I have grey hair.

How To: Build a Latrine

Our Materials Arrived!

Most Important and laborious job: Mixing cement.

Our mason reinforcing the hole with cement and rocks.

First side done!

Time to put in the floor (the next day).

We used whatever we could find to make the floor, including raw wood (branches) and this old zinc.

Hammering it all together.

Next step, put the varilla in to reinforce the cement for the floor.

Make sure to make molds for the hole and air vent tube!

We used an old baby formula can.

Prepping for the cement. We used old palm tree wood that was laying around the make the floor mold, and some branches to hold it up. It’s all about being resourceful.

These varilla were vertical in order to reinforce the casita when we mounted the wood house.

Ready for cement!

Make sure to cement the tubes in places first, or they will just get knocked down and moved when you dump your cement in the mold.

Time to smooth it all out.

Doesn’t that just look so pretty?

After it dries for about an hour (yes, just an hour, the sol is pretty strong here), you can smooth it out.

Then, as I just learned, you sprinkle some dry cement and re-smooth, twice. It gives it a nice matte finish.

So satisfying to see it smooth…

Day 3: Time to put up the house!

Just for this latrine, we mounted the house on some cement blocks they had left over to avoid water damage and preserve the wood for longer.

These guys did both the latrine houses in about three hours. 

The ultimate trust test. After all, what are friends for?

TA-DAH! All shiny new zinc and nice ventilation tube, and BAM we have a latrine!

The only thing missing is a door and the toilet seat mold (we ran out of wood).

And We’re Off!

BREAKING NEWS!

Our little helpers.

We have officially begun our build for the latrine project! We begun on Friday, and as of yesterday, we have completed our first two latrines! Of course, there were some challenges, last minute material purchases, and lots of brainstorming and changing the model, but we did it! I had absolutely no idea where to start with this project, and we had very little information on how to actually build a latrine, but thanks to some savvy thinking on the part of my mason and community leaders, we managed to create a pretty pretty latrine, if I do say so myself.

We have funding for roughly 19 latrines, and right now we are working every day for about 10 hours on these latrines since we are doing two simultaneously, allowing us to complete two latrines every 3 days, approximately. It is laborious, exhausting, but oh-so-satisfying. People keep commenting on how much we are working (and how incredibly dirty I am) and are very confused as to why I am so happy about it. It’s simple really, I’m happy because I am doing something. I have realized that I feel much better when I am being productive and have more physical signs of success. I have been learning to be satisfied with other types of successes in my life, but there is nothing like good hard labor, lots of sweat, and a nice accomplishment to make me feel good at the end of the day. I like being busy, and overworked, and doing a million things. Its comforting and something I prefer than idleness. This is a very different mindset than everyone else in my community, but this is what I am used to and some things about me will never change.

For the project, I am the manager, buyer of supplies, coordinator, mason’s assistant, builder, cement mixer, negotiator, pacifier, and more. I take on a lot of roles, filling in the needed gaps and trying to have others fill as many as possible in order to not be doing everything and also let my community members take charge.

Fruit of the day! It hails from Asgard.

In addition to the project, I started a literacy course in the elementary school, which quickly turned into nearly a school-wide program that grew from 10 students to over thirty in one day. and surprisingly, I love it. Reading is one of my greatest passions, and I have found that teaching children to read is something I truly enjoy. Now, I am not saying I like being a teacher (not my cup of tea). I am not crazy about some other courses I have done, and I don’t have the patience to teach all day, every day. But watching someone begin to discover the wonders of a good story is something I could be a part of for a long time. And I get all warm inside whenever a kid yells Profe! or Tia! to me. It means I am loved and respected, and what more can someone need in life?

I am also doing a theater course even though I only did theater for a minute in high school (at the very, very basic level). But this job is all about adapting and morphing to fill in the needs, so I am learning how to teach theater. Thank goodness I watched a lot of Who’s Line is it Anyway… when I was younger. That’s theater, right? In reality, I don’t think the kids really care exactly what theater is, they just want a space to be goofy and dress up and be someone else for an hour. So that’s what we do. Yesterday, I was Justin Bieber, a monkey, and Bill Clinton all in one hour.

Can you guess the connection between the three?

No?

Me neither, but the kids thought it was absolutely hilarious and this huge joke that I was not privy to understand.

Time to get back to preparing for these latrines. I have 8 days to do 6.5 latrines.

