Peace Corps in the DR

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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It is hard to tell if any active Peace Corps volunteers post on this website. I finished with Peace Corps 20 years ago but stop in the office when I visit the country and have met some volunteers outside the capital on occasion. Especially when I worked for SOLUZ in the late 90's.

After my visit in August I discovered this website Peace Corps Journals - Home and find it more interesting then DR1 (sorry Rob). You can go to the "choose a country" link and see recent posts from the DR or other countries if you like. You can also go the country link on the top of the home page and see all the DR posts.

I tend to not comment much and I a little afraid of telling some of you about the site. I really thought maybe people could help support the volunteers while in the country. They have a very different experience about the DR then most of the posters here. They also have many misconceptions about how things work down there until they are more seasoned. That is mostly the fault of the Peace Corps.

Enjoy and maybe some of you will visit a few volunteers at their site or just buy them a lunch or a dinner.

Tom F.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Tell me about it. I finished with Peace Corps 45 years ago!!! Oh man! Older than dirt.

Thanks for the link...I never go to the PC office. Wouldn't know what to say or do nowadays...

We were gung ho volunteers fresh out of 3 months of training (physical and mental) when we got into country....But it was different back then, that is for sure...

HB
 
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Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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there is some really good stuff on that site. here's an example story:

La Brujeria
Kirsi est? mala. My neighbor, Kirsi, is sick. She’s 26 years old and just had her first child this past March. About 3 months ago, Kirsi began to feel sick. Her entire body hurt, she was nauseas and dizzy and tired all day. Basically she didn’t feel like doing anything, but luckily she lives with her parents and younger siblings so they all help take care of baby Yunilka.

They have taken her to the clinic in Nagua numerous times, and each time the doctors run all sorts of bloodwork and analysis and can’t ever find anything wrong with her. The last time she went to the clinic, the doctor told her that it was a mental thing, a problem with anxiety, and they should take her to see a psychiatrist.

My (un)professional opinion is that she has post-partum depression. While she has her family’s help in taking care of the baby, she lacks support from the baby’s father, Yunior. She and Yunior have been together for 3 years. However he still lives in Nagua with his wife and children. He comes to visit Kirsi about two days a week, but this wouldn’t really be my ideal relationship, and I’m sure it’s not hers either. And having children and taking good care of them is such an important part of a woman’s life here that I imagine it can be stressful if a woman feels like she’s not quite up to the job.

She, her family and the town of Baoba think she has been possessed by an evil spirit (a spell cast by her boyfriend’s wife). I went, along with four older women, to Kirsi’s house to pray for her. It was basically an informal exorcism, where we all prayed for the evil spirit to leave Kirsi’s body. It was very moving, and after the prayers, she seemed to be healed. The women said that their exorcism worked. However I think it was just helpful for Kirsi to know that these women were praying for her and loving her and supporting her.

But now Kirsi is feeling the same symptoms again. The family doesn’t want to take the doctor’s advice and take her to see a psychiatrist because “ella no est? loca.” I tried to explain that sending her to a psychiatrist does not mean that she’s crazy, that even I have been to see a psychiatrist because of a problem with anxiety, but they are not interested. What they are interested in is taking her to see a witch so that she will cure the evil spirit that haunts Kirsi’s soul.

The belief in la brujeria (witchcraft) is extremely common here in the Dominican Republic, especially in the small campos, like Baoba. Just today, one of my kids pointed out an older woman to me. “Ella es una bruja,” she told me. I asked how she knew that this woman was a witch, and her response was that her feet were burned. Apparently the rumor is that this woman was flying in the night and someone was cooking on the fogon (outdoor stove) and when the woman flew over the fogon, she burned her feet.

Hopefully Kirsi will feel better soon. Although if she is cured soon after visiting the witch, everyone in Baoba is going to tell me “I told you so” because I have been so vocal in my non-belief in witchcraft and superstitions.
 

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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I missed that one. Very nice story.

