#mariposadrfoundation

It's been almost a month since I have departed from the Dominican Republic.

I ask myself, "Do I miss it?" Then, I think of how I have brought pieces of the country home with me.

Prince Royce and Romeo Santos serenade me. 

I see my friends, and I greet them with a kiss on the cheek. 

I make banana pancakes (which are not Dominican, but I first made them in the D.R.).

I start speaking Spanish to American strangers. "Hola", "Gracias", "Puedo tener..." Whoops. 

My new interjection is: "¡Ay Dios Mío!" instead of "Oh, Lord" whenever my friends or family tell stories.

I drop the "s" at the ends of words while speaking Spanish. 

I don't think I can ever forget this experience. It was the first where I lived on my own apart from anyone I knew. I'm lucky to have gained two girls who are like sisters to me and tell me the truth even when I don't want to hear it. Without them, I would not have learned half as much as I did about life in general.

This is a very vague conclusion post for the Dominican Republic, but I feel my actions best reflect the change I have undergone during the 3 1/2 months living in Cabarete. 

Monday through Thursday, Mariposa hosted the Feria de Salud (Health Fair). Every year, Dr. Paul and his wife who’s a nurse, Jen, come down from Connecticut to the Foundation to give the girls free check-ups. They started volunteering at Mariposa five years ago during the Foundation’s inception. The Foundation had no established buildings, so the first Health Fair took place in a local public school. 

The volunteers recorded height and weight, conducted eye tests, translated for the nurse and doctor, gave health chats, demonstrated how to make moringa juice, made Halloween masks with the girls, and organized the people waiting throughout the day.

My main job was to translate for Dr. Paul and Nurse Jen. I have never translated formally before, but I really enjoyed it. Translating takes a lot of mental energy and you always have to be on top of your game. Nurse Jen talked to the girls about the importance of a healthy diet, not watching too much television, and more general health topics. Her station took longer than the Doctor since, Dr. Paul only had to perform basic medical check-up procedures. However, educating a child or his/her parent about how to have a healthy lifestyle is a longer chat.  

I also worked logistically to ensure the waiting times went smoothly. Everyone received a number based on the time that they came. I had to keep track of a list of all the girl’s numbers and then direct them to the next station. It was a bit hectic, and I now understand why people wait so long for doctors.

I am so impressed with the four-day Health Fair. For one day, Health Horizons came to take the blood pressure of the girls and their parents. The Foundation also hosted a local women’s health clinic, CEPROSH, to administer free HIV tests and pap smears to anyone interested. Along with hosting local health non-profits, the Foundation accomplished a huge goal by giving over one-hundred Mariposa girls medical care and also a handful of little kids from Tres Mariposas Montessori.

Dinner with Julia Alvarez

After we completed the mural, we went to dinner down the street with the whole Border of Lights staff (including Julia Alvarez). Julia spoke briefly about how it was important to empower the next generation and remember the past. She is very petite and incredibly sweet! I am happy that I got to meet her :). She remembered me because I was the only volunteer dancing in the Zumba class earlier that day. 

Here's a picture of Julia Alvarez and I:

Dajabon has 2 bridges giving access to Haiti. After dinner, we tried to go on the official bridge, but it was closed. However, we went down the street to access the second bridge. There, I saw Haiti. The closest that I've ever gotten to Haiti. You could already tell the country was poorer by looking across the border. It seemed very disorganized and very crowded. The only thing that separated Haiti from the DR was a decrepit, rusted fence and the River of Blood. During the Parsley Massacre of 1937, it was said that the river that separated the two countries ran red for 3 days straight with Haitian blood. 

View of Haiti from the DR border

 Church + Candlelight Vigil

Once we explored the border, we went to a Church directly across from the park. The Church service was incredibly long and I could understand some of the lectures. 

As we exited the Church after the service, we were all handed candles. We then lit our candles and walked to the second bridge. Once we arrived at the bridge, we had to wait 20 minutes for the border patrol to call their boss and ask if it was okay for us to enter. During this time, Julia Alvarez and friends started to chant things like "Let us enter" or "Peace." Eventually, we got permission and we flooded the bridge. Everyone adorned the bridge with their candles. Hopefully, the Haitians could see our candles from their side. The vigil was a nice way to commemorate the massacre. It really did bring everyone together and include people who did not even know the event was going on this weekend. On the bridge, Julia Alvarez read a poem and people spoke about the importance of this vigil. Before I could hear more, I had to go. 

We drove to a hotel in Montecristi and that night and reflected the next day there on the beach. 

Friday, I travelled to Dajabon with the Foundation and the oldest Mariposa girls! In a previous post, I talked about this event:

The Border of Lights is an event commemorating the Parsley Massacre [of 1937], uniting Dominicans, Haitians, and different non-profit organizations. My roommate, Johannil, is responsible for making a mural that we will install on the bridge separating Haiti from the DR.

Our schedule was this:

Friday 

9am- Depart the Foundation. Travel over 3 hours to Dajabon (a town that borders Haiti).

Dajabon Market- Once we arrived in Dajabon, we took the girls to Dajabon market (which is absolutely CRAZYYY) for an hour to shop. Each of the adults was responsible for 4 girls. Luckily, I was paired with Ekwo (Krista's boyfriend) who is fluent in Spanish. Read this blog post to understand how crazy Dajabon market was. Anyways, I was terrified of losing my girls. The market was mere chaos. Plastic bags were littered on the ground in some places, and people were trying to get through the crowded street with motos and wheelbarrows of goods. One of my girls kind of got run over by a wheelbarrow. We all had to hold hands in a chain to keep track of each other. 