Si se puede!

xoxo

B

 

Alternative Cookstove

Super crew aka family aka nut brigade

We had this really awesome (and exhausting) alternative cookstove training a few weeks ago. Cookstoves or fogones are traditional stoves that everyone uses here, for the most part. Unfortunately, they are super smokey and have caused a ton of respiratory illnesses. Therefore, a lot of PCVs have projects to build safer, less smoky, cookstove alternatives for their communities. Unfortunately, a lot of families that need one badly are unable to afford the popular model used by most PCVs. Well, recently PCVs partnered with a local NGO to create this nearly free cookstove that works just as great, though not as pretty, and cost just $4! It is made out of the very dirt/clay that the families live on, and though labor intensive and messy, it is easy to maintain and repair and works wonderfully.

I find a picture is worth a thousand more words (and speaks more eloquently than I can write) and so here is the process in pictures:

Rock gathering. Go Andrea!

We gathered the rocks to make this base, rolling them from a field nearby.

1. 
   

   Ripping and cutting the straw into smaller pieces so it acts like support beams in the dirt/clay mixture.

   

   Like that grape lady, I stomped and stomped that dirt with the freshly added straw and water and sand to make a nice, thick clay mixture that we can throw. Unlike the grape lady, I didn’t fall once.

   

   It’s ready! Stand modeling how when the mixture is ready it should not fall when you make a snake.

   

   All hands on deck to make the bricks.

   

   Pack and throw. Working that upper body.

   

   Ta-dah! We have a “brick” for our stove.

   

   Then we take those freshly made bricks and destroy them by literally throwing them as hard as we can onto the rock table to start building the stove. This was my favorite part.

   

   Then you keep building, using plastic buckets lathered with oil as the holes for your cooking pots and air duct system.

   

   The bottle on the left is for the Donas to add wood and the one on the top is going to be taken to and the hole is where they will set their pots on to cook.

   

   Horrible picture…but as you can see we used anything an everything for the molds. This President beer bottle will be for the chimney.

   

   DONE! Well, almost. The clay dries for a few days, then the families can smooth it, remove the molds, and decorate as they wish with paint, glass, etc.

   

   Sweaty and Satisfied with our work. 1.5 days of work created something that a family can use for years to come. xoxo

   xoxo

   B

 

The Dirty South

There are quite a few volunteers who inhabit the southern part of the country, and for whatever reason they love to call it the dirty south, not because it is dirty, but mainly I think because they are trouble-makers and it makes them sound cooler (they are pretty cool). The good thing about it is that for the most part, we can bola or (cough-cough) hitchhike throughout the south to almost every volunteer’s site. It is cheap, safe, and highly effective, all things a PCV loves. And, not to mention, the south is B-E-A-U-T-F-U-L.

Do you see that view? That’s what I woke up to for two days and that beach is where we sad goodby to one of our own, and said hello to some of the newbies. I slept in my hammock and everyone morning, this is what I saw when I woke up:

Those are my feet! PROOF! It was a wonderful despedida and even better to see some of the PC Family. Plus, San Rafael is not a horrible beach to visit. I mean, it’s really not that ugly. Right? Only downside, the waves a GINORMOUS and you better eat a bunch of spinach before you go out to tackle them. Or else you will end up like me, flopped on the shore coughing up saltwater.

I’m okay, mom.

When we had to go back to site, we decided to challenge ourselves and bola the entire way back as far as we could. it took us three bolas, but finally we did it. Not to mention we had lots of bonding time and fun car games. Just look how happy we are bumping along in the back of this monster truck:

Oh wait, you really can only see Michaela…oops!

Since I was already on that side of the country, I decided to aprovechar the moment and went to see Phil’s site all the way up on the border. We walked around his pueblo and Stan and Phil cooked dinner, while I did who knows what. We rode horse (I fell off, no saddle really) and trekked them up the beautiful mountain. Until my horse, a stallion, got too excited and we had to turn around…sorry guys.

We also had this cool alternative cookstove training in between, but I am going to post about that next. Hang tight!

For now, enjoy this last awkward photo from long ago when Meaghan, Phil, and I tried to take a selfie of the Salto Alto waterfall…so awkward…so great…

xoxo

B

 

Year 1 In Reverse

Who can be sad with a view like that?

Can you believe that I have been here for 365 days (well technically 375 as I write this)? It is mind boggling, especially since this year has been one of unprecedented events. Which, of course would be expected given where I am at. So, let’s take a look at what has happened in this year…

I moved to the Dominican Republic, I moved to a little rural village in a forest and gained a new family. I tried and failed multiple items to start programs and projects, then just decided to focus on my personal relationships. I gained close friends, families, and valuable experiences. I have danced on the streets to bachata and meringue. I have seen waterfalls and swam in the ocean more times that I can count. I have drank fresh coconut and hunted for fruit. I have bathed in rivers and learned to wash my clothes by hand. I have learned to let go of the uncontrollable and embrace the unknown. I have had nearly every mosquito borne illness at least once, and learned to be brave enough to almost kill a tarantula. I’ve learned to live with rats, love others and myself, and how to swing a machete with confidence. I have become more confident, compassionate, brave, independent (how is that possible?), and loving. I have learned to be kinder to myself, more patient with others, and happy with the flaws.