Hillbilly, go meet the Director. He is a real nice guy. He spent more time with me on a short visit than the director did when I was a volunteer. I sounds like they have actual projects for the water volunteers and partially US$25,000 gravity flow aquaducts. Some of the blog posts show there are always problems. They still don't have transportation. If they don't want them on motorcycles, give them a truck or a car. I would turn it into an actual development organization rather than a cultural exchange program.
 
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mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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Each volunteer starts from scratch

I missed that one. Very nice story.

Hillbilly, go meet the Director. He is a real nice guy. He spent more time with me on a short visit than the director did when I was a volunteer. I sounds like they have actual projects for the water volunteers and partially US$25,000 gravity flow aquaducts. Some of the blog posts show there are always problems. They still don't have transportation. If they don't want them on motorcycles, give them a truck or a car. I would turn it into an actual development organization rather than a cultural exchange program.

I have no idea how it was when you were volunteers but now each volunteer starts from scratch.... ie they do not pick up on the work of last one. It does seem that the program is designed more to give a cultural experience to the American volunteers rather than to actually help the country. The DR has the longest running program in the world, and, I think, the greatest number of volunteers. I am with you on this one... they could really do great things given some real resources.
 

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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In the late 80's DR had around 150 volunteers and Honduras had 300. Belize had the same number as the DR and barely has a million people. Not sure of the numbers today. Peace Corps started in 61 and the DR in 62. Are you sure none of the original countries maintain Peace Corps today?
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Annie, I don't get the impression that each volunteer starts from scratch. My information is not first hand but from what I understand from friends who work there, there is continuity in the projects the volunteers are allocated, and the DR programme as a whole is divided into thematic categories - such as environment, small business development, youth.

But I do also get the impression that sometimes as you say it is more about the volunteers being exposed to enriching experiences than the benefit of the community and the project they are working on.
 

las2137

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Sep 1, 2008
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I have no idea how it was when you were volunteers but now each volunteer starts from scratch.... ie they do not pick up on the work of last one. It does seem that the program is designed more to give a cultural experience to the American volunteers rather than to actually help the country. The DR has the longest running program in the world, and, I think, the greatest number of volunteers. I am with you on this one... they could really do great things given some real resources.

Actually, the first Peace Corps country was Ghana. Peace Corps - Ghana.

I know at least one PCV here in the DR that is a "build-on" volunteer, the 3rd or so in a line of volunteers working on one project. She is (or "was" as I believe she has left the DR by now) working with a cacao cooperative. I've been impressed by the handful of volunteers I've met here. But yes, in every group there are those who are here for the Cuerpo de Paseo.

PC is different in every country and every volunteer. This, of course, is both a strength and a weakness. I imagine that not many PCVs come on DR1 because they are much more integrated into Dominican culture than regular old ex-pats.

As far as supporting local PCVs, you can always contribute to projects through the DR country page. Peace Corps - Dominican Republic

Leslie
RPCV Honduras/'00-'02
 

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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That is the basic problem with Peace Corps in the DR. There is virtually no continuation of projects between volunteers. Go visit any volunteer site a year after they are gone, and 90% or more, the project is dead. The ones that have drank the juice talk about making a difference in just one life, or the it has to come from the ground up. When a volunteer gets sent to the campo and starts wearing $100 peso rubber boots, there is a problem.
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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start from scratch

Annie, I don't get the impression that each volunteer starts from scratch. My information is not first hand but from what I understand from friends who work there, there is continuity in the projects the volunteers are allocated, and the DR programme as a whole is divided into thematic categories - such as environment, small business development, youth.

But I do also get the impression that sometimes as you say it is more about the volunteers being exposed to enriching experiences than the benefit of the community and the project they are working on.

I only know of the projects that were running down in Pedernales...and as LAS pointed out, evidently there have been some add on volunteers...

What I meant from scratch is that each volunteer comes in and does a community survey all over again, which is perhaps a good way for the volunteer to know the town but must, I imagine, get tiresome for the locals... And then the volunteers think up what it is that they want to do.

I know a few of the local project directors who will not have volunteers any more since they will not just follow directions and do what the locals want ... see the bit that was posted about NOT typing......


