First Week Reflections

Well, the first week is over. Here are some thoughts:

- Tio Tomas, Samuel, Tanya and I went to a national plant nursery last thursday to pick out plants. Tomas works for the government's agricultural department and can get them to donate some plants to us. So, Tanya and Tomas picked out a bunch of varieties of plants and we will ask for a total of 100 to be donated to the program. We don't really know what to do with the plants yet but... One step at a time. Maybe I'm finally beginning to think Dominican style. That's Tio Tomas hanging out in a giant carambola(starfruit) tree.


-One curious incident that happened on Thursday that has to do with trash. The "trash" issue is a huge albatross (is that right?) here in the d.r.. Many people throw their trash on ground, trash pickup is irregular at best and the government doesn't know what to do about it. It's really sad when you see beautiful landscapes marred by huge trash heaps. But, I don't mean to be accusatory because the reasons that things have developed this way are way to complex for me to understand... In any event, when we went back inside from recess today I noticed that one of the campers had left his/her empty bag of water on the ground. So, I went inside and said, "someone left their bag of water outside." Everyone denied doing it, so Tanya told all the kids to go outside and find one piece of trash to pick up. They all did so but after a few minutes I noticed that Eduardo Luis and Jeudy hadn't returned yet. So, I went outside to look for them and found them staring at the ground looking for a piece of trash to pick up. I looked down in the exact spot where they were looking and saw candy wrappers, some pieces of torn paper and a plastic bag. They were staring right at these objects yet didn't see them as trash, I think, but rather just as part of their environs. This incident brought home to me how complex the "trash" issue really is. Maybe they should try a "crying Taino" campaign.

- Behind the school there is a cistern filled with water. This water is used in the school bathroom and is usually locked. But the school lost the key to the lock and so they cistern remains open. The neighborhood kids then have been climbing over the school's walls and bathing in the cistern. This is an extremely dangerous undertaking as the cistern is completely filled to the brim. So, Tanya and I bought a new lock for the cistern so that it could be locked again. The principal of the school would have already done this (I think?) but there's no money to be spent on locks. Also, the pump that is used to pump the water from the cistern is broken, so the bathroom is not working. Not such an easy problem to fix. Here's a picture of the cistern:



- There is a flourescent light in our classroom that is constantly flickering on and off. The electrical box has no light switch, just a bunch of wires, so the light can't be turned off. Meanwhile... the town of Madre Vieja gets electricity about 50% of the time, the rest of the time there are no lights (unless people have their own generator). Why doesn't anyone see a connection? Perhaps, after all, there isn't one. The reason why there isn't constant electricity after all has as much to do with the country's political system as it does with energy sources. The whole thing is too complex for me to understand, much like the garbage situation. And, again, I don't mean to be critical nor judgemental, just explanatory.

That's all for now.
-j