It has been a year of painful growing pains, as my mom and dad (and close friends here) can attest to with all the times I have randomly cried over spilled beans (seriously, I cried over spilling beans once). I have screamed and laughed, hated and loved, and changed over this year in more ways than I can recognize. It has been an incredible ride of good and bad, beautiful and ugly. My “work” can be said to be almost nonexistent, but I have learned to look at it in a different lens. Do I have groups and projects that I can quantitatively put down on paper as data? No.

But I feel like I have done something. I feel it when people shout my name across the street and give me hugs just because they are happy to see me. I feel it when I can joke down by the colmado with the guys and they never once say anything lewd to me. I can feel it when the donas call me mija (daughter) and proudly tell everyone I am theirs when they visit. I feel it when people come by my house randomly to bring me my favorite fruit that they saved for me, knowingly I would love it.

These girls always make me smile when I go to school…plus they LOVE reading with me!

I was so focused for the majority of the first year on my WORK that I didn’t even try at first to put the people first. My mistake. When I gave up, for lack of better words, on my work and put people and my relationships first, do you know what happened? The teachers in the school are so excited and supportive to work with my on courses that we are starting four of them in the elementary school. People have begun to request group meetings and taking the initiative. People have become more receptive, willing to work, and motivated to do more because they know me. It might not seem like a requirement for my of us (especially Americans) but here, having a close personal relationship is the only way you will have people working with you. In other words, if people don’t know you, they won’t invest their time in you and they definitely will not work with you.

So, now I have not only these incredible relationships, but also am actually starting work. How about that?

During my one year here, I have done some incredible things that I can’t put on paper. But that’s okay, I see that now. When I leave, maybe my community will speak about the work I did for a week or two, but what they will talk about for years is how I was as a person. Trust me, I heard it about the other volunteers. Because here, what matters most is not the work you do, but who you are as a person.

A lot of you back home keep asking me what my life here is like and I always tell you there is really no way to describe it, and that is true. Just know, I have found a family here and a community that I have fallen in love with. I am doing okay, more than okay, and even when the times are rough and I wonder what I am doing, know that I always just need to walk down the street and a dona or a nino will always call me over, give me a big hug, and remind me that I am loved.

I have another year y pico here and I honestly have not idea what will happen. It is flying by, my time here, and I am just trying to do everything I possibly can. Maybe I will graduate 100 students from my groups and build 60 latrines. Maybe I will graduate 10 students and build 5 latrines. I wanted to make big changes, but even big changes need to start as little ripples. All I can hope is that I cause a ripple that mabe the next volunteer can make into a big change.

I’m okay with that.

375 days down, 426 to go.

xoxo

B

Una Manzana or a Dominican Apple. 

Fresh coconut (straight from the tree and into my mouth)

Mountain Bliss

So a few weeks ago we had a Mini-VAC for our region, which is essentially a time for volunteers to complain share their thoughts/opinions on Peace Corps as a program and suggest changes. We had ours in the beautiful city of Constanza, which I have decided is the only livable place on the island. Mainly because it was high up in the mountains, cold, and beautiful. And did I mention mountainy? Just look at the view from the house we stayed at:

And this one too:

You see that house wayyyy up there all alone on the top of the hill? Yup, that’s where I could live. Constanza is also a big agricultural hub, with lots of vegetables all over the place. I was in heaven, to say the least. I mean, we passed by fields of lettuce. I haven’t seen lettuce looking that good in 11 months aka since I got here. We took a nice truck through the back way to our remote little house, and I attempted to take a photo without falling off, but just got this of Scott and Sam (and a little bit of Rob):

Do you see those mountains?!

Heaven.

But don’t worry, Taylor also captured this beaut of a photo of us as we slide around the back of the truck, just so you know that I do exist in photos sometimes.

Up close and personal ,with hair going wild. Just how it should be 🙂

[this was also around the time I lost my hairbrush for 12 days, so imagine that mess of a mane after these truck rides. Still worth it.]

We cooked delicious food, sat by a fire, soaked in the Jacuzzi (I swear, we are actually in Peace Corps), and relaxed for a few days. It was a much needed reboot for use and always great to get together with more than the people who live closest to you.

Scott and I prepping the Kabobs

All smiles before my belly ache later from devouring too much delicious food.

