but this was not my interpretation. Is it also possible that these cases would be more common in the worse areas of the country, like some areas of SD or the tourist areas? If so it only makes sense and seems fair to qualify it as such as opposed to insinuating that they are representative of the DR in general.
Nobody said they were a majority but it is totally wrong to say that this is not at least normal in the D.R.
Is there the remote possibility that it is less "normal" outside of the tourist areas?
It also seems cliche to me that the same negative images of Dominican society are presented over and over by foreigners without ever showing the positive aspects. Then again some would have me hanged for even proposing that the latter exists. Is that really balanced then?
I loved that entry, if that's the right word, because it illustrated so well something that makes me angry about people who blissfully fail to take responsibility for their actions. All those young human lives going to complete waste because their parents couldn't be bothered to stick around, let alone do the minimum to ensure some sort of decent future for them - at least by ensuring they stay at school, and - clearly too much to ask - by setting some kind of positive example, giving encouragement, support - none of these things cost money!
It makes me wonder if they are any different from some chihuahua owners who think they are cute and talk to them in ickle-wickle baby-waby voices but can't be arsed to take them out for walks... yeah, yeah, they think they're cute, but when it comes to taking responsibility...
It makes me wonder if they are any different from some chihuahua owners who think they are cute and talk to them in ickle-wickle baby-waby voices but can't be arsed to take them out for walks... yeah, yeah, they think they're cute, but when it comes to taking responsibility...
I agree this is a tragedy.
My next question would be does this only happen in the DR or is is expected to be more prevalent here than in other more developed countries.
This is my own real issue.
I don't have a problem with discussing the issues here in the DR and have done so frequently. My own issue is selling such cases as more normal that anywhere else and thus the posts lack balance.
I also think it's fairly clear the reception here on DR1 when someone tries to post something positive and reflects a general bias. I just don't agree this is balanced nor fair.
I too enjoyed Matilda's latest blog about dwendies. I am familar with what they do and how they work. I didn't what they are called. I learned another new Dominican term.
I usually learn new words in her blogs. I have seen and can relate to many things she writes. I am now learning the Domincan words to describe things.
Keep up the good work Matilda.
I usually learn new words in her blogs. I have seen and can relate to many things she writes. I am now learning the Domincan words to describe things.
Keep up the good work Matilda.
Re the dwendies. Chip the word is Spanish, and properly spelled, is duende which is an imp or a goblin. It was the closest I could find to a garden gnome, which are present in most well manicured gardens in middle class England. Don't you have them in the US? The idea being that they sit in the garden doing nothing.
I have come across dwendies in tourists areas, and in purely Dominican towns - in fact more so in the latter as there are much more limited opportunities for sankying and generally scamming people. They are not representative of the DR in general, but their lives are representative of the majority of the youth from lower and working class families in this country. I don't want to get into a discussion about actual numbers or we will have Pichardo bombarding us with the world dwendy stats. If you go out into the street where you live and interview 20 young men between the ages of say 16 and 20 and see what answers you get to the same questions I asked, then maybe you will see. I think that children of the wealthier families maybe come from a more stable background, perhaps stay at their private school longer (as they did not have to leave school for financial reasons), and have a better chance of employment.
As far as the role of a dwendy is concerned, as they have nothing to do and no work, rather than sitting on upturned plastic beer crates outside the colmado all day, they prefer to sit in our garden where they can discuss life, the world and the universe with Mr Matilda, and run errands and do general chores in return for food and companionship. You will not have dwendies as you are not Dominican. Only a Dominican man can have dwendies for some reason!!
Thanks for the nice words Pedro - hope you and yours are enjoying Blighty. And thanks everyone for reading - I really appreciate your comments and insights.
Oh, I nearly forgot, have blogged again, What about your saucepans?: Matilda has moved out
Matilda
I have come across dwendies in tourists areas, and in purely Dominican towns - in fact more so in the latter as there are much more limited opportunities for sankying and generally scamming people. They are not representative of the DR in general, but their lives are representative of the majority of the youth from lower and working class families in this country. I don't want to get into a discussion about actual numbers or we will have Pichardo bombarding us with the world dwendy stats. If you go out into the street where you live and interview 20 young men between the ages of say 16 and 20 and see what answers you get to the same questions I asked, then maybe you will see. I think that children of the wealthier families maybe come from a more stable background, perhaps stay at their private school longer (as they did not have to leave school for financial reasons), and have a better chance of employment.
As far as the role of a dwendy is concerned, as they have nothing to do and no work, rather than sitting on upturned plastic beer crates outside the colmado all day, they prefer to sit in our garden where they can discuss life, the world and the universe with Mr Matilda, and run errands and do general chores in return for food and companionship. You will not have dwendies as you are not Dominican. Only a Dominican man can have dwendies for some reason!!
Thanks for the nice words Pedro - hope you and yours are enjoying Blighty. And thanks everyone for reading - I really appreciate your comments and insights.
Oh, I nearly forgot, have blogged again, What about your saucepans?: Matilda has moved out
Matilda
i'm always amazed by people who only want to see the positive side of things. i got a comment on my blog a few days back about how i only point out negative things about life here - but, my post was about my cold water showers, long black outs and conchos. for me, those things aren't negative - but they are a part of life.
if we only talk about the "happy" things here, we're not painting a true picture of the dominican republic.
i have 60 students this semester and 12 of them drive luxury cars (BMW, Lexus, etc...), 9 of them have private chofers and a few others have their own vehicles. We could write about THEM, but they're not the norm in this country. Most of us are in conchos, on the OMSA or motoconchos, so why not write non-fiction instead of fairytales?
if we only talk about the "happy" things here, we're not painting a true picture of the dominican republic.
i have 60 students this semester and 12 of them drive luxury cars (BMW, Lexus, etc...), 9 of them have private chofers and a few others have their own vehicles. We could write about THEM, but they're not the norm in this country. Most of us are in conchos, on the OMSA or motoconchos, so why not write non-fiction instead of fairytales?