My Soapbox

Last month the Constitutional (clown) Court of the Dominican Republic ruled that every child born to an undocumented Haitian immigrant on DR soil since 1929 would be stripped of their citizenship. This ludicrous legislation would reportedly affect around 200,000 people who are now subject to deportation at any given moment. What essentially is happening here is that the DR is deporting Dominicans to Haiti. There are many Haitian children i know in town who were born on this side of the border and do not speak Haitian Kreyol. I can only imagine someone born around.....1950 has spent the last 50-odd years being....Dominican. The people living here after this arbitrary break off point may not speak Kreyol and definitely do not have Haitian citizenship. So what happens? Haitian-Dominicans are being shipped to a foreign land where they might not know the language and/or have citizenship, basically making them state-less. No access to schools here or there. No access to healthcare here or there. No access to any social services here or there. Its like that Tom Hanks movie, (ok, i obviously know its nothing like that) The Terminal where homeboy is stuck in an airport terminal for a hot minute.

Haitians are not going to stop coming here. Come up with a better plan....Ok, off my Soapbox.
P.s. Why is it called, "getting on and/or off ones soapbox?" Why soap specifically?

Anyways, this legislation doesn't apply to us. Empowering Haitian immigrants to adopt healthy practices (many of which have had little to no formal education in our area), leads to a more peaceful existence between both sides. Instead of excluding them from social services (like healthcare and sanitation), include them so they are not the ones out of the loop and unwittingly spreading infectious disease! Dominicans claim Haitians are "dirty" or "ignorant to basic sanitation", well have you ever sat down and asked them why they don't wash their hands or where they poop? We have. It ultimately boils down to behavioral change, which is difficult in a any culture, but Haitians are very open to it.

It appears that i have mounted my soapbox once again.

Speaking of all this, our Latrine project is almost underway! We had our sanitation presentation (which was attended by all families receiving latrines) and our construction materials arrive tomorrow. Many of the families have already dug their 8-10ft. hole, which out here is like walking out into your driveway with a shovel and going to town (the ground is hard).

We also recently started two amazing initiatives: Diabetes support group and Pregnancy club (attended almost exclusively by Haitians).

I'm in my element amidst a sea of pregnant women. I was just really interested in what Jewel had to say. The Pregnancy club is so inspiring. Each class the women will receive a weeks worth of pre-natal vitamins (keeps em coming back for more!) and a special gift for their baby like socks or beanies, etc. For some women it is their first child.....for others its their 9th or 10th! Jewel, the NP we contracted from Santiago, leads the class and is doing a fantastic job. It seems Haitian women are the only one taking advantage of this opportunity....don't get back on it, Joe.

Amongst all of our new clubs and groups are our existing youth empowerment initiatives, which saw the conclusion of another awesome Superman club:

Easily my favorite group so far. We plan on meeting monthly to keep the momentum going. Best baseball play of the group? Fito, who only has one hand. Its quite incredible.

Our recent local hire, Tania, is about to completely take over her Wonder Woman class. Chalk one up to sustainability!

Our Nutrition Club is going great for the women of Jimenez. Maghan and Hannah are rockin it.

Lots of good stuff happening. I am really excited about the direction this project is taking and can't wait to see how much better it continues to become.

I leave for Peru on Wednesday! Super excited to see Machu Pichu and take a little vacay with my ol' PC pal Heather. Ill be gone for a good two weeks, and the project will be left in the hands of the interns....... :). They will do fine without me. I'm sure they are looking forward to kicking me out of the house for a few days so they can....use all the toilet paper and play with each others hair? Still not sure what it is girls do.

Anyways, that's all for now.

Final thought: Take a second a think about how lucky you are to be a citizen of America! A lot of people here can't even say they belong to either 3rd-world country at this point, much less a developed one like the US. We will never really (lord willing) endure the same struggles these Haitian immigrants are facing right now. If you want, you can go trade in your old i-phone for a new i-phone, no questions asked. Here its a relentless battle to get your child enrolled in school. Take a healthy dose of perspective.

 
Does she deserve that?