At one point, my girls pulled our group in a direction where a fight broke out. I think someone stole something and the vendor and the culprit were yelling and throwing punches. At that point, I turned my group around to the disappointment of one of my girls who said, "I want to watch." 

Anyways, I was so glad when we escaped that market. Historically, people have been robbed there so you only need to take what is minimal. I did no shopping because keeping track of 4 teenage girls in a market as crazy as Dajabon is no easy feat. Here is a picture of my group: [L-R- Vivana, Yesselin, Yafreisy, y Yenifer]. 

Border of Light Activities- After Dajabon market, we travelled to the main Park in Dajabon. It was absolutely gorgeous! The weather was perfect and Julia Alvarez and all of the Border of Lights creators were there to enjoy the festivities.  Througout 3 hours, we hosted different activities in the park, including:

Gluing bottle caps/putting the finishing touches on the mural (the mural was made with recycled material)

Friendship bracelet making

Zumba class by Elyse, the dance teacher

Music performances by some Mariposa girls (they write and sing their own songs! SO MUCH TALENT!) 

The whole event was open to the public. All different kinds of people participated: children from the local schools and young Haitian vendors. It was amazing to unite strangers and still have a ball. 

The final event was putting the two sides of the mural together. The left side represents the Dominican Republic and the right side represents Haiti (each modeled after their flags). Both countries have a silhouette of a face and then are united through a tree. Lining the tree's roots are words that the Mariposa girls brainstormed like: care, peace, sincerity, love, etc. I am so proud of my roommate, Johannil, who planned, designed, and created this gorgeous mural!

Johannil and the always fun-loving, Julia Alvarez, showing off the mural.

Last Saturday, Patricia and her husband took us (volunteers) and the oldest Mariposa girls to visit a batey. A batey is the living area provided for Haitian migrants performing seasonal sugar cane harvest. In the 19th century, there was a lot of foreign investment for the production of sugar in the Dominican Republic. With the increase of sugar plantations, landowners needed a workforce. Dominicans refused to work on the plantations, since they required intense manual labor. They thought the work was below them. This forced the landowners to bring Haitians to the Dominican Republic to work on their sugar plantations.

    Haitians in the batey were usually paid in company vouchers only redeemable in company stores. Since they didn’t earn any real money, they depended on the batey and its owners for necessities to live. They were stuck living in bateys and in poverty.

    The batey we visited reminded me of slave quarters from the South and now I understand why. All the rooms were very small. None of the houses had electricity, running water, or even bathrooms. The season for harvest was over and when we drove to the batey all that surrounded us were miles of dead sugar cane.

    Besides the basic amenities the community lacked, they also lacked entertainment for the children. When I came and started to take pictures, the children all flocked around me wanting to take a picture. One child in particular, Daniel, stuck by me because he loved photography. During our town, he took my hand and led me away from the group to different places.

    Behind the batey houses, there was a mini farm. There were all these animals, including huge pigs. Daniel and I went on a little photoshoot and he took pictures of me, his pigs, and his friends. He is 12 years old and only in 2nd grade. Anyways, Daniel aspires to be a photographer when he grows up. However, people in the Batey lack any entertainment or things to do in their free time. They literally have nothing.

    Daniel said to me me, “Give me your watch.”

    I responded, “No, it’s my watch.” I thought it was so unreasonable for him to expect that whenever gringos come, they give him something. My brain assumed that if he really wanted something, he would work hard to win the money and buy it. So, I tried to teach him a lesson. “Give me your shirt.”

    “No, it’s mine!”

    “Exactly,” I said.  

    After recounting this experience to others, I realized that I had the wrong mindset to try and teach him a lesson. I had the mindset of an American. America is the land of opportunity where we receive free public education (which is of decent quality), have access to libraries, and a mix of cultures. I realized how the batey he lived in lacked all those opportunities. His ancestors came to the batey with nothing and earned practically nothing. It wasn't fair for me to expect him to work hard to rise above poverty and buy his own watch. Miles of decrepit sugar cane plantations, a rusty bridge, the foreign language of Creole, and a darker skin color separate the batey from the regular town. All they have in this community are each other and the lack of rudimentary living materials.

During 1931-1960, the Dominican Republic had a dictator named Rafael Trujillo. Trujillo implemented anti-Haitianism throughout the country. He denoted that Dominicans were derived from the Taino Native Americans and the Spanish, while he classified the Haitians like Africans who he considered “barbaric.” Of course, this is ridiculous because both the Tainos and the Africans were enslaved by the Spanish. If anyone was barbaric, it was the Spanish trying to enslave other people. When Christopher Columbus landed on the island in 1492, the Spanish originally enslaved the native people, the Tainos. However in 1514, a local fray demanded to “stop the suffering of the Indians under Spanish exploitation.” Thus, began the importation of African slaves for labor. Dominicans in general descend from all three people: the Tainos, the Spanish, and the Africans.

However, Trujillo still thought Haitians were barbaric. From October 2-8, 1937, Trujillo massacred over 25,000 Haitian immigrants living near the border of Haiti. This became known as the Parsley Massacre. The genocide of the Haitian people in the Dominican Republic was an effort for Trujillo to control the race and color of his population. Trujillo wished to lighten the skin color of the Dominican population so much that he welcomed Jewish refugees fleeing from the Holocaust. The effects of Trujillo’s anti-haitianism can still be seen today.

Until May 24, 2014, people of Haitian descent born in the DR were denied Dominican citizenship. If you want to find out more about those laws, you can read this article: Dominican Republic Ctizenship Law Ends Limbo for Haitian Descendents.