And the volunteers are divided into fields--- not necessarily based on their own skill set but are trained in that while in country. As I understand, a community may or may not get a volunteer in the same sector the next time round.

I know that it is a great experience for the Americans and a great credential on the resume. I am just not convinced that they do much good for the locals... and I certainly do not blame that on the volunteers but the program itself.
 

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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When you go through the application process with Peace Corps, they wanted you to have some skill set which matched up with a program. I was a poly sci major in college and had construction experience working for my Dad in high school and college and was assigned as a water/sanitation volunteer. We were only 4 people and three current volunteers at the time did our training, Eric, Chris and Trish. John, Paul, Rima and I will never forget them. The Health and Forestry volunteers were much larger groups and did the hotel thing through the technical training. The water volunteers were the mutts of group of 47 who entered in Sept. of 87. The other groups either had their college education in their program area or were older and had work experience.

The water volunteers were assigned to "community groups" who applied to the Peace Corps for a volunteer to help build a water system. They were not good placements and we ended up moving our sites and creating our own projects working under the direction of Richard Hansen out of Sosua. John and I helped a couple of guys start businesses installing and maintaining solar systems. Both are still in the business today.

The heath volunteers who assigned to a rural clinic and monitored infant development in the community they were assigned. Very few were lasted the two years on that project and created their own work and play. The Peace Corps had an opportunity to collect valuable data on the health of newly born children in more than 20 locations in the country. Some program might of actually been developed with AID funds with follow-up and working with local organizations at a professional level.

The forestly volunteers were assigned to an agronimo in various parts of the country. Same thing, most got started and in to the 2nd year they were off doing their own thing. It was all good and a fantastic experience for me. 32 of the 47 lasted the two years. There were a few times when I was ready to leave. Peace Corps would have a much higher retention rate if volunteers overlapped their service with existing volunteers, regional support offices were set up to help develop and monitor the work, and volunteers had transportation.

I returned to the DR 8 year after my Peace Corps experience and managed SOLUZ Dominicana for a couple of years, and had the opportunity to work at a professional level. I understand about the volunteer integrating into the community and that all needs to be part of the experience. Almost all go with the intention of doing work and we end up getting a little bit of money from some fund we applied to and help pay for something they already know how to do. Almost all communities in the Dominican Republic have family traveling back and forth from the US and Europe. They look at the volunteer and say who is that pandejo over there.

Have a nice Thanksgiving.
 

jessann116

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Dec 31, 2007
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Elias Pina - Comendador

I know that this is an old thread but I'm wondering if any of you know the best way to get in contact with any PCV working in Comendador in Elias Pina. I'll be spending the month of August in El Llano, close to Comendador, and I've heard that Comendador has 2 or 3 volunteers. Having a hard time getting in contact with them though. Any ideas are helpful.
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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I know that this is an old thread but I'm wondering if any of you know the best way to get in contact with any PCV working in Comendador in Elias Pina. I'll be spending the month of August in El Llano, close to Comendador, and I've heard that Comendador has 2 or 3 volunteers. Having a hard time getting in contact with them though. Any ideas are helpful.

I think that you will find the PC office pretty protective of the volunteers and will not give you names and locations... However- if you actually go to Comendador, you will certainly be able to find them quickly.

I know that Progressio Dominican Republic | Progressio
has an office there and they will most likely know the PC volunteers.

What are you going to be doing up there, if you do not mind answering?
 

Tom F.

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Jan 1, 2002
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I received one response from a PCV from that thread. I guess some read and post on this site but feel it is better not to advertise they are in the Peace Corps. When you are a volunteer, you tend to blame the rich Dominicans and the tourists for the causes and benefactors of the poverty.

If you are going to the area and spending a month, you can just ask around like advised.

As a former volunteer, I have had no problem getting into the office on previous visits. You can also go to the pension where the majority of volunteers stay in the capital and talk to people there. It is 5 or 6 blocks from the office.

I have made some email contact with volunteers who have blogs linked to peacecorpsjournals.com.