Village Visit

Aug 21, 2007
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I do monthly trips to the villages back behind Montellano, where I care for a few very poor families. Recently, I wrote this as an update for a small informal group of friends who occasionally give me money to help out these families.

I am posting it here- it is very long, sorry- to help paint a picture of the other DR that tourists might not know.

Moderators, if this is not appropriate due to length or subject matter, please simple delete the thread. Thanks.

Lindsey


"Visited my villagers today.....but, in order to tell the story, I must start at the beginning.

As I always do, I ran to the grocery story to buy the ingredients for food packets:

5 lbs. rice
1 lb black beans
small bottle of cooking oil
small can of tomato paste
3 tins of sardines
bag of powdered soy milk.

This feeds a family of 4 for one week.

To make the trip special, I bought 2 bags of suckers for the children and several frozen chickens. (I had an idea....)

I do this shopping trip about once a month, and I use points from my frequent shopper card to make the purchases. Thus, it costs Strength for the Journey (our informal charity group) nothing.

Pulling onto the main road from the Supermercado, I saw a police man with his thumb out, hitch hiking. After yesterday?s fright with the pistol waving police, I thought it might be a good move to provide myself with extra security. I gave the officer a ride. Elvis was his name. He was heading a bit beyond where I was going, but was happy for the ride part way.

When I reached the point where I had to turn off the main road for the villages, Elvis got out. I knew from there on, I was safe. The villages are tranquil.

First I headed towards Lude?s shack. I must have looked like I wasn?t sure of the way. A boy shouted at me, ?You are going to Lude?s!? I replied, ?Yes, get in my car and show me the way.?

The shacks are crowded together. Roads, usually not paved, are also not always passable. I was glad for the escort.

My arrival was met with the usual enthusiastic welcome and many children, who appear from nowhere. I retrieved the bag of suckers. The children crowded around. I explained. ?I will give you each 2. Only one is for you. You must give the other to a friend who is not here.? The children understood, and as I was passing out the candy, they repeated my instructions to each recipient. (And as time passed, I saw the children eating one sucker and closely guarding the other.)

Lude wanted me to sit down and talk. She pulled out the plastic chair. The temperature and humidity were stifling, the smell of urine, overwhelming. (Remember, none of these crowded shacks have indoor plumbing or toilets of any kind.) I said that I would only sit for a minute. Then, I asked Lude to come to the car with me for her food packet. I handed it to her, then passed over 2 chickens. I told her to cook one for her family, and like the children, I instructed her to give the other to a friend who is poor. With that, Lude ran across the street smiling and handed the other chicken to her neighbor.

Lude escorted me out of her village and back to the road so I could proceed on to Fernandito?s house.

I know the general area where he lives, but not which tiny pathway leads to their shack. Thus, I parked the car and asked 2 old people who were selling coffee cans of homemade charcoal, ?Do you know which house is Fernandito's?? No, no, they didn?t know. But they started asking other people who were nearby.

Then, a chubby boy from a colmado across the street appeared and told me that he would take me to the shack. He took hold of my elbow to escort me as someone would an elderly person. (?Is that they way I look to them?? I wondered.)

When we were ready to turn off the path, my escort, Carlos, instructed me, ?Next time, park here.? Just down the path from that point was Fernandito?s house.

Rosa, Fernandito?s mother, came out. She said she had been sick. Diarrhea and vomiting. Said she hasn?t been able to eat for days.

.....Now, imagine being sick like this in 100 degree temperatures with no source of running water and no bathrooms. The family of 6 lives in a one room shack, with everyone sleeping huddled together in 2 beds.....

I asked Rosa if she had been to the clinic. She said yes, ran in the house, and came out with 2 papers. One, from a lab, said that she was full of parasites. The other was a prescription. I asked if she had the pills. She said that she had no money to buy them.

Then, Fernandito came out. I went to give him a hug, and realized he was burning with fever. Rosa said she knew he had fever, but he was not to return to the sickle cell doctor for 3 months. That would be October. I asked if Fernandito was going to school like this. She said yes.

Poor kid. I explained that a very generous man gave me money for medicine and doctor visits for Fernandito. She should not wait until he is extremely sick to take him to the doctor.

Then, I turned back to Carlos, my escort who was still nearby, ?Is there a farmacia (drug store) nearby? Nodding, he said that we would have to go in the car.

As we all walked back to my car, I began to hear a humming sort of sound. I looked around to see that a crowd was growing around us. As each person explained to the others what was going on, it sounded like a swarm of bees!

I drove to the farmacia, bought Rosa?s medicine, and then asked Carlos to direct me to the Supermercado. The grocery store was tiny, crowded, and a bit smelly. I asked the clerk if they had Power Aid, the local brand of Gator Aid. She didn?t understand me, so I wrote it down. ?Ahhh,? she replied, ?Gator Aid!? And she directed a worker to a shelf not with Power Aid OR Gator Aid, but something that looked similar by another name. I bought 5 bottles of it and told Rosa to eat NOTHING, NADA, for 24 hours. Just drink the Gator Aid. She understood.

