Campo Chronicles: Trash in the Streets, Water Filters in the Homes, and Plenty of Patience

Trying the water from my filter project so people trust it!

The month of May held lots of new and exciting experience for me and a very extended amount of time outside of my community. In the first week of May I hosted a Dominican visitor who is the project manager for the Dominican branch of the Rotary Club. My filter project was completely funded by Club Rotaria and therefore, in order for me to continue requesting filters for my community they wanted to see how my pilot project of forty filters turned out. It was a joy to host Rossi. She has a graduate degree in architecture, is unmarried, and in her forties; she is not the type of Dominican woman I am used to mingling with. It was very refreshing to see Rossi struggle with some of the same things I struggle against in my community: ignorance, stubbornness, machismo (so it isn’t just because I’m American I thought). Rossi showed me that much of what I thought were cultural differences are really just educational differences. We spent three days cooking together, swapping stories, and visiting homes where I had installed filtros. It was a very positive experience and left me wishing that I had a highly educated Dominican woman in my campo with me.

Another project I can no longer ignore in my campo is TRASH. Solid waste is by far the biggest eyesore in Judea. When I conjure up images of the Dominican Republic I wish I saw coconut trees and pristine beaches. Rather, my view of these pristine vistas has been compromised by my experience on the ground. I see a beautiful landscape filled with trash. I see raw sewage flowing into the drinking water for lack of any sewage system and I witness our dirt roads turn to mosquito breeding grounds with one rainfall as we have no drainage system and the pools of water turn to green slime in 24 hours. I see people content to burn their trash daily for lack of any organized system. And most worrisome to me, my neighbors are more concerned about sweeping their yards and patios free of organic waste such as leaves and grasses and are perfectly content to throw glass beer bottles and dirty diapers behind the house. Solid waste management in the Dominican Republic is not something that can be tackled overnight. Nor do I feel that changing people’s habits and attitudes towards solid waste will do much good without the support and initiative of the government to do something about the growing waste produced on the island of nine million inhabitants (that number does not include Haiti). For me, as a lowly volunteer fighting the smoldering stink that swells around me in this island paradise, I will begin by planting the seeds of change. What greater tool to use to wake people out of their heat-induced malaise than fear! Dominicans in my community fear the reality of cholera, as well they should; it is on the island and I do not see this bacterial infection leaving anytime soon.

I will begin my trash initiative by linking the presence of solid waste and sickness. People in my community do not leave the house if it is raining because this will make you sick, they do not drink something cold when they are eating something hot, because this will make you sick, they do not take off their socks until they cool down and they don’t like mixing different fruits together in a smoothie, all these things make you sick. However, having exposed piles of trash sitting next to one’s latrine, washing one’s hands only when taking a shower, and drinking contaminated water are rarely linked to illness. Soap in public bathrooms is like a good intention never realized. There is usually a fancy hand dispenser but 95% of the time it is dry as a bone. I was in the dentist’s office the other week in a fancy up-scale part of the capital and the office did not offer soap! AH! At least the dentist put some gloves on before he filled my cavity without the use of Novocain, explaining to me that it was such a small cavity it would be quicker to just fill it without anesthetics, and I stupidly did not protest, my thinking being well I guess if it just hurts a lot for a little bit that’s better than hurting a lot for a long time. The heat really does impair your judgment, I think that would be a viable research project for grad school, the equally harmful effects of heat and alcohol on your brain and your decision making. I digress…
So I think a great way to get people fired up about trash is by having a new and shiny receptacle for them to put their trash into. If there is one thing I’ve learned here, it’s the more glittery and shiny the better. I met with the new governor in MonteCristi to see if he could assist me in my new trash initiative and clean-up project in Judea. My host mother made a few calls (she works at the Ministry of Education) and I was quickly ushered into the governor’s office past about 50 disgruntled Dominicans that had obviously been waiting all morning. The portly governor made a very convincing show of his dismay and concern about the “dirty” reality of my community’s waste problem. I explained that the government had not picked up trash in my community once in the last fifteen years and his answer to this was to donate five trash cans to me (discarded metal tanks). I was very grateful for this gesture because I have already written and received grant money to buy these same metal tanks and paint to put around the community in public spaces. However, having a place to put the trash is very important but it still does not solve the issue of getting rid of it. Having smoldering buckets of trash is really not much of an improvement over the current individualized piles of trash that get burned. But at least now people can feast their eyes on prettily painted trash receptacles while they burn the ozone layer. More meetings with a different branch of local government will hopefully produce weekly trash pickup.

The best thing about visiting the governor was what happened after he promised me the trash cans. He asked if I wanted to go with him on a house call. Having nothing else to do that day I figured I should go along; always saying yes to invitations usually adds an unexpected outcome to the day. He told me to wait downstairs with his driver (Yes, he has a driver and a heavy-duty looking SUV). We left MonteCristi, took a few turns down some side streets and were suddenly in a very poor barrio. We pulled up a dirt road and got out next to a lean-to where there was a tarp covering a table with three large cauldrons, and utensils for about 40 people. In the shade of a mango tree sat about 20 children between the ages of 5 and 15 waiting hungrily for their first and probably only meal of the day. I suddenly felt a tinge of embarrassment as I noticed a lot of the shoe-shine boys that constantly pester me to shine my flip flops as I use internet. I never give them anything but a banana or orange, worried that giving the money will only go to the purchase of candy or soda. As soon as we pulled up and got out two more high-end SUV’s pulled up the road and men with video cameras got out and all jovially made small talk. As the governor began talking with the woman in charge of this ramshackle soup kitchen, I pieced together what was going on. A very kind woman has taken it upon herself, for the last three years, to provide a proper lunch-day meal to about 40 poor children every day. She has requested grant money and looked for hand outs from the local government in order to come up with the food staples to feed the children. The governor was deeply touched by her story and has resolved to build a proper building and kitchen, complete with tables and chairs so that the children will no longer have to eat in the dirt. I was placed in front of the camera and asked my opinion on this project that I had just heard about. I agreed that it was important and then the governor went on to speak to the fact that waste management is extremely important how he is working in close connection with me to clean up the province. I couldn’t help but smile thinking about how the governor had just met me an hour ago and how we were already doing publicity television spots. I guess it never hurts to have friends in high places, especially in this country.

On May 12th we had our annual all-volunteer conference. This is the one time every year where all volunteers are obligated to meet in the capital to learn about new safety and security measures, meet and greet with the new volunteers and share information among ourselves about our clubs and organizations. The following day my fellow volunteer group celebrated our one-year as volunteers by taking a trip to a beautiful beach for three days. The thirty-eight remaining of the 39 that swore-in as a group took the opportunity to catch up on how we have all spent the past year as many of us are not located very close together on the island. My favorite part of the trip was a short excursion we took to a cave located in a national park. After descending into the cave you could swim in the 15 or so feet of water that was there. It was a truly surreal experience swimming around in a nearly-pitch black cave with only a headlamp and a snorkel to detect what was ahead. And yes, there was lots of bat shit!

After heading back to the capital I was giddy with excitement knowing that Mom and Dad were flying in the next day!