After I got back, I received the wonderful the news that the grant was APPROVED and we are receiving funding soon! That means hopefully we will be able to start building latrines really soon! I am very excited about this, as you can imagine, and I can’t wait to share photos with you guys.

For now, I am enjoying the last few days of social freedom, taking a few backroad trips with J, andaring with community members, going to a few birthday parties, and making some house repairs. Coby, the escape artist he is, is a bit upset with me now that I added a “baby gate” for the doors. These are actually what people use here in the houses as baby gates. They are made from a specific tree, which has flexible wood, but it is also incredibly sturdy, not to mention grows everywhere here.

J working hard. I was helping by sitting and giving directions as I sipped coffee, of course.

The final product! We soon found right after this that he could jussstt slip out, so we had to add even more branches.

I have also been getting back to cooking and baking. I’ve realized that art of the reason why I have been having so many funks lately is because I have been uninspired. Cooking and baking have always made me feel happy, creative, inventive, and refreshed. But due to lack of access and even more excuses, I haven’t done it in such a long time. So, the other day, I pushed myself to make something delicious. I made a yummy spaghetti and “meatballs” made from black beans, along with chocolate fudge cake for dessert. All things were bought from the local colmado! I felt super accomplished and inspired. For me cooking is a form of experimentation and a nice challenge for me. It’s important to not loose sight of the things that make you happy, after all, they will keep you going through the toughest times.

YUMMMYYYYY.

Next up is a vegetable pot pie, so fingers-crossed.

I am hoping my next blog post will be a day in the life of me through photos (Katie’s request) so hang tight for that. And be thankful for all the delicious and (easy access) food you have and realize how lucky you are 🙂

xoxo

B

 

A Month of Celebrating

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, EVERYONE!

(I know, I am a little behind, but just pretend I said that three days ago.)

So, per-tradition, a bunch of volunteers headed to the beach to spend the day together celebrating this beautiful day of american independence. Like these photos here where Ellis was reincarnated as Captain America and we all just got to be crazy normal tourists for the day in obnoxious outfits.

Cohort 15-02! “Estoy Con Ella”/”I’m With Her”

Ellis, The New (and improved) Captain America (PHOTO BY: Claire Dal Nogare)

I spent the day swimming, reading, and being lazy. Oh, and eating the most amount of PB&Js as possible. It was a glorious little vacation 🙂 And for my family members who know me best: yes, you can bet your bottom dollar I was in the shade reading with my SPF 50+ heavily applied.

Immediately after this celebration of greatness, I jetted back to my campo for J’s birthday. The old geezer turned 28 on the 6th. Coincidentally, this is roughly (what we guess to be) the 4 month anniversary of Coby. He even lost his first baby tooth, too! I screamed and jumped around so unbelievably excited he lost a tooth while J looked at me in horror and confusion and probably wondering why he was still with this loca. For his birthday, we went to La Playita, which is essential a pool park, complete with dancing, music, drinking, food, endless amounts of pools, and a huge river nearby if you hate pools. We even were able to spontaneously surprise Meaghan in her house as we passed by, which is always wonderful. We had to travel about an hour by moto, which was a little rough on my tush, but so beautiful to see the country. There is nothing like seeing a country from the back of a motorcycle…

J 🙂

Blurry, but you get the idea 🙂

Later, I surprised him by decorating the house and cooking him one of his favorite dinners-dumplings and salami-and cooked a yummy cake. We celebrated with the cake at his mom’s house, and as per traditional Dominican tradition, his family at a quarter of the cake, and then we spent the next half hour brindaring the rest to nearby neighbors/family/friends. Everything is shared with everyone, even birthday cake. The best part is that now people think I am so incredibly gifted baker (I’m not, I just dumped a pound of sugar in the cake and put on store bought frosting). But, at least I am getting a reputation I can live with hehe 😉

In other news, Rei killed a rat and was eating it (disturbing) and two more cacata were killed in my house. Lovely.

She ha her own food bowl, but she insists on always drinking his water and attempting to eat his food. He is a gentleman and lets her get away with it.

Project news update: Latrine Grant is being processed and approved as we speak! Plus, I am going to a training to learn how to make a cookstove using natural soil and essentially no other resources. This means I can teach my families how to make their own cookstove for their house, thereby greatly reducing their smoke inhalation, without them having to spend any money! I am so excited, and my community is too. It is a method that was developed by a NGO and worked on with Peace Corps Volunteers, so I am super excited about it and cannot wait to learn about it and actually start the project in my community.

More updates coming, but for now, I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

xoxo

B

P.S. Cacata Kill Count: 8 (+2)