We drove back to the shack. Dutifully, I parked where Carlos instructed. I opened the trunk and got out Rosa?s food packet. I firmly reminded her that she can cook the food but not eat for 24 hours. I repeated the lollipop activity with the children who gathered. The kids understood and obeyed.

And I ended the trip by giving Carlos, my trusty escort, a chicken. ?Give this to your family and tell them I said you helped me mucho,? I said.

And, thus, ended my trip to the villages. I know I have written this before. Sorry, I must repeat myself, but the conclusion is still true. I go to the villages when I feel the need to help those who live in inhumane poverty. I go to spread goodwill.

But, always. Always, I return home feeling not that I helped them, but rather that THEY helped ME. They, who have nothing concrete to give, bless me with love and confirmation that simple human kindness is truly the greatest gift of all."
 

southwardbound2

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Jun 5, 2008
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Would it be less expensive to drink coconut water (from the green coconut) than Gatoraide? I dont know cost of equivalent volumes of each in the villages, but coconuts have more in them than the water too. It is a great electrolyte replacer. Has a bit less sodium and sugar, otherwise similar and if you want more of those throw in some salt and sugar.
 
Aug 21, 2007
3,043
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Would it be less expensive to drink coconut water (from the green coconut) than Gatoraide? I dont know cost of equivalent volumes of each in the villages, but coconuts have more in them than the water too. It is a great electrolyte replacer. Has a bit less sodium and sugar, otherwise similar and if you want more of those throw in some salt and sugar.

Yes, you are probably right, southwardbound2. I will tell them that next time. However, the day I wrote about, I was hot, tired, and finishing up my rounds. It was simply easier for me to go buy the Gator Aid than to hunt for someone selling coconut water in Montellano. But, I will remember that for the future.

Lindsey
 

dulce

Silver
Jan 1, 2002
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Very nice story Lindsey. I especially like that you teach the people to share what they are getting from you.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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next time use much easier and cheaper hydration trick: one liter of water mixed with 6 teaspoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt. not tasty but readily available in any dominican house.
alternatively you can buy powdered suero in any pharmacy, it is a small sachet of fruit flavoured powder to be dissolved on one liter of water.
 
Aug 21, 2007
3,043
1,970
113
next time use much easier and cheaper hydration trick: one liter of water mixed with 6 teaspoons of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt. not tasty but readily available in any dominican house.
alternatively you can buy powdered suero in any pharmacy, it is a small sachet of fruit flavoured powder to be dissolved on one liter of water.

I had forgotten about the powdered hydration packets. That would have been easier. I will remember for next time.

As for the sugar, salt and water. Yes, any Dominican house would have that. But, these are people in extreme poverty. I would not assume they have sugar and salt, as the woman got parasites from drinking the river water ("Only a little..." she said,) when she had no money to buy purified water. That is the same river people go to, to wash clothes, bathe, and relieve themselves. You do what you have to do when you are desperate.

These are the Haitians who formerly worked the cane fields behind Montellano and now, having been out of work for years, live in simply squalid conditions. Often they move from one shack to the next, as in a game of musical chairs. They somehow get 500 pesos, one month's rent. Give it to a landlord, move into a shack. After three months, when no more payments have been made, the landlord evicts them. They find someone to give them another 500 pesos and they rent another, nearby shack. This is why it is difficult for me to find the families I help. Aside from the maze-like pathways that gnarl through the villages, families are not always living in the same shack.

It is a complicated problem. The people have been here long enough to have children in the DR. By rights, these children are Dominican. However, their parents cannot read or write. They have no resources to get the paperwork that would claim the children as Dominican citizens. Thus, not only the parents have no rights, but now the children have neither rights, nor a country.

Dominican Republic doesn't want them. Haiti doesn't want them. Schools don't want them. The public hospitals will admit them in dire conditions, but often require them to prove that they can pay. How can they pay?

Since I have been here, some have gone back to Haiti. But for most, the DR is now their home.

It is all very messy with no easy answers.

I just try to help the few that I can by providing the minimum to live. Beans and rice once a week. And usually, when they are extremely sick and need medicine or help, they find a way to get a message to me. Then, I work to find the resources to get them the medical help they need.

Lindsey
 
Aug 21, 2007
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And now that I think about it, I have never seen a pure water bottle in any of their homes. What I do see are 5 gallon buckets sitting around with water. They get this water either from the river or, when the water runs (about once every 2 weeks) in the village communal water pipe, they line up with their buckets, fill them (hoping the pipe doesn't shut off before they are first in line), and then place the buckets of water around their shack for future use.

My guess is that, as long as they have water from the pipe, that is what they drink. I know many Haitians who always drink the piped water.

And no wonder they have parasites.

Lindsey