What its like to live in a girls home

A ton of things have changed since my last blog post- it has really reminded me how life can change so quickly and how the plans and goals I had for my last 6 months of service came nowhere near to what I had in mind.

I lived a simple, productive life in La Ceiba: woke up every day at 7- took my dog for a long walk- made both of us a big breakfast- waited in line to get a couple buckets of water for the day-washed dishes/swept house- planned a presentation for whatever group of kids I had later that afternoon- read for about an hour a day- ate large plate of rice and beans for lunch at my host family’s house- sat in a plastic chair and talked about the weather and gossiped about the latest piece of news in the campo- walked around the campo to visit people, constantly hear about my weight fluctuation, how I should wash my hair more, or who I should marry in the campo- go back home to hang out with kids and give my presentation- take my dog for her evening walk- make dinner before power goes out- eat dinner in the dark- wash dishes and kill whatever creature ventured out in the nighttime- sit in a bucket and bathe with my headlamp on- go to bed around 9.

That’s a rough outline of the day, I usually have a lot of visitors to hang out with or I’ll go hang out at the school or court that we built and spend time there. I had just finished the court and my plan for the last 6 months was to finishing closing the grant, finish my little girls group, start a teenage girls group and another family group and head home with my dog. It’s so weird to think how one day I just woke up and unknowingly it was my last day living that type of life because of a security incident (don’t tell my mom!) and that I was going to be moved to a whole new community with a completely different job description with brand new people. But seriously, don’t tell my mom.

I left the community quickly and gave mostly everything away, only being able to say goodbye to a few key people. I stayed in the capital for a bit with my dog, then flew back to the states for about a week and a half to bring Coco back because I couldn’t keep her in my new community since it was a city. I returned to the DR to work with a girl’s home, teaching programs about staying healthy and making good decisions and the usual sexual health lessons. I was placed with a new host family, which I’ll be completely honest, I absolutely hated. They weren’t a real Peace Corps checked family, just a family they stuck me with at the last minute and it was a terrible living situation so I just decided to move into the home since I was there every day anyway.

Here at the home are about 30 girls between the ages of 3-20. All of their situations are different- some of them don't have parents, some were taken out of really bad situations or they just lived in extreme poverty and their parents couldn't take care of them anymore. They are all very sweet girls who are leading a much better life than where they were before, with a greater opportunity for a better future when they decide they want to move out. The home was founded by a lady named Maria Elena 20 years ago. She decided to dedicate her life to the home, building it literally from the ground up by establishing partnerships and monthly donations to keep it running. She solicited a large donation from the Japanese Embassy here in the DR and they were able to build a much better place to live in, although it is still very small and cramped for so many girls :( they are still in need of so many things, contact me if you'd like to make a donation. 

How different is my life now? Definitely nothing I was expecting it to be, but I really do love it a lot even though I miss my pup. The girls go to school and get back around 4. During the day I prepare the material for later that night, search for and apply for jobs in the States and hang out with some of the older girls that go to the university. When they get back, they all change and take showers, then we have an hour of homework help with the younger girls. Then we eat dinner and rest for a bit, and I work with the older girls at around 7. We have about an hour long presentation/discussion, then hang out and talk about teenage girl stuff, which I absolutely LOVE to hear about their questions and problems about boys, school, etc. As unfortunate as it was to have to end my time in La Ceiba so quickly, I feel so grateful to have had the unique privilege of having 2 Peace Corps experiences. It was really stressful having to start all over when I was looking forward to finishing up my work and spending time with my Dominican family and friends before I left for good, but I wouldn’t change my situation for anything. I’ve built a lot of new relationships and have yet another perspective of what it’s like to live in the DR from someone else’s situation. Here’s some pics:

La Ceiba gets a basketball/volleyball court!

I remember around December of 2013, I was on my way to the school and took a shortcut through a large piece of empty land. I thought to myself, “hmm this would be a really good spot to build a court- it’s central to the busy part of the campo, tons of kids live around it, it’s right next to the park, and the school is down the street.” Not too long ago before this, someone had said something about this organization called Courts for Kids who work with Peace Corps to build basketball/volleyball courts, which is what provoked this thought. I was a brand new volunteer at the time, so I didn’t make too many plans for it then, and I didn’t really know anything about the organization. But now, here I am, a seasoned PCV about to build a court on that same land I walked through almost a year and a half ago! Now that I know everything about the process, I’d like to briefly share what is going to happen next week.

First, Courts for Kids is an organization who connect young groups of people in the United States who have an interest in fundraising and doing a service trip with people like me, who live and work in a high-need community. In my case, there is a CFK director in the DR who used to be a PCV, and she reviewed my application and came to visit me a couple times to decide if my site was a candidate for a court. Soon after, I was accepted and started working on a grant (the online portal in which you wonderful people donated to). I was also paired with a group of high school students in Washington State, and their job was to fundraise $5,000 dollars, which would be to pay for half of the court. A court costs about $10,000, and my community and I were responsible to raise the other $5,000 through the online portal, fundraising events and donations from DR politicians, organizations, etc. For the last 5 months or so, we’ve been sending out letters, talking to many important people, sending out multiple emails…and finally, we have enough money to build!

Ok, so what’s going to happen next week- a group of 18 high school students and some chaperones will be coming to La Ceiba all the way from Washington for about 10 days to build the court and experience campo life, exchanging cultures with the people of my community.

April 4^th- Arrive to La Ceiba late at night and go to bed after a long day of traveling.

April 5^th – This day will be Easter, so we will split them into 3 separate groups to go to 3 different churches: Catholic, Evangelical, and Jehovah. After church, we will reconvene, eat lunch and talk about their experiences. I’m excited about this day, church here is always an experience, especially on Easter. In the afternoon, we will have a welcome party where they will dance and mingle with the community members, introducing themselves and what they’re going to do that week.

April 6^th- We will start construction! This will last probably until about April 9^th or so.

April 10^th- The day after the court is done, we will have an inauguration party, where we install the final part- the basketball rims. Then a celebration!

April 11^th­- Fun day! We’ve got some activities for the group, such as a scavenger hunt and a day at the national park. We will swim in the lakes and rivers, play volleyball, cook some rice and beans, and relax.

April 12^th- Head out to the beach! I don’t live too far from a beach in the east called Juan Dolio. We will spend the day and night there.

April 13^th- The group goes back home.

It has been a whirlwind past month or more getting everything straightened out for the group to come. As many people know, the attitude here is very “cojelo suave”, or “take it easy”, which I have been told many times by Dominicans lately when we didn’t have enough money or were late on deadlines. A little difficult to deal with, but we’re on track! We’ve been back and forth and back and forth to the hardware store, working with the construction team here to prep the land (pictures below), buying groceries to cook for 20+ people for 10 days, buying foam beds for them to sleep in, cleaning and preparing the empty houses they will stay in, setting up the activities, etc. It has been extremely busy lately, but I absolutely LOVE it! It’s been so fun managing this project, it has inspired me to possibly look into this type of work when I get back to the states soon. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly, and I hope everyone is just as excited as I am to see this project come to fruition! Keep an eye out for the final product, and thank you for all your support.